Stormysweather

Lol. Nope, a Meteorologist. However, even in my field I know what the customers want, and I don't make promises I can't keep. We, as paying customers, pay a price based on an expectation they will deliver on time (since their charges are based on time). Once a company figures out if they meet their promises the customer will likely pay willingly they could turn a corner. A balancing act to be sure, but being held hostage with little to no recourse (with any of the companies right now) does not lend itself to customer loyalty. I do differ with your estimate of the costs...I can't see their cost as being much more than 40% (when spread across all of the service levels). If someone in the business knows the answer......

It appears CSG is already facing indigestion problems from the business they are generating and turnaround times are slipping. This, and the similar troubles at all other grading services makes one wonder if the business model is flawed. Thousands if not tens of thousands of cards coming in daily to these companies, none of their respective models are working. So, some basic questions from some to answer and all to discuss. What is their cost to slab a card? A slab is a slab is a slab. Whether submitting bulk or walkthrough, their cost to physically slab (receive/inspect/grade/slab) has to be under the bulk rate. (Yes, handling associated with more rapid response times increases cost, but I'm just looking at the base process) The business model (which isn't rocket science) trades time for money. It feeds on the human desire to quickly have this service performed because the past has demonstrated a graded card (and the cost of grading) usually pays for itself many times over. Why are these business underscoping the increasing demand for services? Similarly, why aren't they scalable to the demand? BGS/PSA started going down well before COVID. Call Amazon....bring their muscle into this business. Given the (I suspect) lucrative nature of this service, they have the horsepower to fire up a grading engine in short order. Why don't the grading services understand time is the variable the customer doesn't want changed? Change the slope of the cost versus turnaround time curve as demand changes, but hit the targets. Anyone who slides on their promises has a busted model. People will pay the extra $$$ if you hit your time targets. And make your business scalable to orders of magnitude. High volume even at bulk rates will make you rich. Einstein (supposedly) stated the definition of insanity is "repeating the same process over and over and expecting a different result". Change the process or go down the rathole all of the other services have. Somewhat joking about Amazon, but someone sooner or later is going to apply a business model similar to theirs to this niche and clean house, IMHO.