Lifestyle: Random Lobster

Photo: apaxusa

It may have been the influence of too many lobster rolls eaten during a trip to Florida last week, but of all the gift ideas I've seen this year, perhaps the most unique concept has been Catch A Piece of Maine. The idea is that one gives the company $2,995 and receives the use of a dedicated lobster trap for a year, along with the shared services of a lobsterman and Federal Express (there are lesser packages available but to me they lack the excessiveness of the annual plan).

During that year's weekly fishing trips, the lobsterman apparently notes everything caught in the trap and records the data into an online database. Customers access their data online, where they can view their trap’s performance and schedule shipments with the click of a mouse. The goodies are shipped by air wherever the lobster owner instructs.

For the money, one is guaranteed a minimum of 52 1.5 lb. lobsters as well as 13 lbs. of clams, 13 lbs. of mussels, and 52 desserts. I'm not certain if there's an upper limit.

Of course, one could go to the grocery store and buy lobsters when the mood strikes. But I give the lobstermen credit for a proactive initiative that's missing only a live video stream of the lobster trap so the customer can watch as the unwary crustaceans scurry inside.