I’ve collected for many years, but now tend to find that most of my collection is just boxed up in 5000 count boxes and plastic sleeves. A unique way to maybe grow the hobby is to make cards “art” that can be hung in picture frames to display. Imagine someone coming to your house and having a conversation piece of local heroes or rookie cards of custom framed cardboard? Varying templates could be created to hold various sets of cards…starting lineups, etc. Possibilities are endless.

I work with at risk kids and I feel that getting these kids involved in card collecting gives them a positive outlet. I also know that Upper Deck teams with schools and local shops but what about continued outreach to places such as social services and community service boards. Even offer ways for collectors to also give back and donate time and redemption to these kids.

Hi Upper Deck,
My suggestion would be having special tickets inside specific hockey boxes for redeeming NHCD packs on a regular basis. Say like for 2015-2016 these NHCD pack redeeming tickets will be inserted in random SPX boxes, 2016-2017 the NHCD redeeming tickets will be inserted in random SP Game Used Boxes, etc etc.
This idea came from hearing that many kids and collectors were not able to participate in the awesome NHCD festivities due to where they live or their local stores not participating. If there is an added opportunity for these collectors to receive these fun NHCD packs I think it would be awesome! It also shows that UD is listening and willing to make an already popular and successful program even more awesome!! (thumbs up)
Personally I was able to visit 3 stores on NHCD and truly appreciate this event! I would like to see UD expand this very meaningful program to many more future generations of collectors.

Cheers!!
Eva

A few tips:

1. We all know and love National Hockey Card Day right? Well it is a fun event and is certainly something that is highly anticipated every time it comes around I think that there are ways of improving this.

-Open it up to all sports

-We love the special commemorative packs for the day but what if to make it even more intriguing you opened it up to any UD product with the exceptions of top-end products like the cup. That way fans will be able to experience the full range of UD’s products.

The question you’re probably asking is “Won’t this lose us money?” And the simple answer is yes, but short term. This will hook people of all ages to collecting and they will start purchasing Upper Deck more often and reccomend it to their friends and family.

2. While card collecting use to be for any cards, as there were not always inserts, the timds have changed and I have an idea that I think if Upper Deck adapted, although costly for production, I think would encourage people to collect for years to come. The idea:

-instead of only having the high up products with every card being an insert card, try to implement insert cards into more products that will be more affordable to the casual customer…the low level products.

Am I suggesting that upper deck make every card in every product an insert card? Absolutely not, that would inflate the trading card market and bring down value significantly.

What I am suggesting is that upper deck have a hit in each pack of each product made.

The result:

-short term loss of money
-long term gain of money
-long term increase of customers
-A chance for ud to further their creative talents

3. Being a huge fan of Upper Deck, one of the most consistent criticism I hear Upper Deck receiving is that they have poor customer service. While I have not had that experience, that is not the point…people have.

My suggestion is that you hire more customer service reps, train them more intensively, and have a very clear protocol for EVERY possible situation. Ensure that ALL employees are very familiar with these terms as are fans.

The result will be more customers, higher customer satisfaction, and better ratings.

4. Tour once in a while. Yes, tour. Upper Deck has fans worldwide who would love to interact. This will also improve satisfaction and improved satisfaction means increased collecting.

5. I know that this will sound silly but the fact is that in this world fans are all about proof. While it is unfortunate, this is where we are at. Upper Deck has a great 5 step authentication process but to enhance trading cards in the future I would include pictures of the memorabilia being handed to ud from the athlete or the athlete signing in packs containing that athletes insert card, or if you really want to improve the trading card industry, include those pictures on the actual cards.

6. Sell higher end products at wal-mart and target, stores like that, temporarily on and off to grab attention and increase awareness and therefore sales and increase in customers. More customers means more money, more customers also ensures future generations of collectors.

I would like to see some lower end kids stuff, but actually put some cool things to pull in it. Kids love jersey cards, autos, or inserts just like adults so don’t just give them a box of nothingness….give them a pull they will remember forever.

The one thing that hurts collecting is redemptions and turnaround time. I would rather a set be produced with 0 redemptions.
Also how about a set that has a numbered base set to give a reason to collect or put together a base set for a change.

Cool to see my friend and fan Julius Fineberg make some suggestions.

