Ron Catapano of Comics Plus in Mount Holly, New Jersey saw the news that Upper Deck was changing its shipping policy on new Yu-Gi-Oh! product (see 'Upper Deck Changes Shipping Policy on Yu-Gi-Oh!,' and 'Upper Deck SVP Rich Henry Sends an Open Letter') and isn't changing his stance on the line:

When Yu-Gi-Oh! first came out and was a hot product, Upper Deck wanted nothing to do with specialty shops. Product was sold to us at net prices that were nearly as high as Wal-Mart's retail price and we wouldn't even be offered the product until it had been out for a while and the bulk of the sales already made.

For these reasons we decided not to support the game.  Why should I support a game that the players are going to buy elsewhere?

Now, years later, Upper Deck says that our small shops are important to them and that we will get our cards before the big stores.  Surely it couldn't be because sales have been on a steady decline, or that the only reason the game still has any life left at all is because the cartoon gets so much airplay?