CGC Forum Users Start Petition For Moderator After Employee Layoffs...Is The Company Hurting?

Yes, they probably are having financial problems cause a lot of people have switched over from using them to using Cbcs because it’s half the price the service is a better and you get your books back faster. At one point it was better in your books would fetch a higher price if you went through CGC but that’s not the case anymore. When you’re paying $130 to $150 to get a signature series book graded verse $75 out the door with the signature and grading through CGCS it’s a no-brainer

Im waiting for PSA to come out with their comic slab service to see how they perform against CGC before i do any more submissions

I thought we were on the down with CGC bandwagon? Now we should feel bad because our collective outrage is damaging their bottom line and forcing layoffs? I'm so confused by the comic book influencer community.

They probably should have hired people who knew how to grade comics. Too late now.

Sorry to hear about people being laid off. This is starting to feel like the beginning of the end of CGC. As far as CGC and comics grading in general go, only two words come to my mind right now. Well.........Bye.

I mean I think CGC sorta saw this coming when 9.9 grading became a thing. GA and Silverage books are drying up so an already niche hobby will soon be relegated to purely modern signature series collectors.

No shade, but CGC shot themselves in the foot. Personally, I stopped submitting to them years ago. They have major quality assurance issues that they simply refuse to address.
The opaque and inconsistent nature of their grading standards/ processes make them unreliable.
Again, sucks people lost their jobs, but they need to do better.

Less grading because slabs don't sell. No need for so many employees. Sad but true.

I don't grade a ton of books but i usually always drop off a few books at NYCC this was the first year I decided not to drop off. The employees at the booth are always nice but the price of grading books are high and now with the signings every company is trying to get their hand in the pot. So I had Larry Hama sign a few books for my PC. No CGC and kept it pushing.I actually contemplated giving PSA a try their booth was literally set up across from CGC. I feel bad people are losing their jobs but I had more faith in their company before they were bought out. Too many issues and more competition from the other grading companies are definitely gonna lead to leaner times at CGC.

Hey Swag ,
How have CBCS submissions done in comparison might be a good footnote.

I use cgc and things are getting slower as far as returns. Also comics aren't selling the way they use to.

Hate for anyone to be on the receiving end of a layoff, but having been on both sides of them I wouldn't read any more into this than revenues are down at CGC, so costs have to be reduced to salvage as much of the profit margin as possible. Corporate will provide guidance on how much has to be cut, and local management gets the difficult task of deciding which cuts will hurt the company the least. It sucks for everyone involved. Hopefully Mike got a decent severance package.

Matt and Harchen most likely had no hand in Mike’s severance. This probably came from Blackrock executives.

If CGC wants this vintage collector back they better sing me some Sam Cooke: “I know I laughed when you left, but I only hurt myself…”

Can I please get my books back that you’ve had for 5 months before you lay your workforce off?!?

If anyone wants an alternative CBCS slabs are in fact better quality, and have been for some time tbh…
I don’t understand why so many people are “CGC or nothing…maybe PSA when we see their label” whenever CBCS has comparable grading standards, a better slab, and honestly a better label imo. I’m gonna give them a chance

I continue to submit to CBCS and the books I get are beautiful, the case is superior, turn around time is about 4weeks and no nonsense.

Over half my subs this year had issues. I've had to send back 2 books twice for mechanical errors since August. I've quit sending books and stopped my renewal. 80% of my subs are PC books, so value is my own enjoyment, but my enjoyment has been few and far between this year with so many damaged, squeezed, and bent books. And a greasy thumbprint.

Unfortunately the information cgc Mike gave on the board saying that the slabs had been corrected was not true.
People were still getting books back that had the banana bend and spine dimpling and color breaking spine tick and books came back graded as 9.8 in those conditions which was horrible for the owner of the book, including myself who was a victim of that.
Also, unfortunately that cgc wouldn't correct or make right with the owner of the books that they damaged by either replacing the book or compensating the owner of the book the fair market value of a book that they damaged that was no longer in the 9.8 graded condition because of the damage that cgc had done to the book either in mishandling or a faulty encapsulation process.

Layoffs (and the resulting cost reductions) are a clear sign that revenues and/or profitability are not meeting annual goals. Since CGC is owned by a private equity firm, Blackstone likely wants to get its forecasted year-end distribution in order to meet investment return objectives. This cycle is not uncommon in private equity.

The only financial trouble this company has is making sure executive management gets paid their full bonuses.

I feel bad for all the people that were laid off. It sounds like CGC's upper and middle management have a BIG listening problem , to both their employees and their customers, and now the business is suffering.

If this guy is one of the first to go, shows how little interest CGC has for the community. Non surprise there.

It is unfortunate that people are being laid off but a 67% decline in submissions is not sustainable for CGC. I am even surprised it took CGC so long to take action. Also, the peak submissions in 2022 was driven by speculators/flippers who drove up comic book prices, profits and the number of submissions to CGC. Many of us who used CGC likely benefited financially from the books we sold during the peak. Now that book prices and profits are down significantly, WE are submitting much less. Thereby, leading to the current situation at CGC. If there is any silver lining, it's that the speculators are largely gone and we, as the collectors, are seeing much lower book pricing and better buying opportunities. Yes, it is easy to dump on CGC and CGC management but let us look also at the bigger picture..

