A little new deck related rant...:-@
Righto, let me get this off my chest.
If I pay for a deck to add to my collection, i'm not paying for a collection of loosely gathered cards to be thrown at me, reminiscent of a '52 card pickup'. When you send to me the deck I've requested, and it doesn't come in its own box, a tuck fold of cardboard, or even a suggestion of something robust enough to keep them in one place, then what you're telling me, and everyone else that purchases your deck, is that you don't care about the longevity of your own deck. You're throwing individual cards roughly clustered together at your customers, and if *you* don't give a crap about how your deck will survive beyond delivery, then why the hell should anyone else? "Oh, no, I've bent three cards shoving them in my pocket/purse/handbag/backpack...hey ho, they were crap anyway".
It frustrates me no end - I don't take my cards out under NCIS lab environmental conditions - it's a real world tool, to be carted about, taken to appointments with querents, whipped out in the coffee shop for a quick read over a cappuccino, and subject to those less-than-perfect conditions for something that we want to keep using for years to come. We don't need to add to those risks by having them float around bags and pockets unprotected - that's how cards get ripped, marked, torn, smudged, bent, frayed, dented, scraped, or coated in whatever gack is floating about in the bottom of a handbag or backpack. That's what boxes are for - to protect a deck of cards and to enable us to use them, rather than leaving them under lock and key at home, fearful of ever taking them out.
When a deck rocks up, no box, no case, no pouch, but wrapped in a sliver of plastic, i'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to do with it. I immediately have to trot out and try and find a box or pouch that fits it, which, given one of my decks sat in its original tuck-fold box which was slowly falling apart for over 18 months before i was able to find one that was the right size, isn't necessarily a simple task. Invariably, i'm going to have to settle for something less than ideal, and if it's a wooden box that they end up in, that reduces their portability just down to sheer weight and volume considerations. if it's a pouch that they end up in, that reduces the protection they're afforded.
All this is absolutely and totally assuaged by providing a basic tuck-fold or two-part box in which the cards sit *just so*. Pennies on an order. I think I speak for the vast majority of tarot and oracle card enthusiasts when I say "I'll pay the extra, if it's a cost issue; just don't make it into a quality issue, where I wonder just how crap your deck, your creation, your work of art is, if you don't give it even the most basic levels of protection once you've made a sale off the back of it." That smacks of mercenary behaviour - stack 'em high, sell 'em low - where your pretend love of Tarot or Oracle is belied by your corner cutting, penny-pinching behaviour, and all you want is the product off your shelf, much to the detriment of the purchaser. Caveat emptor, indeed - once burned, I certainly won't purchase from you again, even if you produce the crown jewels of decks in the future. It's short term gain, and long term pain because the Tarot and Oracle community love their decks, love to share them and show them off, and we talk about them, we chat, we ooh and we aah over a fellow Tarotistas new deck, and when someone says 'I wouldn't buy it, it doesn't even come with a box' it puts potential purchasers off, before they've even seen the deck, admired the artwork, the concept, the design, the effort.
Just as a comparison, I picked up the Kamienie Wroza deck last year, and it cost more to post it to the UK from Poland than it cost to purchase the deck itself. I believe i paid around £7 total for both the deck and the postage. That little deck came in a tuck-fold box, with a LWB and 3 additional cards, so don't half-ass your production, and expect the purchaser to pick up the additional separate cost of sourcing or making a container for your deck.
I think there needs to be a disclaimer on a site where you're purchasing a deck: "this deck is provided as cards only - we do not provide a box with it" - if it's a feature, then you'll proudly declare it. If it's a shortcut to saving a couple of pennies, or saving a bit of effort on the production, then the loss of sales will soon rectify that little false economy.
*deep breath*
In with anger. *inhale*
Out with love. *exhale*
In with anger. *inhale*
Out with love. *exhale*
In with anger. *inhale*
Out with love. *exhale*
Christ, i'm going to hyperventilate at this rate :-|
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming! ;-)
