2012 Industry Summit – Panini Black Boxes Highlight the Wrong Message

Since the industry summit has become a yearly gathering in which people on the business side of cards meet and discuss, Panini has been there with a promotion for the patrons that is awfully popular. Although I honestly believe that the purpose of the event has gone from supporting card retailers in their ventures, to giving lip service to a dying breed of shop owners. Throw in swag to the gills and that’s the industry summit.

Last year, Panini used this week to unleash the plague that is their minimum advertised price plan, with a week delay on internet releases. From what the conversations around the water cooler are, that plan has done more damage than good for Panini’s sales, and proves that maybe lip service is all that’s needed at a place like the summit. In terms of swag, its obvious that Panini has the best at just about every event, even if I believe the cards are beyond ugly. As we saw with the National and previous years, they are just repurposed cards from QC and staff breaks of product, most of which arent any different from the way they were released. Slap a 1/1 on the back, and all of a sudden, the cards go from 2 dollars to 60 bucks.

Here are some examples of the cards:

Panini Black Box Ryan Matthews 1/1 Auto Patch

Panini Black Box Drew Brees Madden Auto

Panini Black Box Joe Montana Patch 1/1

Panini Black Box Joe Namath Jersey Card 1/1

Ill admit, this is a relatively ingenious idea to generate publicity and buzz, and Panini does deserve some credit. After all, many of the people who attend pay for plane tickets and an inflated charge to be a part of the event, which means that swag is welcome, encouraged and appreciated by the attendees. The black boxes fit like a glove into this situation, and some shop owners even use them as a store promotion for their customers instead of opening them at the event. One would expect that a shop owner would be smart to do this, but I have to say, some of the people who attend are lucky to still be in business.

I have said time and time again, there are a lot of shops that are wonderful places to go, meet other collectors, and buy products, where others are constant reminders of the stranglehold Beckett still has on the older demographics of the hobby. These shop owners are the ones that I think the MAPP from Panini coddles instead of helps, and that is why I really believe there needs to be more educational opportunities for shop owners, instead of plans that enable old fashioned and lazy behavior. Force collectors into a captive situation for the first (and most valuable) weeks of a product’s release, and you force them to patronize shops that dont deserve that kind of attention.

Its easy to see that digital is the new face of everything, and although I know that it is a part of this summit, I have heard that most of it is has become a bitch session in a tropical or fun destination. That doesnt solve anything, and probably creates further challenges for a bunch of people who ONCE were the only purveyors of cards. Now, with everything done through eBay, the Black Boxes become a focus rather than preserving a part of the hobby many of us have a nostalgic connection to – the local shop experience. I know there are a lot of industry professionals who like card shops and what they do, but to think they are the same as they once were is kidding ourselves. If that is the case, why are we still going about our business like everything was before eBay became the hub of everything sports card related?

I think there is a good reason why Beckett’s price guide has about as much relevance as a SAT test prep book at a Kardashian party, but Im not sure if anyone fully understands why that is a great metamorphosis in this hobby. Instead of shilling out swag and autographs at these things, I think its worth the trip for more people if the panels offer functional information instead of complain-a-thons. Show how to build websites, blogs, youtube channels and twitter handles, rather than letting the shop owners cry about how many Bowman products are released before September call-ups. I have already seen pictures from forums on internet selling and buying collections, but this is like giving a straw to someone to be able to breathe as the quicksand covers their face.

There will be shop owners that comment on this post, and I value what they say. However, they are a vast minority of people, as I have experienced. They are the people I am NOT addressing in the text of this post. Its the rest of the people with outdated prices on their singles, elevated prices on their wax, and no understanding of how to make facebook work for them. They need the help, not people there to get a black box with a jersey card that was supposed to be included in the normal print run.

16 thoughts on “2012 Industry Summit – Panini Black Boxes Highlight the Wrong Message

  1. That Ryan Matthews is the worst card I have ever seen, WTF it hurts my eyes!

  2. Dislike.

    More detailed response to follow as I am attending The Summit and am not able to fully reply at this moment.

    Mike Fruitman
    Mike’s Stadium Sportscards

  3. My LCS owner gave away a black box a couple years ago at random to people who participated in a group break. I was the lucky one to get it! it had a forte 1/1 black printing plate rookie auto.

  4. “the conversations around the water cooler”?

    As if you would know. You are not in the industry. Get that through your thick head. You are a low-rent blogger with virtually zero influence on the industry. Sorry if the truth hurts, but there you go.

  5. Although I agree with, at most, 50% of what writes, his blog is probably the best independent source of up-to-date hobby card information on the internet. I would think that someone who is “in the industry” would understand the amount of passion and dedication it takes to write a full length article every day that is relevant to the hobby. Your myopic view of this article only highlights Gellman’s point.

  6. really no different then the novelty 1/1/’s given out at the national or trade conferences with the said city and date embossed on them. Had a quantum cris carter 1/1 that the only thing different then the others /100 was the hawaii conference stamp and it sold for 250 more. Peopl love numbering and have to say I sort of do too thats why I kep my bettis quantum 1/2

    -wheels

  7. is it just me or does this sound exactly like something one of the old codgers who still tries to charge 15 bucks for a jersey card and 100 bucks for 10 year old wax would say?

