Does CGC really give priority by tiers? Doesn't look that way to me. 2 2

[sfcityduck]

On March 12, 2021, CGC said:  

Quote

We understand that some of you are disappointed that your turnaround time is longer than expected. Our posted turnaround times are our best estimates, but a variety of factors — including many outside of our control — can impact the actual turnaround time. We are working on a first-in, first-out basis with higher grading tiers prioritized.

Doesn't look that way to me.  Here's why:

Modern is a lesser tier than Economy, costing less money for submissions (and until very recently lower value books), yet these are the TATs for the two categories:

Modern (1975 - Present) - 116 days / Fast Track: 91 days

Economy (Pre - 1975) - 153 days / Fast Track: 131 days

That is messed up.  They ought to drop the price for Economy below that of Modern based on these TATs if they really are trying to be honest about the "working on a first-in, first-out basis with higher grading teirs prioritized."  

The Economy tier ($33) costs 50% more than the Modern Tier ($22), yet its TAT is 44% slower.   That should be the slogan: "Economy Tier: Pay $50% more for 44% slower service!"

That is messed up! CGC's statements about priority by tier pricing are simply not accurate.

MATT, YOU ARE THE MAN!  Time to fix this mess!

EDITED TO ADD FROM THE BOTTOM OF THIS THREAD:

Even if Economy and Modern are the same level of tier, "first-in, first-out" means that Economy books submitted before Moderns (e.g. "first-in") should be graded before the subsequently submitted Moderns (e.g. the Economy should be "first-out").  But, the TATs on Moderns are faster.  That suggest that CGC should be shifting graders from Moderns to Economy to ensure that the "first-in" Economy really do get "first-out."   Especially since smart businesses make representations they can live up to.

I think Matt, a GA guy, will make this right.  

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by sfcityduck

[Cat]

They're kinda damned if they do, damned if they don't. If they were to prioritise the higher tiers at the moment, then the lower tiers simply wouldn't get done. How do you set the point at which to stop to keep things reasonable for the lower tiers considering times are already unreasonable by default? It's an impossible task. They really are in over their head right now, and I don't think changing their approach will help speed things up. I think it will also hurt their customer relations more than you'd think. 

[Buzzetta]

Depends if your first name rhymes with “eggy”

[sfcityduck]

12 minutes ago, Mecha_Fantastic said:

They're kinda damned if they do, damned if they don't. If they were to prioritise the higher tiers at the moment, then the lower tiers simply wouldn't get done. How do you set the point at which to stop to keep things reasonable for the lower tiers considering times are already unreasonable by default? It's an impossible task. They really are in over their head right now, and I don't think changing their approach will help speed things up. I think it will also hurt their customer relations more than you'd think. 

They owe the Economy tier a refund.  They said higher tiers get higher priority, but they have faster service for the LOWEST tier.  It is messed up.  

Matt needs to fix this problem.  

From a business perspective, if they have to temporarily put a damper on some business to fix a problem, the damper should be applied to the lowest priced tier.  Sorry modern.

[THE_BEYONDER]

1 hour ago, sfcityduck said:

They owe the Economy tier a refund.  They said higher tiers get higher priority, but they have faster service for the LOWEST tier.  It is messed up.  

Matt needs to fix this problem.  

From a business perspective, if they have to temporarily put a damper on some business to fix a problem, the damper should be applied to the lowest priced tier.  Sorry modern.

They should halt ALL submissions until these ridiculous TATs are reduced.

 

They won’t.   But they absolutely should.

 

[D84]

With adding video game grading, it will only get worse.

[wombat]

22 minutes ago, D84 said:

With adding video game grading, it will only get worse.

And 37 new private signings a week. 

[Math Teacher]

I get the need to increase your revenue stream. But they did that by hosting a ridiculous number of private signings and by grading cards. I honestly don't remember which came first, but probably the private signings. And now they are adding video games.

If you increase your profits but aggravate your customers by biting off more than you can chew, that's not a good business model.

