Author Archive
My goal as Upper Deck’s Customer Care Supervisor is to help educate our collectors and fans so they can have a better experience with our collectible products. I’ve found that we get a lot of similar calls into our call center so it is beneficial to share what those questions are and provide answers in a public format here on the blog. You will find some really great information about our industry just by going through some of these “Ask UD” segments here on the blog. If you have questions yourself, please feel free to leave a comment and “Ask UD!”
Ask Upper Deck: I pulled an expired redemption, can you still honor it?
Gregg Cacioppo: We have talked before about why redemption cards expire and all the things Upper Deck does to avoid using redemption cards in the first place, but there are circumstances where fans may come across expired redemption cards.
This is a pretty frequent question as of late because due to licensing changes many fans are going back to older Upper Deck products for MLB, NBA and NFL to get the value they have come to expect from those products. Unfortunately because of those licensing changes, our hands are really tied on expired offers for those sports in particular. We cannot honor those cards any longer and we have worked to get most of them out into the market through redemption exchanges. Additionally we are working diligently to clean out some of those older MLB, NBA and NFL redemptions to get collectors taken care of on them.
We really want to caution our fans to be careful when purchasing packs, boxes and cases of those older products. You can get a good deal on them in most cases, but it is usually because the sellers realize that if there are issues with damaged, insert ratio or expired offers, there is little we can do to help unfortunately. If you are purchasing older Upper Deck product, please understand you are purchasing it as is. Any special offers contained therein are no longer valid and cannot be honored.
Are there exceptions to the rule? Yes. Should a customer pull a recently expired redemption card from a product line we still have a license for (NHL, CLC or Soccer) we may be able to help. Customers can contact our Customer Care division after the first of the year at (800)873-7332 and we will review your situation to see if we still have the card in stock or may be able to assist with at least a little something. We will assign fans a case number and work with them on a resolution. Given the amount of claims we are currently processing, we will not process any new claims on expired offers until after the first of the year to give us time to work through existing claims.
For fans who currently have a claim in with us on an expired redemption card and have received a case number, please be patient. Our main priority is getting our current redemption cards and turning around replacement requests on current product for our customers. Processing expired requests come after those projects and those projects will keep us very busy as we head into the holidays.
Ask Upper Deck: There are some great autograph cards in 2011 NHL Parkhurst Champions. Will you be sharing a short print list for them?
Gregg Cacioppo: We are really happy with the initial feedback on the product. It is a set that autograph fans in particular are really enjoying. We are not sharing exact print runs on the autograph cards in the checklist, but are releasing group ratios with odds on pulling some of these cards. The breakdown on the 2011 NHL Parkhurst Champions autograph cards is listed below:
BASE SET AUTOGRAPHS (1-100)
Overall Odds 1:14
Group A Odds 1:696
Group B Odds 1:523
Group C Odds 1:206
Group D Odds 1:110
Group E Odds 1:56
Group F Odds 1:28
| Card # | Player |
| 1 | Wayne Gretzky C |
| 2 | Gordie Howe C |
| 3 | Bobby Orr D |
| 4 | Mario Lemieux A |
| 5 | Patrick Roy A |
| 6 | Bobby Hull A |
| 7 | Jean Beliveau A |
| 8 | Mark Messier A |
| 9 | Guy Lafleur A |
| 10 | Ray Bourque A |
| 11 | Phil Esposito A |
| 12 | Stan Mikita A |
| 13 | Mike Bossy A |
| 14 | Denis Potvin B |
| 15 | Ted Lindsay C |
| 16 | Bobby Clarke C |
| 17 | Brett Hull A |
| 18 | Red Kelly B |
| 19 | Larry Robinson B |
| 20 | Jari Kurri C |
| 21 | Marcel Dionne B |
| 22 | Johnny Bucyk B |
| 23 | Gilbert Perreault C |
| 25 | Joe Sakic A |
| 26 | Peter Stastny C |
| 27 | Grant Fuhr A |
| 28 | Andy Bathgate B |
| 29 | Cam Neely B |
| 30 | Claude Lemieux D |
| 31 | Tony Esposito A |
| 32 | Luc Robitaille B |
| 33 | Denis Savard B |
| 34 | Darryl Sittler C |
| 35 | Steve Shutt B |
| 36 | Borje Salming B |
| 37 | Ron Francis A |
| 38 | Milt Schmidt E |
| 39 | Dale Hawerchuk C |
| 40 | Doug Gilmour C |
| 41 | Dino Ciccarelli C |
| 42 | Johnny Bower C |
| 43 | Glenn Anderson B |
| 44 | Adam Oates E |
| 45 | Clark Gillies C |
| 46 | Guy Carbonneau E |
| 47 | Ron Hextall B |
| 48 | Igor Larionov A |
| 49 | Rogie Vachon A |
| 50 | Alex Delvecchio D |