Also go heavy on college products and maybe even start in on university and high school products.

How about bringing the custom trading card booths to school fairs and carnivals? Grade schools usual have a big party at the end of the year and Upper Deck could partner with local card shops to help run the booths at nearby schools during these events. This promotes the local card shop, Upper Deck and the hobby overall in one shot.

Thanks for the contest.

Did my previous comment post?

i think you should lower some of your prices for younger generations that cannot afford the expensive stuff but also put some good stuff in there for them.for higher end products i would love to see stanley cup team winners autos/jsys/patches or a mix of them on a card.that would be awesome

It would be nice to have more contests for the future generations where athletes from the different cities and sports spend time with the winners and their friends and do autograph sessions at the local card shops.

I would love to see a product that is driven on rarity again like the 1998 era products. Getting kids into collecting is necessary, but the products that are produced today are either too much money or just too bland to attract collectors. Older sets that have been brought back are nice, but they still are inserted into $120+ dollar boxes. What about a “retro” esque box that had collectable inserts, budget price, plus rare pulls which were extremely limited, not every player in the league having auto’s and jerseys and inserts.

I have kids who love to collect, but getting them packs to open is tough because products which are budget friendly are rare and those which are cheaper offer very little design appeal.

I’d love to see more variance, I’m in a lot of breaks, I find products team stacked where 1 or 2 teams will kill it while others don’t hit a base card.

Come up with a way to help the collector feel confident that the game-used memorabilia is actually game-used by the player on the card. With the debacle that one of your competitors went through, as well as past history, I think that has greatly disvalued these awesome cards, and deflected interest.

I think having a way to have kids directly involved with cards would be good. Like a contest to have their own card in a ud set. Wether it’s an essay contest or drawing contest where they can talk about about cards.

Redemption cards for full sized memorabilia pieces. For instance- signed pucks, helmets, sticks & jerseys.

Here are a few ideas on making this hobby better. Stop restricting the number of licenses per sport. Competition is King. When Topps, Fleer, and Donruss were competing with Upper Deck in all the sports, that competition led to more innovation and drive to have exclusive signers in your products. It also led to greater quality control. Just looking at Topps, and their recent complaints of all those damaged corners, leads you to believe they aren’t trying as hard because the consumer can only by from them in that sport.
Another thing would be to bring back the UpperDeck Rewards program. Many fans were hurt when it ended, because they were working on attaining an item that they couldn’t pull from a pack. Customers didn’t mind buying more cards because even if they only pulled commons, they could add points to their rewards. I lost A LOT of points, but I don’t blame you for that one. I should have gotten that Seabrook signed puck when I had the chance.
One final change and Upper Deck got this right from the start, give the consumer a known hit besides just cards. Pete Rose set came with a known autograph, could have also got signed balls, etc. The Jordan Hall of Fame set had an oversized card or other sets came with a ticket from his inauguration day. Last year there were 16 million unused all-star game ballots. How cool would it have been to offer fans the chance to get one signed by all-star game participants, individually or by league squad. Not sure where all those ballots went, but that would be a lot of great pieces. I would know because I am going to finish getting mine signed by the Chicago All-star game participants this season. Scoreboard had the memorabilia set where you could get signed jerseys, balls, photos, etc. Unfortunately, they went bankrupt before filling the redemptions, but it was a great idea for a set. Customers want to be given the opportunity to attain something that they might not otherwise be able to buy.

As a collector of soccer/football cards, I’d like to see a common ‘certified’ badge or marking on cards with genuine signatures. This marking would be used by UD, Topps, Panini etc to help weed out dodgy companies, mainly Futera. Futera don’t pay for signatures, they either stalk players at training and bombard them with stacks of cards, or give the cards to a third party to do the same, with no proof of authenticity. Cheers UD, love your work.

Have a QR scan on the cards where kids can scan it with their QR Reader on their phone to obtain stats and other information on the player.

Probably a common theme but cheaper price points that still deliver content/hits/parallels etc. my 3 yr old has seen me sort my cards and I give her base to play with and collect but I fear she will not be able to ever save enough for a whole box in the future on a “kids salary” lol I enjoyed ripping wax w my pops when I was young and it was a lot more affordable, cheaper price points would allow me to share w my daughter my love for collecting! Thanks for the opportunity!

