I cannot take time to try and follow every drop of a line, let alone multiple lines. Travelling around and hoping to get lucky with a find only wastes more time and funds.
Ordering online is fine, but it's going to be pretty bottlenecked again if everyone is trying to get in for the same things. No preorders means that I also have to have the cash in hand right then, for whatever random day/time the product drops.
Half the benefit of preorders was being able to plan for the release of waves and budget accordingly. Failure to maintain or hold dates meant choosing between items because my paycheck
does hold to that calendar. Things showing up months ahead of schedule meant the planning was a wasted effort, and scheduling a drop for "summer" doesn't help pin it down much better. This was complicated by companies trying to stretch out their reveals to have something drop every week for months on end.
I just don't have the desire to try and follow everything, then drop everything to try and get it because it drops that day. Not going to bite on the FOMO here if I can help it. It also doesn't help when stores are not dropping things at a consistent date between market partners (delays between .com and .ca getting the same products being listed hours/days/weeks apart).
This could be a godsend for the secondary market resellers, though. Just show up every morning as usual and scoop the new stuff to flip it.
Sorry if this all just sounds like sour grapes, but I think there could have been a better way to handle this problem without compounding it. In the end, we're just trying to buy what they're selling, and it shouldn't be so difficult. Old man yells at clouds...