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current turn around rates at CGC
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Time for my obligatory CGC running late post:

 

CGC East and CGC West facilities :idea:

 

East vs. West will never, ever work. It is always brought up but CGC will never do that. Look at how hard it is to get additional help let alone a new facility and staff.

 

I understand the difficulty with their current staffing and the specialty involved in terms of employing people. Another facility would indeed work and could be done within a year. I'm unfamiliar with automated services and have no idea what they would automate - help me out here, Joey.

 

Too bad they don't have a couple of folks committed solely to grading moderns.

 

Yeah, and there's no way a legit competitor would crop up any time soon. Too many have tried and failed miserably, clearly not understanding the depth of the work.

 

Automated would be anything that reduces or eliminates any process or service that reduces time at the tasks CGC needs to perform.

 

A few examples would be,

 

1- Notes.

2- Status

3- A FAQ page that is more comprehensive.

 

Basically anything that a customer would call in to find out that could be provided on the website or programatically through email.

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Time for my obligatory CGC running late post:

 

CGC East and CGC West facilities :idea:

 

What would be different about East and West vs. them just hiring more people out East?

 

 

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Time for my obligatory CGC running late post:

 

CGC East and CGC West facilities :idea:

 

What would be different about East and West vs. them just hiring more people out East?

 

 

There are very few candidates for the job in Sarasota. It's been discussed that there really isn't enough incentive in a starting position to relocate to Florida.

 

Another facility in a more densely populated area may be a good solution.

 

However, it will never happen. CGC is a small portion of Certified Collectibles Group as it is, and unless CCG needed another facility, I doubt it would even be remotely considered.

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I have a Modern order invoiced on May 14th that still has not shipped. Its been graded but it still sits. That order is at 17 weeks or 85 days. I suppose there is some holiday and convention days in there, but it looks longer than the 70 days listed on the web site as current turn around time for moderns. :(

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PM Transplant for an update. (thumbs u
My PM box is full of new PMs. What's going on?

 

Sorry about that, I have now forwarded your cell number to people that want updates to avoid pileup of PMs. (thumbs u

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A viable competitor may well step up. It happened in the sports card trading industry where a deep pocketed competitor built in marketability went head to head with the giant PSA who at that time only graded 1-10 in whole numbers. Beckett introduced BGS with decimal point grading 0.5 - 10.0 and included sub-grades denoted on the encapsulation or free "graders notes" if you will. These were corners, surface, centering and I believe edges. These sub-grades were then added together with some formula to get your total grade. The collectors obviously loved this model.

 

This is exactly what it would take - an established industry name (names like Overstreet, Wizard, or Metro come to mind) and sub-grades for front/back covers, interior, gloss, color saturation, whatever. I think NGC gives coins with superior eye appeal a special "*" rating above and beyond their "base" grade, which is something I always thought would go over well in our hobby.

 

Frankly, if a competitor came along and graded exactly like CGC (says it does) but also reduced the grade for issues associated with centering, arrival dates, date stamps, Marvel chipping, bindery chips, etc (production defects), and gave a restored label to any book with color touch or glue regardless of age, that would be awesome. (thumbs u

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John:

 

Again, I'll ask. What other business am I expected to really care about why they're so far behind in providing the service they've promised. I like the people at CGC that I've met and interacted with. But that doesn't mean it's not crappy business to be woefully behind. It's not professional.

 

If they offer enough money, people will flock to open positions. Every qualified applicant has their price. My guess is that the wage offered doesn't entice people for the reasons you stated above.

 

I can think of 5-10 people right now that would make perfect CGC graders the problem is you would need to pay them 100k starting to make them even think about stop selling comics or quit their day job now.

 

Like I said age demographic plays a big part as I doubt you would give up your job as a lawyer to be an entry level employee grader right?

 

I would rather have CGC behind then hire graders that are not qualified and hurt the hobby.

 

How much money do they stand to lose when a competitor opens shop?

 

hm

 

Good luck with that.

 

You need probably a million just to open up that shop. :ohnoez:

 

Not to mention the proverbial Mt Everest that a new company would need to climb before they gained anywhere near the acceptance of CGC. Just don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

Depends on whether they were already well known in the hobby. I could see a group of people with great credibility who might be able to get a new company off the ground. Such a group offering rapid turnaround times might be flooded with business in short order.