  8. Hey Adam toward your response obviously you don’t know how popular the blog scene is with reguards to the hobby. Shop owners are clueless, that’s why they keep shutting down, can’t keep up with the digital age. I said it before I’ll say it again, black boxes should be given to collectors, we buy the damn product, hobby shops should be grateful we still visit every once and a while.

  9. “No influence in the Industry”, that’s cool. This is one of the few card blogs I enjoy reading, so I guess he only influences customers. Seems like a better group to me.

  10. The MAIN purpose of the summit is to learn & communicate w other dealers & companies. Exchange ideas & give recommendations.

    I believe there were 200 people there (including canada & several from england), poss. more, making this one the largest gathering in years.

    Despite what u wrote, the only bitching was directed to topps, your love company.

    Panini stepped up and admitted their faults & promised (and showed) change. Everything you have complained about w panini they have addressed.

    No one….no one….had anything bad to say about leaf. Give this company a license!

    Ud was another top vote getter, awesome cards & products, all w/o a license.

    Bitch fest? No, except when topps took the mic & they did their best spin & evade moves like your man AP.

  11. As a shop owner who offers weekly drawings, Monday morning emails with highlights of the last week and insights to what the next week will offer, monthly drawings with one pack of each new release, insightful emails upon each new release, well typed out labels on each Beckett priced box of cards, competitive pricing (and by that I mean competitive with online dumpers – example – first day 2012 Topps Heritage MLB buyers could get their first box at $75 and their second at $65), a monthly Trade Night (for over a decade) and enough more to excite any collector in Colorado, I take offense to this blog posting.

    MANY of the shop owners I met at the most recent Summit do that much if not more, and while you said this blog entry did not apply to them, the implication is clear.

    While many of the attendees were on scholarship, each still had to cover their own hotel and plane costs, let alone paying people to cover their stores if not having to close them for 4-5 days.

    With the understanding that each remaining card store might not offer what mine does, those that are still open are clearly doing something right and deserve a second look.

    Instead of saying that some attendees might be lucky to still be open, why not share that they are at least getting off their butts and are willing to take on considerable expenses to learn from other shop owners. Back in the day, it took me going to the Hawaii Trade Conference to learn how to run some of the promotions friends of my shop now love.

    I get it. Shops don’t sell some brand new offerings $3 over cost in some cases within a week of their arrival. Does my store suck because I choose not to push products under MAPP with a phone call?

    While I enjoy Gellman’s take on a great number of fronts, the frequent LCS bashing is almost as tired as the constant Panini bashing.

    I had the pleasure of hanging with hundreds of card store owners the past 5 or so days and can tell you there are some of the best minds I have met, who run fun and exciting stores. Perhaps you all should considering visiting one again. Who knows you might be missing something? I am trying to remember the last Trade Night that Blowoutcards.com had for their customer.

    BTW, if you are collecting in Colorado…this Saturday, Mike’s Stadium Sportscards will be hosting a 4-5pm signing with current Bronco Cassius Vaughn. Autos are FREE with the purchase of a $6 photo. We will be following that with our 6-9pm Trade Night where we will be showcasing how we will be giving away EVERYTHING we received at the 2012 Summit. Many of the other stores in attendance will be doing the same, so give your LCS another look, you might be surprised. Feel free to have them call my store at (303) 699-9808 and I will be glad to share the promotions my store offers.

    Look, some store owners might not be the best marketeers or be willing to do all that myself or some of my brothers do. Perhaps it’s time to start using the term SLCS for those sucky local card stores, but as a LCS owner who has given away everything he has ever gotten at the Conference/Summit, who has given away tens of thousands of dollars in packs at my monthly Trade Nights and enough $ in our weekly drawings to buy (a small place in) Miami, I’m tired of the LCS bashing.

    Adam, I would invite you to visit one of my Trade Nights when your schedule allows and would even be glad to cover your flight. Perhaps it might lead to a SCU hobby shop tour so you can see the best this hobby has instead of being limited to hating.

    Mike Fruitman
    Mike’s Stadium Sportscards

  12. Mike,

    As I have said numerous times, the stuff you do and the integrity of your shop might be high, but from my experience, you are a minority. The sleaze that plagues the retail part of this industry is only dwarfed by people who are still uneducated by mainstream sources on the matter, and that is a fact. I get it, LCS owners fall into the exact same structure as every other shop type. There are those that adapt and those that die. I have to beloved that with the online presence being stronger in collectibles, the shops that don’t adapt will die faster than normal.

    I get that Topps took a lot of flak for baseball, which they deserve in a lot of respects, but how much of that is compounded by the fact that they don’t pay the same lip service to this type of event with programs designed to give these shop owners a method to stay rooted in old and outdated operations. Topps reinforced this week that they have no plans to adjust their online distribution plans, something that has angered people who would attend this event. Topps is still far ahead of any other company in t erms of design, which is why I love their cards. It has nothing to do with anything else, just like it was with upper deck back in 2008-09.

    Bottom line, these owners who attended may have gotten their time in the sun, but I still believe that many of them still go back to home and become those stereotypical LCS owners that we all know well. Again, not everyone falls into this category, but many do. One bad Apple can spoil the bunch, but when there are a lot of bad apples, that’s when generalizations take place. You, Charlie from Sports Cards Plus, and Baseball Card shop in chatsworth CA have literally been 3 of 50 shops I would go back to. That is not good for anyone.

  13. Pingback: Around the Carding Blogosphere for March 23, 2012 : The Baseball Card Store | Hairline Crease

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