I get the draw to slabbing. "Yay! My chip is this, and it is graded this, so it's worth THIS!"

My view on it is something along these lines... Chips are round disks or plaques of plastic or clay type material. When you slab them, you alter the chip forever. It will never again be handled in it's original form, similar to chips encased in lucite. I like chips the way they are, I like being able the handle the chip it was made to be handled. I view slabbing as fundimentally changing the hobby of chip collecting to a more commercial business where people are looking to maximize the value of their collection and looking at chips as investments opposed to something to do for fun.

Yes it could increase the value of a collection, but to me I have to ask "At what cost?".

The hobby may not be booming, but it won't die. Would grading chips increase membership in the club? It could, but would it be the type of people who would take all day sitting around a table talking about the history of the chip, the place it came from, the people who may have handled it or the things that chip may have been a part of? Or would it be people sitting around talking about the rarity of the chip, the condition and the price of the piece trying to hammer out a deal? I like people who like collecting chips, not people who like collecting things to make money.

Grading may increase the value of my collection, but if that happens it also means it will cost me more to continue to grow my collection. No thanks.