PSA "Over-Slabbing" Issues
 

I collect a lot of pre-war postcards. I exclusively use PSA for grading/slabbing. I have never had a postcard come back from PSA in anything other than a Tall Boy.

HOWEVER, I just got back an HM Taylor postcard that is inexplicably slabbed in an oversized (5x7?) holder. It looks absolutely ridiculous. I'm going to be sending it back to PSA with a request that they put it in a Tall Boy.

Is this happening to anyone else?

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Here's the other side of the spectrum - if you know about T201s, then you know how ridiculous this is. I removed the PSA cert/serial number so it cannot be de-certified or removed from their data base.

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That does look ridiculous. Sorry that happened to you.

I only use SGC for postcards as I prefer the way their slabs look.

Speaking of slabs and sizes used. Huge shout-out to sgc on this 1960 spic and span. They holdered it in a standard size card slab and cut the insert to fit. Every other example I've ever seen of this set graded by psa/sgc is a postcard size slab. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6b8cf76fe8.jpg

Now that’s just plain silly.

If definitely happens. For whatever reason, they aren’t very consistent. Could be they’re in too much of a hurry. Could just be they don’t realize it will fit in the smaller size.

SGC isn't perfect either.

That’s not terrific, but I think it looks “ok”.

The bow tie really makes it pop!!

All 3 of my 1988 Topps came back this way???

How about “under slabbing” ?
I don’t have a pix of it, but PSA has folded the tabs on full bazooka boxes to fit into the slab !
Absolutely absurd!
Don’t you think with all the revenue they bring in they would have a holder to fit every issue they grade ?

No.

I believe during COVID and the compounding of delivery issues because of the cargo ship stuck in the Suez Canal, PSA had an issue getting many of their oddball sized slabs, so rather than delay delivery of the orders (something that also makes people angry), they used what they had on hand and sent them out the door.
There could also be the issue that some postcards or items are slightly oversized and would not fit in the regular slabs for their issue. I got a 1952 Topps card back in a tallboy because the card was oversized.

The T201 encapsulation pre-dated covid. This looks more like a QA/AC control issue. At least this shows consistency in all their departments.

Grading is subjective and completed by different graders that have different interpretations of the grading criteria.

Encapsulation is completed by packers with no obvious encapsulation guidelines. However since the majority of cards fit into readily available cases, they don't screw it up too often.

Management has no clue or doesn't care about the voice of the customer that is asking for faster turn around times and a better consistency in the output of their product (grading, encapsulation, return shipping time).

Executive management doesn't care because they're are enough people out there to continually feed their bottom line and these people will gladly do so even though it pisses them off.

It's a good thing that nobody gets "preferential treatment" else this whole grading thing could be a total sham. ;)

I do agree with one thing, that covid mess probably did disrupt their supply line of cases and could have led to issues in delivery times, but I don't recall hearing or reading that anywhere. It makes you wonder if PSA would rather not mention that because that might result in less submissions (company income) because people would have stopped sending in cards for grading.

The holder inconsistency is one of the reasons I haven't sent them any cards in years.

That's a bummer, OP - I hope they make it right for you

Same here.
As a Cracker Jack collector, I havent sent any in because I still see way too many come back from PSA in slabs that arent the correct size and just look silly (some even sitting in the slab almost sideways) especially when the slab also has the plastic baggie look to it around the card, which is SUCH an eye sore. IMO PSA slabbed cards look better/cleaner because of the size of the slab and much cleaner flip and SGC slabs being larger than they need to be with a ridiculously large number grade on the flip.
If SGC had a smaller slab with a cleaner flip, Id be all over sending cards in to them. That giant number grade is just such an eye sore (to me) and takes away from the actual card inside. And if they made a slab where the top fit the flip perfectly like PSAs do, they be so much nicer looking.

The bunched up “baggie” is an immediate deal-killer for me. I don’t know how they could even come up with something that’s a bigger eye sore.

(Not mine) had to share this I saw recently.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...669e07bd27.jpg

Look at any M101-4/5 card in a PSA slab vs. SGC

it is crazy

This is so bad it's funny.

Management; Hey! We have a bunch of these comic book holders layin' around here fellas and we have to move them.

Fellas; Okay Boss!

You could be right!

Did someone photoshop that? :p That just looks so stupid.

I wonder what the customer thought when they saw the package.

(“…that can’t be my order. I only sent them one card…”

Here's another PSA Nightmare. You pay a good price for professional service and this is what you get back .

lololololololol

Aren’t there like two quality check steps in the PSA grading process? We may need a third.

Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was that butthead that made home made riveted slabs of magazine pictures. My first thought was that it was some type of magazine cut until I read it's a post card. And you get the baggy look as the extra added bonus. That's a really sad encapsulation.

My Hack Wilson seems lost in his plastic tomb

This is as best an outcome as I could imagine.

It's this or it floats around diagonally.

Bazooka box slabs
 

The folded flaps happened prior to them introducing the "jumbo" size holders. They had a holder that fit the 20-piece boxes without folding the tabs, but had to fold the tabs on the 25-piece boxes to get them to fit. You had to give them explicit permission to do so too!

What they tell you and what reality is are two different things.

And then sometimes they got jumbo happy with the boxes, even if the flaps are missing…

Consistency?

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