My time at the shop was a little on the light side last week. Apparently I have a new Memorial Day weekend tradition of passing out at some point during the festivities.
For anyone that follows the Shop Talk series (if you don’t, why the heck not?) you might remember my mishap last year where I passed out face down on my bathroom floor. As much fun as that was, I decided to do it again this year. After working a full and busy shift on Saturday I felt pretty worn down, so I went home and literally laid on the couch until I went to bed that night, which is let’s just say, highly unusual.
I felt okay when I woke up Sunday morning and started doing some random stuff around the house until mid-morning when I felt like I needed to take it easy. I found my new favorite spot on the couch once again but after sitting there for some time I felt nauseous, so I went to the kitchen and the next thing I know I’m laying on my back looking at the ceiling lights in our lovely dining room.
I dusted myself off, got back on my feet and that’s about it. As you could imagine, I felt I should probably take it easy the rest of the day, which I did. On Memorial Day we went to visit my sister in law and her husband and by the end of the day I was a little worn down but I made it to work in one piece on Tuesday. After working both Tuesday and Wednesday I was feeling a little weird again that evening. So, for the first time since this time last year I missed a day, make that two days, of work.
Graduation Day
My daughter had her high school graduation ceremony on Friday night and although it’s 2 hours away, aside from being dead, I wasn’t going to miss that for the world, so we went down and the entire family got to see my baby girl graduate.
There was no rest for the weary as we had a simultaneous graduation and birthday party for a three year-old planned for Sunday afternoon. The party went off without a hitch and I was back to work on Monday like nothing ever happened.
Our part-timers did the best they could in my absence and for that I’m very appreciative.
Product Arrivals
I was beyond happy to see 2021 Prizm Football finally on the shelves when I returned to the shop. Although literally a year late, it is sight for sore eyes as Prizm is one of the biggest and best barometers for the hobby and something I collect personally.
With the price tag attached, I’m pretty sure I can’t afford to open any hobby boxes but maybe I’ll get some scraps as the days and weeks play out and I may be able to add a few key base RCs to the collection. The Mac Jones base is selling for about $80 at the moment, with the other rookies selling for less, which is a far better option than $1,200 or so per box.
We got a sealed case of Prizm Hobby Football that we sold for north of $15,000 before we even put it on display. We have a few loose boxes that are selling for upwards of $1,200 at the moment. We kept two boxes in store in case customers want to rip a few packs for $115 a piece.
To this point I must say I was a little disappointed with the quality of the cards that have been opened. I’ve seen more than one horror story of huge cards being pulled straight from packs with pretty bad print lines, serious off centering, ugly miscuts and more.
Taking Stock…of Prices
As we were pricing and placing Prizm Football and the new WWE Revolution product on the shelves it forced us to take a look at some of our basketball card prices… and it was not pretty. When we comped ours with the lowest on eBay or any reasonable recent sales, sad to say we were very high on some of our 2021-22 products such as Prizm Fast Break, Prizm retail, a number of Donruss products and even Illusions Basketball.
We were also high on some 2019-20 products including various forms of Mosaic, Hoops and Hoops Premium Stock to name a few. Going back even further we were high on Prizm products from 2017-18 including blasters and retail. Going all the way back to 2012-13 we were high on our Hoops blasters but got a small victory when we realized our 2012-2013 Past & Present blasters had significantly gone up in value. Small victories in this case. It’s always a good idea to review your asking prices on a regular basis to stay competitive. You’ll obviously have a better chance of selling if you’re too high yet you don’t want to miss moves in the other direction either.
Even though Monday is a rough day to come back in the shop after being a little under the weather, it was, ultimately, still nice to be back at it.
Thanks for checking out this delayed edition of ShopTalk. I’ll be sure to check in again soon…as long as I’m still upright.
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