I like the idea of early retirements of pieces with marginal popularity. I'm not sure, however, whether I like an uncertain time period of availability with "unexpected announcements" or a fixed production & sales period. Either approach could assure that pieces wouldn't languish on dealer shelves and compete for shelf space with new LEs and GLOWs. I'm not sure either approach would enhance the desirability of such pieces, but you never know. In any event, these ideas provide interesting discussion topics here in the FSB.