PSA reopens one tier today. Express. And jacks it up from $150 to $200 per card.

[bobbyw8469]

Thoughts??

[bobbyw8469]

Hello PSA Customers,

July 1 is here, and as stated on March 30, we are reintroducing service levels on a tiered approach. After customer surveying, data analysis and much consideration, we are going to be even more conservative than we anticipated in March. Today, Express is back at $200 and available on the PSA Online Submission Center. Our objective with introducing Express at this new price is to manage demand while continuing to allocate the lion’s share of our capacity to the existing backlog.

Let’s look at this in a little more detail. During the past three months, we devoted 98% of our available capacity to the backlog. This demand-management, coupled with a 64% increase in capacity since the beginning of the year, is a good illustration of the approach we are taking to reduce the backlog. Even with the reintroduction of Express, 90% of our available capacity will be applied to the backlog.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Has Steve Sloan spun it yet?

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Has Steve Sloan spun it yet?

The email came from him. I am not smart enough to figure out how to post it here.

[Leon]

The pricing tables aren't picked up in this cut and paste. It is $200 for Express and $300 for Super Express. The other levels are not being accepted right now, the email said.




Hello PSA Customers,

July 1 is here, and as stated on March 30, we are reintroducing service levels on a tiered approach. After customer surveying, data analysis and much consideration, we are going to be even more conservative than we anticipated in March. Today, Express is back at $200 and available on the PSA Online Submission Center. Our objective with introducing Express at this new price is to manage demand while continuing to allocate the lion’s share of our capacity to the existing backlog.

Let’s look at this in a little more detail. During the past three months, we devoted 98% of our available capacity to the backlog. This demand-management, coupled with a 64% increase in capacity since the beginning of the year, is a good illustration of the approach we are taking to reduce the backlog. Even with the reintroduction of Express, 90% of our available capacity will be applied to the backlog.

RECEIVING BACKLOG, EXPRESS AND RETAIL ECONOMY ARE CLEARED

We are making progress. Over the past three months, we have eliminated the delays in order entry and made great strides on our impacted service levels. I’m happy to report that all orders on the Express service level and the retail Economy level have been completed. Economy will remain suspended as we reallocate that capacity to other service lines. On the receiving front, all new submissions will be entered into the system without delay.

CC MEMBERSHIPS EXTENDED FURTHER

I recognize that opening Express does little for our Collectors Club and Set Registry members who are looking to submit lower value cards. Our Value services are still highly impacted meaning we cannot accept submissions at these levels. Please note that all Collectors Club memberships will be extended for the duration of the Value suspension. The extension ensures existing members have 12 full months to utilize their annual CC benefits. We are working diligently behind the scenes to offer submission options to our community of collectors as quickly as possible.

PACKS AND TICKETS UPDATE

The spike in demand for grading services is not just trading cards Submissions of packs and tickets are on the rise, and we must slow the demand here too before the backlog gets excessive. As of today, we are suspending the Economy and Regular service levels for both tickets and packs. We will return these services using a tiered approach similar to trading cards

CTD & FIFO UPDATE

Our daily updated Complete Through Dates provide greater transparency on order fulfillment progress. As we discussed in a recent blog post, CTDs do not always tell the full story as some orders take longer to process than others. Beginning next week, we will start publishing weekly updates that include the overall percentage of orders complete for the CTD month, like the one posted in the blog entry. It is a deeper view of the progress we are making on order completion, and you will get a sense of how far along we are in flipping the calendar to the next month for that service level. In most cases, overall order processing is further along than the CTD indicates.

WELCOME RYAN HOGE
I am happy to announce the arrival of Collectors Universe’s new Chief Product Officer, Ryan Hoge. An avid sports card collector with decades of technology product development under his belt, Ryan is joining CU to make our products better. That includes everything from Online Submissions to Product Imaging to the Set Registry. With 16 years of experience managing multiple programs and projects at Microsoft, he will help push innovation in our hobby to new levels. Welcome aboard, Ryan.

HIRING CONTINUES AT RECORD PACE

Collectors Universe has been hiring new talent at a phenomenal pace. We have grown our team in every department including Grading, Operations, Quality Assurance, Engineering, Product Management, and Customer Service. And we are still not even close to being done.

If you have ever wanted to work in this great hobby of ours, now is your chance. At this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention (July 28 to August 1), we will be interviewing candidates for several open positions, most out of our Southern California headquarters. For any collectors who will be at the show, I encourage you to fill out this quick online registration form by July 16 to secure a potential in-person interview in Chicago.

The National is right around the corner (and yes, National pricing will be released in the coming weeks). For me, the National is about connecting with fellow hobbyists and celebrating our great hobby. If you are lucky enough to attend the show, I hope you find all the key cards on your want list and make hobby connections that enrich your collecting experience for years to come.

Enjoy collecting,

Steve Sloan
President

[D. Bergin]

Does it still take 4 months to grade them?

[brianp-beme]

"After customer surveying, data analysis and much consideration, we are going to be even more conservative than we anticipated in March. Today, Express is back at $200 and available on the PSA Online Submission Center. Our objective with introducing Express at this new price is to manage demand while continuing to allocate the lion’s share of our capacity to the existing backlog."


Sounds like their idea of conservative is to liberally increase pricing in this tier by 33%.

brianp(arker)-beme