| 51 | Wendel Clark A |
| 52 | Neal Broten C |
| 53 | Joe Mullen B |
| 54 | Brad Park C |
| 55 | Richard Brodeur D |
| 56 | Bill Ranford D |
| 57 | Reggie Leach F |
| 58 | Bernie Federko C |
| 59 | Terry O’Reilly C |
| 60 | Harry Howell D |
| 61 | Bill Barber F |
| 62 | Anton Stastny C |
| 63 | Rick MacLeish F |
| 64 | Ken Morrow D |
| 65 | Tony Twist F |
| 66 | Wilf Paiement E |
| 67 | Doug Wilson F |
| 68 | Dave Schultz C |
| 69 | Ken Hodge F |
| 70 | Thomas Steen D |
| 71 | Duane Sutter E |
| 72 | Mike Liut D |
| 73 | Bernie Nicholls F |
| 74 | Brent Sutter E |
| 75 | Dave Taylor D |
| 76 | Ron Sutter E |
| 77 | Rejean Lemelin F |
| 78 | Steve Larmer D |
| 79 | Don Beaupre F |
| 80 | Darryl Sutter E |
| 81 | Mark Howe F |
| 82 | Russ Courtnall F |
| 83 | Tony Tanti C |
| 84 | Tim Kerr F |
| 85 | Mike Foligno E |
| 86 | Marty McSorley D |
| 87 | Danny Gare F |
| 88 | Basil McRae F |
| 89 | Brian Sutter E |
| 90 | Rich Sutter E |
| 91 | Stan Smyl E |
| 92 | Al Iafrate F |
| 93 | Jim Neilson E |
| 94 | Pat Stapleton F |
| 95 | Mike Gartner F |
| 96 | Rick Middleton A |
| 97 | Willi Plett D |
| 98 | Gilles Villemure F |
| 99 | Wayne Gretzky A |
| 100 | Gordie Howe A |
WIRE PHOTO AUTOS (101-120)
Overall Odds 1:354
Group A Odds 1:2,145
Group B Odds 1:1,247
Group C Odds 1:642
| Card # | Player |
| 101 | Wayne Gretzky B |
| 102 | Mario Lemieux A |
| 103 | Gordie Howe C |
| 104 | Bobby Orr C |
| 105 | Brett Hull A |
| 106 | Mark Messier A |
| 107 | Patrick Roy A |
| 108 | Luc Robitaille C |
| 109 | Marcel Dionne B |
| 110 | Bobby Clarke C |
| 111 | Ray Bourque B |
| 112 | Denis Potvin B |
| 113 | Red Kelly C |
| 114 | Phil Esposito A |
| 115 | Johnny Bower C |
| 116 | Mike Bossy B |
| 117 | Ted Lindsay C |
| 118 | Larry Robinson B |
| 119 | Jean Beliveau A |
| 120 | Wendel Clark A |
WIRE PHOTO MULTI-PLAYER AUTOS (121-130)
Overall Odds 1:2,093
Group A Odds 1:24,000
Group B Odds 1:2,293
| Card # | Player |
| 121 | Larry Robinson/Dale Hawerchuk B |
| 122 | Brad Park/Bill Barber B |
| 123 | Wayne Gretzky/Gordie Howe B |
| 124 | Mark Messier/Jari Kurri B |
| 125 | Gordie Howe/Johnny Bower B |
| 126 | Bobby Hull/Stan Mikita B |
| 127 | Ted Lindsay/Gordie Howe B |
| 128 | Tony Esposito/Bobby Orr B |
| 129 | Phil Esposito/Bobby Clarke/Bobby Orr A |
| 130 | Phil Esposito/Johnny Bucyk/Bobby Orr A |
RENDITIONS COLOR AUTOS (131-150)
Overall Odds 1:614
Group A Odds 1:11,993
Group B Odds 1:1,353
Group C Odds 1:1,241
| Card # | Player |
| 131 | Wayne Gretzky B |
| 132 | Bobby Orr C |
| 133 | Gordie Howe B |
| 134 | Mario Lemieux A |
| 135 | Brett Hull A |
| 136 | Patrick Roy B |
| 137 | Mark Messier B |
| 138 | Guy Lafleur B |
| 139 | Stan Mikita B |
| 140 | Mike Bossy B |
| 141 | Bobby Hull B |
| 142 | Bobby Clarke B |
| 143 | Ray Bourque B |
| 144 | Dale Hawerchuk C |
| 145 | Cam Neely B |
| 146 | Rogie Vachon C |
| 147 | Peter Stastny C |
| 148 | Darryl Sittler C |
| 150 | Gilbert Perreault C |
RENDITIONS BLACK & WHITE AUTOS (151-160)
Overall Odds 1:3,214
| Card # | Player |
| 151 | Patrick Roy |
| 152 | Bobby Orr |
| 153 | Guy Lafleur |
| 154 | Phil Esposito |
| 155 | Mark Messier |
| 156 | Jean Beliveau |
| 157 | Bobby Hull |
| 158 | Gordie Howe |
| 159 | Mario Lemieux |
| 160 | Wayne Gretzky |
CHAMP’S MINIS AUTOS (1-45)
Overall Odds 1:80
Group A Odds 1:1,645
Group B Odds 1:808
Group C Odds 1:413
Group D Odds 1:334
Group E Odds 1:191
| Card # | Player |
| 2 | Denis Savard B |
| 3 | Stan Mikita A |
| 4 | Adam Oates E |
| 5 | Alex Delvecchio E |
| 8 | Don Cherry B |
| 9 | Andy Bathgate C |
| 10 | Borje Salming B |
| 11 | Clark Gillies C |
| 12 | Dale Hawerchuk D |
| 13 | Denis Potvin C |
| 15 | Duane Sutter E |
| 16 | Gilbert Perreault D |
| 17 | Jari Kurri D |
| 18 | Cam Neely C |
| 19 | Larry Robinson C |
| 20 | Marcel Dionne C |
| 21 | Red Kelly E |
| 22 | Scotty Bowman A |
| 23 | Rogie Vachon B |
| 24 | Ted Lindsay D |
| 25 | Terry O’Reilly D |
| 26 | Doug Gilmour C |
| 27 | Johnny Bucyk C |
| 28 | Luc Robitaille B |
| 29 | Tony Esposito A |
| 30 | Steve Shutt B |
| 32 | Mark Howe E |
| 33 | Darryl Sittler B |
| 35 | Igor Larionov A |
| 36 | Ron Francis A |
| 37 | Willie O’Ree E |
| 38 | Wendel Clark A |
| 39 | Ron Hextall B |
| 40 | Glenn Anderson B |
| 41 | Joe Sakic A |
| 42 | Ray Bourque A |
| 43 | Peter Stastny C |
| 44 | Johnny Bower D |
| 45 | Grant Fuhr A |
CHAMP’S MINIS SHORT-PRINT AUTOS (46-57)
Overall Odds 1:1,115
Group A Odds 1:12,005
Group B Odds 1:2,183
Group C Odds 1:2,814
| Card # | Player |
| 46 | Bobby Hull B |
| 47 | Patrick Roy A |
| 48 | Mark Messier B |
| 49 | Brett Hull B |
| 50 | Bobby Orr C |
| 51 | Phil Esposito B |
| 52 | Bobby Clarke C |
| 53 | Mario Lemieux A |
| 54 | Guy Lafleur B |
| 55 | Mike Bossy C |
| 56 | Gordie Howe B |
| 57 | Wayne Gretzky B |
Ask Upper Deck: Will Upper Deck be attending the Fall Expo and running your Priority Signings wrapper redemption program and have other fun giveaways like you have in the past?
