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I am not sure if you have been following the industry news lately, but there is a HUGE debate/battle raging on now over the idea that blank and shop decks are killing the industry and making pros obsolete. However, this issue goes much deeper and is more intricate than simply a matter of "blanks or no blanks". One side argues that when shops sale blanks and shop decks, it cuts out the skate companies and pros that built the industry (ironic, since this same group are the ones that began putting out team and price-point decks that cut pros out of the picture already). On the other side, the smaller skate shops argue that when companies sell to corporate mall chains, sporting good stores, and the "Wal-Marts" of the world, it cuts out the small "core" shops that supported the skate companies over the years in even the hardest of times. It goes deeper still in the fact that producing a skateboard is no longer a specialized process. Several companies can now press wood much cheaper than the past (albeit, quality seems to have suffered). Similarly, printing graphics on a deck is no longer a specialized screen-printing set-up but rather simply heat transferring graphics right onto the wood! Given that decks are more disposable than ever, many skaters these days don't seem to care much about what company a deck comes from, what pro model they buy or similar factors. For the consumer, it is more what can I buy to fill my need for as cheap as possible. For a smaller shop, they can go directly to a source for blanks (and even throw their own graphic on) and skip right past the layers of "distributor-company(pro)-source(woodshop/printer)". In that way, they get a better margin on their sales. The industry side argument stems largely from the International Association Of Skateboard Companies (IASC). They have met several times recently and have published lots of documents and other media to help rally folks to their cause. However, the other side has been just as prepared. One side is warning "if this continues, companies that built skateboarding and pro skaters will be obsolete", and the other side responds "you did this to yourself". This is a very interesting supply chain issue. What