Quote:
Originally Posted by parkplace33
This article sums it up for me:
https://cardlines.com/peter-steinber...sgc-president/
But peeling back the layers reveals a more complicated picture. The reality of shared staffing, merged operations, and shifting resources suggests that this “boutique” repositioning could be less a renaissance and more a staged retreat.
With much of SGC’s grading staff being absorbed into PSA, and SGC’s Boca Raton facility supporting PSA’s massive daily intake, the brand is losing operational independence.
Collectors’ leadership has poured capital and energy into PSA’s scaling efforts—and with good reason, given PSA’s dominant market share and massive submission volumes.
Meanwhile, SGC is left to shrink and serve a smaller, more niche segment, which some insiders and collectors interpret as a prelude to further downsizing or even eventual shutdown.
This strategic sidelining raises questions: Is SGC genuinely being preserved as a boutique jewel in the grading crown?
Or is it being quietly phased out, with PSA consolidating grading power and market share under its banner? |
I watched two interviews with Ryan Hoge, who I think is an asset to Collectors, and it is pretty clear assuring SGC's future is not a priority and the value in Collector's buying SGC was 1) preventing another TPG from getting them and 2) to use as much of their infrastructure as possible to support Collectors present grading departments. Why else would they move in across the hall from SGC?
Remember we were told by both SGC and Collectors and few insider members here 18 months ago, that Collectors was going to pour in resources into SGC. That never happened and it was never going to happen and for the foreseeable future would let SGC run independently...foreseeable is now synonymous for 6 to 8 months in corporate speak. Now they have depleted the company of staff, leaving them with a lot less people to manage the brand and discouraging modern and TCG submissions. Will news of that result in a diminished demand for them to grade vintage? I could see that happening.
I am firmly in the camp that if the brand goes away, there is no possible way the cards inside the SGC holder retain their value. It might not happen overnight but it is inevitable to me. And I think we will see prices drop off...maybe not for the 1 card that Leon posted but for most cards. Once collectors see the forced contraction of the SGC brand are they going to be as excited about getting their cards encapsulated by them? Dunno but only a fool invests in a company that appears they might not be in business much longer.
As was posted by someone else, “Collectors would let customers determine SGC’s ultimate future by their submissions but that vintage grading would remain “a pillar” for SGC. “We’re committed to the SGC brand.” All this means is let's see how this news and these changes of stripping the company of most of their resources impacts SGC and once the demand drops or they cannot remain profitable we will shut it down.
Lastly, once SGC is depleted of personnel, etc, they really should ban submission of TCG and modern to them otherwise the 5 remaining employees will never have time to grade the vintage and turnaround times will be a year.