CGC Turnaround Times for Images 3 3

[lighthouse]

I’ve submitted a few thousand books to CGC over the years. But had never paid for imaging until a couple submissions last month.

I had assumed (without actually researching) that I would receive the images the day the books shipped out. Or maybe the next day. Obviously the images have to be taken before the box gets packed. And the “processing” after that is minimal.

Even if they needed cropping (which wouldn’t make much sense… you just shoot the images at the size you’re going to send them… easy to do when the process is the same thousands of times over), it can’t be more than a few seconds per image. You already have the email address connected to them (I’m clearly getting email alerts when boxes ship out).

Current status on my two submissions with imaging? Books shipped March 24th and March 25th via registered mail. No images yet received. In one case I’ve had the books back in my possession for 13 days already. In the other I’ve had them in hand for 6 days (sometimes registered mail gets really slow). I emailed customer service about them four days after my books shipped, since I assumed by that point they were already late. It took two days to get an email response and the response was:

”Imaging is running about 10 business days in addition to the regular grading.  You should receive those via an email by the end of next week.”

I admit I’m more confused than anything else. I assumed I was buying the ability to share images of books well before I had the books in hand. And $5 a book seems a bit high for that service but I was willing to pay it in this case. Mostly I’m confused about how there can possibly be a backlog of (now) 13 business days to email out images that were taken before the box was packed? If that’s the turnaround time going forward I doubt I’ll be ordering it again. And maybe that’s a goal for CGC, to discourage people from ordering images because it’s not profitable. But I have a hard time believing it’s not profitable to have someone pressing a button to email images at 5 bucks a pop. If ever there was a task that screams “automated task” it’s that one.

[MyNameIsLegion]

This is the sort of thing that Blackstone's accountants and consultants will get around to in a year or 2 and fire everyone involved, fix it (easily), and raise the price, but the turnaround will be 48 hours or less.  Image processing workflows have been around for at least 15 years.  This is literally the easiest money they could make, and they screw it up.  It's the canary in the coal mine of a poorly run operation.

[JJ-4]

On 4/12/2022 at 9:35 AM, MyNameIsLegion said:

It's the canary in the coal mine of a poorly run operation.

This 100%.  And the metrics are trending the wrong direction (things seem to be getting worse).

[theCapraAegagrus]

Photographing, filing, and sending images is so damn rudimentary. There's no good excuse for not turning that service around same-day as shipping, or any other random due date.

[bc]

On 4/12/2022 at 1:42 PM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Photographing, filing, and sending images is so damn rudimentary. There's no good excuse for not turning that service around same-day as shipping, or any other random due date.

This is some very basic IT voodoo. Image processing workflows (whether graphic or text) have been around for decades. Disk storage (to hold images) doesn't need to be expensive flash based systems, good old spinning hard drives would be fine. CGC already has the email associated with each submission and obviously some scanner or imaging hardware. The only missing piece is operational integration.

Images could easily be integrated into the existing process (to get the extra couple bucks) and delivered via email the same day as encapsulation. This would give the submitter a chance to review the final product before shipping (they'd get the grader notes, grades and an image) as they are processed.

This could be applied to all of the collectibles they grade: comics/mags, cards, coins, pulps, etc.

And, just maybe, the imaging process could also help identify potential QC issues before the book is shipped.

-bc

[Lightning55]

On 4/12/2022 at 2:52 PM, bc said:

This is some very basic IT voodoo. Image processing workflows (whether graphic or text) have been around for decades. Disk storage (to hold images) doesn't need to be expensive flash based systems, good old spinning hard drives would be fine. CGC already has the email associated with each submission and obviously some scanner or imaging hardware. The only missing piece is operational integration.

Images could easily be integrated into the existing process (to get the extra couple bucks) and delivered via email the same day as encapsulation. This would give the submitter a chance to review the final product before shipping (they'd get the grader notes, grades and an image) as they are processed.

This could be applied to all of the collectibles they grade: comics/mags, cards, coins, pulps, etc.

And, just maybe, the imaging process could also help identify potential QC issues before the book is shipped.

-bc

This is probably exactly why they won't show you the images pre-shipment.  You see something you don't like, you have an opportunity to contact customer service and gum up their works. 

Just like not releasing the grades until the box is G-O-N-E.  Thought that 8.5 was going to be 9.6?  Want to know how it could be so far off?  Sorry, it's out of here, can't help you.

[lighthouse]

On 4/12/2022 at 5:42 PM, Lightning55 said:

This is probably exactly why they won't show you the images pre-shipment.  You see something you don't like, you have an opportunity to contact customer service and gum up their works. 

Just like not releasing the grades until the box is G-O-N-E.  Thought that 8.5 was going to be 9.6?  Want to know how it could be so far off?  Sorry, it's out of here, can't help you.

Agreed that releasing images before shipment is a terrible idea.

But (now) 14 business days after shipping? Not much better than terrible.

Edited April 12, 2022 by lighthouse

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 4/12/2022 at 5:52 PM, lighthouse said:

Agreed that releasing images before shipment is a terrible idea.

 

I don’t know....

If they can’t be bothered with QC, maybe it best they give the customer a chance to review it & do that job for them.

[Lightning55]

On 4/12/2022 at 6:35 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I don’t know....

If they can’t be bothered with QC, maybe it best they give the customer a chance to review it & do that job for them.

That's crazy.  It would be like a store letting you check out your own purchases.  It'll never catch on.