Brad

I think something that would be awesome for future collectors is some sort of interactive card collecting social media game. Most kids can’t afford a typical box of cards so peak their interest by developing a promotional tool through Facebook or similar social media app where they can open packs, trade, buy and sell cards with their friends. Local shops are far and few between anymore so kids do not have the exposure they once did. Also having a representative that actually randomly visits some of the store to see how they can specifically help that store better utilize your products and advertisements. Not everyone can take the time or afford to go to the summit. It will also help establish a more personal relationship with your clients.

Have a pack line that is based just for kids that has fun designs and colors.

Not sure if you do this or not, but, you could have a National kids day ( or day’s ) like you did with Hockey last month. Bring your kid/kids into a participating hobby shop and give the children a couple packs of random sports cards.

I’ve been collecting for 30+ years and got started with the $0.50 cent packs. I have 2 boys (22 and 8) who both collect cards. While it’s nice to have the high end sets, don’t forget about the low end packs. Get kids excited to open packs and as they get older and have more money, they’ll upgrade. Don’t lose them early that they can’t afford to get started in this great hobby!

I think best way to bring in feature generations is simple bring back the joy of collecting your facorite player with a modern spin. Like topps did with etopps use the internet and instead timing to make products available in more of a real time. John Tavares scores 5 goals and boom you can realease a card that shows that. You just need to walk the line between availability can collect ability?!? You can engage the new tech driven culture with what they know and maybe make a set that is collected throughout the year in small weekly issues rather than one large box driven release and it gives you time to release the cards but can make their digital versions almost immediately available

My idea to improve trading cards for future generations is to make the cards more affordable for kids. When I was a kid trading cards from Fleer, Donruss, Score, were $.50 a pack and Upper Deck was $1.00 a pack. This made it affordable for me to become a baseball card collector. My family didn’t make a lot of money so this hobby was still affordable for me to do. Many card companies have switched their focus toward adults and are forgetting that in order for this hobby to grow and continue you need to entice a younger audience so that they will continue to collect as they get older.

i think getting kids more involved would be the best way. For example, maybe having a redemption for a child to meet the mascot of there favorite sports team? Or a chance to run the bases at an MLB stadium. That would have been great for kids in the 90’s like I was.

Work with pro teams to give out a product at games that you can get the home team and away team cards with drawings for autos at half time or between periods. Maybe a version of card with a particular embossing so people know they got them at a home game giveaway.

You could randomly insert cards that would give a prize. Let’s day ” congratulations you just won a free pack” these cards could be exchange at Amy diamond dealers.

There are a lot of fans who do not have access to quality hobby shops. I’m one of those. The closest place that doesn’t look like a dungeon of cardboard boxes is just over 150 miles away. This means I have to focus my purchases through specific retailers online. UD has their Authorized Internet Retailer program, but it requires those dealers to also have a brick and mortar store (which, these days is not an easy task to do). Therefore, online competition for product sales (as well as all of the crazy restrictions specifically tied to UD products) makes it hard for me, as a fan, to connect and purchase new UD releases. I love getting excited about new product and chasing my specific players and goals. I wish UD would find a way to better their presence for collectors online. Develop more friendly programs that can assist online stores to sell your products to us collectors while still protecting the brand. Otherwise, us remote fans have limited options to purchase new releases which pulls us further away from Upper Deck.

It’s true – UD is the ONLY company that directly supports stores and collectors. The other guys are just lip service.

I think one thing that the card manufacturers could do is scale back the sheer number of offerings. True collectors can’t keep up and it can be frustrating when there’s so much available of your team or favorite player and yuo just can’t afford it all or evens sometimes find it available for purchase. Speculators should do even better if there’s fewer options because then the cards they choose to stockpile should be even more valuable, right? We’ve become even more immune to the autos/hits per box that anything not signed or low numbered or “rare” just isn’t even worth keeping to a lot of people except the few true player collectors who want one of everything of their guy. Something has to be done to scale back the autos so that they retain some value after the pull. It’s extremely sad to me when I can buy a starting players autograph for less than the cost of a Big Mac, consistently. Like a lot of people, I hope that what I purchase is going to retain some value for future trades or just as a piece of my collection.

