The CGC case, and shipping

[gcstomp]

CGC books are shipped, often, for many reasons. But the plastic used in the cases is brittles, and prone to cracks. The cases are also easily scratched up, in many cases freshly graded books straight from CGC arrive with wear.

 

This is not exactly the height of technology, to make a product that travels well. The "other" company has a case that is way more durable. The card companies have cases that travel extremely well, have you ever held a BGS slab for a baseball card in your hand? The thing is a work of art. Very solid, very durable, and breaks down how grade was arrived at on the label, but that is another argument.

 

Is the built in suckiness of the CGC case intentional, so as to insure massive regrading fees?

[hockey&comicsguy]

I'm sure this has been addressed a number of times. The comments I have seen from the CGC folk, most notably Borock is usually one of getting pretty defensive about it and bagging on the other guy's case.

 

They might be justified in doing so as I don't know the 1st thing about either case as to how they are made or what they are made out of.

 

I do know the other guys case feels and looks better. Looks crisper and seems more durable.

 

And grading standards aside, I have owned PSA and GAI graded baseball cards. I think the GAI's are far superior in the way they feel, look, stack and overall durability.

 

Presentation-wise I prefer the GAI and "other guy's" slabs to the PSA or CGC slabs.

[gcstomp]

I am not familiar with GAI. I know PSA has been the leader, with tens of millions of cards graded, and BGS (Beckett) is right there as well, grading millions of cards. I am familiar with BGS as I own some non sports graded by them, and they are bomb proof works of art.

 

Now that you mention it, the fact that the card industry, which I would think is a smaller pool of collectors, has a number of healthy and thriving grading companies, while comics has just 1 1st tier grading outfit, leads to issues such as the one grading company not making it a priority to upgrade the case.

 

No case upgrade, but CGC did do a label upgrade, where we went from a small font numerical and spelled out grade, as in 9.4 Near Mint, to just a blasting freakin huge 9.4 visible from across room , with no mention of spelled out grade.

 

In any case, CGC cases are mailed, often. All these auction outfits, none of them are hand delivering, you are getting books mailed. And the case seems to be designed to not hold up, it will chip, scratch, not protect the comic, and generally cause annoyance.

[VintageComics]

Borock used to come on here often and challenge people to build a better holder.

 

I'm sure that if someone can come up with an idea there'd be lots of money to made.

 

As far as the strength of the holder, it only really breaks when it's abused.

 

If packed well you should rarely if ever have a problem.

 

The holders were not meant to be indestructible, they were made simply to protect the comics under normal handling.

 

Shipping is not normal handling and so the onus in on the person shipping the comic to make sure the book is not exposed to abnormal stresses, not CGC.

 

I generally put a piece of box cardboard on either side of the slab, wrap it in a light layer of bubble wrap to hold the "sandwich" together, then drop the sandwich into a sea of Styrophoam peanuts in a box.

 

Rarely have problems this way.

[gcstomp]

I have to disagree that shipping is not normal handling. The existance of CGC to a large part is for the transaction of books. And most books are traded not via face to face, but through the mail.

[nearmint]

I generally put a piece of box cardboard on either side of the slab, wrap it in a light layer of bubble wrap to hold the "sandwich" together, then drop the sandwich into a sea of Styrophoam peanuts in a box.

 

I skip the cardboard but go very heavy on the bubble-wrap. I've never had a problem.

[VintageComics]

I have to disagree that shipping is not normal handling. The existance of CGC to a large part is for the transaction of books. And most books are traded not via face to face, but through the mail.

 

Right, but the holder is meant to keep the book flat, not to be impervious to gorillas throwing and kicking around boxes.

 

Anything will get damaged when abused.

 

You still need to take the time to make sure the cases is prevented from impact so I look at packaging as a way to prevent worst case scenario.

 

Really, is there a better way?

 

I'm sure if there was it would be used.

 

 

[VintageComics]

I generally put a piece of box cardboard on either side of the slab, wrap it in a light layer of bubble wrap to hold the "sandwich" together, then drop the sandwich into a sea of Styrophoam peanuts in a box.

 

I skip the cardboard but go very heavy on the bubble-wrap. I've never had a problem.

 

I had a slab break once and have used cardboard since.

 

The problem with bubblewrap is that it acts as a solid (even when there is lots of it) and will transfer force directly to what is wrapped inside. Styrophoam peanuts act as a liquid and disperse the force.

 

R.

 

 

[Flaming_Telepath]

Borock used to come on here often and challenge people to build a better holder.

 

I'm sure that if someone can come up with an idea there'd be lots of money to made.

 

Er...PGX have come up with a far better holder. More durable, doesn't scratch as easily, doesn't suffer anything like the same levels of SCS. Just because CGC have the jump on them in every other respect doesn't mean that they shouldn't also try to better the holder.

 

The holders were not meant to be indestructible, they were made simply to protect the comics under normal handling.

 

Shipping is not normal handling and so the onus in on the person shipping the comic to make sure the book is not exposed to abnormal stresses, not CGC.

 

How would you equate this with one of CGC's stated intents, that of allowing buyers to have confidence in purchasing mail order, sight unseen? This surely presupposes that the book is going to be mailed?

[gcstomp]

Nothing is impossible, Disney bought marvel, so how about:

 

Can you imagine if PGX was bought by CGC, strictly for the proprietary rights to the PGX case?

[Mac Man]

I'd think it'd cost less to develop their own versus buying out a company like PGX. :shrug:

[comicalgems]

Nothing is impossible, Disney bought marvel, so how about:

 

Can you imagine if PGX was bought by CGC, strictly for the proprietary rights to the PGX case?

