I checked this morning and NGC's economy tier is up to 46 business days. This works out to well over two months of calendar days. Their 21 working day estimate is less than half than the reality. I wonder if there is any other similar business service with such a disparity?
Is it really that hard to find coin graders? No one is going to submit many under $100 coins on an early bird tier @ $25 plus per coin. So in the current situation those coins don't get graded, authenticated, screened for problems etc.. My understanding is that graders are paid over $100K a year. Surely there are qualified people for that job in this economy.
Evidently quality graders are not available. And yes there are plenty of other businesses that work like that. Just look at the gaming systems around xmas. Everybody wants their coin graded as cheaply as possible. And if someone does not like the time frame, they can pay more for a quicker turn around time.
Watch some of the late night coin show networks and look at what NGC and PCGS has been doing. I saw some 2011 MS-69 ASEs for sale on one of them late last night. NGC had special graphics labels with the S.F. bridge on them and said "Minted in San Francisco". They were also "Early Releases" so the price was sky high. Making money on the packaging. I've never seen that before but I'm sure they have many things like this going on for these shows, adding to the backlog.
The coin shows request those special graphics on the inserts to enhance the hype, but they do pay extra for them. It's only good business to (happily) accept these special requests. Chris
I know I just had some coins tied up there for ever! 46 days i business days too I really really wish that as much money as these places make that they could come up with some more graders. ANACS and ICG coins may not command the same premium as NGC/PCGS, but if time is money you make up for it in getting your coins back faster.
That's funny on another thread I posted NGC turned my 5 coins that I sent on the economy and they turned them around in 10 days and should receive them this week.
Anyone here try to call a help line lately? A couple I have been on seemed like they took more than 46 days.
I don't even call the help line for the company I work at - it has to be a real emergency. I log my own ticket and just go on until I get called back.
Same here, Sent in my tickets and NGC adjust it seems always in my favor. Never had a problem. I have called the help line when I first started sending in coins to NGC and they were very polite. I have never dealt with PCGS and dont buy coins from any other grading service.
I'd be surprised if NGC actually took that long to turn the coins... Most companies spec the high side of time to delivery as a way to ensure they exceed you expectation at the time of purchase.
Yeah and I've seen them take 4 months. As was already said, turn-around times vary with how busy the respective company is at the time. Sometimes turn-around is 2 weeks, and sometimes it's 2 months. As for hiring more graders - do you really think it's that easy ? First of all you have to be qualified - there really aren't that many people who are. Next you have to be willing to forget your own personal grading standards and be willing to follow the standards used by the company. Again, not that many are willing to do that. Next you have to be willing to take what you can get for a salary. Yeah, $100K, or even $250k (which is what the best make) may seem like a lot. But for those who are qualified to actually do it, that may be a cut in pay. Then you have another problem altogether. OK, so you could use 2, 3, maybe 4 more graders at a given time. But what do you do with those guys that you are paying $100k when things slow down ? You can't just leave them sitting around when they get paid that much. And if you lay them off, they won't work for you the next time you need them. Just like any other business, TPGs have to strike a happy medium with the number of their employees. They have to hire the right number that they can keep busy all the time - not just some of the time.
I guess this applies to PCGS Currency also. I submitted two fractionals on April 14. They checked them in on April 28 and have had them since. HMMmmm, almost three and a half months and still counting.
Unlikely they will slow down any time soon, so to hire extra graders may not be necessary for their business to continue to thrive, but it will certainly help keep the customers happy. With the kind of coins I submit, easily graded coins, there is no real difficulty in slabbing them at obvious grades. Gold rush is running at double of their "estimated" times. Some have suggested that by complaining you may get poor grades, which is as ridiculous as suggesting that they may actually "switch" coins on submitters. Complaining is the American way, paying customers have a right to do so.
PCGS's business is booming as well. I sent PCGS a box of coins and it took them a week just to open the box after it was in their hands. We should all get together and open a new grading company ... CTGS (Coin Talk Grading Service) ... we can all split the profits evenly.
Can't say I disagree. But at PCGS, those complaints fall on deaf ears. PCGS is notorious for having the worst customer service of all the TPGs. And discussions complaining about turn-around times have been going on since the company opened their doors for business.
