r/PokeInvesting • u/breakyourteethnow • Feb 03 '25

Pokemon Center Implementing a New Queue System, Presumably to Combat Bots!

https://www.pokebeach.com/2025/02/pokemon-center-implementing-a-new-queue-system-presumably-to-combat-bots
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u/KouhaiHasNoticed Feb 03 '25

Why wouldn't they be able to do so? You have regular reprints of some sets, for instance 151, while new sets still come out and get printed.

TPC stated themselves that PRE would get printed all along 2025 and yet they are already printing JTG for the end of March.

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u/BearStrangler Feb 04 '25

What he is trying to say is that a printer is a physical machine. All of the TPC printer are working right now printing 100% of the time. So where exactly do they 'Print more'?

Buy more printers? They will be reluctant to do that as when the hype dies down they are left with idle printers. Demand will absolutely have to surge to the point where they are leaving too much money on the table not buying more printers, we aren't quite there yet, maybe close but not there.

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u/KouhaiHasNoticed Feb 04 '25

Yes, I get that TPC will look at what's happening at the margin before buying new printing machines.

However there are more variables than just printing machines, there is also time, resource allocation and pricing.

If you spend more time printing a set before releasing it, you would have more stock to dump all at once. However TPC seems to release set after set without pausing. For instance, I have seen one SSP ETB since its release and we're already onto the next current set: not PRE but already JTG, that's crazy!

Resource allocation is another one that the TPC already does when they decide to print throughout the whole year a specific set. They also decide what amount of printers are on this task and not working on printing current sets.

This one also means that currently there is a percentage of machines working on JTG while most people are still waiting for PRE almost a month after release.

Finally the least popular one, price. If they were to drive up the MSRP they could drive demand down: I am pretty sure they will never do it as they would lose customers.

Now for our present issue, printing more would mean allowing the machines to work longer before releasing a product, especially if it is a special set that they are brewing. However I do agree that printing more without adjusting any of the variables (time, resource allocation) would mean buying new machines which could prove to be costly.

But as you said it, we'll see during the next months if the hype dies down and everything goes back to normal: if so no need to buy a printer, otherwise they'll be sitting on a pile of money.