PSA’s New Year’s Resolutions for 20224 min read

It’s that time again, the last week of the year when many people are a bit sluggish after overindulgent holiday festivities. This is the time for reviewing the past year and setting goals for future improvement. These New Year’s resolutions typically include things like implementing a better diet, getting more exercise, traveling to a different country, or increasing the amount of money placed in savings.

At PSA we like to set goals as well and coming off the biggest year in hobby history and beginning 2022 under the guidance of our new ownership group, our ambitions are loftier and more exciting than ever before. The overarching goal is always to continue growing as a company and providing our customers with the best third-party authentication and grading experience in the hobby. However, there are several elements we plan to implement that will help us achieve our goals, and they amount to our New Year’s resolutions for 2022.

This year at PSA we resolve to…

Pull Back the Curtain – We will continue using all media channels available to keep our customers and the hobby at large better informed. PSA releases content regularly via PSA Magazine (formerly SMR), PSAcard.com, the PSA Blog and our social media accounts (@PSAcard on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook). We will be actively updating the hobby about the backlog, new submission practices, the quantities and types of cards being submitted, and any other information we feel will benefit your hobby life.

Continue Hiring – Collectors Holdings, Inc., parent company of PSA, PCGS and WATA, added more than 400 new staff members at all levels in 2021. Our goal is to continue making intelligent hires that will help us improve the grading experience and expand our services to other areas of the country and ultimately, the world.

Expand Our Footprint – In 2017, PSA moved our Southern California operation into a new 63,000 square-foot facility. In October 2020, a lease was signed for an additional 62,780 square feet. Today that same operation now occupies 185,000 square feet. With SoCal now adequately sized, we are setting our sights on new facilities in other areas. A New Jersey grading facility is already under construction and expected to open this year. PSA will continue looking for new locations to open new grading facilities in 2022 and beyond.

Improve our Products – In 2021, Collectors Universe purchased Genamint, Inc., a software company that designed an automated analysis system that provides diagnostics, measurements and can detect alterations to trading cards. As we continue to develop and implement Genamint technology into the authentication and grading process, the result will be an improved system that will be timelier and reduce the number of mechanical errors that leave our facility.

Image Every Card – In 2019, PSA began using high-resolution scanners to image the front and back of cards submitted at the Super Express and higher levels once they were encapsulated in PSA holders. The images were then posted to the PSA website as an element of added security. We have since expanded our efforts to add this free service to some of the lower grading tiers as well. Our goal for 2022 is to open this free service to every card we receive and grade, regardless of submission level.

Eliminate the Backlog & Ship All Orders Within Three Months – Ultimately, this is the resolution that means the most to us all and the one all others supplement as well. The backlog became a serious issue in 2021 when the hobby grew at an unprecedented rate and grading submissions spiked to 100,000-plus cards per day. PSA promptly shut down most services and set out to work through the backlog. Through dedicated efforts and a strategic reopening plan, we have significantly reduced the backlog and have our eyes set towards the future reopening of all service levels. By implementing the resolutions above, our biggest goal for 2022 and beyond is to eliminate the backlog and ship all orders within three months. It is an ambitious goal, but one we are confident we can achieve.

Our overarching goal at PSA is to be the hobby’s premier third-party authentication and grading service, and for more than three decades we have maintained that standard. With the plans we have laid out with our New Year’s Resolutions, we should have no problem maintaining that streak.