Grader Notes

[thirdgreenham]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

[skypinkblu]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

[RockMyAmadeus]

(French popcorn)

 

+

[jimjum12]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

....that's probably why they decided to charge rather than eliminate. The notes data is probably open to editing and not available to the entry level employee. I hope they work it out.....I CGC......GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[thirdgreenham]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

Something I hadn't thought of. Okay, perhaps they do re-stock the toilet paper during their breaks.

[DrWatson]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

Something I hadn't thought of. Okay, perhaps they do re-stock the toilet paper during their breaks.

I'm sure it gets boring and tedious. How many graders have quit or taken leaves of absence the last few years?

[jimjum12]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

Something I hadn't thought of. Okay, perhaps they do re-stock the toilet paper during their breaks.

 

.....only if it's out. All kidding aside, at my job (manufacturing) the heat is on to cut costs and increase profits to keep our jobs here in America. We constantly assess proceedures and processes according to whether or not they are "value added". It's some really sobering stuff. Luckily our upper management is still staffed by Human Beings and they TOTALLY understand what Sharon is driving at....but we have managed to make some very profound and positive changes by learning to look at the "Big Picture". GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[COI]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

Something I hadn't thought of. Okay, perhaps they do re-stock the toilet paper during their breaks.

I'm sure it gets boring and tedious. How many graders have quit or taken leaves of absence the last few years?

 

Life's tough for a comic grader. I hear Foxconn is hiring.

[DrWatson]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

Something I hadn't thought of. Okay, perhaps they do re-stock the toilet paper during their breaks.

I'm sure it gets boring and tedious. How many graders have quit or taken leaves of absence the last few years?

 

Life's tough for a comic grader. I hear Foxconn is hiring.

Instead of dating a new girl every few weeks or so, why don't you get married and let us know what it's like twelve years from now?

[oakman29]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

Something I hadn't thought of. Okay, perhaps they do re-stock the toilet paper during their breaks.

I'm sure it gets boring and tedious. How many graders have quit or taken leaves of absence the last few years?

 

Life's tough for a comic grader. I hear Foxconn is hiring.

Instead of dating a new girl every few weeks or so, why don't you get married and let us know what it's like twelve years from now?

So true.

[Senormac]

I think a good service for CGC would be to send nice front and back cover scans to all the people who send in submissions, so that they can put them up in the registry

 

I mean, dang theres alot of no picture sets up there

[rednalsram]

Charging for grader's notes is definitely double dipping.

 

When I worked at Golf Galaxy ( sales, and club tech ), during a ball fitting

we would printout and give the customer/client their stats for the best ball for their game.

It was a 4 page print out of 85 balls in four different classes of play.

 

We ( the fitter ) would spend 15-20 min. with them, giving them the years of

our training, and expert opinion on which ball was right for their game.

 

That service is much more involved, and less than what CGC is double charging for their service.

[COI]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

Something I hadn't thought of. Okay, perhaps they do re-stock the toilet paper during their breaks.

I'm sure it gets boring and tedious. How many graders have quit or taken leaves of absence the last few years?

 

Life's tough for a comic grader. I hear Foxconn is hiring.

Instead of dating a new girl every few weeks or so, why don't you get married and let us know what it's like twelve years from now?

 

I'd likely be on my third marriage by then.

[robocard]

I have read much but not all of this thread so this may already have been covered. I am not looking to suggest or provide a definition of what a service is; however, I can think of two services I recently had experience with and in both instances, I would never be satisfied with just getting the end product without any support of the bill (tax preparation and auto repairs) separate from the cost of the service.

 

It seems that a potential significant difference with CGC is that they were able to establish their service in such a manner that end users accepted the fact that only an encapsulated comic with minimal information on the label would be provided. One could argue that since no one has challenged this practice since inception, the practice is now a standard by which we have no choice but to follow.

 

In summary, I feel CGC should have been required to provide support (graders notes, individual grades,, etc.) for their fee work product like many other service providers; however, since no one challenged them, I believe they have the right to treat graders notes as a separate service and charge for it. Perhaps, the time to challenge the cost of this new service should occur sooner than later or we will have another standard to deal with- like it or not.

 

In case anyone cares, I think charging for something that the submitter should have been receiving from day one is poor customer service at best. As for providing the information to third parties without the consent of the original submitter, that practice could be considered questionable as well.

 

Ed R

[Thermal]

Wow. This sucks.

 

I would say 90% of my grader's note calls are because I want to know if a book has a popped staple, since they stopped noting that defect on the slab. I would glad pay a flat fee for access to grader's notes. In fact, I would almost rather do that since calling every time I want to buy a mid-grade golden age slab gets a little tedious. But there is no freaking way I am paying $10-30 APIECE for notes. I would rather just not buy or bid on the book in question....which is exactly what's going to happen. Seller's loss.

 

Well, it's already happened. I'd bid on this to win if I knew the top staple was attached, but not going to pay $30 for that information.

 

http://comics.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=121218&lotNo=10337&lotIdNo=1003

 

Assuming CGC continues with this course of action, I can see Heritage at some point integrating a complimentary Grader's Notes lookup feature, at least during their Signature auctions. I can see them negotiating a reasonable flat fee for the privilege, which would serve to differentiate themselves from their competitors even more and hopefully keep their bidding pool strong.

 

Or am I being too optimistic here?

Honestly, the grading notes probably discourage people from bidding more than they encourage it.

 

I think they do both. Notes can encourage or discourage bidding.

 

Which one increases active bidding more over all, though?

 

Removing notes forces people to take a chance.

 

Whoever made the decision to make getting notes and information more difficult has likely assessed the risk (any underwriter can do that) and is thinking that risk takers and greed will likely win over lack of information.

 

From an auctioneer's point of view, it's likely going to increase bidding over all.

 

I think the outrage is mainly coming from the high additional price and the propriety of the idea.

 

 

......at this point, they're SPENDING money to facilitate an aspect of the industry which they are not directly involved....the SELLING of slabbed books. After grading over a million books, the logistics and overhead involved in providing this service is apparently becoming burdensome. The high price is certainly a sign that they would rather not provide this service at all....and I can't blame them. I would be curious as to how many queries they receive each day. I know it has to be more than a couple of customer service reps can squeeze in to their responsibilities. Personally, I would cease directing those note requests to a grader. Reading off notes over the phone does not require the participation of the star Quarterback. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

P.S. Perhaps a slight increase in paid membership with a limit per membership of Grader's Notes may be an idea to pursue.

 

Then STOP keeping notes. Who are they for?

[Thermal]

It's called greed. Plain and simple. Surcharge here, extra charge there, etc., etc. Until a legitimate company arises that can compete on the same playing field, we will all continue to be a slave to the monopoly. It's the only show in town folks, enjoy the performance.

 

I don't think CGC is trying to be greedy or even make money here. I just think they are simply trying to discourage queries on grader's notes.

If they were just trying to discourage queries there are many ways to do it.

One - provide the submitter with the notes and leave it up to the submitter to disclose them.

Two - make the notes available to everyone for free by posting them.

Three - make the notes available to no one.

Four - stop archiving the notes. Use them internally for the grading process and then dispose of them.

 

Again, the only reason for The CGC to keep the notes is to monetize them.

 

+1,0000

[Thermal]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Hire some college interns for a fair wage and some credits, read off the Grader's Notes and move on. Enjoy the money while it flows in, just don't forget what happened to Blockbuster!!!!

[VintageComics]

Then STOP keeping notes. Who are they for?

 

The grading notes are meant to be an internal communication between graders so that they don't miss any defects. They were never really meant for public consumption, except to explain to justify grades for submitters that may be unhappy with their grades.

 

 

[Thermal]

Then STOP keeping notes. Who are they for?

 

The grading notes are meant to be an internal communication between graders so that they don't miss any defects. They were never really meant for public consumption, except to explain to justify grades for submitters that may be unhappy with their grades.

 

 

Then why was the info provided from the start?

[paperheart]

I really don't see how providing Grader's Notes over the telephone can be blamed for eroding turnaround times. Sure, it's a convenient excuse, but I don't understand why a grader had to be called to read off the notes. Why couldn't a customer service representative read off the notes in the first place? It's obvious the graders will not be the ones emailing the notes to customers.

 

Agreed. Graders will be grading books, not unpacking and packing books, not re-stocking the toilet paper, and not answering any telephone inquiries.

 

I hope that's not all they are doing, they are going to be awfully burnt out and bored if they stare at books all day and may be the reason for some of the odd grades that are showing up lately.

 

Breaking up the functions a little may actually help the speed, they might like talking on the phone a bit.

 

It's very hard to be chained to a desk 8 hours a day, staring at documents/pictures/pages...that doesn't solve the problem of not having enough staff, it makes it worse.

 

spoken like someone who has actually worked with human beings (thumbs u