Back in 1999, I was an owner of a distribution company.  The Pokemon phenomenon was just beginning and since it was an authorized Wizards of the Coast distributor, the demand for the cards was just incredible.  This was like nothing the industry had ever seen  WotC bought up all the blank cardstock to produce cards that was available in the US.  In the joking words of one exec, we can't cut down the rain forest fast enough to meet demand.

By March of 2000, things were slowing down, and I had a shipment of the third set on the way in.  I was starting to sweat it a bit, because demand was slacking as supply caught up and I really didn't need this shipment right away.  It was going to put us in a bit of a cash crunch to be honest.   The day the shipment was due in came and went.  No biggie, usually then it gets delivered the next day.  Nothing then either.  So I tracked it and saw it had gone into the companies Ft. Lee NJ warehouse, but had not had any movement since.

So after a call to WotC to alert them of non-delivery, eventually it was declared missing by the trucking company.  It seems it went into Fort Lee NJ, but was never seen again.  Must have fell off the truck even.  No longer needing that whole shipment, I reordered a much smaller amount, it was delivered and things moved on.

A few weeks later, I'm watching The Sopranos.  It was an episode titled The Knight in White Satin.  And we have Christopher talking about boosting Pokemon cards.  So, thank's to Tony's crew*, I didn't get stuck with a lot of unsalable product.  Capisce?

*Of course this is all circumstantial and I am in no way making any accusations against any member of the Soprano family.