Gregg Cacioppo: Yes, we will be attending the 2011 Sportscard & Memorabilia Fall Expo in Toronto on November 11, 12 and 13. We will have our popular Priority Signings program taking place as well, but fans will need to make sure they are purchasing their boxes of 2011 NHL Parkhurst Champions, 2011-12 NHL Artifacts or 2011-12 NHL Upper Deck Series One from a Certified Diamond Dealer in attendance at the show. Those retailers will be providing customers with special vouchers they can redeem at the Upper Deck booth for Priority Signings cards as customers open up packs. We will be sharing a lot more information on this show the week before it takes place.
Upper Deck has a lot of great activities at the Expo to keep fans fired up throughout the weekend. Don't miss it!
Never been to the Expo before? Take a look at what you can expect if you make it out by clicking here.
Ask Upper Deck: I’m excited about the new Biography of a Season program, but I’d love to see some of the actual cards. Especially the card of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins!
Gregg Cacioppo: We love that we have been able to engage our fans and have them help contribute to the cards that will be found in the 2011-12 NHL Biography of a Season set. We did run into one issue with regard to one of the cards we planned to produce which was a tribute to the former NHL players who passed away in the offseason. There was no way to really showcase all the players who passed away and do justice to them on one trading card. Additionally there were other licensing challenges we were faced with. We had to replace that card with a card highlighting the NHL’s return to Winnipeg which we think collectors will enjoy since that is such a huge story. We apologize to fans who were looking forward to seeing the commemorative card, we just were not able to pull it off. In the meantime, check out some of the images of some of the other cards in the set!
My goal as Upper Deck’s Customer Care Supervisor is to help educate our collectors and fans so they can have a better experience with our collectible products. I’ve found that we get a lot of similar calls into our call center so it is beneficial to share what those questions are and provide answers in a public format here on the blog. You will find some really great information about our industry just by going through some of these “Ask UD” segments here on the blog. If you have questions yourself, please feel free to leave a comment and “Ask UD!”
Ask Upper Deck: When will we know who the Young Guns will be in 2011-12 NHL Upper Deck Series One?
Gregg Cacioppo: Well the season is now underway which is awesome. Sean Couturier of the Philadelphia Flyers played last night so he is clear to use and there are a variety of key rookies who will hit the ice this weekend allowing us to make cards of them. Our hockey team is in for a busy weekend monitoring who skates and then compiling the checklist for the 2011-12 NHL Upper Deck Series One Young Guns set. We should have that checklist finalized within the next 1-2 weeks so look for details on that soon!
There is always a lot of excitement about which players will be in the Upper Deck Young Guns set!
Ask Upper Deck: I think your new University of Texas and University of Oklahoma Football card sets are really cool, but when will you make a card set for my college football program?
Gregg Cacioppo: These sets have really captured the imagination of college football fans and that is what we were hoping for. We are excited about launching them with two storied programs like the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners. And we know that college football fans are very passionate so you can expect that UD will produce trading card sets for some of the other larger programs in the future. Additionally, you can still plan on seeing players from smaller schools throughout our other mainstream college football sets like SP Authentic and the new College Football Legends set coming out towards the holidays this year. Feel free to share what programs and players you would like to see us target for future sets in the comments section below.
Ask Upper Deck: I was hoping you could share some print run information on 2011-12 NHL O-Pee-Chee autograph and memorabilia cards.
