Since a lot of people think PSA has been tougher the last few months, I was curious how the gem rates for sports cards compared. You see the biggest dropoff in the 2010's, which can't be explained by trends with recent products.
I'd love to see their internal data on the grade distribution for individual graders, and whether the dropoff is universal or isolated to a core group of graders (ie. recent hires who just started grading independently).
Anyway, if you crack stuff out and track certs, it looks like this era may be fruitful if their gem rates start returning to their spring/summer form.
https://www.gemrate.com/blog
Gem Rates for the 2020's
Jan 51.4
Feb 52.1
Mar 52.8
Apr 54
May 53.1
June 53.6
July 53.8
Aug 52.0
Sept 50.0
Oct 48.5
Gem Rated for the 2010's
Jan 47.3
Feb 48.5
Mar 48.6
Apr 49
May 47.0
June 46.5
July 45.6
Aug 44.1
Sept 41.6
Oct 39.1