Cards aren't worth this

 

I stopped by Walgreens last week for a couple of items. As I almost always do, I swung by the toy aisle to see if there were any repacks.

There haven't been any cards there practically since the pandemic, but habits. I've grabbed so many repacks from Walgreens in the past. One of these days they're gonna return.

I reached the middle of the aisle, the customary spot for cards, and in place of the usual hooks and absence of product was this:

Cards -- what few there are -- locked in a case.

My first instinct was to laugh. Finally, Walgreens has something other than repacks, an actual hanger box of this year's Heritage, and it's in a locked glass case.

I was also baffled. This store hasn't featured cards in months, possibly years, Is loss prevention pertaining to trading cards really a big deal for them?

I figured it had to be corporate policy, across all the Walgreens, or at least those in the region or something. So I took a trip across town a couple days later to the other Walgreens to see what it had.

I've never been to that Walgreens before. First impression, it's a lot nicer than the one I go to all the time. I should go to this one instead. I took a tour through the store, trying to decipher the layout, and found the toy section. But there was no glass case. And there were no cards.

Maybe that's why the store looks so nice. No card collectors ransacking the aisles.

But still, cards locked in cases is where I draw the line.

Cards aren't worth it to me to find a manager or store employee and beg for the case to be opened. I won't do that for retail cards. Heck, I don't like it when I go to a card shop and all the product is behind the counter and I have to have a five-part conversation with the employee to get the cards I want.

The only time this kind of set-up is permissible is when I'm at a card show and vintage dealers have those wood-and-glass cases full of stars from the '50s and such. That I understand. But boxes of 2022 Heritage? No.

As a teenager who bought things at drug stores and worked at a drug store, there were three known products stashed behind the counter that required the customer to ask for them: cigarettes, condoms and "men's magazines." It's not like I'm searching those things out these days, but I'm pretty sure I've spotted all three on store shelves out in the open where people can grab them just like a box of air fresheners or bag of onions.

But apparently trading cards have taken the place of tobacco, prophylactics and porn. Nice going, flippers.

Cards aren't worth this kind of behavior. I know everyone thinks they're gonna get rich off of cards -- it's been the rumor ever since the '80s -- but in the vast majority of cases, they're not a life-changer. They're not worth locking up, or stealing. They're not worth walking over half the store to ask for a key from an employee who will say, "just a minute I have to check out these four customers."

I won't do it. The same goes for putting cards at the service desk. I won't go there either. I haven't bought cards at Walmart since they disappeared off shelves and if Target starts locking cards in cases, my visits to that store will be limited to Christmas time.

They're just 2022 cards, you guys.

OK, I've ranted long enough without showing some card pictures. Here is a freebie from Johnny's Trading Spot. He's been giving away nine cards at a time at the end of his posts.

The first row is the best row. I wanted this group solely for the 1993 Action Packed Gil Hodges card, which I had recently put in my COMC cart. The '99 Topps Halladay card is nice, too, and the Archives George Kell is new to me as well. The middle row are all new cards but meh. The bottom row are dupes.

 

Johnny also sent a separate envelope of cards unrelated to the giveaway. Here are the Dodgers. I needed three of them. I can't complain.

And that's a bunch of random Bills (including the Josh Allen at the top of the post).

My Bills and Sabres binders are almost maxed out. I don't want to add more than one binder for each of them so I'm probably going to call a halt to any incoming Buffalo cards sometime in the near future.

But still it's nice to receive cards delivered to my door from fellow bloggers after all these years. No getting in the car, going to the store ... and now, encountering the Locked Case.