July 1 collector club members can't send in First Strike coins

Goldminers

Did anyone else notice that First Strike designations can only be through bulk submissions now?

Is this fair to individual collectors who have been good PCGS customers and may be too far from a dealer (especially with high gas prices) to get their FS coins graded? I expect this will make FS coins in holders a bit rarer, but at the same time some of us may just not bother with them, and go for the coin not the FS holder, any more. FS seems like more of a pain than it is worth to me now.

My new platinum uncs from the mint I received a few days ago, even though they qualify for FS, are going to be sent in regular as I can't do FS anymore. On the plus side I will save $10 a coin for more expensive plastic and a flag.

Other thoughts?

TAClough

Maybe everyone should boycott the stupid “First Strike” labels which don’t mean anything in the first place to start with. The condition of the coin (grade) is what is important, not the “BS” on the label. I always felt that the “First Strike” label was just a marketing gimmick that added nothing of value to the coin. Just for the record, I would prefer that all of my labels look the same, uniformed “baby blue”.

But I agree that it appears that PCGS is not for the collectors anymore, they seem to want to cater to the dealers. PCGS charges the collectors for submission privileges and then limits what privileges they can have. For a company that should be in the “people” business, they keep trying to shot themselves in the foot.

NGC is looking better all the time.

LindeDad

I just think they want the special labels held down to the larger batch or bulk submissions.
Makes it easier for the collectors to know they really need to look at some coins to make sure the grade is not a gift.

Goldminers

That would imply that individual collectors do not look at their coin submissions, which I would challenge, at least for some collectors.

I definately look at my coins and go through several (agreed not hundreds that I can't afford to do) before submitting any, to be sure I don't waste my money submitting obvious sub quality coins, for what grade I am after.

If it is only "luck" to get a good grade, and only quantity of bulk submissions matters, that is even scarier for individuals who are doing a lot of searching but don't have thousands to spend on 100's of coins to get one graded right.

Since they charge $10 a coin to put in a special piece of paper with a FS flag, and minimum wage is about $5/hour I don't see why it is a bad investment for them to take smaller submissions? Surely it does not take two hours to put in a different piece of paper into a slab before sealing it?

LindeDad

I dought that minumum wage workers are grading or even handling your coins at PCGS.
And on the bulk submissions the graders do most of the culling as the submitter sets the minium grade to put into slabs.
It just makes for a speedier work flow to keep the machine going, a lot like most other manufacturing processes. Custom jobs take more time to get the same thing accomplished.

Goldminers

Well I agree that the professional graders should, and are, being paid much more to do their quality work; but when it comes to the basics of accepting the grades from well paid professionals on the assembly line, it seems to me that it does not take the same skills or cost, to slab the coins appropriately with the correct inserts.

Maybe if PCGS used lower cost labor to do the simpler work, they could keep costs down? This is just an idea; I am not being negative to your opinion, as I understand your valid point that an assembly line can be cost effective if properly managed.

FullStepJeffs

Could you please spell out what you mean by "FS" next time in the title... it does have a couple of meanings and I don't need a coronary.

Steve

Goldminers

very sorry if I caused confusion with a poor original title listing.

I think I fixed it now. I was not aware of that many other FS meanings at first.

I am not as experienced with the many possible other FS acronyms. Obviously I did not mean "Full Step" ie. "FS" Jeffersons!!!

best regards, and good "luck" with your submissions!!

oreville

I have mentioned before several times that I partially agree with PCGS policy change as far as first strikes.

However, I believe PCGS could modify such policy slightly by allowing collectors to send in first strike coins in the unopened mailing boxes no LESS THAN 6 months (OR ONE YEAR) AFTER the first strike deadline expires and then get first strike certification for an extra fee since handling the boxes is much more labor intensive for PCGS.

I really think PCGS is missing the boat and a lot of revenue on this one.

intocoins

......... Dealer sends in 1000 American Eagles along with your 5 and Johnny's 10 , etc....

Dealer gets back 5 MS-70, the rest are mainly 69's. The question is: How is the dealer to know what coins are yours?

LindeDad

<< <i>......... Dealer sends in 1000 American Eagles along with your 5 and Johnny's 10 , etc.... >>




<< <i>Dealer gets back 5 MS-70, the rest are mainly 69's. The question is: How is the dealer to know what coins are yours? >>



And if they were sealed mint boxes I dought that nobody can answer that question.
So why even take the chance?

Silverstate

The party is over....................

Steve27

"Other thoughts? "

PCGS wants the big boys like Tulving, who submit thousands of coins for grading, to submit them for FS and other non-numismatic designations. They then want you, the little guy, to buy them on the secondary market. If they continued to let the little guy submit them, then not only would it slowdown the grading process, but the big boys wouldn't have a reason to submit them. Thus, it was strictly a business decision.

19Lyds

<< <i>......... Dealer sends in 1000 American Eagles along with your 5 and Johnny's 10 , etc....

Dealer gets back 5 MS-70, the rest are mainly 69's. The question is: How is the dealer to know what coins are yours? >>



There are ways around this.

Perhaps the invoice could be itemized with your coins on specific lines numbers. Major pain in the butt for the dealer but doable.

The other thought is to have the dealer submit your 100 on a separate invoice. This is the expensive answer which will make you second guess if the price the dealers are asking "Isn't all that bad".

No matter how you cut it, if you still want to submit small quantities, you will have to find a dealer that you trust and that will work with you. Yes, there are some "ethically challenged" dealers out there but there are a lot more good dealers and I'm sure some of you folks have dealt with them before.