Cards with a curve/bend

[Jenx34]

As we know older cards often develop a bend to them, especially when stored in boxes. My questions are....

1. Does the bend matter? From a general condition standpoint, is the bend considered a flaw or a negative, or is it ignored?
2. Do the grading companies factor that into their grading?
3. Is it possible to flatten a card by laying it flat and pressing it with something heavy? Would it hurt the card?

I'm attaching a pic of a card I saw (not mine) that got me thinking about this. It seems like the curve is pretty significant, but its hard to tell in pictures.

General thoughts to these questions and anything else pertinent?

note: "Before anyone says all that matters is how it appears to you", I get that. I'm asking how it is perceived more generally within the hobby.

[mintacular]

I think most collectors/dealers accept that many cards have this curl, some times described as a vending curl particularly when you get in the 50s. I don't think it is considered a "flaw" or detracts from the value although I can't say for sure how the grading companies handle this issue and if perhaps they would not allow such a card to garner a 9 or 10 for example...I bought a large box of 70 and 71 BB a few years back and hundreds of these cards had that "banana" effect to them they were all pack-fresh.

[glynparson]

Absolutely not a flaw, some of the super flat cards are actually pressed. Like already mentioned vending cards have this bow and are highly desired. Now if the curve is not natural and due to water or other reasons it would then be a flaw.

[Jenx34]

That poses a different and unrelated question... What is a vending box? It appears a vending box has 500 cards, correct? Obviously sets have more than 500 cards so it is not a complete set. Is it just 500 cards from that set randomly, meaning there could be lots of duplicates? It wouldn't make sense to put 500 different cards in a box when you could just do the complete set with 100-300 more.

Is there anything else to know about them? I don't recall ever seeing vending boxes when I was a kid and collecting heavily.

[moeson]

A vending case had 24 boxes with 500 random cards. Dealers purchased them wholesale from Topps to sort into complete series/sets w/o having to deal with gum and packaging.

[swarmee]

Do you remember buying cards from machines at the front of the K-mart next to the Super Bounce balls and wrestling figures in eggs? That's where they got those cards from: vending boxes.