Hold Your Horses

Contributor: John McTaggart

I’ve got as much, or more, experience in this hobby as anyone.

In fact, since I was 14-years old I have been buying, selling and trading sports cards as a profession (sometimes part time, sometimes full time), and I have loved every single second of this entire journey.

I live for the hustle of it all, for the community, for all of it.

Recently, however, I’ve noticed something in the hobby that I have not seen before.

Burnout.

And by burnout, I don’t mean  business owners, such as myself, getting tired of the 80-plus hour work weeks, dealing with unscrupulous online buyers and scams, and difficult, if not downright unreasonable, distributors and sales reps.

That, in fact, is a real thing, but it’s not at all what I’m talking about in this instance. 

What I’m noticing amongst those in the hobby is a burnout with collectors themselves. 

Why?

Well, Manufacturers are simply releasing too much product, too often, and people are growing increasingly fed up with this cycle of constant release days — constant demands both mentally and fiscally.

And attached to these release days and this insane influx of new products is a price tag, both literal and figurative.

There are only so many dollars in the well, and so many people to spend it. 

Manufacturers are dipping too deeply into these waters, and people are running dry — quickly.

I’ve noticed it in our breaks. Chatter amongst the chat is a plea to slow down some, let collectors catch their collective breath.

Week after week there is another new product offering new and exciting hits, and the potential for huge cards. 

Tell me, why do we need dozens of baseball, football, hockey and basketball products?

Why do we need to flood the marketplace with so much cardboard? Seriously.

The business part of me can understand it to some degree — a variety of price points and products is a good thing. 

However, do we need four or five products at every single tier of card product?

Not only are we watering down the hobby, we’re also destroying the value of so many cards.

Remember when a numbered card used to be considered a big hit?

Now, there are so many numbered cards coming out of these packs that the scarcity doesn’t really add much value to the card anymore. 

So essentially, cards out of 499 or 999 or whatever, have little additional value on the secondary market. 

It’s a shame. 

Manufacturers are flooding the market with products then trying to create scarcity and incentive to purchase the product by numbering the majority of the cards in the pack. 

Then, let’s say you’re a Connor McDavid collector, now, as it stands today, in order to keep that collection breathing with the newest cards, you’re searching for McDavid cards through a sea of new products, insert sets and Short Prints. Dozens and dozens of them in a typical year of card releases. 

It’s costly on your bank account and your psyche. 

It’s exhausting. 

Is it going to change?

Absolutely not. 

Product means profits right now to these folks.

But what will change is the number of collectors who continue in the hobby. 

What will change though, is the ease of entrance into the hobby.

And what will result is a large segment of the hobby who simply gets too burnt out to carry on. 

So please, slow down the greed train and get a better view pod the hobby as a whole, please.