Petroman

LOL! Based on your nearly 19,000 posts you spend a tremendous amount of time on these boards! Some of us are more casual users and only read the more recent posts, especially on a topic such as "current turn around rates at CGC". Posts from even a few weeks ago may be relevant to longer term trends in turn around times, but they don't have much relevance to current TATs.

It looks like its over 2 months at this point according to https://www.cgccomics.com/submit/services-fees/cgc-grading/ as they are now only opening submissions form May 3, 2021.

What would be really useful is if the Scheduled For Grading status actually gave the (rough) date it was actually scheduled for grading. If they can't provide that, then I don't really see how they have scheduled anything. Maybe they are just assigning a sequence number, i.e. your submission is at position Modern Slow #8723 and they are currently grading Modern Slow position #4792. Even that would be useful. My last batch went to SFG on the day it was received (where it sat for over 2 months), so the status really doesn't have much meaning if you ask me.

Its a very good question. I know I've taken down a bunch of my newer CGC books on Ebay as the markups I used to get for them are no longer sufficient when you factor in the extremely long grading times. Guess I could have raised the prices instead, but I'm happy enough to hold them for a bit to see if they appreciate before relisting.

It was a very good soapbox rant, and I think many of us share your feelings, especially those of us who collected or sold books in the early 1990's and watched the industry implode. They obviously have a massive capacity issue, so they need to look at ways to fix that. Hiring local employees is one way, but I have no idea if the talent pool in Sarasota is sufficient, and in terms of Florida, that is one of the more expensive areas to live. So opening a new location (or locations) should really be something they are looking at. They may have some competition however, as both CGC and CBCS websites proclaim they are hiring. IMHO, this is a huge opportunity for the smaller CBCS to gain substantial market share if they can solve their capacity issues (which don't seem as bad) faster. Temporarily halting submissions of the cheaper tiers may also be an option, especially Slow Modern and Slow Economy. They desperately need to halt the growth of the backlog or they run the risk of never being able to catch up. I sure hope the people at Blackstone are smart enough to solve these problems. Its really hard to know with these investment companies as their primary focus will just be on profitability, and often they look to either dismantle companies and sell the parts or try to restructure the business and then sell them off or take them public.

I think they need to suspend all new submissions until they clear down the backlog. A 40% bump in turn-around-time in one month is simply not sustainable or acceptable, especially from the already elevated levels. The amount of warehouse space they need would have to grow similarly. As would any liability insurance they have on books in the pipeline. Just too much risk for me, especially with the new ownership change. Personally I'm more than a bit upset that I spent $300 on the top membership but was only able to put in 5 or 6 lots before the train went off the tracks. I just can't wait until 2022 and beyond for books submitted today. It may be time to test the competition (yeah, that one!).

Yes, it was slow track modern. So you are likely still a few weeks out.

My guess is that now that CGC has been bought by investment firm Blackstone there will be far more focus on profitability. This *should* be good for consumers as CGC's profitability depend primarily on volume of sales. That said, there will no doubt be more emphasis on grading books at more expensive tiers, so I'm sure that they will want to entice customers to use the more expensive tiers, be it Fast Track, Express, etc. Hopefully Blackstone will guide the business into long term sustainability, unlike the Wall St. influence that nearly killed the industry in the early 90's after Marvel became a publicly traded company. The result of that was insanely high print runs, crazy gimmicks like polybagging and multiple covers, all to increase sales/profits to please Wall St. analysts. Ugh.

The industry is definitely going crazy but these TATs are even more out of control. I can't get my head around sending something out that would take a year or more to get back. I've been tracking Ebay sales for several years, and CGC sales have gone from around 20k/month at the start of 2020 to around 45k/month now. Interestingly, CBCS sales have also increased substantially from around 1k/month to 2.5k/month. So CGC is still close to 20x CBCS sales. Its hard to tell the trend lines, but they seem to be narrowing a little, although both vendors have seen a very nice spike in their graded book sales on Ebay. Personally I do think there are some pretty good arbitrage opportunities in picking up CBCS graded books at a discount, but even that seems to be narrowing.

To be more specific, it was a 25 book Modern Slow Track order. And honestly, I thought I would get some better grades. One of the more harshly graded shipments I've had with only a few grader notes. A few 9.2 head scratchers too. Oh well. LOL, I need to rethink my hobby business plan as 6 month TATs will make it really hard to sell off my collection before I'm dead. On the bright side, they did not actually charge me for my order until the books were shipped, so that is a departure from the past. Maybe just an oversight, who knows...?

Should have responded to this one... My last, and possibly final, batch was delivered on 3/24 and received on 4/20. It was in SFG from that point onward. It shipped last Wednesday and I received it yesterday 7/5. Good Luck!

My last, and possibly final, batch was delivered on 3/24 and received on 4/20. It was in SFG from that point onward. It shipped last Wednesday and I received it yesterday 7/5. Good Luck!

Now that CGC has been bought by Blackstone you wonder how long it will take to turn this ship around. 100+ business day TAT's are really not sustainable and I can only imagine the size of the facility they need to hold the enormous backlog, not to mention the liability insurance they must need to protect against flood, fire, etc. Hopefully we will see a return to more normal TAT's soon.