I used to collect Pokémon cards as a teen. I even battled, and once had a deck that went 60 straight wins before I received my first loss. Those were the days when a booster pack cost $4-5 and you could find them at most retail stores. These days it looks much different.
Unless you're staking out stores, have restock times memorized and don't have a job, it's highly unlikely you're going to find Pokémon packs, boxes or decks on shelves. You can find them online from scalpers, but you'll pay 2-3x the price. You're still not likely to get a "hit" or good card from them even if you spent $200.
Since I can't find any packs locally and actually have a job, I don't have time to stake out stores, so I have to open digital packs using Rips by Triumph.
Their "packs" range from $1-99,000. The higher the cost of the pack, the better the cards when you pull something good. Instead of 11 cards in a pack, there's typically just 1 with a random chance to sometimes get a bonus card. The advantage with Rips is I can at least sell cards back if I don't want them, which I can either cash out or use to buy more packs.
It's nice for me and my kids who like to collect, but could easily become a gambling trap for those trying to get cards worth a lot of money. If you like the card, you can ship it to yourself. I just pulled this Tyrunt promo from a $1 pack and had it shipped to myself.
When they arrive they typically come in a penny sleeve, inside a semi-rigid protector, which is inside this box.
The whole thing is inside a bubble mailer, so the cards are well-protected. It's ridiculous that scalpers have reduced the hobby to this, but at least it's something.
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