I wonder if Mike wasn’t let go because of how much transparency he brings to the community. It seems like he gave us insight a few times when there was drama at the company.

Nerds unite!!!

Take OUR Company in a coup 😂😂😂

If they just fix their bullshit like banana books and giving real grades instead of charging for pre-screening for a 9.9 or a 10 instead of doing their jobs correctly, they may not have to have layoffs because consumer confidence will be high.

I'm always sorry to hear about a company laying off it's employees. I been there, it sucks. It is also very surprising that CGC is laying off people when they are so backed up with there submissions. Currently 44 day turnaround time for Modern submissions and 65 day turnaround time for silver submissions are ridiculous. I would think that CGC would bring in more people to get caught up with such a backlog instead of laying them off.

With such a backlog employee and customer moral must be really low. CBCS and eventually ,PSA may be the way to go until CGC gets it's act together.

Seems to be the case of the bigger a company gets, the less customer satisfaction. Money the driving factor and the masters want more margins. Economics in action.

I have submitted about 700 books in the past year or so with 1 ME (hair in case). Last week I got back 50 books and about 20 have massive scuffing inside the front of the case. CGC definite has some major QC issues going on because a cursory glance at the case is all it takes to see the damage. Now I have to ship practically a whole box of slabs and wait 2-3 months to get them back.

I'm sorry but if your still sending comics to this company then you are just wasting your money.

doesn't a 67% decline in business just mean they'll get your books back to you quicker? I mean at one point there was a 1 yr+ turnaround time

I recently picked up 3 2024 CGC books for less than 30 dollars each (with shipping). All were 9.8. All 3 were banana books with the only book I actually cared about having a color breaking spine tick on the front, clearly visible.The seller took a hit in his pocket on these books and resale in the future might be virtually impossible. Who wants banana 9.8s with spine ticks??? Not me.... but I could not see these finer details in the auction pictures. I switched over to CBCS recently with a few books that I really wanted AND they look great and feel more secure in the slab. Screw CGC. All you rich collectors can keep them. I will save the money and get books that actually maintain the grade given in a CBCS slab that actually feels more solid and secure in comparison with CGC. I hope cgc goes bankrupt and all the rich guys take a massive hit on their collections. Why? Because all of you promoted the hell outta a garbage company and forced market prices in your favor by talking up CGC so much and NOW you all will get what you deserve - financial losses instead of gains off of people like me. End of rant.

I've actually been trying to warn people about cgc for years only to have my channel destroyed, my reputation destroyed, and no one in the comic book Community taking me seriously. I didn't do it because I hated cgc, I did it because I hated what cgc was doing to everybody in this hobby that I ( and so many others) love. And now people are starting to find out.

People are not submitting books anymore

At the worst this is perhaps the beginning of the end for CGC, at the least this a sign that they are taking a drop in the market.

That’s just another awful output of hedge fund ownership - layoffs, increased prices, worse product & eating the corpse. CGC is nothing but a shell of what it was.

Subbed a 9.4 in the case., 6 months TAT & now it’s a 7.0. CGC says it was “overgraded” - but that’s not overgrading- that’s incompetence & willful destruction of my book. Bastards.

Been sodomized by CGC way too much lately - time for Nelson & his ghouls at crapstone to walk crooked for a while.

With the abysmal worker protections in a garbage state like Florida, CGC is probably calling these “layoffs” instead of hidden firing so that they don’t have to pay any unemployment, therefore also allowing the scumbags at the top to get a fatter bonus check.

It’s cheaper for the company to have Nelson point his goat hoof at a lackey & have AI lie to people on the forum than to make gold ‘ol Mikey do it. His severance be all those books that were bent in the cases that he lied about or the other 100 things.

CBCS has been doing layoffs also. Matt Edwards (who took care of Authorized Witness approvals) and Pam from Customer Service were apparently both let go....

I figured something was going on, my last submission was delivered two weeks ago and they haven't even opened it yet. I feel for the people who were hired in the boom time and have now lost their position. Happened to me in a separate industry over 20 years ago. I think a lot of us, who have been through boom and bust cycles in other industries, were skeptical that it would end well.

Hey Swag 😂 just wanted to say hi And I love your channel. It's The Sabbath so I AM not doing anything today and I would like to get a chance to talk to you about this And every thing you do. This is something that I can discuss in the next day or 2. I'm a huge fan And giant Nerd 🎉🎉🎉. Take care kiddo

That sucks for Mike. And now their board is broken. Bad news...

Thanks!

Matt is the one who should be let go. All these scandals happened on his watch. And let's not forget Blackrock ruins everything.

Love to see it! The market may actually be responding to CGC's crap performance and product

Crap...no wonder my books are running late!