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 Replies: 31 / Views: 4,439 |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
So I was wandering the PCGS website, checking out their team of experts, the senior folks they want you reading about. Read about their Senior Authenticator, Jeff Howard. They make this claim about him: Quote:
Since joining PCGS in 2003, Jeff Howard has graded, authenticated and verified over 2.5 million U.S. and world coins. I'm a compulsive math-er, so I had to know. If we suppose he works a typical 2000-hour work year - 50 weeks plus two for vacation - he's averaged 104 coins an hour nonstop for 12 years. And any other duties whatsoever which take up time merely skew that average upwards. And you have to know that in his current role, he's not working that hard any more. He's the top of the food chain there, so he's going to get only the ones which require his name on the sheet, you know? Run-of-the-mill stuff goes through other people. With them slabbing an (average from their claims) a million coins a year, it has to. So what's that tell you about his per-hour average when he was in the trenches, working his way up to his current position? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1666 Posts |
PCGS forgot to mention that he has a hundred sets of eyes and hands.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
It's going to take me half an hour to clean up what you just caused me to spit onto my monitor.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4589 Posts |
It's really not that much. I've read they work only 4h/ day in the grading room. But we've all also read it only takes 6-10s per coin.
10s is 6/minute or 360/hour or 1440/ 4h day...
250 days/year give us 360,000 coins / year
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
 You know to me this is ridiculous. hard to comprehend that they can professionally grade a coin in say; 6 to 8 seconds.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
824 Posts |
I can sit for an hour with a loupe and still not be sure of a grade. I guess I'm that picky.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Just reading those numbers makes my head  On a serious note .. Either their numbers are very padded or The quality level of work is no where near where it should be. |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Well, think about it in the context of what you're good at. I'm positive I could grade Morgans in five seconds each. Bust Halves, almost certainly. Seated stuff? Yeah, probably. Much of the other Classic issues, with a week or two of steady volume to practice. And with enough practice, you could evaluate surfaces in that time as well. The stricture would be - and curiously, this seems to be how they do it - anything doubtful gets Details. You don't have the time to make an educated decision, so you trash anything that remotely looks like trash.
Let's look at this from another direction. We should assume that the overwhelming majority of what they grade are Moderns, shipped in by the truckload by high-volume dealers who get a serious discount. So much, in fact, that I sincerely doubt that PCGS is averaging the $16/coin which is the normal Modern charge, even with everything else they charge a whole lot more for.
But let's say that $16 is their average per coin. At 6 seconds per coin for four hours per day, each grader generates $38,400 per workday in revenue. $192,000 per week. $9.6 Million per year.
Looked at from a slightly different angle, PCGS' parent company, Collectors Universe, generates roughly as much total revenue as a single Home Depot store. In truth, maybe some guys are getting paid pretty well for their services, but nobody over there is getting rich.
Take that the other direction, breaking down CLCT's $63.18M 2014 revenue to a per-grader revenue aspect, these guys are spending a lot more than six seconds per coin on average. Or they're averaging a lot less per coin than I think. At the production rate quoted above, ten graders would generate far more revenue than the whole company actually does. And don't forget their sports and autograph authentication spinoffs.
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
10743 Posts |
It's almost impossible to grade a coin in 6 to 8 seconds I would think and get it right.  |
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Moderator
United States
187862 Posts |
All this does is justify my reluctance to buy into the whole slabbing thing.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1653 Posts |
Quote:
If we suppose he works a typical 2000-hour work week I feel like quite a slacker, only doing 60 hours a week for the last 8 years  |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Hate when I let typos past. 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5964 Posts |
Dave, who could I trust to send coins to for attribution, cleaning, grading, and encapsulating at a reasonable price?
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Moderator
United States
16677 Posts |
Quote:
Dave, who could I trust to send coins to for attribution, cleaning, grading, and encapsulating at a reasonable price? I'm Dave  ANACS would be your best bet. swcoin.ecrater.com
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Moderator
United States
16677 Posts |
Quote:
cleaning Did you mean conservation? swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
Do you think they meant 2.5 million dollars in US and world coins?
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Replies: 31 / Views: 4,439 |
Posted 05/03/2015 9:43 pm
