What's up with this year's SP Game Used?

Every year I'm a huge fan of Upper Deck's SP Game Used. Even two years ago when the player selection for the base jerseys was awful, I cracked boxes and wholeheartedly recommended it to my customers.

This year, the cards are fantastic. Dual jerseys as the base memorabilia cards, lots of interesting patch inserts and autographed cards -- UD really could have hit a home run here.

Instead, there are tons and tons of damaged cards coming out of packs. Take a look at the people breaking it on the Beckett Hockey forum -- complaints galore. I have pulled two patch cards and both of them have had huge chunks out of the sides.

When will this stop? It's annoying for me, because by the time I get these cards back from UD, the resale value will be half of what it is now. For customers, it's frustrating to pony up big $$$ for a box and then get cards that look as if Richard McWilliams has been tap dancing on them.

I also don't know if this is substantiated or not, but I've heard the reason SPGU was delayed was so Upper Deck could work on quality control in these cards. I hope that's not true.

I trust Upper Deck to make good on these cards -- they generally do. I also understand damage will happen (despite the fact I mailed out an entire box of damaged cards last year for a customer and never received anything back from Upper Deck). But there's no excuse for the frequency with which these cards are coming out trashed.

This product will still sell and sell well. Heck, I'm still going to crack another box. But come on, UD -- pick it up a little. This is embarrassing.