And it's not Received, Graded, Shipped.

There are 3 aspects to CGC: the corporation, the employees, and most importantly, the fans. Occasionally when the fans get disgruntled, it's the employees that feel the backlash, not the corporation. I've seen some graders not only at work, but at play. They have no special powers. They are just like any of us.

When CGC added a $5 invoice charge we balked, but we paid. When they added a fee for additional signatures, we paid. And when they added fast track charges that quickened the regular pace of our invoices, many of us chose to pay. Five years ago CGC was at the top of their game, and we all praised them.

Roughly five years ago is when I started to collect CGC graded comic books. I did my best to overcome the number one ranked holder of the New Mutants set; finally passing him for the number one pole position. I knew once he decided to retake the position I would fall to number two. This happened after only a year.

In those same five years CGC reached the milestone of having graded over a million comic books. They also graded comic books that sold over a million dollars apiece, most recently an Action Comics #1 for 3.2 million dollars. But over the years the company changed. While the graders continued to work diligently as book after book came in, the powers that be began charging more. Each tier was bumped up in dollars and slowly the corporation became a monster.

The employee aspect of the company is what kept me coming back. It wasn't just those that I saw at conventions time and time again, it was those that graded my books too. These are the people that keep the company going (in my eyes anyway). The ones that know if it's a defect or something that happened from a pressing. The ones that can tell if a book was touched up or altered. These are the ones that I trusted, even with longer and longer turnaround times. There have only been two times in the years I've been collecting comic books graded by CGC that an employee left me with a feeling of unwantedness (I can make up words, it's my journal).

However, It's the third aspect that is the most important part. The fans. Even the dealers wouldn't be around without us. Whether we are searching for a modern age title, a Stan Lee signature series book, or Homer the Happy Ghost.

Now with the establishment of another third party grading company with some influence, CGC has started to do something amazing, and that's listen to the fans. I'm happy that they went back to 1975 for the modern age, even if it was only to compete with this new company. I won't necessarily be collecting much or any from that era, but I'm still glad to see them both listening and responding to the fans. So what's next?

Will they throw away the $5 invoice charge? Will they also start having more comprehensive grader notes included, maybe even at no extra cost? Maybe start specials for each month which includes free photos? There is so much more that they could do for us, and not because of what we've done for them, but because they want to continue to do for us, the CGC fan.

Thanks for Reading

Tnerb

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