276: Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Four

[ProfessorLayton]

To be honest, I rarely read the "magazine" part of the "Escapist Magazine." I'm so glad I decided to read this. No more than an hour ago, I started reading part one and read all four articles in a row. I loved all of them and they were extremely interesting as well as informative. That soccer mom story even got me a bit steamed... either way, this was fantastic. I kind of wish that this wasn't the last one...

The funny thing is, I just picked up an application for GameStop. These articles didn't change my mind, however, because if I have a bad experience, that just means more interesting stories to tell. Thank you for this... I loved every last word.

 

[llafnwod]

I read them all and to be honest it just seems like another day in retail.

This. I have worked a lot of retail and honestly, his experiences are not exactly of exceptional calibre. This sort of thing happens at pretty much any and every major chain retailer; when there are franchises or multiple store involved, there are always lots of draconian policies, low wages, and high employee turnover, lest the employees take advantage of the system (and they will). Unfortunately, these retailers, when they grow to such large sizes, worry a lot about watertight profit margins and will maximise them as much as possible.

It's the same wherever you go; it's how business is done, unfortunately.

Not everyone has worked in retail; this article was meant to be precisely a "day in the life" for a retail employee, specifically - shockingly enough, considering the subject matter of this site - one working GameStop. It's nice that you already know this stuff, but your experiences don't make the article pointless.

 

[Chamale]

worst i have ever seen working there: me and my manager (who was actually someone who did work) noticed that there were games, wolfenstein, fable 2 etc, trading in for 2$, we were selling them for 42.99.
another: need for speed shift (new copy) went on sale for 9.99 but the used copy was 14.99, we were told to take all the new copies off the shelf and put them in the back room until the price went up..... total bullshit

At an EB Games (Canada's Gamestop), I noticed that Oblivion GOTY is $29.99. Shivering Isles is $34.99. Oblivion GOTY includes Shivering Isles. Oblivion is pretty buggy, but it's worth more than $-5.

Apparently they have a policy for this sort of thing, and simply won't sell Shivering Isles for any less than $34.99. Even though they'll never move copies of SI that way, unless they actually fool someone into wasting their money on it.

 

[Hayate_GT]

good series...good read...that being said...i am not going into a Gamestop...ever

 

[Kitteh]

That kid is pretty frikkin dumb.

 

[FinalFreak16]

Simple question:

Is Gamestop the only or rather main video game retailer in the States? Seems like it from what I hear about it. In the UK id suppose the equivilant would be the store GAME. Yup subtle name. Followed by Gamestation.

As far as i know there isnt any other video game only retailers. Must be quite a hard business model as they are typically beaten by price by large supermarkets like Tesco/Asda. Thats a Walmart equivilant!

 

[zombiejoe]

Great story bro.

XD

 

[Kejui]

I can't say that I've even been in a Gamestop for....at least five years. The local pawn shop near my university sold used games at a cheaper price, with the same amount of wear, than I've seen at Gamestop (at least, that I remember).

As a former employee of Party City, I understand, as other formgoers do, the lovely experiences had at retail stores. I wouldn't, however, mind working at a place like that, again. Though frustrating, the stories are amazing!

 

[BelmontClan]

Simple question:

Is Gamestop the only or rather main video game retailer in the States? Seems like it from what I hear about it. In the UK id suppose the equivilant would be the store GAME. Yup subtle name. Followed by Gamestation.

As far as i know there isnt any other video game only retailers. Must be quite a hard business model as they are typically beaten by price by large supermarkets like Tesco/Asda. Thats a Walmart equivilant!

Yeah, Gamestop pretty much is the main chain that sells games in the states. Followed by big box retailers (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, FYE etc.). Although (at least where I live) there's a chain of stores called the Exchange that sell new and used games/dvds/cds. Those stores will actually have old NES/SNES/PSOne/gameboy games that Gamestop doesn't sell any longer.

 

[BlueHighwind]

I'd actually care what GameStop employees had to say if they weren't all ugly greesy people who constantly bugged me about getting a membership WHEN I ALREADY HAVE ONE!!!

 

[Jonci]

Only thing I learned working at a Gamestop was that I have great organization skills but zero salemanship skills. Keep me putting stickers on boxes, sorting, or arranging the shelves, I did great. Hell, I was very good at pointing out the good and bad of particular video games to curious customers.
But I could not bring myself to care about those damn cards or magazine sells. I was best on the floor and lacking behind the register.

 

[Kristoffer Sivertsen]

Thank you and good night!

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Wait, Hey You Pikachu got released outside of Japan?

Evidently; Wikipedia says the North American release date was 6th of November 2000.

I love this Hagrid guy, he's one of the best dads I've ever heard of.

 

[Tanis]

It's 8 years later and I STILL hope you're wrong.

I HATE digital only gaming.

You don't OWN your games, you RENT them.

>_>

Still, shame at how much most of this here is STILL a thing at GameStop (worked there around a year ago, again, and then left).
But...NOW...ThinkGeek adds more shit into the mix.