Here's what I would recommend:

1) No more private signings until some of the back log has been reduced. It's quite frustrating to know that someone can send in a book for a private signing, and get it returned faster than some books I have submitted two months earlier. Yes, I realize customers pay extra for this treatment, but CGC needs to realize that their "bread and butter" is grading comics.

2) Put a 3-month moratorium on new submissions. If there are so many submissions that it takes CGC almost a month just to open your box, then I find it hard to believe that CGC's income would crater during this moratorium. Granted, people will complain about this moratorium, but they are currently complaining about TATs. It sounds like it would be six of one, half a dozen of the other. On the other hand, there would be another huge crush when the moratorium was lifted.

3) I know this will never happen, but go back to what led to your company's success - grading comics. It seems that Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA), Beckett Grading Services (BGS) and Sportscard Guaranty (SGC) are doing quite well by excelling at only one thing.

The only way a company sits up and takes notice of its unhappy customers is when they start to lose business. I currently have one book (FF #6) undergoing restoration removal. I mailed this book at the beginning of June, and I don't plan on seeing that book until March or April of 2022. When that book is returned, I going to put submitting more books on hold for quite some time. I doubt that CGC would even realize that I had stopped submitting books. If 10,000 of us were to stop submitting, ...?

[D84]

2 minutes ago, Math Teacher said:

I get the need to increase your revenue stream. But they did that by hosting a ridiculous number of private signings and by grading cards. I honestly don't remember which came first, but probably the private signings. And now they are adding video games.

If you increase your profits but aggravate your customers by biting off more than you can chew, that's not a good business model.

Here's what I would recommend:

1) No more private signings until some of the back log has been reduced. It's quite frustrating to know that someone can send in a book for a private signing, and get it returned faster than some books I have submitted two months earlier. Yes, I realize customers pay extra for this treatment, but CGC needs to realize that their "bread and butter" is grading comics.

2) Put a 3-month moratorium on new submissions. If there are so many submissions that it takes CGC almost a month just to open your box, then I find it hard to believe that CGC's income would crater during this moratorium. Granted, people will complain about this moratorium, but they are currently complaining about TATs. It sounds like it would be six of one, half a dozen of the other. On the other hand, there would be another huge crush when the moratorium was lifted.

3) I know this will never happen, but go back to what led to your company's success - grading comics. It seems that Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA), Beckett Grading Services (BGS) and Sportscard Guaranty (SGC) are doing quite well by excelling at only one thing.

The only way a company sits up and takes notice of its unhappy customers is when they start to lose business. I currently have one book (FF #6) undergoing restoration removal. I mailed this book at the beginning of June, and I don't plan on seeing that book until March or April of 2022. When that book is returned, I going to put submitting more books on hold for quite some time. I doubt that CGC would even realize that I had stopped submitting books. If 10,000 of us were to stop submitting, ...?

This is a well thought out plan that Blackstone would never approve because it would show a short term loss of revenue and they need the books look good for the quarter.

Remember, they are a venture capital firm. They don't care about the customers, as long as they keep paying.

[chrisco37]

NWO said it in another thread, people have to  stop submitting books that have no business being graded.  But that’s not going to happen, so suck it up and be prepared to wait or pay the premium for fast track.
 

[Terry JSA]

38 minutes ago, chrisco37 said:

NWO said it in another thread, people have to  stop submitting books that have no business being graded.  But that’s not going to happen, so suck it up and be prepared to wait or pay the premium for fast track.
 

I agree with that. There’s no need to get unnecessary books graded. 

[StillOnly25Cents]

1 minute ago, Terry_JSA said:

I agree with that. There’s no need to get unnecessary books graded. 

sounds so simple .... would love to see who would get to be the arbiter of that 

[Terry JSA]

3 minutes ago, StillOnly25Cents said:

sounds so simple .... would love to see who would get to be the arbiter of that 

Sometimes I think getting new releases graded as soon as they come out isn’t really worth it. 