Gregg Cacioppo: We do not make it a practice to share print run information on cards that are not already sequentially numbered. We will on occasion release some groupings however with odds of pulling the cards and we are happy to do that now with 2011-12 NHL O-Pee-Chee. Here is the list of the different groupings in that set:
| O-Pee-Chee Signatures | ||
| Card # | Subject(s) | Ratio |
| OS-BB | Brian Boyle A | Group A 1:103,626 |
| OS-AH | Ales Hemsky B | Group B 1:8,726 |
| OS-AO | Alexander Ovechkin B | Group B 1:8,726 |
| OS-MO | John Moore B | Group B 1:8,726 |
| OS-NB | Niclas Bergfors B | Group B 1:8,726 |
| OS-DB | David Backes C | Group C 1:5,527 |
| OS-KV | Kris Versteeg C | Group C 1:5,527 |
| OS-PM | Peter Mueller C | Group C 1:5,527 |
| OS-AL | Andrew Ladd D | Group D 1:937 |
| OS-AS | Alex Stalock D | Group D 1:937 |
| OS-DS | Drayson Bowman D | Group D 1:937 |
| OS-JO | Jim O’Brien D | Group D 1:937 |
| OS-JV | Jakub Voracek D | Group D 1:937 |
| OS-KD | Kaspars Daugavins D | Group D 1:937 |
| OS-KS | Kevin Shattenkirk D | Group D 1:937 |
| OS-AK | Arturs Kulda E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-BM | Brett MacLean E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-JA | Jamie Arniel E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-JM | Justin Mercier E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-MA | Jacob Markstrom E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-MT | Mattias Tedenby E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-MZ | Mats Zuccarello E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-PB | Patrik Berglund E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-RB | Richard Bachman E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-RM | Ryan McDonagh E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-TM | Thomas McCollum E | Group E 1:307 |
| OS-TT | Tomas Tatar E | Group E 1:307 |
| O-Pee-Chee Team Canada Signatures | ||
| TC-AC | Andrew Cogliano A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-AP | Alex Pietrangelo A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-BO | Bobby Orr A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-BY | Brayden Schenn A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-DD | Drew Doughty A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-EK | Evander Kane A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-HA | Taylor Hall A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-JE | Jordan Eberle A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-JT | John Tavares A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-LC | Logan Couture A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-MD | Matt Duchene A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-MT | Maxime Talbot A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-PM | Patrick Marleau A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-PS | P.K. Subban A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-SC | Sidney Crosby A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-SG | Simon Gagne A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-SS | Steven Stamkos A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-WG | Wayne Gretzky A | Group A 1:1,836 |
| TC-CH | Cody Hodgson B | Group B 1:1,407 |
| TC-GL | Guillaume Latendresse B | Group B 1:1,407 |
| TC-JC | Jared Cowen B | Group B 1:1,407 |
| TC-KA | Karl Alzner B | Group B 1:1,407 |
| TC-SD | Stefan Della Rovere B | Group B 1:1,407 |
| TC-TH | Travis Hamonic B | Group B 1:1,407 |
| TC-BS | Brandon Sutter C | Group C 1:944 |
| TC-CA | Jordan Caron C | Group C 1:944 |
| TC-MS | Marco Scandella C | Group C 1:944 |
| TC-PC | Patrice Cormier C | Group C 1:944 |
| TC-TE | Tyler Ennis C | Group C 1:944 |
| O-Pee-Chee Souvenirs | ||
| OPC-#1#2 | Wayne Gretzky/Mario Lemieux/Sidney Crosby/Alexander Ovechkin A | Group A 1:37,404 h |
| OPC-GR8 | Mario Lemieux/Mark Messier/Joe Sakic/Steve Yzerman A | Group A 1:37,404 h |
| OPC-PIM | Colton Orr/Daniel Carcillo/Matt Carkner/George Parros B | Group B 1:29,923 |
| OPC-CAPS | Alexander Ovechkin/Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Semin/Mike Green (Wa Capitals) C | Group C 1:14,962 |
| OPC-DET | Henrik Zetterberg/Johan Franzen/Nicklas Lidstrom/Pavel Datsyuk D | Group D 1:2,494 |
| OPC-LBBR | P.K. Subban/Carey Price/Tomas Plekanec/Michael Cammalleri D | Group D 1:2,494 |
| OPC-PENS | Evgeni Malkin/Jordan Staal/Sidney Crosby/Marc-Andre Fleury D | Group D 1:2,494 |
| OPC-BLUES | Jaroslav Halak/Patrik Berglund/David Backes/David Perron E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-BOLTS | Steven Stamkos/Vincent Lecavalier/Martin St. Louis/Victor Hedman E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-BOS | Zdeno Chara/Patrice Bergeron/Tuukka Rask/Tim Thomas E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-BUF | Thomas Vanek/Tyler Myers/Nathan Gerbe/Tyler Ennis E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-CBJ | Derick Brassard/Rick Nash/Jakub Voracek/Nikita Filatov E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-CGY | Jarome Iginla/Miikka Kiprusoff/Jay Bouwmeester/Rene Bourque E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-CHI | Jonathan Toews/Patrick Kane/Marian Hossa/Brent Seabrook E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-DAL | Jamie Benn/Brad Richards/Loui Eriksson/Alex Goligoski E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-FLYER | Daniel Briere/Jeff Carter/Scott Hartnell/Daniel Carcillo E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-LAK | Jonathan Quick/Drew Doughty/Anze Kopitar/Ryan Smyth E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-NASH | Pekka Rinne/Shea Weber/Ryan Suter/Patric Hornqvist E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-NJD | Travis Zajac/Patrik Elias/Zach Parise/David Clarkson E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-NUCKS | Roberto Luongo/Alexandre Burrows/Ryan Kesler/Alexander Edler E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-NYI | Josh Bailey/Matt Moulson/Kyle Okposo/Rick DiPietro E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-NYR | Henrik Lundqvist/Marc Staal/Marian Gaborik/Derek Stepan E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-OTT | Jason Spezza/Nick Foligno/Daniel Alfredsson/Sergei Gonchar E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-POE1 | John Tavares/Cody Hodgson/Jordan Eberle/Evander Kane E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-POE2 | P.K. Subban/Tyler Myers/Alex Pietrangelo/Keith Aulie E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-POE3 | Patrice Cormier/Jamie Benn/Stefan Della Rovere/Zach Boychuk E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-SABRE | Derek Roy/Ryan Miller/Drew Stafford/Jason Pominville E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-SJS | Joe Thornton/Dany Heatley/Patrick Marleau/Devin Setoguchi E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-VAN | Ryan Kesler/Henrik Sedin/Daniel Sedin/Cody Hodgson E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-WILD | Jose Theodore/Pierre-Marc Bouchard/Mikko Koivu/Niklas Backstrom E | Group E 1:156 |
| OPC-WPG | Dustin Byfuglien/Ondrej Pavelec/Evander Kane/Tobias Enstrom E | Group E 1:156 |
Ask Upper Deck: Any new redemption updates?
Gregg Cacioppo: Now that the NHL season is underway, we have a much better opportunity to track players down. We expect to see some movement on items from delinquent signers over the next couple months so make sure to watch your redemption account for when new products come in.