Its all about consumer trust. If we cant trust that the products we break wax for arent real (Game used/ autos) then consumers are not going to invest in the product.

Kids. They are the key to keeping the hobby going. Instead of a product that, due to the cost of the autos and inserts prices itself out of their range, include cards with point values that allows for redeeming for autographed and game used cards of their choice. A catalog of cards could easily be maintained online with specific values needed and the points could be redeemed for the card of their choosing. So instead of a Blackhawks fan pulling a Red Wing auto he/she could redeem points for a Red Wing.

Why not 2 or more cards – “classical” player cards who, joined, form one “big” action card?

My son loves stickers and always ask for them when I open up older packs from Upper Deck. It would be nice to see an inexpensive product (maybe multi sport) that is geared towards 3-8 year olds that would give parents a reason to visit hobby shops. If there were sticker and “collect to win” components to it, that would drive interaction. Packs need to be sub $3

Higher rookie content. I think it would help younger collectors to have more first and second year players, and less retired ones on, at least the base checklist

There needs to be a decent “lower” end product that kids are able to purchase, that still would yield a decent number of hits. I know this can be done, because of the amount of common GU & Autos found even in the mid to higher end products that I purchase. I’m not saying every pack holds a hit, but 1 hit per retail or low end box makes younger collectors not to even want to bother with it. Another possibility is to set up a “package” type deal with maybe 1-2 packs of sports cards and 1-2 packs of non sports stuff, with at least 1 hit per package.

I think one thing the card companies could do to make the card industry great for the future would be to lower the prices a little on hobby boxes so kids could be more able to afford them

To protect cards better in packages, it would be wonderful to see cards inserted into a light weight cardboard that has small flaps on the corners of the cards, which a person could tear off to release the card. Of course keep using the lightweight outer wrapping to have the “feel” a person gets from opening the pack.

Upper Deck has grown in leaps & bounds as far as card protection & customer service is concerned. This may eliminate the amount of cards being damaged through shipping, handling etc.

Also, creating a recycling program (redemption) for the wrappers would reduce the amount of waste going into our landfills from the hundreds of thousands of people opening packs.
Or creating wrappers out of a more environmentally friendly material so the material is easier to compost.
Just a few ideas I’ve had to improve trading cards & how they are produced for future generations.

Keep the trading cards affordable for the kids. So that they can stay in the hobby. Also do some events at nhl stadiums and games to get the kids into collecting more. Great products from you guys huge sports fan. Thanks for doing a great job. Matt hansen

Make a set of cards each year that is given out at schools or children’s hospitals to get kids interested in the honby.

PINS!!! PINS!!! PINS!!!

In addition to Upper Deck coming out with their own trading card apps like Topps, I would like to see collectible lapel pins incorporated into cards. Now, I know Topps has done this for a few years in their flagship brand, but those pins are made just for that product. I want Upper Deck to do what it does best and take that idea to the next level. I want Upper Deck to create cards that have high-end collectible pins from past sporting events. Imagine pulling a card of Michael Jordan that contained an authentic NBA Championship media/press pin that only certain people could get at that event. The same could go for the World Series and Super Bowl. This way collectors can receive a rare collectible that isn’t cut up and can easily fit into a trading card.

Have season highlight cards such as hat tricks, shutouts, OT game winners. my autographed inserts.

Try to make more autos and relic cards available in a less expensive line.Not all of us ,especially kids just starting out in the hobby,can afford high end product where you get the best cards.I have been putting together boxes for kids who want to start collecting and giving them away.My little way of spreading the word that sports card collecting is alive and well.

MAKE THEM MORE INTERACTIVE!

MORE WRAPPER REDEMPTIONS!

Awesome stuff from Uppder Deck. Cant wait to get my hands on some of it.

I think it would be great to sponsor a kids day, kind of similar to he “Hockey Day in Canada” and the “Hockey day in the US”, where the emphasis is on kids. Something to get the younger kids excited about the hobby, as many times it is quite expensive for them to get into. I know the shop owners have to pay for these cards, and perhaps some sort of help from Upper Deck could make this event a great success, and get tomorrow’s collectors and hobby enthusiasts interested! I know that my son was pretty excited when I got him his own Black Diamond box and he pulled an Emerald Bobby Orr, especially as Boston is his team!