Racing Is Press Pass Hurting the Hobby?

ranbethscards

NASCAR products are back baby!!!!! oh yeah!
NOTE: This is the writer's opinion. It is not the position of the Arena or the Staff.

This morning, while drinking my coffee, I decided to review the Beckett pricing for a few of the "Hits" that I pulled from the Press Pass 2012 Redline Product.

- Jeff Gordon Firesuit #/25 - $30.00

- Matt Kenseth Autoraphed Sheet Metal #/75 - $40.00

- Paul Menard Autograph #/25 - $12.00

A few years ago, if you pulled a Gordon Firesuit #/25, you were easily looking at $75.00-plus, a Kenseth Auto/SM #/75 was an easy $100.00 bill, and a Menard Auto #/25 (while he isn't considered a top driver) would have fetched $25.00 just because of the low number.

Press Pass...you ARE hurting the hobby. When you issue eight to ten products a year and include Gordon Firesuit's #/25, Kenseth Auto/SM #/75 and Menard Auto #/25, in each of the products, well...you are flooding the market.

For those of us that have been in the NASCAR hobby for a few years...remember when Press Pass would issue ONE version of a Kenseth Auto/SM #/75 (or less) and release it thoughout the year in different products? At the end of the year there were ONLY 75 of the Kenseth Auto/SM floating around out there...now with the eight-plus products, times it by 75, well...that's over 500 cards floating out there!

...and let's not forget the 2012 Ignite Retail...where you are guaranteed a Firesuit (un-numbered, but Press Pass says an issue of "99" each). This is as bad as buying Upper Deck Hockey and getting one Jersey per pack. (The only difference is...the Hockey Jersey's sell for $3.00 each and the NASCAR Firesuit's sell for $5.00 to $10.00 each, at shows).

Sooner-or-later Press Pass will run itself into the ground. Keep issuing those high-end products (Redline - $100.00-plus/box, Showcase - $150.00-plus/box) and you will go to the wayside just like Upper Deck Racing did back in the early 2000s.

By-the-way...if you haven't been following the Showcase release, and keeping an eye on eBay, you are spending, on average, $175.00 for a box of Showcase...and are getting a return of about $80.00 to $125.00, depending on the "hits". OUCH. If you are in this for the money, you would have better luck going to Vegas and doubling down on a pair of threes.
.


 
I've been saying this for years now, and nobody is listening. It's hard to do, but you have to stop opening their products, and start buying things you want (singles) for your collection with the money you save. I haven't opened stuff for quite a while now, and when I do get an urge I grab a cheap blaster to reassure myself I'm doing the right thing by buying singles on the secondary market. Do you have any idea what you can get for $175 if you buy singles? Forget about the one in a million hits you can pull from a box, because it's nothing but a crapshoot.

By Press Pass flooding the market with these same cards in every product only helps you get the PC cards you need at a fraction of the cost. It's good for the singles buyers. Take advantage of it. :D
 
Back
Top