"Update" Cards as Hits?

[Stryfex]

I also hate update cards from one series being put out in another series.

I collect Upper Deck Series 1 and 2 every year and hate having to track down the 30 cards from 501-530 that they insert in SPAuthentic. Similarly, I collected SP Authentic one year (14-15 and I'll never do it again due to the disaster with short printed redemptions) and to spend SP Authentic money on a pack and get a friggin' Series 1/2 base card as my "hit" was just the worst feeling

[creasecollector]

I think they should be bonus hits for sure. Along with the stated average of hits in your box/case breaks, it would be nice for the collector to receive a few extras now and again. I understand UD needs to use the cards, so why not make it a bonus? Seems like the right thing to do.

[SenatorCollector]

Upper Deck being what it is, what's to stop them from inserting the " Update" cards into future sets as " Buybacks"?

[30ranfordfan]

It depends on the card...... I think a blanket rule is hard here.

The last time I bought a box of SPA, I got a prior year SOTT of Calvin Pickard as one of my hits. I have not bought a box of SPA since. I realize that not every box can have good hits... but for UD to insert a $2 auto from a prior year into packs? That's terrible IMO, and should never happen.

But, yeah, what do you do with those Pickard autos?? Nobody is going to want them as replacements, and nobody wants them as "hits".

If you had unused Crosby autos, sure... put them in as a hit. Anyone would be happy to pull them. That never happens though, because those cards would be a redemption, would get redeemed (people would wait for them) and they'd offer up the extras as replacements.

So you either insert them as bonus hits... or as others have mentioned: You send them out as replacements for expired redemptions.

It seems to me that some cards don't get inserted as a redemption, because UD knows that not enough collectors even want the card, to justify upping thew redemption percentage in the release. That's smart. Keeps people happy(er). If you were offering up "unreleased" autographed cards that came back too late for packs... but never made it as a redemption either.... as replacements for expired codes, I think that would be acceptable.

The expiry date thing - I get it. Once that date passes, they could use those cards for replacements, and stock can run out, so you can't keep the code active indefinitely. Considering people spend $100s on some boxes... offering them some kind of "similar" card, even if it's a "weak" card - that would be a nice change.

[LegendsCollector]

It depends on the card...... I think a blanket rule is hard here.

The last time I bought a box of SPA, I got a prior year SOTT of Calvin Pickard as one of my hits. I have not bought a box of SPA since. I realize that not every box can have good hits... but for UD to insert a $2 auto from a prior year into packs? That's terrible IMO, and should never happen.

But, yeah, what do you do with those Pickard autos?? Nobody is going to want them as replacements, and nobody wants them as "hits".

If you had unused Crosby autos, sure... put them in as a hit. Anyone would be happy to pull them. That never happens though, because those cards would be a redemption, would get redeemed (people would wait for them) and they'd offer up the extras as replacements.

So you either insert them as bonus hits... or as others have mentioned: You send them out as replacements for expired redemptions.

It seems to me that some cards don't get inserted as a redemption, because UD knows that not enough collectors even want the card, to justify upping thew redemption percentage in the release. That's smart. Keeps people happy(er). If you were offering up "unreleased" autographed cards that came back too late for packs... but never made it as a redemption either.... as replacements for expired codes, I think that would be acceptable.

The expiry date thing - I get it. Once that date passes, they could use those cards for replacements, and stock can run out, so you can't keep the code active indefinitely. Considering people spend $100s on some boxes... offering them some kind of "similar" card, even if it's a "weak" card - that would be a nice change.

I actually spoke to someone from Upper Deck at the national one year about this exact scenario because I broke a box during the box breaker promotion at their booth and pulled a Pickard and wasn't happy about it. I don't recall his name, it wasn't Carlin, but the guy was in charge of either SPA or Showcase, i can't remember which. Anyway the explanation he gave me was similar to what you said, people don't want to pull a redemption of a Pickard sott so they don't bother putting them in to cut down on the # of redemptions they use. I then tried to explain that I bought the box expecting to get all cards from 14-15 and had no interest in a junk sign of the times card from 13-14 counting as one of my 3 hits and that if they want to include them, fine but it should be a bonus hit. I also said it seemed unfair to people who built the 13-14 sott set to have to go and chase additional cards that weren't in the originally release product. The guy tried to steer the conversation back to "yeah but did you notice we have fewer redemptions this year?" (Which was ironic because myself and the person I was with both pulled redemptions doing the box breaker. ) Anyway I plan on discussing it with them again at the national this year, especially if they keep doing it even though they announced SPA will only have 2 auto hits this year.

[Inferno]

Here's the major problem I have with putting these "update" cards into products that count as hits...

Those cards were originally made for a previous product within the given budget they had to work with, and the production costs to make that card were already recovered when that product was originally sold.

By inserting them into a future product and including them as a hit they are essentially selling the same card twice and passing that cost on to collectors.

If they were included as extra bonus cards then fine, since collectors already "paid" for them when breaking the original product. To put them in as a hit implies that they were part of the budget for that product when they actually weren't. I'm no economics expert by any stretch, but that stinks to me and I don't think many collectors realize it.