"Favorite Stores"

[mikecole141]

I just read a comment in another thread where the poster stated that a store received better product (in terms of what is in the boxes) because they are a favorite of Upper Deck.

I wanted to know what the rest of you think.


Now, I know that in that post both of the stores mentioned buy their boxes through distributors. Sometimes the same, sometimes not. I know that the price differences when they occur are due to:

1. Volume of the product bought (both on the Distributor's side and the store's side)

2. Deals with the respective distributor (payment schedule, how much they buy now versus the next time)

3. How each store gauges the Margin with which they sell so that they can maintain expenses and profit in the boxes they sell.

I also think it is quite a leap to think that Upper Deck would seed specific cases then ear mark them for certain vendors when in Canada they have to sell through the distributors. They can't sell direct to the stores. How long would it take for a distributor to start making noise? How long until he passesd it on to another store?

It would be quite the lawsuit if a LCS was to get proof of that little tidbit.

Second the added expense of earmarking and seeding cases, then making sure they were shipped to certain vendors would be counter productive for the vendor to just sell them at a price lower than the other stores in town.

I will state that I know both stores mentioned in the post and have shopped at both. I will also point out that I clearly pimp one more than the other. I know some stores get perks from Upper Deck because of the promotions they run, the advertising they do for them, and so on. But the post in question clearly begs for the questions to be asked.

1. Do you think Upper Deck seeds boxes and cases for some stores because they are a favorite? (If so does Topps and Panini do they same?)

2. Is there a store in your City or Town that you think this is the case for and why?

3. Do collectors in the States think this happens because stores there can buy direct from Upper Deck?


Curious to what my fellow SCF'ers think.

[clearshot]

Over the last 4 years, I've ripped a lot of cases from both Wayne's and West's. I've been frequenting West's since I moved out of the city stopped traveling to Wayne's just because of the shear distance. I've had a few great hits at both, but on average, I seem to do better at West's.

I highly doubt there are any shenanigans going on, I believe it has to do with how much volume they move.

But, I also believe that UD does a poor job of mixing cases of the same product up when it comes to shipping. Example, I busted 2 cases of NFL Exquisite at Wayne's a couple of years ago. This is supposed to be a hand collated product, but I pulled duplicates of 2 cards from 6 boxes. At 3 boxes per case, 5 cards per pack, it should be highly unlikely that one would get the same RPA and same quad jersey from 2 different cases. At West's, I pulled 3 Crosby Autofacts from 3 straight cases of Artifacts all in the same day. 2 of the same Crosby/Malkin Tundra Tandems Dual patches /35 from 2 straight cases, same day. 2 Crosby Glacial Graphs, 2 straight cases, same day.

To me it seems like they build cases in sequence, such as packing all the Crosby Autofacts at the same time, but they fail to switch those cases around afterward. There was a thread about a full case of UD Ice hot boxes, loaded with /99 rookies. I doubt those were all meant to end up in the same case.

[30ranfordfan]

I'd like to think that this doesn't actually happen. Not because a company wouldn't do it - but because they'd know that it would be too easy to get caught. If it were happening, people on both ends (or all three ends if we're talking about Canada - where distributors are used) would know about it, and actual proof (rather than stories & hearsay) would get out.


To think that they can't do it would be pretty naive, I think. The production / packouts are not random at all - that's how they can guarantee a particular number of 'hits' in a pack / box / case. That's why we see repeated card combinations in a pack. Anyone who's ever collected a decent sized based set will tell you - when you're down to the last 8 (of 300+) cards you need, when you bust a pack with 1 card you needed, you usually get 2 or 3.

The fact that they seed boxes with 'X' number of hits, tells me that it shouldn't be too difficult to also seed specific hits, into specific boxes.

Heck, The Cup is packed by hand, correct? It'd be easy to tell which tins go where, if the company wanted to do it.

[Wingsfan-13]

I agree with the thought that UD would not do this just because of what the consequences would be if they ever got caught!!!! All it takes is one disgruntled UD exec and they could blow the whistle. And I have bought from a UD direct store (diamond?) here in NJ and from a guy who gets from the distributor, and I've had better breaks from the later!

My 2 pennies!

[Orion]

I actually used to wonder about this too. I remember back in 2002 when UD ran a promotion to win a round of golf with Tiger Woods through packs of 03 UD Golf and I always wondered if stores "bid" with UD to acquire the case that had the redemption in it. It is truly a mystery. I myself think this does not happen because I have seen some ridiculous cards opened in places where one would not expect them to be pulled. This doesn't happen.

[thesnake87]

It would take forever to conduct a seeding system like that I think. It would push products release dates months back because they have to package cards a certain way, figure out those packs from the rest, box the packs in specific boxes, and put specific boxes in cases without leaving a trace. I think it would be near impossible due to the shear number of cases on the market of each product. It just isn't worth the time and effort to do such a system.