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A viable competitor may well step up. It happened in the sports card trading industry where a deep pocketed competitor built in marketability went head to head with the giant PSA who at that time only graded 1-10 in whole numbers. Beckett introduced BGS with decimal point grading 0.5 - 10.0 and included sub-grades denoted on the encapsulation or free "graders notes" if you will. These were corners, surface, centering and I believe edges. These sub-grades were then added together with some formula to get your total grade. The collectors obviously loved this model.

 

This is exactly what it would take - an established industry name (names like Overstreet, Wizard, or Metro come to mind) and sub-grades for front/back covers, interior, gloss, color saturation, whatever. I think NGC gives coins with superior eye appeal a special "*" rating above and beyond their "base" grade, which is something I always thought would go over well in our hobby.

 

Frankly, if a competitor came along and graded exactly like CGC (says it does) but also reduced the grade for issues associated with centering, arrival dates, date stamps, Marvel chipping, bindery chips, etc (production defects), and gave a restored label to any book with color touch or glue regardless of age, that would be awesome. (thumbs u

 

If Overstreet started -- or just lent his name to -- a competitor, I think the competitor would have instant credibility with casual hobbyists and eBay buyers and sellers. The more I think about it, the more I wonder whether someone isn't already making plans behind the scenes. Seems like an obvious business opportunity.

 

The greatest threat to a potential competitor would be for CGC to initiate a significant expansion that would bring its turnaround times back to reasonable levels.

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What's wrong with CGC taking a break from conventions? I figure conventions have a twofold affect, when graders go it's so they don't burn out, and so CGC can promote their product. The problem is when they do a convention, you lose a day of productivity, onsite is even worse, lose of a encapsulation machine. Add those days up, and CGC will never get back on track, like running on a hill with black ice.

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What's wrong with CGC taking a break from conventions? I figure conventions have a twofold affect, when graders go it's so they don't burn out, and so CGC can promote their product. The problem is when they do a convention, you lose a day of productivity, onsite is even worse, lose of a encapsulation machine. Add those days up, and CGC will never get back on track, like running on a hill with black ice.

 

Because CGC makes a nice profit from onsite grading. I think they recognize they fall farther behind and limit the onsite to twice a year. I think it is good they are out there, meeting and greeting the public at conventions. It is probably nice for them to get away from just grading and get out of town.

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I'm getting close to the "I'm pretty irritated with them" stage. I submitted and am still waiting for 4 books that I paid for already ..... on May 28th in Seattle !!!! Hope they don't forget me.

 

One thing they are teaching me is ..... its not worth the wait. :(

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Time for my obligatory CGC running late post:

 

CGC East and CGC West facilities :idea:

 

East vs. West will never, ever work. It is always brought up but CGC will never do that. Look at how hard it is to get additional help let alone a new facility and staff.

 

I understand the difficulty with their current staffing and the specialty involved in terms of employing people. Another facility would indeed work and could be done within a year. I'm unfamiliar with automated services and have no idea what they would automate - help me out here, Joey.

 

Too bad they don't have a couple of folks committed solely to grading moderns.

 

Yeah, and there's no way a legit competitor would crop up any time soon. Too many have tried and failed miserably, clearly not understanding the depth of the work.

 

Automated would be anything that reduces or eliminates any process or service that reduces time at the tasks CGC needs to perform.

 

A few examples would be,

 

1- Notes.

2- Status

3- A FAQ page that is more comprehensive.

 

Basically anything that a customer would call in to find out that could be provided on the website or programatically through email.

 

Got it. I wasn't sure if you were talking about automation in the grading process (i.e.: encapsulation, packing, et al).

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I'm getting close to the "I'm pretty irritated with them" stage. I submitted and am still waiting for 4 books that I paid for already ..... on May 28th in Seattle !!!! Hope they don't forget me.

 

One thing they are teaching me is ..... its not worth the wait. :(

 

I'm waiting on my Boston con books from April. :cry:

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what if your lcs was sending bogus books and keeping yours

 

 

What makes you suggest this?

That reads rather awkwardly without the original post quoted for the sake of context.

 

Additionally, do his above posts qualify as a true "Triple Tap" due to them being essentially replies? The Triple Taps I've seen previously credited all address a similar theme and don't contain quoted replies. I'm still new at this, but trying to maintain an accurate scorecard.

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