Posted By:
Gilbert MainesI believe that there are no requirements for any of this, Erik. Anybody can claim to be a grader, since no certification of competence is necessary. They can open up a business, establish their own criteria, and start slabbing.
They can train their employees, or not. And even if trained, some employees will be better than others. Hopefully all will become competent in adhereing to the companiy's grading guidelines. But there may be a high turnover rate in this type of work.
In fairness, training theoretically is continuous at the major graders, in that each card reportedly is evaluated by multiple individuals prior to releasing the slabbed product back to its owner. And I would think that graders get feedback on their performance through this mechanism.
However, the detail regarding this and other aspects of the approach used by these graders I believe is typically available on their sites.