[StillOnly25Cents]

10 minutes ago, Terry_JSA said:

Sometimes I think getting new releases graded as soon as they come out isn’t really worth it. 

and that is why you don't run CGC or any other business where you have people willing to give you money for your services that you would so easily decline

Edited July 12, 2021 by StillOnly25Cents

[Fisionbomb]

@sfcityduck I think you're misunderstanding what "higher tier" means. I could be wrong but I believe Modern and Economy are equally the lowest basic tiers, both with the same max value cap, just different eras. Economy is more expensive not because it's meant to be an upgraded tier but because the books involved are (generally speaking) more fragile and more likely to have defects therefore more time consuming to grade. It should be, and is, slower than modern.

Standard, Express and Walkthrough are what should be considered "higher" faster tiers.

[Terry JSA]

1 minute ago, StillOnly25Cents said:

and that is why you don't run CGC or any other business where you have people willing to give you money for your services that you would so easily decline

I’m not saying I would decline it, but rather saying is it necessary to get something from NCBD sent off for grading for no particular reason. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

1 hour ago, chrisco37 said:

NWO said it in another thread, people have to  stop submitting books that have no business being graded.  But that’s not going to happen, so suck it up and be prepared to wait or pay the premium for fast track.
 

What I collect is awesome

 what you collect is garbage 

[sfcityduck]

1 hour ago, Fisionbomb said:

@sfcityduck I think you're misunderstanding what "higher tier" means. I could be wrong but I believe Modern and Economy are equally the lowest basic tiers, both with the same max value cap, just different eras. Economy is more expensive not because it's meant to be an upgraded tier but because the books involved are (generally speaking) more fragile and more likely to have defects therefore more time consuming to grade. It should be, and is, slower than modern.

Standard, Express and Walkthrough are what should be considered "higher" faster tiers.

Until a little while ago, the max value cap on Modern was $200, right?  Modern has always been the lowest tier and the prices reflect that.  While I understand your rationalization for CGC's slow grading, THEY have never taken that position, and I really don't think there's a reason to think that a 1975-1980 book is any more fragile than a 1970-1974 book.   If Modern began in the 1990s, after comics had generally all abandoned newsprint, you might have a point (if foil, holographs, textured covers, etc.,  don't cut against that point).  But, that's not how Modern is defined.

I'm also not convinced by this statement:  "more likely to have defects therefore more time consuming to grade."  Do you really think it is easier to tell a 9.4 from a 9.6 from a 9.8 than to tell a 3.0 from a 3.5 from a 4.0?  

Edited July 13, 2021 by sfcityduck

[Ride the Tiger]

You can't just tell people to stop submitting books because they're not worth it.  Who gets to decide whats worth It? How do you set the standard? There's alot of us that think the SS books are killing the TATs so maybe just do away with those? Doesn't work that way, we all are different in what we collect. Even if some guy sends in a box of dollar bin comics to be  graded then burns them upon arrival he has the same right as everyone else as long as he's paying for it.

[Fisionbomb]

26 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

Until a little while ago, the max value cap on Modern was $200, right?  Modern has always been the lowest tier and the prices reflect that.  While I understand your rationalization for CGC's slow grading, THEY have never taken that position, and I really don't think there's a reason to think that a 1975-1980 book is any more fragile than a 1970-1974 book.   If Modern began in the 1990s, after comics had generally all abandoned newsprint, you might have a point (if foil, holographs, textured covers, etc.,  don't cut against that point).  But, that's not how Modern is defined.

I'm also not convinced by this statement:  "more likely to have defects therefore more time consuming to grade."  Do you really think it is easier to tell a 9.4 from a 9.6 from a 9.8 than to tell a 3.0 from a 3.5 from a 

Not here to antagonize, just trying to offer some insight into the way things are.  Lower price in this case (Modern) doesn't mean lower tier.  "Higher tier" refers to their expedited service tiers, Economy isn't one of them, it's the way it is. Not satisfied? Take it all up with CGC and let us all know what they have to say about it.