Quote:
Originally Posted by inaka
I'm just stating what Nat said in interviews.
He said they use specials to throttle the backlog. They know, even before they run a special, how much that special will influence future orders. If they already have a backlog, they aren't going to run an all-sport $15/card special 1980-now, because they will get even more slammed. So instead they run a more unique 1950s football special (or whatever) that has far less broad appeal, and will help them catch up on the backlog, while also catering to club members.
Sometimes what we think is basic math is not so simple. After the pandemic, fast food companies realized they make way more money selling one $5 burger, than selling five $1 burgers, because their cost of goods drops dramatically and so does their need for workers, etc. Same thing with PSA, which essentially the fast food of grading. Lowering prices doesn't help them. It creates a backlog, requires far more resources, and they make less money. So they make way more money by charging a higher base fee and throttling demand via specials.
|
I get that. I'm not attacking you - I'm just saying the point Nat is making makes sense, but it's still not necessary because there's other ways to ensure you get enough cards coming in ... By simply analyzing specific price points over a certain time period, 6 months, and then from there accurately assessing the proper price. That makes way more sense than just pushing the price up or down arbitrarily for multiple years.
And I agree it is more complex math. I got a 800 on my math SAT; I know the complexity of #'s. I'm just saying it is possible to hire people who can solve this market problem PSA has without doing what they're doing. It's not easy for sure. But Nat or someone is gonna have trouble convincing me that the lowest charge they can provide to simply put a plastic casing over a card that an employee looks at for under a couple minutes is $17 - $21 per. Even restaurants typically have their "cost of food" (not even accounting for paying employees) about 1/3 of the price they charge. No way PSA case materials come anywhere close to $6 to make per. That's the point I'm making - Sure PSA will explain themselves the way you outlined; I can still disagree and say that their decision making has been misguided.