I just went to get some baseball cards with my oldest child and the cheapest ones available were at $2.00 a pack. It was for only 10 cards and 3 of these were some kind of inserts wanting me to sign up online to own digital cards. To say the least, they were a little disappointed. They saw the amount of cards I have and then the little amount they got for their money. After shelving out decent money, they expected some kind of return and feel they got nothing. I am pretty sure next time the money will be spent on ice cream.
Baseball cards have gone through some huge swings of producing way too much to producing completely way too much. Now the supply has dwindled down to nothing and it is unreasonable for kids to start collecting.
If the card company (Topps in the only licensed producer now) wants young kids to get addicted to collecting, they need to start producing a cheaper pack of cards. Hell crack dealers know this format. Offer a cheap introductory product that everyone can afford, but leaves them wanting for more. Once the kid has gotten a taste of the $0.50 pack, then the $2 to $40 packs can be push on these poor addicts. The strategy worked great with me from age 6 to 22, when I had to finally cut myself off.
Some people will complain about there not being a secondary market for these cards. That is what the $40 packs are for. The point of these introductory packs is to help create grow a secondary market. When I was growing up, about every boy I knew collected baseball cards. Now I don't know a single kid because of the high costs.