[uvaspina]

I wonder why Topps issues redemption cards in their packs when the redeemed cards haven't even been made yet. Then when they are sent in, they make their customers wait sometimes multiple years to get the card/s. Or, not even give them the card at all.

It seems to me it isn't very good business practice to piss off you customers in this way. Wouldn't it be wiser to have all the cards prepared previously then send out the redemption cards? It is how they used to do it back in day.

With all the bitchin' and moanin' on message boards about redemption cards, and rightly so, which I assume has lead to multiple customer complaints, why hasn't Topps changed their practices I wonder?

For starters, they have card contracts with the players. Second, they insert redemptions to remain "in the moment"--to provide "hits" of emerging players. Third, the product comes out on a schedule, but that schedule doesn't always align with the players availability (or the product's availability)--the two need to connect some how, some way, and that doesn't always happen. Keep in mind, these players sign THOUSANDS of stickers and probably hundreds (if not thousands) of cards each off-season/spring training.

Not making excuses (because I've been on the "business end" of the frustration of redemptions) but just trying to explain. -Topps wouldn't be able to put out as good of a product if it was limited to the cards/autos it had IN HAND at the time of release. Some of the biggest and best cards of recent memory (Trout, Harper, Machado, etc.) have all been redemptions.