A wise man once said that variety is the spice of life.
Obviously, that person had never met some of the people running around in the sports card hobby these days. Ask a sampling of people around, many of them would say that the one thing they would change in the hobby is that there is too many products to choose from. Yes, I said that correctly, people think that there are just too many products to get what they want out of. When I see this sentiment run rampant, all I can ask myself is why people want less to choose from, especially when so much crap makes it onto the market each year.
Maybe its the fact that as collectors, they need every last thing of what they collect. Back in the day, with 4 sets per year per sport, many collectors could put together every card that was produced each year. Good for them. But the question is, how many people actually get angry that they cannot collect every card of their favorite player, or that it is near impossible these days to be a super collector? Im guessing its a factor behind some of these feelings. I know there have been a few posts on a few blogs lately that state just that. Really? Is that the reason why we want less products? Because you cant be number one?
Personally, I think that is a ludicrious feeling to have. Really, it should more about rewarding the good products and avoiding the bad products. That can be an issue in itself, however, as what is bad news for me can actually be a treasure to someone else. Example? I think Triple Threads is one of the worst products ever to be released in the history of cards. Just the idea alone makes me want to spew my spaghetti from dinner. Yet, much to my chagrin, a lot of people love it. Ahh! There we have it, the reason why variety is so important.
Even though I want to run the other way whenever someone sends me an offer on some Triple Threads cards, thats all I really have to do to avoid it. If there were only three products per company per year, that would be a lot tougher, right? It wouldnt be as easy to run away and still have cards from other products waiting for me anymore. Not only that, but I would probably have to wait a few months for the next product to be released when I chose to follow through. Then what? Explain what I would do once the next product sucks as much as this other one? I tell you, I would be gone from collecting faster than Mike Tyson at a rape support group, and a lot of people would be right behind me.
The issue will continue to haunt people as long as this false sentiment continues. When you think about it there is really no basis that says the more products there are, the more people will leave. In fact, during the boom, as product numbers grew, so did collectors in the hobby. Now that Product numbers are limited, you see a stagnant sort of feeling around. The difference between then and now is the cost of creating a product, which may be the only reason to support a down shift in production. Yet, if we think that any money saved will be funneled back into the existing products, people are sadly mistaken. Its almost naive to think that a company would cut production to save money, and then spend all that money all over again on products that cant support a brand to begin with.
The solution is actually pretty simple, and feel free to follow along in your own mind. As products come out, if you dont like them, dont buy them. It is the easiest way to show disapproval, and it doesnt shut out the people who may like the product. Then, when your favorites come out, buy as much as you like. Your dollars can show more than a comment on a blog could ever do.
Thats pretty much it, especially with all this bullshit about how number of products is driving people away. Really, if every one of those products were absolutely the best fucking product ever released, it wouldnt be an issue, but due to laziness in design (something that cant be fixed with a smaller variety), people leave because they are overwhelmed with the crap that is out there. Instead of limiting the sets, how about improving what is released? Stop trying to cram a swatch into every card, stop trying to get every scrub to sign every card every year. Instead, focus on making each product look the best that it can, and I promise that no inflated number of sets will drive people away if the quality is there.