rksnascards
01-14-2009, 02:23 PM
Saw this posted under the general area....thought I would pass this to the NASCAR group.
This is what is killing our hobby!
Not all of the items pertain to racing cards....but the majority of this is true.
10. Disappearance of low-end products
There are virtually no products left that are actually fun to open and collect, rather than just burst so you can throw everything but the hits out.
9. Retail blaster boxes
With these you get four times fewer cards and the odds are four times worse of pulling anything decent. All the best stuff is hobby-only anyway.
8. Sticker autographs
Everyone hates these. What is there to be said? You can peel the sticker off and put it on a ruptured can of beans. Voila, a 1/1 Michael Jordan autographed ruptured can of beans. That'll be $1000 plus $200 shipping.
7. Manufactured patches
If the first game-used cards ever made had been these fake things, the memorabilia concept would never have gotten off the ground.
6. Too many parallel sets
Player-collectors' worst nightmare. A few years ago, only some products had these, and they only had one or two. Now every product has like six to ten parallels, and they're always 1/1, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/99 and 1/199.
5. Overproduction of memorabilia/autograph cards
These were valuable in the first place because they were hard to find. Supply and demand naturally balance out, and demand has gone up while supply has gone through the stratosphere. Whereas people were once overjoyed to get one of these in five boxes, they now get ****** off when they don't get five in every box.
4. Hit guarantees
See above. Anything that doesn't guarantee you x number of hits is seen as automatically undesirable, and anything that does always costs you $300 per box.
3. Rookie mania
Many products guarantee you one rookie-related hit per box. The problem is, every rookie class has five guys who are good and 45 who suck. Get one of the 45 as your hit and you feel gipped.
2. Redemption cards
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
1. Ultra high-end products
With the clearly-partitioned classes of products here, the card manufacturers have essentially created a caste system among collectors. At the top you have the elites who can shell out $3000 for a case as easily as swatting a fly, and at the bottom you have the untouchables for whom a $100 box (the cheapest most things get anymore) is a splurge. This used to be a hobby everyone could enjoy, but they want to turn it into something exclusively for the ultra-rich.
This is what is killing our hobby!
Not all of the items pertain to racing cards....but the majority of this is true.
10. Disappearance of low-end products
There are virtually no products left that are actually fun to open and collect, rather than just burst so you can throw everything but the hits out.
9. Retail blaster boxes
With these you get four times fewer cards and the odds are four times worse of pulling anything decent. All the best stuff is hobby-only anyway.
8. Sticker autographs
Everyone hates these. What is there to be said? You can peel the sticker off and put it on a ruptured can of beans. Voila, a 1/1 Michael Jordan autographed ruptured can of beans. That'll be $1000 plus $200 shipping.
7. Manufactured patches
If the first game-used cards ever made had been these fake things, the memorabilia concept would never have gotten off the ground.
6. Too many parallel sets
Player-collectors' worst nightmare. A few years ago, only some products had these, and they only had one or two. Now every product has like six to ten parallels, and they're always 1/1, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/99 and 1/199.
5. Overproduction of memorabilia/autograph cards
These were valuable in the first place because they were hard to find. Supply and demand naturally balance out, and demand has gone up while supply has gone through the stratosphere. Whereas people were once overjoyed to get one of these in five boxes, they now get ****** off when they don't get five in every box.
4. Hit guarantees
See above. Anything that doesn't guarantee you x number of hits is seen as automatically undesirable, and anything that does always costs you $300 per box.
3. Rookie mania
Many products guarantee you one rookie-related hit per box. The problem is, every rookie class has five guys who are good and 45 who suck. Get one of the 45 as your hit and you feel gipped.
2. Redemption cards
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
1. Ultra high-end products
With the clearly-partitioned classes of products here, the card manufacturers have essentially created a caste system among collectors. At the top you have the elites who can shell out $3000 for a case as easily as swatting a fly, and at the bottom you have the untouchables for whom a $100 box (the cheapest most things get anymore) is a splurge. This used to be a hobby everyone could enjoy, but they want to turn it into something exclusively for the ultra-rich.