Pay is not good here; bottom line. Personally, I didn't have much to worry about paying for, so earning $300-$400 (if that) a month was fine by me, but for someone living on their own who has to support themselves, or even supporting others, it's tough. The Comdata card is absolutely stupid. Supposedly the reason for this card was to save paper by not sending out checks to employees and instead direct depositing into this rip-off excuse of a bank account. Why they still send out check stubs showing how much was deposited on this card still is beyond my reasoning though…

The discount doesn't seem worth it in my opinion. Where I live, tax is 9%, so I'm only receiving roughly a 6% discount. Figure this–if I wanted to buy a PS3 game that was $59.99, tax would knock that up to $65.39, and the discount would make it drop to $55.58 making a $4.41 discount off the marked price. This is where I believe GameStop believes you will take it still, simply because of the hours issue. With less hours an individual has to work, it's less money made, and with the already not-so-hot pay rate, they know that you will take that $4.41 discount because that means that you get to eat off the dollar menu another day.

The phone conversations are a whole other aspect of the company. From what I was told, you need to drive points across that will make the person WANT to come to your store. I called my store earlier today to check on my schedule (my whole 7 hours, and believe it or not, that's a lot right now) and this is how I was greeted:

"Thank you for calling GameStop. This is Candice speaking. Have you heard about our Annual Game Days Sale?"

Immediately the first thing I thought was "Oh no! I have to learn another phone greeting!" but then I realized….why are we asking the person calling a question right away? The whole reason people are calling our store is because they want to get answers, not questions. Should the person answer that they are completely oblivious to what this "Game Days Sale" is, we then have to inform them that "It is a sale in which all of the hottest and greatest titles out right now such as [insert game on Wii] and [insert game on PS3 and 360] are marked down in price up to 50%" NOT a good way to strike a conversation with the customer, if you ask me…

I find a problem with management in the company. In the past few months, I have received both a new Store Manager and District Manager. At times, they are both driven for numbers, and other times they just want the behaviors to be there (the selling attitude, the effort, etc.) As I understand it, there are 5 different categories they monitor: Trade percentage, Used-game sales percentage, Reservation percentage, Subscription percentage, and Units per Transaction. Now listen to the goals we have to meet:
Trades: 20%
Used Games: 40%
Reservations: 16%
Subscriptions: 5%
UPTs: 2.0
This means that out of all the transactions that are qualified to count against us, we need to have sold this much percent of each category by the end of the day. Like what is said here, how can we possibly meet the trade goal when people can sell for more on eBay? Why would they pay $15 for the EDGE card when a city with 9% tax would effectively make their 10% discount turn into a whopping 1% off their game? Why would people even want to buy used games when it's 90% of the time only $5 off the price of a new game? GameStop needs to wake up and realize that while they may have bought out EB, Software Etc., and others that they still need to compete with Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target. Geez, if I had a dime for every person that came into my store and said they would rather buy their game at Wal-Mart….well, I'd be making more than I am now, but then again, that isn't much now, is it?

Overall, I have to agree with much that is said here, so much that I want to write down this webpages URL at the bottom of every customer's receipt I have from now on so after they "get a chance and go down to http://www.TellGameStop.com, enter the feedback code at the bottom of the receipt, tell us about your visit to the store, and it'll enter you for a chance to win 1 of 10 $500 GameStop gift cards!", then they'll come here and realize why I had to ramble that whole stupid thing off…

Warning Doing many post voids could trigger a lp audit!

Cool Breeze

Warning Doing many post voids could trigger a lp audit!

Cool Breeze

It is always good to get other opinions, especially in this type of an article. The article was written in earnest, and I realize this one and the one from the customer's perspective make it out like I hate every single GameStop and GameStop employee out there. I don't, and I hope that comes through, especially on the third article in this series, "Living With GameStop."

As far as my objections in this article go, let me preface this by saying I have been out of there over a year now, so some things may have changed from what I wrote, but probably not a lot:

Pocket Checks: Yes, i do have an issue with that. To me, you are crossing a line when you ask me to empty my pockets just to prove I am not taking games. It does make me feel like you think of me as a criminal. Maybe it would not be so bad if you weren't supposed to do it every time you leave the store. Now, for a strip mall store, that may not be that often, but is an in mall store, we were stepping out a fair amount. Granted, most managers did not take it that far, but that rule is on the books, as in the one on sock checks, Or at least Sock checks were. Maybe they finally lightened up on that.

Weak game discount: When working at GameStop, i wanted to buy games. The fact that I got such a weak discount on used games, which were pretty much pure profit for the company, was a joke. They could have given employees 25% without forcing them to buy a game informer subscription. And as far as checking games out goes…I'm wondering how the current backlash against that may change that policy. We'll have to see.

Answering the phone: If that is all you have been asked to say, consider yourself fortunate. I was often asked to say more, and some of the scripts I have heard some people give on the phone is flat out ridiculous. Once again, I am very glad my manager never enforced that. Oh, and you are right about the kind of calls we used to get. Amazing how dumb the questions could be.

Now the automated schedule may have been dropped, and if that is true, good for them. I know it was in place when i worked there, and I know my manager pretty much tried to ignore it.

Part of the reason I have such a problem with GameStop is it has lost touch with what used to make EB Games, who they bought out, good: great employees who knew their stuff and loyal customers who kept coming back time and time again. The corporate mentality is just getting really old.

