It all starts with the unions in my opinion. They push and push and push for trades to get paid more. So we now pay tradesman $150000 a year that build these shopping centers which then makes rent expensive, $13 for a damn sandwich etc. I'm a trade and I just think its absurd what some get paid. The desal plant is a prime example, I had a mate who was a head foremen, taking home just under $4000 a week, now he's complaining about the extra $300 that will be wacked on the bills to pay for it next year. I understand unions are to help people but it's killing this state in my opinion anyway.
What killed the hobby in the 90s
- Thread starter biggi5malls
- Start date
The thing that I remember that is very different today is just the general availability of cards. I had been out of the hobby (yes, slowed up not long after Jorday first retired) for a long time and during that period I did buy a few packs of cards but only because a random newsagency had some (I'm talking 1 sighting a year type of thing). I wasn't playing BBall any less, just not seeing any cards.
I only got back into cards because I was looking to see how much my collection had changed price wise, came across this great site called..OCT, which is when I realised the Hobby was alive and well.
So for me, Jordan killed it on retirement. But also the newsagencies and shops where you didn't even see the product helped with it's downturn. I realise it is hard to sell products without a customer base and that with the variety of products that it's almost a Hobby shop only venture anyway, but I have no doubt that if I still saw the product during the period after Jordan, I would have still stayed in touch with the hobby. Even today, AFL and NRL (even Soccor) can be obtained at the local newsagency but BBall is nowhere to be found...only the internet. You had to actively be looking for cards, no chance for a value add buy to kick the interest off.
Was the same or similer downturn seen in the US?
I only got back into cards because I was looking to see how much my collection had changed price wise, came across this great site called..OCT, which is when I realised the Hobby was alive and well.
So for me, Jordan killed it on retirement. But also the newsagencies and shops where you didn't even see the product helped with it's downturn. I realise it is hard to sell products without a customer base and that with the variety of products that it's almost a Hobby shop only venture anyway, but I have no doubt that if I still saw the product during the period after Jordan, I would have still stayed in touch with the hobby. Even today, AFL and NRL (even Soccor) can be obtained at the local newsagency but BBall is nowhere to be found...only the internet. You had to actively be looking for cards, no chance for a value add buy to kick the interest off.
Was the same or similer downturn seen in the US?
it will be amazing to see wat it was like back in the 90s, the whole vibe must have been completely different. And also something that may have affected it might have been the price due to items like autos and gameused cards completely made people stop collecting.
What killed the hobby market/ hobby stores in australia wasn't Jordan's retirement. I was in sydney when he first retired and there were plenty of stores around selling bkball cards - even news agents and all were doing a great trade. Yes they were selling other sports also, but bkball was the big seller. When the dollar began to decrease in international value, stores started closing up and when it finally crashed to US$0.43, that was it. The market could have picked up however if Mr Howard and Mr Costello hadn't have set a fixed trade rate of US$0.53/AU$1. That has really prevented the market from returning to any semblance of what it used to be. I know when Dee's Comics here in Belconnen, ACT was buying her boxes from STar in Melbourne, she had no choice but be selling them at 125% of us retail. You have to also add in John Howard's "All-Inclusive" GST - that conveniently doesn't cover import or shipping tariffs. So, if you ask me, Federal Liberals killed our market in the late 1990's.
Michael Jordan was the reason to collect cards in the 90's and his retirements caused massive spikes in sales because people thought they would be worth a mint. Then there was the overproduction thing, pretty much anything from 1990-1996 was produced like they were printing money! Bloody worthless bar a few examples.
ozballer23
#1 J.R. Smith Collector
A_Iverson_I
OzCardTrader
Maybe Jordan had a little bit to do with it, but not much I'd say. I'd say the $ as mentioned was the major factor and perhaps "Magic the Gathering" haha
I always remembered the days when NBA cards started to drop off, and I kept seeing all the kids now buying/playing with MTG cards and it pissed me off lol... like it was the new thing and they got bored of NBA cards.
I always remembered the days when NBA cards started to drop off, and I kept seeing all the kids now buying/playing with MTG cards and it pissed me off lol... like it was the new thing and they got bored of NBA cards.
Even though the dollar is one to one now with the greenback, australia's import rate is still US$0.53 - that's what I mean by howard/costello fixing it. Pretty much until a treasury does a complete overhaul of australia's import policies, that's going to be the rate. That's why electricals and cars are so damned expensive. that and the "not-all-inclusive" GST.
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