While i like the spirit of the idea, i wonder if blind turn ins will really help. those that are pumping items into hamlet may continue doing the same and possibly do even more since they don't know at what point to stop.
I've wondered if for militia crafts it may be best to bring +1 +2 +3 etc back for those items alone. You could then cap the item turn in total for instance, and then add in some math, and get a turn in cound vs quality rate per item = top.
Not that i'm a big fan of the top 3 system but if thats how SE wants to do it maybe they should push for quality per item instead of just total item count.
Would folks still need a bunch of items to use crafting? probably. But it would bring some element of "skill" to the crafting portion of turn ins. and some folks might skip a provision here and there to craft the best possible chances, giving a small window to others to put in items.
Also if you have 3 people who put in the cap of items all the same quality, they could tie for the spot. Thus putting more people in the top 3 provided they put in the best items.