I would be against this. It would cheapen the cards. If you didn't have to work for it why should you pay higher amounts for a card that could be ordered. Might as well make it a base set and charge 20 bucks. I would not participate in that though. I like the thrill of the hunt, I also enjoy calling friends to help complete the collection. If Topps did the other way then the value would only be set high near the end when the print run drops. At least now certain cards have harder to find status which helps support their value for later on. I also know that some of us are purist, and say its not about the money. Well to that I say the Ludlow backs and coupon backs have the same front as the base cards. you are collecting a made up back for perceived value.
I can see your viewpoint, but it's completely different than mine. If I remember correctly, you're one of the collectors who likes PSAs and is constantly upgrading. That's great for you, but I don't have that kind of disposable income. I'm one that is not that concerned with condition as long as the front looks good and the border is intact. I just finished my 1st tan set with a Paul Maul that has dinged corners and graying. It would probably grade as a 3 or 4, but it only cost me $35, and I'm happy.
I've never been in it for the money, so I just want one of each, except I do agree with you on the ludlows being completely useless. I like the coupons in the weekly series because they are like my favorite set, Wacky Ads. For me, they could get rid of the puzzle backs and just print the 5 coupon backs along with the Wonky and the Guest Artist, and I'd be happy. However, I'm not going to spend $550/month to buy 10 sets with the hope of getting one of each and then having 45 base stickers that I don't want. I'd rather have saved my money for four months and bid on the recent eBay auction with 19 1st Series red ludlows that topped $2K.
I'm an old school collector and never cared about the chasers. In my opinion,
that is what has cheapened the other cards. For example intentionally short printed Wonkys from the May 2020 weekly set have sold on eBay for as much as 1st Series Bandache whites.
I do like the thrill of the hunt; I think that's why we all collect. However, when I can't buy more because there's a 3-4 week turnaround between when I purchase and when I get them, it makes no sense to me to spend a lot of my money buying a pig in a poke. In the good old days, we'd buy 20 packs with our $1 allowance this week and then go back the next week and get 20 more to complete our set. However I think if I'd gotten the same 5 cards at a rate of 10x the others because there were chasers, I wouldn't be a Wacky Packages collector today.
My argument against your theory of collectors not participating in a buy what you want is the print on demand single cards that many of us bought at $5 each. As long as you kept buying, you could get them all. Topps loves that concept, just look at their web site and you'll see more of those than anything else.
Sorry for being so longwinded. It just upsets me when as a collector, I can't get a full set without spending way too much, when it's not necessary. I don't think I'm the only one on the forum that feels that way either. I've seen many more others complain about buying 10 sets and not getting all of the stickers.