In terms of what the redemption team is working on right now, the main project is the Goodwin Champions Entomology cards. These are all different sizes so packaging them takes a lot of time, but its worth so that our customers have a great mail day when their specimens arrive! Those are all in the process of mailing right now. Additionally, the Derrick Rose autograph cards have been checked for quality and are in the shipping process. Next up are the P.K. Subban SPx rookie autograph cards that are currently in the production process and should be ready to ship in the coming weeks.
Ask Upper Deck: How do I get a job at Upper Deck?
Gregg Cacioppo: That can be a little tough. I actually started as an intern for Upper Deck which was great because I was able to get to know all the different business units and find out what I liked the best. I was offered a position while interning and the rest is history. It is very difficult for us to go out into the job market and find someone who knows a ton about our industry, so we do a lot of promoting from within. Most employment opportunities for Upper Deck are entry-level at our Carlsbad, California or Morrisville, North Carolina facilities.
Currently we are looking to ramp up our efforts with redemptions and we are hiring on a new Redemption Clerk for our Morrisville, North Carolina facility. Here’s the job description:
POSITION SUMMARY
Responsible for processing Upper Deck Company redemption cards into the on-line Redemptions system including pulling, quality checking, hand numbering, packaging and mailing out redemption cards to the customer. Update redemption inventory into Sam tracker. Organize the process flow of redemptions. Monitor and update expired redemption inventory when redemption cards expire. Responsible for linking every redemption created from Sam tracker to Redemptions manager application. Assist sports coordinators with post production verification of UDC product.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Data entry; on-line redemptions.
- Fulfillment; pulling, quality checking, hand numbering, packaging and manifesting via FedEx, UPS and regular mail.
- Modifies and creates data associated with redemption card information.
- Receives and inputs completed redemptions into Sam tracker.
- Monitors and removes upcoming expired redemptions.
- Inputs card identification number from Sam Tracker into redemption manager for every redemption card created.
- Assists Sports Coordinators by verifying end of job sheets and confirming if inventory is needed.
- Qualifies customer physical mail against unique Salesforce.com case #’s to verify contents and issue reported.
- Open product, generate winner list and fulfill No Purchase Necessary program entries.
- Organize and sort EOJ and QA card allocations.
EDUCATION/YEARS EXPERIENCE
- High School Diploma.
- 1+ years of experience in the field of shipping, receiving, or logistics.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
- Basic knowledge of commonly used shipping/receiving industry concepts, practices, and procedures.
- Competent oral and written communication skills in English; additional languages a plus.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple, high priority projects with a keen attention to detail.
- Professional demeanor; team player orientation.
- Relies on instructions and standard operating procedures. Works under immediate supervision while exercising minimal independent judgment.
- Hands on, energetic and motivated self-starter.
- Basic data entry abilities.
- Proficiency in the following software or systems: MS Office (basic Word and Excel); manifesting; FedEx and UPS.
If you are in the North Carolina area and interested at getting your foot in the door with our organization, you can email your resume and cover letter for this position to UpperDeckMarketing@upperdeck.com. Good luck!
My goal as Upper Deck’s Customer Care Supervisor is to help educate our collectors and fans so they can have a better experience with our collectible products. I’ve found that we get a lot of similar calls into our call center so it is beneficial to share what those questions are and provide answers in a public format here on the blog. You will find some really great information about our industry just by going through some of these “Ask UD” segments here on the blog. If you have questions yourself, please feel free to leave a comment and “Ask UD!”
Here are some of the questions we’ve received recently in Customer Care:
Ask Upper Deck: I redeemed my 2010 Exquisite Football redemptions some time ago, but I haven’t received them yet, nor do I know who I will be receiving. When will I get these?
Gregg Cacioppo: We changed up the way we redeem some of these hard-signed cards for 2010 Exquisite Football to eliminate situations where customers are waiting on particular athletes to sign their cards for years. We produced less redemption cards so we could cut ties with players who are not signing in an expeditious fashion for us and begin fulfilling for collectors from the pool of cards we have received in. We now have enough cards in for some groups from the Exquisite Football product that we can begin fulfilling them.
Collectors who busted 2010 Exquisite Football will start to see a portion of their redemptions shipping shortly.
These cards will be shipped to collectors at random so those who redeemed them will not know which cards they will get until that envelope arrives at their door; kind of like opening a pack. We can however share a listing of some of the players available so collectors have a better idea of what to expect. Among the players we are currently sending out, collectors may find signatures from Ronnie Brown, Tony Romo, Ben Tate, Bo Jackson, Mark Sanchez, Matt Ryan, C.J. Spiller, Jahvid Best, Ryan Matthews, Bernie Kosar, John Capelletti, Charles White, Dan Marino, George Rogers, Jack Ham and Garrett Graham.
Will Tony Romo be arriving at your door?
Or will it be something even more rare like this triple signed card of Ryan, Sanchez and Romo.
The majority of the remaining content consists of 2010 rookies in particular. Great efforts are being made to get the remaining cards signed so we can begin shipping other groups of these cards later on this season.
Ask Upper Deck: I saw your previews of 2010-11 NHL The Cup on Facebook and want to buy some packs of these cards, but some dealers are saying the are already sold out and the product isn’t even out yet. How can I get some packs of this product?
Gregg Cacioppo: This is the most limited NHL trading card product we produce all season and it is in very high demand. We would love to just produce more of it to meet customer demand, but our business is different than most others since we are making a collectible product. If we were to number cards higher and make more packs, 2010-11 NHL The Cup would cease to be as collectible and would ultimately be less desirable. We would rather apologize for it being tough to find and loaded with great content, than to mass produce it and have collectors disappointed with what the received after opening packs.
NHL collectors cannot wait to get their hands on new packs of 2010-11 NHL The Cup which is set to release August 31.