 

Only to discover that the inside of the PGX case gives off a chemical that causes pages to yellow faster thereby making every single re-sub come back lower graded.

[comicalgems]

What was PGX originally? CGG?

[VintageComics]

My replies in blue:

 

Borock used to come on here often and challenge people to build a better holder.

 

I'm sure that if someone can come up with an idea there'd be lots of money to made.

 

Er...PGX have come up with a far better holder. More durable, doesn't scratch as easily, doesn't suffer anything like the same levels of SCS. Just because CGC have the jump on them in every other respect doesn't mean that they shouldn't also try to better the holder.

 

I don't have any PGX holders so I can't comment except on what I have heard on these forums. I suppose there are reasons why CGC is not using the same holder as PGX or a "better" one than PGX. I don't know what the reason is.

 

The holders were not meant to be indestructible, they were made simply to protect the comics under normal handling.

 

Shipping is not normal handling and so the onus in on the person shipping the comic to make sure the book is not exposed to abnormal stresses, not CGC.

 

How would you equate this with one of CGC's stated intents, that of allowing buyers to have confidence in purchasing mail order, sight unseen? This surely presupposes that the book is going to be mailed?

 

I suppose in finding a balance between a tamper proof holder, longevity and looks they've settled on this one. Is there a better way of doing things? Always. I just figure nobody has come up with a more cost efficient way to do it better and once they do things will change. As I mentioned above, the slab is not indestructible. Common sense and logic still need to be applied when mailing something. If they had an indestructible slab you could never open it.

[gcstomp]

I'd think it'd cost less to develop their own versus buying out a company like PGX.

 

PGX is not a thriving company, all they have is the best inert plastic holder on market. I bet they could be bought out for a non cash deal of 1000 free submissioncoupons for CGC, and a 1 year free pass to all the Starbucks Mochafrapachinos that Daniel cares to consume.

[Tomega]

 

Er...PGX have come up with a far better holder. More durable, doesn't scratch as easily, doesn't suffer anything like the same levels of SCS. Just because CGC have the jump on them in every other respect doesn't mean that they shouldn't also try to better the holder.

 

 

Absolutely, PGX cases are far stronger, more liquid resistant and ,I feel, secure the comic better.

 

 

CGC just happens to be better at every other aspect of graded comics.

[Transplant]

I'd think it'd cost less to develop their own versus buying out a company like PGX.

 

PGX is not a thriving company, all they have is the best inert plastic holder on market. I bet they could be bought out for a non cash deal of 1000 free submissioncoupons for CGC, and a 1 year free pass to all the Starbucks Mochafrapachinos that Daniel cares to consume.

I think you're overstating the value. My guess is that it could be had for a lot less.

[Snake Eyes]

 

Er...PGX have come up with a far better holder. More durable, doesn't scratch as easily, doesn't suffer anything like the same levels of SCS. Just because CGC have the jump on them in every other respect doesn't mean that they shouldn't also try to better the holder.

 

 

Absolutely, PGX cases are far stronger, more liquid resistant and ,I feel, secure the comic better.

 

 

CGC just happens to be better at every other aspect of graded comics.

 

Own a good number of both types of slabs...I am afraid that I have to agree. Where PGX seems to get the grading and restoration detection wrong, they nonetheless have come up with what appears in most ways to be a superior slab. In fact, outside of very thick issues (thinking some 100 page giants that PGX did not seem to encapsulate well), I believethe esteemed competitor blows CGC slabs out of the water.

 

I would love to see CGC buy them out, or come up with a case that is not only more durable, but also presents slightly better (Daniel's case also seems to be clearer for some reason to me...and displays better because of it). Having said all that, I still buy CGC unless the book in the PGX slab goes at a fairly steep discount...have to prioritize the grading proficiency itself I suppose. Nonetheless, I would gladly pay an extra dollar or two per book if CGC upgraded the slab they seal them in

[gcstomp]

Final offer for PGX buyout: 3 family meals to Chuckie Cheese, a picture and autograph with Lou Ferigno on a glossy 8x10, and a snow cone machine?

 

In all seriousness, a dude in a garage came up with a better inert plastic holder. This is not rocket science. If the case was a priority, CGC would make a better case. Because the company has no real competition, it is not on the to do list to make a better case as of yet.

 

If CGC put a tiny banner on the bottom of their home page calling for creative whiz kids to come up with a better case in return for some small non cash prize, like a number of free grading coupons, the company would be flooded with ideas for a better case, imo.

[hockey&comicsguy]

All this talk of CGC buying out PGX or buying their holders has me wondering when they are actually going to do it. Just so they can entice us all to re slab all of the books we already have.

 

The more I think about the CGC slab, the more I don't want them to screw with it at all. Next thing you know there will be a new, bigger, better, faster, stronger, able to withstand a speeding bullet slab and we're all going to get scared into having all of our books re slabbed (for a nominal fee of course

 

I've received cracked slabs before. Nothing insanely destroyed. But I have noticed that the CGC slab is prone to these little hairline fractures I call them with just the slightest amount of mishandling. Seriously, you can't ever make a mistake with a CGC holder. I I feel you have to be perfect with it all the time. Don't drop it, don't accidentally set something on it, don't stack it awkwardly, etc.... I don't handle my slabs very often not for fear of damaging my comics. But for fear of damaging the slab. How dumb does that sound?

 

I'm convinced that I am completely and utterly torn on this topic. One second I want an improved slab, the next I don't.