Is it really the five dollars that bother you?

I am sorry for the ramble. It is almost four in the morning and I just got in front of my keyboard when I should be going to bed.

I find myself in a dilemma. The fees don't bother me, especially since I have paid twenty four dollars to get a book graded on site. I would do it again. I am bothered because I had a book returned to me that never should have dropped in grade. It was a copy of X-Men/Alpha Flight issue #2. I bought it as a 9.8 and sent it in to get signed. It received a 9.4. How did a modern age book drop that far?

My other problem is my Wolverine #10. It still bothers me. When I saw the grade, I was OK with it. I understand that a book could be marred during signing, but how did the spine roll happen. I washed cars for a few years and I do remember when people would say we scratched their car when we didn't. They even went so far as knowing their scratches. Did they name them? We will rip the mirror off no problem, but a scratch is normally repetitive. At times of equipment failure, we didn't scratch the car, we ripped it apart.

This is akin to a mother knowing which identical twin is which. My copy of Wolverine was flawless. The spine was as tight as any CGC 9.8, even tighter. Dare I say it looked just as good as My New Mutants #1 in a 9.9? I feel beside myself because I love the camaraderie of the journals and my fellow collectors. The e-mails and the chat board fees; even the other journals and the lists. I tried getting the #1 set of the New Mutants and I am proud of that and I will Get the rest of the set graded but will I send in more boos to only be charged the $5 once or will I just wait for the same day service.

Where am I going with this? I don't know I had a long day at work and I thought that I wished every table would at least give me a five dollar tip. Five dollars per an invoice would definitely add up. So let me propose this to any CGC employee reading this. Think about it and if it is a good idea send it to the higher ups.

At the moment CGC will only accept Books from someone who has a membership, whether that is business or personal. Anyone who is willing to purchase a membership should continue to use the price breakdown of 2011. The majority of us that are angry about it to the point they want to have their books graded by PGX is a bit extreme but instead of alienating strong repeat business...gain new business.

Work with the dealers you already have. Allow new members to try CGC without joining anything other than using the free membership. Charge them a higher fee and the $5 charge. For instance maybe $20 on a modern book along with the five dollar fee. If they like the service then they will join and get the discounted rate. The other thing is if a member fills out their invoice online then they get a ten percent discount. I like that but just lower the prices. It's like food shopping. Stores raise their prices to give coupons to seem to be giving a better deal.

I am sure something might be in the works but let us know about it. NGC has a weekly trivia, CGC has nothing. God damn I hate being the black sheep of the family but that is what we are sometimes. I hate rambling because I know that is what I am doing. I also know as long as dealers keep getting books graded there will still be a market for CGC to charge what they want. I am guilty of sending in twenty books before the deadline. I will be guilty of sending in two more series, maybe three, but what if I lose faith that CGC can grade and handle a book?

I felt elated that a book of mine was graded a 9.8, a book that I had since my youth. Then I chanced it. I wanted a signature. Was it greed? I don't think so. It was my book, my treasure. But the book was mishandled or mislabeled and the wrong book was sent to me. I think that hurts more than the price increase. I think CGC needs more of a spokes person. Someone to explain what is going on, what changes are happening, why a five dollar fee is imposed, and why we should use CGC instead of PGX

Just my Five dollars worth

Thanks for Reading

Tnerb

PS. If anyone wants, email me or leave a message on the board and I will try to write more about this.

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