Answers to your questions - part 3
homerunhall
Posts: 2,496 ✭✭✭
gmarguli asked why we can't provide explanations for no-grades.
PCGS Answer: I totally agree with you on this one. I have already talked to the graders and we feel we need to figure out a way to do this for you. We'll start doing it as soon as we can.
gmarguli asks (states): "You said that PCGS grades 75,000 coins per month. If this is true, which I have a hard time believing, then why are the turnaround times so much faster than before when you were grading 40,000 coins?"
PCGS Answer: When we say we grade 75,000 coins a month, we grade 75,000 coins a month. We have never lied about how many coins we grade. You can actually find out by comparing the changes in the Populations reports from quarter to quarter, as Steve Mayer and I used to do. If you run all the numbers in the consecutive Population reports of the grading services that have them, then you can find out if any of the grading services are lying about the number of coins that they grade. As far as the faster turnaround time, we have brought in some super sharp people to streamline all of our processes. We are much more efficient than we were a year or so ago.
gmarguli asks (states) "Why was Laura's 13-D Saint not downgraded when first submitted?"
David Hall Answer: Don't know, but it's not the way I would have handled it. I can tell you that as far as I know, PCGS has always stood behind it's product. We are not afraid to pay for our mistakes, in fact we think it's the right business decision. Sometimes we make some people jump thru hoops to get paid, but there have been numerous instances when some dealers have been deceitful about their original purchase price, current market value, etc. If you know of some specific instance where we've failed to meet our grading guarantee obligations, I'd like to know about them.
Anaconda asked about possible different treatment of higher paid submissions, i.e. better grades on express service.
PCGS Answer: We use the same basic grading process for all service lines except bulk and show. The bulk submissions (i.e. large numbers of the same lower valued coin) are handled more like an assembly line and the coins are not individually holdered in the grading process. We use tubes for bulks while they are in the grading room. At shows the graders write their grades on the back of the flips rather than punch them into a computer. I do not believe there is any differnece in the grading. I do believe there is a difference in people's perception, i.e. they think if they pay more to submitt they will get better grades. Perhaps we shouldn't discourage this perception, but I just don't think the price of the submission has anything to do with the final grade.
Anaconda asked about crossovers...Please see the crossover explanation in the "Part 2" post.
Anaconda asked: "Why don't you grade like gymnastics...by an average of opinions rounded to the nearest tenth."
PCGS Answer: We do use an "average of opinions". However, we don't use tenths. I actually think that the current system of coin grading, i.e. 11 grades of mint state, may be too precise. It may be the cause of some grading inconsistencies. When we first started PCGS we toyed with a 1 to 10 scale, or a 1 to 100 scale. However, we decided not to fight 30 years of Sheldon scale use. Sometimes I wish the grades were 60, 63, 65, 67, 70. Sometimes I think 60,61,62,63,64,65,66, etc. is OK. I never think decimal grading would work. The grading services are not 100% consistent now. How could they be more consistent in applying decimals. I believe it would just make things worse. I might be wrong.
Anaconda asked: "Are you ever afraid that one of your graders is going to be driven to violence by being forced to grade so many Kennedy halves?"
PCGS Answer: The graders don't mind Kennedy halves. The graders least favorite thing to do is grade economy boxes of low grade proof Indian cents. They are so time-consuming and cumbersome...and you have to figure out the color...and how much to deduct for spots...pure torture. The graders favorite thing to do is grade the great collections...that kind of work really rings all of our bells...except for Rick Stewart, who likes to grade modern Eagles, but he's really weird.
PCGS Answer: I totally agree with you on this one. I have already talked to the graders and we feel we need to figure out a way to do this for you. We'll start doing it as soon as we can.
gmarguli asks (states): "You said that PCGS grades 75,000 coins per month. If this is true, which I have a hard time believing, then why are the turnaround times so much faster than before when you were grading 40,000 coins?"
PCGS Answer: When we say we grade 75,000 coins a month, we grade 75,000 coins a month. We have never lied about how many coins we grade. You can actually find out by comparing the changes in the Populations reports from quarter to quarter, as Steve Mayer and I used to do. If you run all the numbers in the consecutive Population reports of the grading services that have them, then you can find out if any of the grading services are lying about the number of coins that they grade. As far as the faster turnaround time, we have brought in some super sharp people to streamline all of our processes. We are much more efficient than we were a year or so ago.
gmarguli asks (states) "Why was Laura's 13-D Saint not downgraded when first submitted?"
David Hall Answer: Don't know, but it's not the way I would have handled it. I can tell you that as far as I know, PCGS has always stood behind it's product. We are not afraid to pay for our mistakes, in fact we think it's the right business decision. Sometimes we make some people jump thru hoops to get paid, but there have been numerous instances when some dealers have been deceitful about their original purchase price, current market value, etc. If you know of some specific instance where we've failed to meet our grading guarantee obligations, I'd like to know about them.
Anaconda asked about possible different treatment of higher paid submissions, i.e. better grades on express service.
PCGS Answer: We use the same basic grading process for all service lines except bulk and show. The bulk submissions (i.e. large numbers of the same lower valued coin) are handled more like an assembly line and the coins are not individually holdered in the grading process. We use tubes for bulks while they are in the grading room. At shows the graders write their grades on the back of the flips rather than punch them into a computer. I do not believe there is any differnece in the grading. I do believe there is a difference in people's perception, i.e. they think if they pay more to submitt they will get better grades. Perhaps we shouldn't discourage this perception, but I just don't think the price of the submission has anything to do with the final grade.
Anaconda asked about crossovers...Please see the crossover explanation in the "Part 2" post.
Anaconda asked: "Why don't you grade like gymnastics...by an average of opinions rounded to the nearest tenth."
PCGS Answer: We do use an "average of opinions". However, we don't use tenths. I actually think that the current system of coin grading, i.e. 11 grades of mint state, may be too precise. It may be the cause of some grading inconsistencies. When we first started PCGS we toyed with a 1 to 10 scale, or a 1 to 100 scale. However, we decided not to fight 30 years of Sheldon scale use. Sometimes I wish the grades were 60, 63, 65, 67, 70. Sometimes I think 60,61,62,63,64,65,66, etc. is OK. I never think decimal grading would work. The grading services are not 100% consistent now. How could they be more consistent in applying decimals. I believe it would just make things worse. I might be wrong.
Anaconda asked: "Are you ever afraid that one of your graders is going to be driven to violence by being forced to grade so many Kennedy halves?"
PCGS Answer: The graders don't mind Kennedy halves. The graders least favorite thing to do is grade economy boxes of low grade proof Indian cents. They are so time-consuming and cumbersome...and you have to figure out the color...and how much to deduct for spots...pure torture. The graders favorite thing to do is grade the great collections...that kind of work really rings all of our bells...except for Rick Stewart, who likes to grade modern Eagles, but he's really weird.
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