Do you think PCGS Grading should show what stage of grading your coins are in? Instead of in process
Smittys
Posts: 9,876 ✭✭✭✭✭
Day 19 on a regular but I did request some True Views.
But it would be nice to know if in quality control or another stage.
What do you think?
0
Comments
No. Walk through service is available for those in a rush.
When it comes down to it, everything is a "cost vs. benefit" question.
For the cost, it's hard to say how closely each submission is tracked in their computers right now. It might be that they only track the status when it's received, and when it's done! If that is the case, the cost in instituting additional tracking of the process might not be worth it, (to them!).
Also, I get the feeling that the time it takes from when it gets "selected from the pile", and when it's done is pretty quick. So even with additional tracking, it might be "18 days pending", "3 hours in the grading queue", "2 hours getting photos", "15 minutes getting holdered". (Again, my impression....I could be wrong). So the only period where tracking would be anything BUT "in process" would be that one day, and if you just wait a few hours, it will show "done".
And the benefit? It won't speed things up, but could slow them down......
Not a rush but a 15 day submission on day 19 would be nice to know.
Just my opinion but PMG grading for notes does it, since each stage is entered in to the computer to keep track of the submission.
And it used to be when you called PCGS they would tell you, grading room, or quality control etc. Now all they say is in process.
Does it really matter where it's at in process? It's not ready to be shipped until it's ready. Is it just curiosity?
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
From what I hear, I think that EVERY major grading service knows what stage your coins are at. However, some may not wish to be specific with that info. Examples:
1.Being slabbed.
2. Only one grader has finished your coins.
3. Being True View'ed.
Do you have any idea what kind of pest's (LOL) the customer service folks deal with on an hourly basis? Where is my coin, it has been two days? Did my coins arrive? LOL.
Now think what it could be like with detail locations:
Q. Where is my coin?
A. It has been received and is in the grading room.
Q. Is the grading done? I paid for fast service.
A. Not yet, still being graded.
Q. Is the grading done?
A. No, not yet.
What's the matter with you guys? I get better service at Fly-By-Night Grading Service!
A. We appreciate your business, Thank you for your patience. Many of our graders are at a show; but I'll see what I can do to speed your order through.
On, and on, an on. BTW, that is only one customer. There are 500 of these calls a day! And why not? The calls are FREE and the callers have no life! LOL
So, good idea but my answer to the PO is No - unless the TPGS wishes to give the public access to the flow of orders in their system.
No.
Always thought that it would be nice for UPS and Fedex to give some guidance on delivery time. Technology is there but I suspect that security concerns prevent it.
Actually fedex does not exact time but on ?/?? before 10 am, before 5pm etc, and you can trace it all the way.
Basically I started this thread because PCGS used to guarantee turnaround time, now they don't. Used to tell you where it was like still being graded or quality control and shipping. Now they don't.
I just think a little more open is better.
Funny thing right now is world economy is quicker than world regular.
Kinda makes you say Huh.
Better question might be are you willing to pay for that info?
I'm all about the staging/die state . And yes, I would pay extra ..
My bad, this is like domino's pizza, from start to finish ...
I have one regular order in since 5/17, another since 6/1, another since 6/12, and another since 6/29.The first 3 say they are out of grading, same story every time I call. They have already flagged the severely past due ones as "expedite" so they can't flag them again, yet they are still not done...frustrating cause I am starting to kind of/just want my coins back now (graded or not).
nah, they love to build suspense
BHNC #203
I have brought this up before and it should be a simple matter of scanning a bar-code to see "where" the order is, but...not likely to happen.
BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore, Nickpatton, Namvet69,...
This could be the same as my proposal for saving the USPS. The USPS would have money to burn if they charged fifty cents a pop for every coin collector to check their package tracking status. PCGS could offer the same service. Don't let all this OCD go to waste.
They have internal tracking systems that are way more advanced than what you or I could get from their websites.
Even some of the USPS carriers have GPS units and the PO knows exactly where they are when a package gets signed for.
@mercurydimeguy said: "I have one regular order in since 5/17, another since 6/1, another since 6/12, and another since 6/29.The first 3 say they are out of grading, same story every time I call. They have already flagged the severely past due ones as "expedite" so they can't flag them again, yet they are still not done...frustrating cause I am starting to kind of/just want my coins back now (graded or not)."
I have to laugh at this, as it proves my contention posted above. I feel for you. Perhaps you should call again tomorrow to check on the orders.
PS I have heard that back in the early 1980's, before PCGS was around, on many occasions a collector's order has been slowed-up substantially ON PURPOSE just to get rid of or aggravate a "squeaking" wheel "pest." And NEVER, EVER give the customer relations employees a hard time on the telephone.
nope, it is right where it needs to be now.
a.k.a "The BUFFINATOR"
No.
