Well, that is disappointing.

Unfortunately that is the rule not the exception.  NGC offered more "Show Grading" opportunities in the past.  They came to Long Beach, for example, then just stopped. Then they shortened the window for Shows Grading at U.S. shows that they did attend.  This seems to be a growing corporate strategy for NGC to focus on the Non-US market over the US and leave the US to PCGS.  I may be wrong and this is in no way a dump on NGC (you can read my laudatory comments about Mark Salzberg and NGC in the "A SLQ Problem Coin's Journey to Righteousness" journal thread.)  https://www.ngccoin.com/boards/blogs/entry/292-a-slq-problem-coins-journey-to-righteousness/

I had a similar experience three years ago at the Chicago ANA.  I got to the NGC booth literally one minute past noon on Saturday and was turned away.  Now I make sure I have all my transactions with NGC completed by the time the bourse closes on Friday.

When you think about it though, these NGC employees are working on the weekend, and depending on how many shows they attend to accept submissions, that could be quite a few lost weekends each year.  I hope they get some comp time.  I do wish they'd stay open for submissions at least as late as the last FedEx pickup, but I can also understand the need to leave early in order to catch a flight home on the same day the show ends.  NGC is based in Florida while PCGS is based in California, so no matter where a show is held in the continental USA, the majority of the flights to Florida will probably leave several hours earlier than the fights to California.  Based on logistics alone, we should always expect that NGC will be packing up earlier than PCGS.

I think that coin928 hit the mark with his/her concern about the after hours work by NGC employees to do Show Service.  I find the people at NGC to be remarkably kind and considerate.  When you find a business where the people are "remarkably kind and considerate" you tend to want to interact with them more or preferentially over their competitor.  There is the issue: the price of success is more work.  More work is financially good but can be personally taxing.  I too hope that the employees at NGC are being cared for as well as they have cared for us.  The fact that the same faces return to each show argues that there is symbiosis between NGC and its employees.

My comment about the decrease in show services was not about the quality of the service itself but about the fact that the service is decreasing over time.  If I did not really care about NGC I would not post comments here.  Nevertheless we all need to remember that this is a hobby/business and the NGC people at the shows are working while we play.

John