Understanding turnaround times (Modern vs. Economy) 0

[Severus Snape]

Hi,

This is not a complaint, but I am curious about the process. 

I submitted some comics which were published before 1975 so they ended up in the "Economy Tier".  At the same time, I submitted books that were published after 1975 I think those fall into the "Modern" Tier.  I submitted both of these sets of books to get pressed as well as graded and at the same time.  I have my Modern books back already.  Shipped back and everything, the "Economy" books are in the final stages of being finished up and shipped back.  But in the mean time I've submitted more Modern books for grading and they were graded and are in the mail back to me too, before the original "Economy" books have even made it through the process.

It seems like at every step the "Economy" books take longer.  But I don't understand why.  Isn't the process to grade an "Economy" book exactly the same process to grade a "Modern" book?  Isn't pressing and cleaning exactly the same process no matter the age of the book?

Why do "Economy" books take longer at every step?  Are the steps actually different?  Is it a volume thing, like people just send in way more earlier than 1975 books and so there are just soooo many more to do and that's what takes the extra time?  Are there less graders for the "Economy" books?

Just would like to understand why the drastic turnaround time based on the age of the book.

 

Thanks,

Severus

[KaileeS CS]

Hello @Severus Snape, thank you for contacting CGC. 

Due to the number of vintage books we have received over the last 3 years, our turnaround times in the Economy tier of service have increased. The main delay is at the grading stage since vintage books are scrutinized even more than modern books due to their age. CGC has been doing significant pushes to hire new employees across the board and because of it, our other tiers of service have started to see declines from their previous turnaround times. However, it appears your submission was processed quite a bit faster than our current turnaround times suggest from what I am able to see. We hope that in the near future we will be able to shorten that Economy turnaround time, but first, we must cut down on the backlog of books we have received at this time.

I hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.

[Severus Snape]

Thank you @KaileeS CS  That does help!  It sounds like there's a couple of reasons for the differences in turnaround for Economy vs. Modern:

1.  Huge backlog of Economy books to get through.

2.  Higher scrutiny of books due to age, I would assume also cleaning and pressing an older book probably takes longer too.

3.  Staffing issues.  It probably takes a more experienced grader to authenticate, confirm there is no restoration, and generally evaluate an older book, so that makes sense.

 

Thanks for your reply, it's nice to know what the deal is!

 

Best,

 

Severus