Many shops pre-sell the product so even though 2010-11 NHL The Cup will not release in stores until August 31, there is the chance shops may have already sold through their allocation of the product. If you are looking to get the product, make sure to reach out to your shop owner now so he can get reserve a pack for you.
Collectors hope to find super-rare autograph inserts like these Legendary Cuts cards featuring authentic signatures of deceased legends.
Only Upper Deck can deliver Wayne Gretzky trading cards to collectors and there will be some "great ones" in 2010-11 NHL The Cup.
UD pulls out all the stops to make the release of The Cup memorable for collectors by loading it with great content. The only difficult part is tracking down the packs before they have all been sold!
That being said, we highly encourage collectors to be careful with where they purchase 2010-11 NHL The Cup in particular. Since it is such a high-end release, we have seen issues where people play games with the product by carefully opening the product, taking out the better cards and then trying to reseal it to sell to an excited collector who thinks they are getting a good deal. PLEASE make sure you are only purchasing a high-end product like this from Certified Diamond Dealers or our network of Authorized Internet Retailers. We cannot assist collectors with issues if the product is purchased from a non-authorized source.
Ask Upper Deck: I pulled a redemption card for Derrick Rose, when is he going to be signing?
Gregg Cacioppo: Great news, Derrick recently finished a signing session for us this week and we received autograph cards for redemption request from sets like 2011 All-Time Greats Basketball, 2011 SP Authentic Basketball, 2011 Goodwin Champions, 2010 SP Authentic Basketball and 2008-09 SP Rookie Threads Basketball. We are in the process of checking the cards for any potential quality issues then we will be packaging them and shipping them out to fans from there.
Ask Upper Deck: I saw previews of the 2011 Goodwin Champions Entomology cards at the 2011 National Sports Collectors Convention, but when will they all be done and ship out?
Gregg Cacioppo: I am pleased to share that Upper Deck has completed the production of the 2011 Goodwin Champions Entomology cards this week. The cards are in the process of being shipped to our redemption center where they will be checked for quality, packaged and shipped to customers in the United States who have redeemed them. Packaging these cards can take awhile as they are not traditional trading cards. Extra care is taken to make sure collectors get them in great condition. We anticipate they will begin shipping in early September.
There are quite a few new creepy crawly critters in the 2011 Goodwin Champions Entomology insert set.
Here’s more on the cards from UD’s Grant Sandground.
And here is the full checklist of Entomology cards in the 2011 Goodwin Champions set.
| ENT1 | Frog-legged Beetle |
| ENT2 | Fork Horned Rhino Beetle |
| ENT3 | Malachite |
| ENT4 | Silky Owl Butterfly |
| ENT5 | Painted Jay |
| ENT6 | Rainbow Jewled Beetle |
| ENT7 | Toothed Warior Beetle |
| ENT8 | Blue Stiped Weevil |
| ENT9 | Zebra Nymph Butterfly |
| ENT10 | Umbrella Horned Rhino Beetle |
| ENT11 | Ruddy Daggerwing |
| ENT12 | Blue Violet Jungle Glories |
| ENT13 | Fantsy Click Beetle |
| ENT14 | Teueros Birdwing Butterfly |
| ENT15 | Red Winged Grasshopper |
| ENT16 | Luna Moth |
| ENT17 | Festive Cicada |
| ENT18 | Giraffe Stag Beetle |
| ENT19 | Giant African Emperor Scorpion |
| ENT20 | Giant Water Bug |
| ENT21 | Giant Rice Paper Butterfly |
| ENT22 | Rusty Lace Wing Butterfly |
| ENT23 | Sapphire Damselfly |
| ENT24 | Dead Leaf Butterfly |
| ENT25 | Sunset Moth |
| ENT26 | Grand Owl Butterfly/Harlequin Beetle |
| ENT27 | Peanut Head Lanternfly |
| ENT29 | Snakehead Silk Moth |
| ENT30 | Flashing Walking Stick |
My goal as Upper Deck’s Customer Care Supervisor is to help educate our collectors and fans so they can have a better experience with our collectible products. I’ve found that we get a lot of similar calls into our call center so it is beneficial to share what those questions are and provide answers in a public format here on the blog. You will find some really great information about our industry just by going through some of these “Ask UD” segments here on the blog. If you have questions yourself, please feel free to leave a comment and “Ask UD!”
Gregg and the Customer Care team at Upper Deck work hard to answer all of the tough questions from our customers.
Here are some of the questions we’ve received recently in Customer Care:
Ask Upper Deck: I’m a shop owner and it would be very helpful for me to know when redemption cards are about to expire in a product so I can encourage my customers to open them now. Can you provide me a list? OR I want to purchase some older Upper Deck product, but I don’t want to get an expired redemption since they cannot be honored. Do you have a list of which products have redemptions in them that are about to expire?
Gregg Cacioppo: This is a question we get fairly frequently and we want to help our Certified Diamond Dealers and collectors out by providing a “Last Call” list of products that contain redemptions that are about to expire. Remember, we do not have a program in place to exchange expired cards so this serves as the “Last Call” to open these products and get your redemption cards registered with us online before they are no longer valid.
The following products have time-sensitive redemption cards that are set to expire in the near future:
| Baseball | Expiration Date |
| 2009 Goodwin Champions Baseball | 8/31/2011 |
| 2009 SP Authentic Baseball | 9/18/2011 |
| 2009 Sweet Spot Baseball | 10/14/2011 |
| Basketball | Expiration Date |
| 2008-09 Exquisite Collection Basketball | 7/31/2011 |
| 2009-10 SP Signature Edition Basketball | 8/10/2011 |
| 2009-10 Upper Deck Basketball | 9/7/2011 |
| 2009-10 Exquisite Collection Basketball | 9/24/2011 |
| 2009-10 SP Game-Used Basketball | 10/14/2011 |
| Football | Expiration Date |
| 2009 SPx Football | 9/14/2011 |
| 2009 UD Black Football | 10/12/2011 |
| 2009 SP Threads Football | 10/17/2011 |
| 2009 SP Signature Edition Football | 10/19/2011 |
| Hockey | Expiration Date |
| 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey | 9/10/2011 |
| 2009-10 Upper Deck Black Hockey | 10/1/2011 |
Ask Upper Deck: I see that my 2010-11 NHL SP Authentic Mystery redemptions are now shipping. Any idea on what I may be receiving?
