Here is a quick update to my last post regarding the PSA card grading submission process and its Collector’s Club membership.
Just last week PSA President Steve Sloan sent out a message to all customers stating, “The reality is that we recently received more cards in three days than we did during the previous three months.” Sloan goes on to say, “Given our growing backlog, it would be disingenuous for us to continue to accept submissions for cards that we will be unable to process in the foreseeable future. It’s an unpleasant conclusion, especially after the March 1 price increase, but it is necessary to properly serve the customers who have already submitted to PSA. Effective immediately, PSA is temporarily suspending our Value, Regular and Express service levels. This will allow us to fully unbox and receive the recent surge of orders and focus on our most impacted service lines. We will take a tiered approach to reintroducing these service levels. Our goal is to bring all suspended service levels back by July 1, 2021. Collectors Club members will have their memberships automatically extended to match the duration of the Value suspension. This extension will ensure existing members have 12 full months to utilize their annual Collectors Club benefits.”
Clearly PSA is struggling with the influx of submissions, but after just over one month’s time of membership, I have seen both the price increase on March 1, 2021 and now have had my membership essentially put on pause. I understand the hobby is growing in popularity and interest is at an all-time high. After all, I am a part of this influx in submissions having just recently gotten back into the hobby myself. However, as a customer of their company who is paying for their service and is a part of PSA Collector’s Club membership; I would both hope and like to think that there is more that could be done to alleviate any discontentment created by the current circumstances than to just send out an email to customers and give extensions of time to receive a service that had already been paid for and was expected in the first place. Either way, it will be interesting to see how PSA handles this situation and what effects this will have on the grading submission process moving forward.
