Finishing my Topps Rays team sets and some questions

 

It’s funny how things are working in the world right now. I got a nice bonus check from work and I was hoping to try to knock out some of my Rays team sets. I quickly started searching on COMC, and was able to find everything except for a 2000 Topps Traded Greg Vaughn, a 2008 Topps HR leaders Carlos Pena, and most of the 2020 Topps Update set. I didn’t know how long it would take for any 2020 Update cards to hit COMC, and judging by the prices I saw on the Randy Arozarena card (6 bucks plus), I decided to get the Update set as well as the 2 previously mentioned cards, on eBay. 

I found a team set for 8 bucks, which I thought was a good price for having the Randy A. card in it. The other 2 cards I got for like a buck each. I placed my shipment request for the COMC order maybe a day after the eBay orders, and while the COMC cards will be there around March 3, 2021, the eBay cards, as you can see, already made it to my doorstep. 

All of this (mainly the COMC order) leads me to a few questions. First, what do you think the reason for all of the COMC delays?  Are there way more orders than normal?  Are they understaffed?  Is it a combination of both?  Are the idiot millennial flippers going to COMC now to support their “jobs” of buying out every card and selling it for profit?  Is COMC just being cautious and doing a ton of sanitizing?  I just would like to know the reason behind the shipping issues. I’m ok with waiting. It will kind of make the order in March a nice surprise. 

It also gives me another predicament. If the cards don’t arrive until March of next year, I figure 2021 Topps will be out, making my Topps Rays run incomplete. While I hope I will be able to find some packs at retail stores, judging by how idiots have been scooping them up before they even come off of the delivery trucks, we may not even see the cards. I’m a little pessimistic about the whole COVID thing. I think whoever ends up running the country in January, they need to make some changes in how we handle it, perhaps coming up with a different way to get rid of it. Here is a short theory on how to do it. If you don’t care, just skip to the next paragraph. 

I think instead of a stimulus check, each person in the US needs to first register with the government. After registering, they will get 4 weeks worth of food, any medicine/sanitation supplies, and essentials in place of a stimulus check. Once all of the food/etc. are distributed, the country needs to go into a 3-4 week lockdown, with only emergency services, police, and maybe a handful of news stations open. Perhaps have other places like power companies on call in case of emergencies. I.E., the more places not open, the better. Hopefully, everyone will stay in and not co-mingle in places like apartment complexes or neighborhoods. I think this would give us a hell of a chance to get rid of the virus. After the last day of lockdown, everyone gets rapid  tested for COVID. Anyone coming back negative gets another stimulus check. Anyone testing positive will not get a check, and immediately put into quarantine at a local hospital, which will hopefully have room due to the virus hopefully being eliminated. A little harsh, but do we really want to put up with years more of this $hit, or just have 3-4 weeks of being at home, and then a normal life again. 

Back to the 2021 Topps situation, if we still have COVID in March, I’m sure the cards won’t see much time on the shelves. I could probably get the team set on eBay, but I just love the thrill of getting cards right after they are released. These low down $hitheads that hoard the cards are taking that away from us. 

I also wonder if this would lead Topps to overproduce the cards. Nobody would really be able to tell with the non-numbered inserts, so the only way people would really be able to tell is with perhaps the 1 per box numbered inserts. Topps would just have to make enough of them that people would still pull them 1 per box, but not too many that people would figure out that they were overproduced. The only potential for worry would be if these low-numbered cards would appear on eBay and 2 of the same number would be discovered. I'm actually ok with Topps overproducing.  I would still pull whatever I pull, not anything earth-shattering, but that's ok. I don't sell my cards. It would probably thwart these flippers because after everyone discovers that Topps overproduced 2021 Series 1, the cards would lose value. We would find the cards on the shelves, the flippers would find something else to do, MLB would probably slap Topps on the wrist and allow Upper Deck/Donruss to produce cards with logos to punish them, and everyone would win. Topps would probably shrink their production back to normal, and perhaps we would get our hobby back. 

I am almost done with the Detroit Tigers in my 1992 Topps Traded custom set, and although I would like to finish the set by the end of the year, I don't think it will be possible. Work is insane, but you don't want to hear me whine about that. I'm working on some trade packages to sent out. Hopefully I'll get them done withing the next 2 weeks. I don't know if the shipping will be as fast as the stuff I got from eBay, but I'm sure they will be shipped before my COMC order gets here.

What are your opinions on why the COMC shipping issues? Do you have any theories on if we will get our hands on 2021 Topps?

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy