How is CGC possibly this busy??

[Iceman399]

I wish they would stop onsite grading. Least the machine wouldn't be boxed up for 3 days each way not being used while its being transported.

[Robot Man]

You could probably send your books to Oregon for a faster turn... I hear there is a garage that needs the work.

[G.A.tor]

And from my last experience. CGC is in a tight phase.

 

has anyone looked at tat relative to our perceived "tight" and "looser" grading periods...I wonder if when they are "tighter" that it serves to slow down the submissions and helps tat....maybe when they get caught up, loosen (perceived again, of course) a bit and increase subs...

 

never really considered this, but I wonder

[Junkdrawer]

Considering there is another company in the mix, how can CGC still be this busy? If the other company is pulling away possible slabs then you would think the turn around time would significantly decrease not increase. There can't be that many copies of New Mutants 98 being slabbed that the entire system is slowing to crawl? Or is everyone being told to slab everything now to maximize profits? Just seems crazy to me that both companies are this busy.

I got over 250 books being graded currently at CGC, but that's just me.

[Doktor]

Doesn't CGC charge more to grade at cons?

 

Yes, they have a different pricing schedule for onsite grading

 

Higher per-book price, but no shipping costs, insurance or invoice fees.

 

no invoice fees? didn't know that. very nice.

 

I've only done on-site in Philly, so I can only assume the price is the same at other shows they offer on-site grading, but it's ~$25 for modern & (I think? I'd have to check an invoice to be sure) ~$50 for pre-1975? Don't quote me, but that's about the prices I remember. But still no invoice/handling fee. No shipping. No insurance on the shipping. All those things that add a bunch of cost to an order go away. But you also don't get your 10% discount. So pretty much once you hit 10 books done on-site, it offsets the shipping/invoice/insurance fees & the loss off the discount.

 

Sooo... slight trade-offs & well worth the cost IMO for virtually instant gratification.

[CatskillMike]

The ridiculous tats are why I haven't sent in any books in years. I have about 50 books I'd like to slab, but I won't wait 6 months or more for them. But that's just me.

 

Here's a popular(not) idea that may have been floated around before-how about a per customer quota/limit on the number of submissions per quarter year or something until the tats get reasonable? (CatskillMike runs for cover)

[revat]

Considering there is another company in the mix, how can CGC still be this busy? If the other company is pulling away possible slabs then you would think the turn around time would significantly decrease not increase. There can't be that many copies of New Mutants 98 being slabbed that the entire system is slowing to crawl? Or is everyone being told to slab everything now to maximize profits? Just seems crazy to me that both companies are this busy.

I got over 250 books being graded currently at CGC, but that's just me.

 

I have seven being graded at CGC.

[atoolcircle]

Now a 65 Business Day wait? This is insane. Think its time to hire some new people, stop with these Comic Cons and work weekends. At least six day work weeks and 10 to 12 hour days should be looked at. Who ever manages this should give a reason why? An explanation to this insane wait should be given and emailed or mailed to each paying member. I don't pay for the higher tiers to wait. What's the point in giving so much money if you have to wait so long. This company is making money hand over fist and is the leader in grading. They set the bar for grading. The top company shouldn't be making people wait. Amazon folks get to upgrade to a Prime membership for better deals and free two day shipping. The shipping price here is also being overpriced. CGC needs to catch up, or it's going to start losing higher tier customers.

[1Cool]

Now a 65 Business Day wait? This is insane. Think its time to hire some new people, stop with these Comic Cons and work weekends. At least six day work weeks and 10 to 12 hour days should be looked at. Who ever manages this should give a reason why? An explanation to this insane wait should be given and emailed or mailed to each paying member. I don't pay for the higher tiers to wait. What's the point in giving so much money if you have to wait so long. This company is making money hand over fist and is the leader in grading. They set the bar for grading. The top company shouldn't be making people wait. Amazon folks get to upgrade to a Prime membership for better deals and free two day shipping. The shipping price here is also being overpriced. CGC needs to catch up, or it's going to start losing higher tier customers.

 

Way to be vocal in your 1st post!

[chrisco37]

Have you seen what people are subbing? I understand that what I collect isn't better than what you collect but why are you subbing last week's modern book in an 8.5-9.0 I am sorry but why?

More and more collectors are subbing books more so now than ever, which means that everything is slowing down.

 

I was really hoping a new game in town would speed things up but until they can cut down their TAT's (which they can't...they have added +20 days since con season) it won't cut down here.

 

I don't see people post too many turds on the forums, but when I see some of the stuff people post on various other sites, all I can think is : "why on earth would you grade that?". Of course, many of them are the ones that wonder why TAT's are behind (not you, KPR).

 

7.5 Copper X-books, 9.0 McSpidey ASM, 1:10 variant of the month 9.4, etc...

 

The money I see wasted on slab fees by some people boggles my mind.

 

[rob_react]

I was actually thinking the exact same thing. I can't believe it's taking even longer and like the other people in the turnaround thread, I don't feel like paying an extra $10 per book to get my books graded.

 

I couldn't wait 4 months to get books back but I guess if you do it regularly packages come every couple months so its not that bad.

 

I sub once or twice a month. I get books back once or twice a month.

 

Of course, I'm not selling much so I guess it's easier to be patient

[jsilverjanet]

I'm about to send 10,000 copies I found of Youngblood Strikefile #1

 

I sent them walkthru as I'm confident they are all 9.9s or better

 

I'm going to be rich!

