I am a big fan of Press Pass too. Never had to deal with redemptions from them or anything, but they normally have some real nice card designs and are at a good price point for what you get. It's a shame they don't have an NFL license. I have seen a few of their Nascar releases and love the car bonnet and tyre relic cards I think they are even if I am not much of a Nascar fan.
I agree about these bigger companies, especially Topps. Like I said though I have personally never had an issue with Panini (maybe I am just lucky!) so I can't bag them too much. As much as we all hate redemptions, I guess the companies are held back quite a bit by some of these guys signing too and they have to decide is it worth issue a redemption or just to take the card out of the set come release time. I do like how Panini have their regular updates on their site with all the different cards autos arriving / that are going out that coming week.
One thing I would like to see the companies do though is what Topps have said they will do with the Topps Chrome redemptions this year - you receive a bonus special Blue Wave pack when you get your redeemed card finally also that can feature another auto itself. This I think helps ease the pain a little from getting a redemption and is something I would like to see Panini do also (like the special release Black Friday packs).
I agree about these bigger companies, especially Topps. Like I said though I have personally never had an issue with Panini (maybe I am just lucky!) so I can't bag them too much. As much as we all hate redemptions, I guess the companies are held back quite a bit by some of these guys signing too and they have to decide is it worth issue a redemption or just to take the card out of the set come release time. I do like how Panini have their regular updates on their site with all the different cards autos arriving / that are going out that coming week.
One thing I would like to see the companies do though is what Topps have said they will do with the Topps Chrome redemptions this year - you receive a bonus special Blue Wave pack when you get your redeemed card finally also that can feature another auto itself. This I think helps ease the pain a little from getting a redemption and is something I would like to see Panini do also (like the special release Black Friday packs).