No. Do want prices to go up more than they already have?
The first TPG that offers a tracking app will make a fortune..... easily done... charge for the app.... it would follow the coin through the system. Reduces customer call time, another cash source.... win/win... Cheers, RickO
No
When submission to completion times vary so widely from the estimates provided on the website it is natural for customers to wonder what the heck is going on. Either improve the consistency of end to end times, provide visibility, or do nothing. In the end customer loyalty will likely be unchanged.
The exception may be in world coins where NGC has greater market share and faster times with limited if no premium for PCGS holders. Stepping up the game here makes a lot of sense.
Latin American Collection
I visited a grading room and saw a board on the wall with the tiers and actual days behind noted with minus 5 (-5) for example, one tier was "0" (on time).
Perhaps the web site should reflect the actual days but that would be bad for business. One TPGS economy -5 and another's -25! LOL. Then the lying would begin and both TPGS would be tempted to post false numbers and we would be back to today's situation.
I could never understand why TPGS did not make their employees work overtime when so far behind. Actually you would need to keep the slabbers too. Just one or two nights a week for three weeks (on a volunteer basis w/no extra pay) done as an office after-party with pizza at 9:30 PM should clean up the backlog.
Over the years, I have called two second tier services (one not in business now) at 8:30 PM and spoke with a grader! I tried one service last night and just got the answering machine; however when I called again using the extension to the grading room they were working. I did hear from a "horses mouth" that at one time (circa 1991 to 1994 before the company went to pot), the PCI graders often worked from 10 AM until 1 AM the next day to give their customers the fastest turn around times. Too bad they were not a popular grading service. The grader told me they had an inside joke: "We ain't got no life!"
It might have something to with the fact that you can only do that kind of close work for so long before you start making mistakes.
Bill,
I have been told that it is not all work and no play in the grading room. Just mostly work. That was fifteen years ago before modern tiers I guess. Graders were allowed to take breaks, have a free snack from the fridge, take a smoke, etc. With three sets of eyes on a coin and then QC I believe the rate of "mechanical error" would not change much from what it is.
I don't know about you Bill, but I could look at neat coins all day. Of course I see your point if it were day-in day-out; year-in year-out with my bank account growing and no time to drive my Porsche
(Por-sha) or Ferrari. Of course, all bets off if I were forced to grade SE all day long.
Hard to track the status of a submission when they sit in a pile. It is not a FIFO system. Over the last 2 years, I've had 0 Economy submissions returned within the estimated turnaround time posted. 35 business days, 49, 58!!, 28, 40 etc. I don't think they will ever get more specific on status because it would require them to change their current process.
Check out my iPhone app SlabReader!
Looking at them or spending time looking for counterfeits, altered coins, cleaned coins and assigning grades are two different things. The fatigue will get to you, when it does, you service quality will go down with it.
I once heard Virgil Hancock teach that our eyes deteriorate through the day and a grader would not grade the same at 9 AM and 5 PM. I guess you agree. IMHO, I think it all comes down to staying concentrated on each coin. I should be interesting if any actual TPGS graders (past or present) could chime in.
On another thread recently some folks posted that a professional TPG is only correct around 75% of the time with no added info about the time element!
I agree and might break my PCGS only collection (yikes, a fast rule for me really since day 1) and start going to NGC, since mostly what I get now is world for my 1869 set. I have orders in house at PCGS for so long, I kind of forgot what the coins look like now. Last I saw most of them it wasn't even summer yet.
The question that keeps popping back into my mind is, if there is no tangible repercussion for grading variances or other discrepancies, then why does grading take so long? I can see if there were penalties or other liabilities, yeah, you want to measure twice and cut once, but there are no practical penalties nor any liabilities...then why does grading take so long? I don't know, I guess I'm just frustrated that my coins are in purgatory... I neither have them raw nor have them slabbed.
I have a submission at pcgs going on business day 22... blah. I actually sent a few to ngc on the same day, and oddly enough I am still waiting on theirs too. They scanned it in a few days earlier though, so it is REALLY slow for them. It has been stuck in quality control for over 2 weeks now, which means they already graded them, and they just need to check them before they ship. Makes me think there might have been a problem.
It takes a lot longer to QC a foreign coin than a U.S. issue and AFAIK neither of the big two put a KM# on the label so just the date, denomination, country, and condition of the slab need checking. Take a look at the Chinese or Islamic pages of a Krause catalogue. If you had a coin you could not read....
Additionally, what about ancients?
Tokens, Ancients, and foreign coins are all part of numismatics but as these submissions grow, the easy stuff must suffer a few days.