UD CONFIRMS PRODUCT CANCELLATIONS

Supply chain issues have led to the cancellation of two previously announced Upper Deck products. The company revealed that 2020-21 Ice and 2021-22 Trilogy had been pulled from the schedule. “Long story short, Ice and Trilogy rely on some technology that cannot easily be produced right now due to supply chain issues,” the company said in a statement. “Rather than drag those releases out, we will put them on the shelf for now and focus on releases that can be made.” Upper Deckʼs Chris Carlin said collectors shouldnʼt read anything more into the news. “Upper Deck and collectors love the Trilogy and Ice brands,” he said. “As weʼve seen from fan reactions after the announcements, itʼs pretty clear that they donʼt want these brands going away and weʼre happy to say that theyʼre not. The issue lies totally in obtaining the materials necessary to produce technology-based products. Both Trilogy and Ice have a lot of technology incorporated in them. We know that these supply chain issues are going to get better eventually, but it was important for us, already having delayed many products, to move those out of the calendar in order to help unclog the pipeline a bit.” While we wonʼt be opening boxes of either product this season, the hobby will see elements of both brands at some point. “Weʼre very excited about some of the content we had planned for those products and some of the best content will be delivered in other products for this season,” Carlin said. “So fans will find 2020-21 content in the 2021-22 Ice release. Additionally, fans will find some of the 2021-22 Trilogy content in a future release later on this year. So our plan is to deliver some of the best of those products in other products later on when we can acquire the materials to make them without issue, and make sure there is continuity in those sets.” Finding mylar, glue, and even paper are only some of the challenges facing manufacturers. The pandemic has created its own set of issues over the past 24 months. “Putting out the extremely high-quality products that people have come to expect is very challenging in this landscape where weʼre not able to do case checks,” Carlin said of the quality assurance process that typically takes place at printing facilities. Those frustrations however have created new opportunities for the company. “Itʼs a lot of little things, but the greatest opportunity lies in customer engagement and service,” he said. “Upper Deck is the only trading card manufacturer with an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and a customer rating of 4.91. Our goal through this is to make the best products and also have the best customer engagement in the industry where weʼre forming real bonds and creating real experiences for our customers.”