Gregg Cacioppo: We certainly have been fielding a lot of calls on these cards and we can appreciate that customers have been eager to find out what they will be receiving. The main reason for us moving to a program where we do not reveal exactly which card fans may be receiving was to allow us to cut ties with problem signers sooner and get cards in the hands of our fans. This change helps to eliminate situations where we are trying to get cards completed for several years, improving the turnaround time and overall customer experience.
This dual signed card is one of the cards in the mix for the mystery redemption program for this season.
That being said, we are happy to report that we do in fact have enough autograph content in house to begin redeeming most of these cards. They will be shipped out randomly so if you are waiting on one of these cards, you will not know who you will receive until you open the package, much like opening a pack. It is possible we may receive a couple other cards in that will get integrated into the mix later, but we are content with going ahead with these cards at this time as we have enough inventory to handle the total redemption requests.
This is likely the most high-end card from the mystery redemptions. These cards will all be shipped randomly to fans waiting on them.
| 2010-11 NHL SP Authentic Prestigious Pairings Redemptions |
| Martin Brodeur/Ryan Miller |
| Denis Potvin/Mike Bossy |
| Phil Esposito/Tony Esposito |
| Mark Messier/Wayne Gretzky |
| Gordie Howe/Wayne Gretzky |
| Guy Lafleur/Larry Robinson |
| Evgeni Malkin/Jordan Staal |
| Patrick Roy/Ray Bourque |
| 2010-11 NHL SP Authentic Dual Sign of the Times Redemptions |
| Jean-Sebastien Giguere/Martin Brodeur |
| Henrik Lundqvist/Martin Brodeur |
| Joe Sakic/Ray Bourque |
| Alex Pietrangelo/David Backes |
| Drew Doughty/Victor Hedman |
| Jean-Sebastien Giguere/Marc-Andre Fleury |
| Milan Hejduk/Paul Stastny |
| Nicklas Lidstrom/Pavel Datsyuk |
| Evgeni Malkin/Mario Lemieux |
| Bobby Orr/Wayne Gretzky |
| Alexander Ovechkin/Evgeni Malkin |
| Alexander Ovechkin/Semyon Varlamov |
| Dion Phaneuf/Phil Kessel |
| Guy Lafleur/Peter Stastny |
| Devin Setoguchi/Dany Heatly |
| Joe Sakic/Joe Sakic |
| Paul Stastny/Peter Stastny |
| John Tavares/Josh Bailey |
| Evgeni Malkin/Maxime Talbet |
| Jonathan Bernier/Rogie Vachon |
| 2010-11 NHL SP Authentic Triple Sign of the Times Redemptions |
| Jonathan Toews/Marty Turco/Patrick Kane |
| Johan Franzen/Nicklas Lidstrom/Pavel Datsyuk |
| Bobby Orr/Gordie Howe/Wayne Gretzky |
| Bobby Clark/Marcel Dionne/Phil Esposito |
| Jean-Sebastien Giguere/Marc-Andre Fleury/Martin Brodeur |
| Jared Cowen/Nazem Kadri/P.K. Subban |
Ask Upper Deck: I am a huge basketball collector and I’m really excited about 2011 Upper Deck All-Time Greats Basketball, but most of the basketball products I’ve been buying lately have a lot of redemptions. Will there be tons of redemptions in 2011 Upper Deck All-Time Greats Basketball?
Gregg Cacioppo: We have talked about all the things we do to prevent redemptions in new products here before. With regard to the 2011 Upper Deck All-Time Greats product, we delayed the release several times in order to secure as many signing sessions as possible with athletes in the set. We did not want to release a high-end product like this with high rates of redemptions. Our efforts paid off and I am happy to share there are less than 100 total redemption cards in this entire product. This is a pretty amazing feat considering how much hard-signed content exists in this set and we hope it provides for a more thrilling pack opening experience for our fans. Check out some images of the cards!
Ask Upper Deck: When is 2010-11 NHL The Cup coming out? When is 2010-11 NHL The Cup coming out? WHEN is 2010-11NHL The Cup coming out???
Gregg Cacioppo: This is probably the most frequently asked question of the week. Yes, there certainly is a lot of excitement around the release of 2010-11 NHL The Cup and we are thrilled to be able to bring this product to our customers again for another season. The release date was highly contingent on the acquisition of autograph content and we now have enough autograph cards in house to proceed. Upper Deck will be releasing 2010-11 NHL The Cup on August 31, 2011.
Upper Deck's super-premium release of The Cup is always one of the most anticipated dates of the year for hockey collectors.
There have been a few questions about when the checklist will be released as well. As we have shared before, one of the ways we can prevent redemptions is to remove them from a product when we are packing it out. As out staff heads out to North Carolina to begin the process of physically hand-packing out the product, they will make a decision on which redemption cards we will want to remove from the product. We try to pull lower value cards or cards that we think may be pending for awhile. This means we will ultimately make less product and less revenue for the release, but it is worth it to us to make sure our customers have an enjoyable pack opening experience with less redemptions. That being said, we will finalize the checklist when we return and hopefully have it to fans as the product releases.
By the way, make sure to “like” Upper Deck’s Facebook page as we will be previewing images of the cards during the pack out process. As we saw last year, fans really enjoyed getting a sneak peek at many of the great cards in the set.
