Notes from a former card Grader/Authenticator

bnorth · #1 12-19-2023, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowman

You can get a pretty good estimate of this by knowing that PSA employs ~125 full time graders (stated by Nate in a recent podcast) and they grade roughly 1.2M cards per month.

I don't know what a typical day looks like, but I assume they get breaks and have meetings, take vacations, and get sick like everyone else. Let's say they spend 6 hours per day actually grading cards on average, so that's about 120 hours per month. Multiply that by 125 graders, and you get 15,000 man hours. Take 1.2 million cards divided by 15,000 hours and you get 80 cards graded per hour. So that's 45 seconds per card.

That should be very easy to accomplish. Every time I have pre graded my cards I spend way less time than that per card. Then you have the ones that just look off and you need to spend more time on. I would guess 10-15 seconds of grading with 30-35 seconds of data entry per card to get that 45 second time.

To the OP who I have noticed on here before. Thanks Andy for sharing what you did.

BillyCoxDodgers3B · #2 12-19-2023, 02:16 PM

Removing and re-inserting each card into the Card Saver with care has to eat up 5-10 seconds of each 45. Some are stubborn, some are fragile. Most would take less time, of course...

CardPadre · #3 12-19-2023, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustinD

Thanks for opening the secret door a tad Andy!

One question that you may or may not be able to answer, how much time do you feel is spent on average looking at a singular card? Is their a company standard for review time?

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve B

Possibly not answerable, but was there pressure or expectations of you for quickness?

Like them wanting a certain number of cards per hour or day? (Obviously that number would be secret)

Maybe the OP will chime in, but a straight quote from Andy Broome's (CGC) mouth to my ears was that a fully trained and up-to-speed card grader will grade 40-50 cards per hour.

D. Bergin · #4 12-20-2023, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Removing and re-inserting each card into the Card Saver with care has to eat up 5-10 seconds of each 45. Some are stubborn, some are fragile. Most would take less time, of course...

I would seriously fail the card grader test. Takes me about a minute and a half just to put a card in a card saver while being paranoid the whole time I'm going to lift up a spot on a corner, just sliding it down into the holder.

45 seconds per card, while being able to also detect micro-trimming, alterations, factory cuts, non-factory cuts, etc...

GTFOH with that!

Maybe 2023 Pokemons straight out of the pack...but vintage? No way.

Takes me like 10 minutes under a light, magnifying glass, and my own constantly trailing off thoughts to even come to a guess what a T206 I'm submitting "might" come back as...and I'm usually wrong.

Beercan collector · #5 12-20-2023, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

I would seriously fail the card grader test. Takes me about a minute in a half just to put a card in a card saver while being paranoid the whole time I'm going to lift up a spot on a corner, just sliding it down into the holder.

45 seconds per card, while being able to also detect micro-trimming, alterations, factory cuts, non-factory cuts, etc...

GTFOH with that!

Maybe 2023 Pokemons straight out of the pack...but vintage? No way.

Takes me like 10 minutes under a light, magnifying glass, and my own constantly trailing off thoughts to even come to a guess what a T206 I'm submitting "might" come back as...and I'm usually wrong.

+1 If they�re grading cards in 45 seconds they are overcharging

jayshum · #6 12-20-2023, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

+1 If they�re grading cards in 45 seconds they are overcharging

That's a good point and brings up this question for the OP. Is significantly more time spent grading a higher value card than a low value card?

Snowman · #7 12-20-2023, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayshum

That's a good point and brings up this question for the OP. Is significantly more time spent grading a higher value card than a low value card?

Yes, definitely. Very high-end cards get looked at by multiple graders. When I sent in my Menko Jackie Robinson to SGC, they told me that they brought in their entire senior grading team to examine it.

Fred · #8 12-21-2023, 01:11 AM

An assumption is that all TPGs will charge on a sliding scale that charges higher $$$ for higher value cards. If they have a $15/card charge and "run" through the grading process, do they at least pause a little to grade a card that they are going to charge $500+ for encapsulation?

I looked at the PSA charges and it indicates $75 for a $1.5K card, $600 for a card valued at $9,999 (for walk through service). To me that's insanity. There's a $10K charge for grading a card value > $250K.

Sorry, I guess it's just sticker shock. It's been a long time since I looked at the PSA site for prices for grading.

frankbmd · #9 12-20-2023, 06:28 PM

Andy,

What�s Your Monster Number?

Snowman · #10 12-20-2023, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

I would seriously fail the card grader test. Takes me about a minute and a half just to put a card in a card saver while being paranoid the whole time I'm going to lift up a spot on a corner, just sliding it down into the holder.

45 seconds per card, while being able to also detect micro-trimming, alterations, factory cuts, non-factory cuts, etc...

GTFOH with that!

Maybe 2023 Pokemons straight out of the pack...but vintage? No way.

Takes me like 10 minutes under a light, magnifying glass, and my own constantly trailing off thoughts to even come to a guess what a T206 I'm submitting "might" come back as...and I'm usually wrong.

Greg Morris said he was able to grade his cards listed on eBay in just a few seconds per card. I believe him. With the right setup and experience, you can grade cards fairly accurately pretty quickly. Especially if you only have to align them within a few grade ranges like he does.

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