Hello PSA Customers,
Last month we decided to temporarily shut down most service levels, all in an effort to focus on receiving the avalanche of orders that arrived in early March. We’ve made great progress already, both digging out from under the avalanche and investing in future capacity expansion. I’m eager to share the latest news so let’s jump right in.
THE VIEW FROM OPERATIONS
One month into the temporary suspension of services, we’ve made strong progress by processing thousands of back orders and expect to be completely caught up on order entry by the end of May. At the same time, the roll-out of Complete Through Dates has been successful in providing customers with updated information and greater visibility on order fulfillment progress. The hiring push continues with great vigor. Collectors Universe recently surpassed the 1,000-employee mark, with the majority of new hires joining the PSA Operations team. Other areas of rapid growth are Grading, Training, Quality Assurance and Customer Service. We are taking giant steps in expanding our capacity in an effort to get you your cards back faster. The suspension continues to be the right thing to do, and while none of the suspended service levels are returning just yet, the progress we are making keeps us on track to begin reintroducing service levels on July 1.
PSA ACQUIRES GENAMINT
On April 21, PSA acquired Genamint, Inc., and we will be integrating their technology into multiple stages of the PSA process. Genamint technology will analyze every card in real-time, provide diagnostics, measurements, and detection of any alterations or other changes to a card’s surface. What’s more, Genamint can provide “card fingerprinting” that will track everything from provenance to resubmissions. This will improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency of our order processing. These advancements won’t go live overnight, but we’ll keep our community informed as the Genamint technology is gradually introduced into our processes.
The individual behind Genamint is Kevin Lenane, a Boston native and graduate of Wesleyan University. A technology entrepreneur and inventor by trade, Kevin is also an avid card collector and PSA’s newly appointed VP of Product Management. He brings key experience to Collectors Universe as the former CEO and founder of Veenome, which was a market leader in the machine vision field before being acquired by Integral Ad Science. I’m very excited to welcome Kevin aboard to help PSA define and deliver the next advancements in card grading.
OTHER NOTABLE NEW HIRES
In addition to Kevin Lenane, we’re also adding growth experience and expertise across the management team. First up is Fiorella Bariani, who will serve as our VP of Talent Acquisition. Her main objective is to help us source and hire strong candidates at an even faster pace. Next, I’d like to welcome Rosie Hobbs to the team. Rosie will serve as our Senior Director of Growth, leading the efforts as we grow our presence in Southern California and look to expand to new facilities in different regions. In addition, Nathan Wolfe has joined PSA as our VP/Head of Corporate Development and will explore partnerships, investments and acquisitions.
SET REGISTRY UPGRADES
The Set Registry is an integral part of the foundation at PSA. Despite the temporary suspension of certain service lines, we have continued to build and add features to the Registry that improve our members’ collecting experience. I’m excited to announce several enhancements to our inventory management and pricing tools. Most notable is the introduction of Auction Prices Realized (APR) data into the Registry which makes it simple to keep track of valuations, stay updated on new comps, and manage your entire PSA collection. Sort by “inventory that had a price change” and you will quickly and simply see all new comps from the past 24 hours all on one list.
We’ve also improved the “inventory for sale” feature, enabling you to easily define which cards are available, while keeping those items in your overall inventory until they are sold or traded. Whether you enjoy building sets or not, the PSA Registry is unquestionably the best place to manage, track and stay up to date on your portfolio of PSA items. We have a long list of additional features and tools in the works to help meet the needs of our Set Registry collectors.
CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION CENTER
Lastly, I’d like to remind everyone to please bookmark PSA’s Customer Communication Center. It continues to be frequently updated with pertinent information for our customers on both PSA and The Hobby, including Complete Through Dates, News & Updates, the latest stats and lots more. Collectors can expect more data and more feedback options in the months ahead.
Things are moving quickly at PSA. Faster than ever before. We’re in hypergrowth mode and the best authentication and grading brand in the industry is only getting stronger.
Enjoy collecting,
Steve Sloan
President
