GAI is now placing styrofoam spacers in slabbed (full sized) wax & cello paks: any reasoning beh

summerof68

Ever since GAI started using their newly designed label they quite often have placed 1/4 inch wide white or gray strips of styrofoam either at the top edge or bottom edge of (full-sized) slabbed wax & cello paks. And just as often they will slab similar wax and cellos and (not) add the styrofoam. I am not referring to their familiar practice of placing a piece of styrofoam on the back of a (2-card) 1 cent pak to keep it secure when placed in a case designed for a (5 card) nickel pak. This is a new practice where they place a strip of styrofoam at either the very top or bottom edge of a wax or cello pak. Are they doing this as some type of "cushening" device to protect the pak or are they simply utilizing unused cases designed for taller paks to save money and thus using the styrofoam to fill the void so the pak won't slide around? In either case using different colors of styrofoam and placing them either at the top or bottom of the paks while choosing not to add styrofoam to similar paks exhibits a level of inconsistentcy with the finished look of gai slabbed wax & cellos. When you now submit a pak will the case come back with or without a piece of styrofoam in it? I particulary favor the gai case over the psa case because of its decorative trim but this new practice of theirs seem somewhat unprofessional. Any ideas out there as to what GAI is trying to accomplish by this new practice? I can't quite figure it out...

VitoCo1972

Not trying to be a pain here, but I feel like GAI topics are like BetaMax topics at this point. War's over dude.

summerof68

I don't quite get the "war" or "betamax" references. I simply wanted to know if anyone has contacted GAI and inquired as to their usage of these styrofoam pieces. Personally I don't like them and I think it detracts from the overall eye appeal of the case.

jmoran19

I believe it's there for 2 reasons, to keep the pack from moving as the holder has more space than the thickness of the pack (ie using holders for 10 card packs when sealing 60's 5 card packs) and to keep the seal on the back from popping open.

summerof68

Thanks Jmoran for your response however my question concerns a totally different issue. They are not placing the styrofoam in the front or back of the pak (like they do with 1 cent paks) so this is not a matter of the thickness of the case. What they are routinely doing now is placing the styrofoam at the top or bottom edge of the pak. By doing this they have to use a slab designed for taller paks so the styrofoam will fit. So this is something they are doing altogether different now since the advent of their new label. Adding a piece of styrofoam to the back of a 1 cent pak made sense because gai doesn't have a case thin enough to securely house paks containing only 2 cards. However this new practice isn't making sense to me. You can check pre-80 bb & fb paks currently on ebay and see this new type of slab.

Stingray

I thought they have been doing that for a while??

Maybe that was just with vending that I saw it??

ryaneversole

Who cares. Anybody who buys GAI stuff would be better offer giving that money away to a hobo.

CDsNuts

Not sure why this confuses you. Why would anybody put a piece of styrofoam in anything? Why was styrofoam invented? Isn't this like asking why people put a bar of soap next to their sink?

As for GAI's inconsistencies, they almost folded a few months ago because they got evicted for not paying their rent, and they didn't say anything about it until threads were started here and on other forums. Not to mention the fact that obviously resealed packs have been popping up in their holders at an alarming rate. That should tell you about their level of professionalism.

1989FleerBillRipkencollector

With styrofoam. Hides the bat knob. The pack unslabbed would slide in the window to make knob visable. Now its snug and hidden




With Styrofoam. No problems.



Without Styrofoam





I prefer no styrofoam. As it can hide the knob as in pic #1. Guess I should be lucky I didnt get colored foam !!

neenish

1989FleerBillRipkencollector- At least now you have the only styrofoam variation out there.....

1989FleerBillRipkencollector

<< <i>1989FleerBillRipkencollector- At least now you have the only styrofoam variation out there..... >>






Great, more variations.....

Looking for FF's without bumpers. lol

summerof68

I thank fleerbillyripkencollector for given a (sound) and specific response as to why gai uses styrofoam in some rak paks. This makes perfect sense in these special circumstances. I'm still looking for a legitimate response from someone as to why they are now placing styrofoam in slabs containing full-sized wax & cello paks. Is there a practical reason or are they simply making use of unneeded, oversized cases from the inventory?

grote15

My guess is that they are utilizing their surplus of larger holders, as I don't think they get too many oversized packs for grading anyway. They've used stryrofoam for some time now when encapsulating vending, cello and wax boxes, to help cushion the box, though it doen't look very attractive, IMO. I haven't seen a regular size pack with stryofoam on the top or bottom yet...I recall that 1975 Topps mini packs used to slide around when they first started grading those, till they began inserting the pack into a penny sleeve to help keep it in place. Though GAI has graded its share of questionable packs, buying a GAI graded pack is still MUCH better than buying a raw pack on ebay these days, as virtually all of the raw packs for sale are either resealed, completely homemade or otherwise tampered with. Personally, I've opened dozens of GAI graded packs from the early to late '70s and very few of them were resealed or otherwise suspect, though the earlier graded packs are a much safer bet than the more recently graded packs, IMO.

summerof68

I want to thank Grote15 for his concise, informative and well constructed response to the specific nature of my question. I concur that GAI is most likely using their surplus of oversized slabs as a money saving endeavor and in so doing they are adding the styrofoam to keep the full sized wax pak or cello from moving around. Its good to know that there are still individuals participating in these boards who know how to carefully read and comprehend what is written and then respond in an educated and adult manner. In regards to your remark of not yet having seen a full sized pak with this aforementioned styrofoam, you can currently find on ebay (under pre-1980 football packs) two auctions containing multiple 1976 gai graded cello paks with white styrofoam. Also in (pre-1980 baseball paks) there's an auction containing (5) 1980 wax paks each with grey styrofoam. Thanks again for your experienced driven response!!

WinPitcher

Any answer you get here is just speculation. If I wanted a specific answer to
a question I'd ask them. Perhaps an email to them may get you the answer you seek?

I have no idea why they do anything they do.


Grote's reply sounds good though.


Steve