My goal as Upper Deck’s Customer Care Supervisor is to help educate our collectors and fans so they can have a better experience with our collectible products. I’ve found that we get a lot of similar calls into our call center so it is beneficial to share what those questions are and provide answers in a public format here on the blog. You will find some really great information about our industry just by going through some of these “Ask UD” segments here on the blog. If you have questions yourself, please feel free to leave a comment and “Ask UD!”
Here are some of the questions we’ve received recently in Customer Care:
Ask Upper Deck: Where can we get soccer cards of players from the Women’s World Cup?
Gregg Cacioppo: With the American women having performed so well in the 2011 Women’s World Cup, there has been a tremendous amount of interest in soccer trading cards of the ladies. Upper Deck has autograph deals with many of the top female stars and you can find cards of these players in packs of 2010 Upper Deck Soccer, 2010 Upper Deck World of Sports, 2011 Upper Deck Soccer and 2011 Goodwin Champions. Besides regular, parallel and rookie cards, you can also find game-worn memorabilia and autograph cards of many of these top stars like Hope Solo, Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach in particular. It’s not just American players either, we have also featured international female stars like Marta from Brazil and Aya Miyama from Japan on trading cards.
Wambach and Marta had an amazing battle as the American women bested Brazil.
These types of players are slated to appear in future releases as well. Upper Deck has secured autograph deals with Amy Rodriguez, Jill Loyden, Lori Lindsey, Nicole Barnhardt, Shannon Boxx, Tobin Heath, Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach and Hope Solo to appear in 2011 World of Sports as well as a special high-end soccer release we will be announcing soon. Values on many of the cards in the market are going through the roof after the Women’s World Cup and Upper Deck is thrilled to be able to bring fans these top stars.
Alex Morgan's rookie cards from 2011 Upper Deck Soccer are heating up!
Ask Upper Deck: When can we expect to receive our Goodwin Champions Entomology redemptions?
Gregg Cacioppo: We are working diligently on these cards right now. They are actually assembled by hand so the process is a little slow, but it is important to us to take the time to do these right. As you can see by checking out examples of some of these first cards, taking that extra time is worth it as these cards look fantastic. The production process should last a few more weeks and then we can begin the packaging and shipping process. We will be sharing information on when exactly they will be shipping as we get closer to starting that process.
Ask Upper Deck: Any new players sign recently?
Gregg Cacioppo: Last week was a good week for our Athlete Relations team as we were able to track down a few signers at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles. We were happy to coordinate signing sessions with legends like Julius Erving and Larry Bird. We also secured some signing time with reigning Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. Events like that provide us a great opportunity to acquire autographs of several players at once.
These multi-signed Dr. J cards will soon find their way to the collections of eager fans.
We also received in some autograph cards from a player who we have wanted to bring autograph cards to the hockey market for some time now: Joe Sakic. He is a true legend, but does not sign all that often for trading cards manufacturers. Until now, he’s had redemption cards issued in SP Game-Used and SP Authentic, but you can find his first live autograph cards in 2010-11 NHL Ultimate Collection which releases tomorrow and 2010-11 NHL The Cup which hits store shelves later on this summer. Now check out some of Sakic’s autograph cards from The Cup!
Ask Upper Deck: I know Upper Deck produced a trading card set for Thor, but did you produce one for Captain America? If so, is there anything unique about it?
Gregg Cacioppo: We did produce a trading card set for Captain America and it is loaded with all sorts of awesome elements. It is available in stores now and some of the inserts that are found in these packs have been on fire on eBay. We recently shared information about the sketch cards available in the set, but there are several other awesome inserts worth tracking down.
First up are the movie memorabilia cards featuring swatches of costumes from Captain America. Check out what some of these cards are going for on the secondary market:
Upper Deck's Captain America trading cards are available in stores now!
Steve Rogers costume card sells for $153.39
Captain America Battle Gear card sells for $171.00
Bucky Barnes costume card sells for $260.00
Captain America Golden Age costume card sells for $135.00
Next up is an unannounced insert that we were able to include in this set. We procured an original copy of “The Avengers #4” Marvel comic book in less than ideal condition and cut panels out to be used in special “Ultimate Panel Focus” insert cards in the set. This is the issue where Captain America joins the Avengers so it is of extreme importance to the series. Check out what some of these cards have been selling for online:
Upper Deck actually cut out key panels from "The Avengers #4" comic where Captain America joins the team!
Captain America Ultimate Panel Focus card sells for $99.95
Captain America Ultimate Panel Focus card sells for $90.00
More of these cards are popping up with sellers looking for much more as interest on these cards being inserted into the product increases.
Ask Upper Deck: I saw that Upper Deck wants us to purchase our packs from Certified Diamond Dealers at the National Sports Collectors Convention to take part in your promotions. How do we know who these dealers are and what happens if we purchase Upper Deck packs from another source at the show?
Gregg Cacioppo: Excellent question. We will have a posting of Certified Diamond Dealers at the booth along with a listing of which products fans need to purchase to take part in our promotions. Upon purchasing those packs from our authorized partners, you will receive a special voucher that you can bring to the Upper Deck booth to receive your Upper Deck National Exchange pack for that day. If you purchase a North Carolina Hobby box from these partners, you will receive a special raffle ticket you can bring to the Upper Deck booth for your chance to win a Michael Jordan University of North Carolina signed jersey from Upper Deck Authenticated. So there are plenty of reasons to make sure you are purchasing your Upper Deck packs from the right places.
Just purchasing this box from a Certified Diamond Dealer at the National will give you the opportunity to score a signed Michael Jordan UNC jersey!
Should you choose to purchase from an unauthorized source, you will not be able to participate in Upper Deck promotions at the National, nor will you be able to receive assistance on the product should their be any issues with it from our Customer Care division. We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to purchase Upper Deck products from the right source at that show in particular.
