Fifteen years ago, when many of you were sucking at the teat of your mothers the rest of us were sucking at the teat of technology, and we, being brave technological pioneers, bought our RAM and installed it ourselves.




And the RAM manufacturers, being douche canoes of the highest order, collaborated to artificially inflate the price of RAM. Big names implicated in the scheme include Samsung, Crucial, and NEC.

The RAM manufacturers were sued for their anti-competitive behavior, and ultimately settled for $310 million in 2014. $200 million was set aside for payments like the $60 check Deadspin’s Tim Burke received in the mail yesterday. Others are reporting checks as large as $72.95. One guy on Twitter reported getting $128.


So if you bought anything with RAM in it, including pretty much any computer, between 1998 and 2002, you too could be getting a check in the mail—assuming you signed on to the settlement in time. Unfortunately, all of the deadlines have passed at this point. According to the timeline set out, disbursements are supposed to arrive this month.

When asked what he would do with his new monies Tim replied, “[M]y wife put it in the bank.” When pressed for a response that was less practical he said, “I’ll buy beer probably.”

So check your mailbox.

Update: I came home to a check for $97.13, and I moved two months ago. So apparently the money WILL find you.