I haven't personally worked at Gamestop so I'm not as informed on the subject as Tom or Eric but as a customer of my local store I can say I've never been a huge fan. The service is always a little impersonal, not so much unfriendly, just not great and no, I don't want a subscription to game informer. I wouldn't even bother taking games to trade in unless I had about 100 and didn't feel like selling them on Ebay. The trade in value has always been laughable but admittedly I've had bad trade in experiences elsewhere so it may just be corporate greed at work.

I took in Viewtifull Joe, (in great condition) several years back, not expecting much but thinking since it was in good condition and at that point not an ancient game, I would get 3 or 4 bucks. Noe I forget what the exact amount was but it wasn't much more than a dollar (if that). Now I know they can only sell a used game for so much and they have to make a profit but seriously! At that point a good game like Viewtiful Joe could still have been sold for $10 or maybe $20 used so would it have killed them to offer me a little more for it? Even if they sell it for $10 that's like an 800% markup from what they offered me! Is that enough profit margin!? Sure they have overhead but, wow.

As a gamer I'd rather have a game sitting on my shelf and the small chance I might play it again some day in the future than take a few cents trade in.

There's something about the vibe from some gamestops I just don't like. Sure most of the people who work there are gamers who know their stuff and are probably like you and cringe at offering next to squat to fellow gamers for games you both know are worth more, but I guess I think it's just the fact that Gamestop is such a large corporation and they hamstring their employees and the operation of their stores with annoying policy.

I can't speak for him but I think this is what frustrates Eric most as a gamer. He also has the experience of a much better alternative (a local Play N Trade) which is rare.

But again, many people simply don't have such options available to them. What am i supposed to tell them? The only thing that makes sense: "it's better than nothing." Every time i do say that, i can taste vomit in the back of my mouth. Sometimes I do manage to tell people the real, hard truth about all of it. But then I worry about my job. should i be telling them this? they just promoted me, should i be throwing them under the bus like this? If they find out, in just what kind of trouble will I be? Unfortunately, my thinning wallet ends up doing the rest of my moral posturing for me. I just need the job.

So when that fresh-faced, optimistic little boy comes up to the counter witha ll his old favorites and asks me "how much would i get for these games?" I just have to swallow my pride, choke down the bile in my throat, and tell him.

I'm not sure whether this was written in total sincerity or not, but regardless, in the interest of fairness I thought i would contribute the perspective of a *current* employee, point-for-point.

Firstly, the pay: no, it's not great. Why? Well, it's a corporate retail job. I did the research, and most jobs of similar description all paid in the same wage bracket. I chose Gamestop for most of the reasons one would expect, but mostly because the manager actually called me back. Also, the Comdata card is kind of a pain, but a few of the claims against it have been exaggerated (at least, compared to my experience.) The card does not charge you a fee the FIRST TIME you take out money per pay period, so i simply ht up any gas station ATM and empty the card into cash for that two weeks. I never use the card for any direct transaction. And it's not that big a deal to get your balance from the 800-number, i just enter my card number and pin, and its the first thing they tell you, even before any prompting. Other than that, the article pretty much has it right.

As for the weak discount on games? We're allowed to check out games from the store for a couple days at a time; who needs to buy games? I've purchased 1 new game since i started working there. and I only plan on buying one more for the rest of the year (Fallout 3 GOTY edition, for the curious.)

Answering the phone? The most – the absolute MOST – I've ever had to say while answering the phone is "Thanks for calling Gamestop; we have dsi and wii fit in stock; this is chris, how can i help you?" THAT is not what i dislike about answering the phone. What I dislike is what turns out, 80% of the time, to be a completely asinine question. I lose track by the week – by the WEEK! – of people calling in to tell me their 360 has broken and what we can do about it. The short answer? Nothing. 1-800-4MYXBOX. bother them. and buy a ps3 so you can stop spending money maintaining that stupid thing.

Pocket checks: you have a serious problem with this? it takes 3 seconds at the end of your shift and is more a formality than anything. Sure, i realize there's a matter of principle at stake here, but its not like anyone at the store is just waiting to catch you when you finally steal something because I knew you were no good all along, you shifty bum. Please. No one thinks anyone is actually stealing. Except Loss Prevention. they DO treat the employees like thieves. But you'd only have to deal with them maybe once or twice a year at most.

Now, as far as what is outlined in the manager's section above, I'm afraid that's pretty darn accurate. the emphasis IS on numbers, and since I came from a customer service background, I've actually been pulled aside and told i was being TOO NICE to the customers. Don't worry, I haven't changed much. But the degree to which this company demands pre-orders and subscriptions borders on the fetishistic. They want you to get a pre-order in with every sale, every trade. When customers pick up a pre-ordered game, we're told to ask them if the want to "move" their pre-order to another upcoming game (essentially making them pay full price for a game they've already put money down on. I mean, it's just five dollars, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

That automated scheduling bit was news to me. Perhaps it varies by district, but as far as I know our manager is in fact able to tailor a schedule himself based on availability and hours allotted. The problem arises from the NUMBER OF HOURS given to the store. This week? 77. 77 hours to divide among 7 people. And the ***istant manager is guaranteed 40 hours no matter what, so 37 hours between 6 people? Half our store doesn't get to work this week.