I'm not one, but if I were, I might consider pursuing the following business strategies:
1. Print more of all special/chase/1:1 cards than I said I would, up to a threshold where I thought I could avoid blowback
2. Create more and more varieties of special/chase/1:1 cards over time, up to a threshold where I thought I could avoid blowback
3. Be as opaque as possible about how many special/chase/1:1 cards there are, when asked
4. 'Accidentally' make printing mistakes in all directions to benefit myself (more chase cards, intentional error cards, etc) and stimulate demand
5. Utilize 'auditors' to verify that I am adhering to ethical business practices as relates to 1,2,3,4, but, engineer a relationship with the auditor (give them $, cut them in on my profits, etc) to where they aren't actually auditing me
6. Find creative ways to ensure that the actually special/rare cards end up in the hands of my friends and business associates (anyone seen 'McMillions'?)
7. Weaponize other sources of commercial or reputational leverage at my disposal to "encourage" professional athletes to participate in autograph schemes, at the lowest possible cost to me
8. Engineer clever pricing schemes and distribution deals to capture as much of the secondary consumer surplus as possible, implicitly and explicitly. E.g., retailers/ hobby shops that refuse to do business with my competitors, or agree to buy a certain volume from me, or participate in my secondary marketplace, will receive a higher frequency of special/ chase/ 1:1 cards
9. Buy out all of my competitors and/or insist on exclusive licenses with sports leagues and players associations, to effectively establish monopoly power
10. Pay the employees or industry participants who may become aware of these schemes REALLY well, so they are not enticed to speak out
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As an all-knowing, all-powerful, evil sports card publisher, I know that if I go to far with the above, I could crush my business and destroy my credibility (junk wax era?), and I will be canceled by the collecting community, so the key thing is to be subtle, leave enough crumbs for the general public, and try to maintain plausible deniability at all costs.
Are there real guard rails in place against this kind of bad behaviour? -- Whistleblowers, journalists?
Please educate me if I have no reason to be skeptical/ cynical/ thinking along these lines
(***Meant for entertainment purposes***)