[Bomber-Bob]

And from my last experience. CGC is in a tight phase.

 

has anyone looked at tat relative to our perceived "tight" and "looser" grading periods...I wonder if when they are "tighter" that it serves to slow down the submissions and helps tat....maybe when they get caught up, loosen (perceived again, of course) a bit and increase subs...

 

never really considered this, but I wonder

 

I think this is spot on. I was glad when CGC tightened up, it gives the collector a better product for his money. I hope they never get caught up. I hope they take longer and longer and grade tighter and tighter !

[mschmidt]

I wish they would stop onsite grading. Least the machine wouldn't be boxed up for 3 days each way not being used while its being transported.

 

They have multiple machines - the problem is that most of the people who run the machines are also at the onsite show.

 

In general, though, CGC stopping onsite shows wouldn't do jack squat for TATs. From what I've heard, CGC is setting a new record for submissions this year.

[revat]

Now a 65 Business Day wait? This is insane. Think its time to hire some new people, stop with these Comic Cons and work weekends. At least six day work weeks and 10 to 12 hour days should be looked at. Who ever manages this should give a reason why? An explanation to this insane wait should be given and emailed or mailed to each paying member. I don't pay for the higher tiers to wait. What's the point in giving so much money if you have to wait so long. This company is making money hand over fist and is the leader in grading. They set the bar for grading. The top company shouldn't be making people wait. Amazon folks get to upgrade to a Prime membership for better deals and free two day shipping. The shipping price here is also being overpriced. CGC needs to catch up, or it's going to start losing higher tier customers.

 

this is all great. but...imagine you OWN CGC.

 

Try to think of reasons why you wouldn't take these steps... Is it that hard to come up with those reasons?

 

Mandatory Overtime? I personally don't want my mint comic books handled or graded by some exhausted angry guy at the end of his shift at the end of a sixty hour workweek. The quality and consistency is more important than the time. Your reputation for quality for this company is a million times more important than your reputation for speed.

 

Hire more workers? Makes sense in the long run, but in the short run you have to take workers (probably your better ones) off of the line to find, screen, interview, train, teach, supervise those new workers. This will cause things to get even MORE behind, and this doesn't even address the logistical extra costs and situations in terms of space, scheduling, etc. So you can do this on a small scale, the resulting improvements will be incremental at best.

 

Stop going to cons? Stop advertising directly to your core audience? Stop your largest source of revenue? Dealers submit crazy amounts of books at cons to avoid shipping costs. People submit soooo much at cons, and soooo many new customers submit their first submissions at cons. And a lot of the workers enjoy the bit of travel to break up the monotony of grading. Would Tesla stop taking new orders because the factory was running way behind?

 

 

Of course there are practical improvements that can and should be implemented, but its a huge disservice to oversimplify the remedies. Although accurately updated turnaround times would probably help everyone feel a lot better.

 

THey should probably post a turnaround time AND the received dates of books being mailed out today.

 

 

[mschmidt]

And from my last experience. CGC is in a tight phase.

 

has anyone looked at tat relative to our perceived "tight" and "looser" grading periods...I wonder if when they are "tighter" that it serves to slow down the submissions and helps tat....maybe when they get caught up, loosen (perceived again, of course) a bit and increase subs...

 

never really considered this, but I wonder

 

Imho, CGC's as tight right now as they were back in 2007-2008 - and TATs are far higher than they were back then. Go figure :shrug:

[comix4fun]

I just called about 1 Magazine that they received on 8/3. They said it should ship back to me in December!!!

 

 

For the cost difference between Standard and Economy Magazines I can never choose Econ.

[romanheart]

Maybe they should just hire more staff.

[Iceman399]

I wish they would stop onsite grading. Least the machine wouldn't be boxed up for 3 days each way not being used while its being transported.

 

They have multiple machines - the problem is that most of the people who run the machines are also at the onsite show.

 

In general, though, CGC stopping onsite shows wouldn't do jack squat for TATs. From what I've heard, CGC is setting a new record for submissions this year.

 

Yes granted they have extra machines but if they do 4 onsite shows a year, and it takes 6 business days of a machine being down that is 24 business days that unit loses.

 

For argument sake, they have 3 machines...and work about 225 business days a year (this accounts for con fridays and holidays). That means that you are effectively putting a machine out of use for 10% of its workload or 3.3% of the overall CGC workload...but that is 2 or 3 days off of each tier time. I think that's a good start.

[MrBedrock]

Now a 65 Business Day wait? This is insane. Think its time to hire some new people, stop with these Comic Cons and work weekends. At least six day work weeks and 10 to 12 hour days should be looked at. Who ever manages this should give a reason why? An explanation to this insane wait should be given and emailed or mailed to each paying member. I don't pay for the higher tiers to wait. What's the point in giving so much money if you have to wait so long. This company is making money hand over fist and is the leader in grading. They set the bar for grading. The top company shouldn't be making people wait. Amazon folks get to upgrade to a Prime membership for better deals and free two day shipping. The shipping price here is also being overpriced. CGC needs to catch up, or it's going to start losing higher tier customers.

Extended work days and weeks are great, but what they really need to do is start hiring minors to do all the menial tasks. CGC could cut costs by paying kids with cheap generic candy.