Is Gamestop on borrowed time?

Trap Jesus

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Feb 13, 2012
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Such an obvious last ditch effort to try to not go under, and it's completely irresponsible in this climate. With the advent of purchasing games online, they're obsolete. And I say that as someone who always loves going to get the physical copies of the games myself. Good riddance.
 
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Warden of the North

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Such an obvious last ditch effort to try to not go under, and it's completely irresponsible in this climate. With the advent of purchasing games online, they're obsolete. And I say that as someone who always loves going to get the physical copies of the games myself. Good riddance.

I would say online vendors like Amazon are having a large effect too.

Why on earth would I want to go stand in line at a store when I can just have it delivered on release day to my home or office?
 
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aleshemsky83

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Apr 8, 2008
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Such an obvious last ditch effort to try to not go under, and it's completely irresponsible in this climate. With the advent of purchasing games online, they're obsolete. And I say that as someone who always loves going to get the physical copies of the games myself. Good riddance.
Tbh it seems like a massive overreaction, restaurants, bars and gyms sure, but basic retail? It doesn't make sense. All of Asia outside china hasn't taken these drastic steps and they've mostly contained it fine..

And the shutdown is china was during their holidays where everything was shutdown already. They just extended it by a week or two.
 
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Frankie Spankie

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Feb 22, 2009
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Is Gamestop's used games pricing still ridiculous? I remember when I used to go like 10 years ago that trading in a game would get you like 25% of the value and then they sell a used game for like $56 instead of $60. I didn't even do it back then, I would just sell it on eBay and price it cheap enough to sell same day. I never understood why so many people were so lazy trading in their games. Nowadays though, it's so damn easy to sell stuff online with all these apps for reselling, you have to be really stupid to trade in games at their shit value at Gamestop. I'm not surprised they're going under when they offer nothing of value to their customers.
 

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Is Gamestop's used games pricing still ridiculous? I remember when I used to go like 10 years ago that trading in a game would get you like 25% of the value and then they sell a used game for like $56 instead of $60. I didn't even do it back then, I would just sell it on eBay and price it cheap enough to sell same day. I never understood why so many people were so lazy trading in their games. Nowadays though, it's so damn easy to sell stuff online with all these apps for reselling, you have to be really stupid to trade in games at their shit value at Gamestop. I'm not surprised they're going under when they offer nothing of value to their customers.

The trade in values used to be really good. It was the whole appeal of GameStop if I’m not mistake. Used to be you could trade in 2-4 games and buy a new release for like $8 when it was all said and done. Used to do it all the time back when I was playing NHL 09-12.

I bet if I went to trade in my copy of Halo 5 right now I wouldn’t even get $10 of store credit. While a used copy of Halo 5 is probably selling at their store for over $50. Total joke
 

Unholy Diver

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The trade in values used to be really good. It was the whole appeal of GameStop if I’m not mistake. Used to be you could trade in 2-4 games and buy a new release for like $8 when it was all said and done. Used to do it all the time back when I was playing NHL 09-12.

I bet if I went to trade in my copy of Halo 5 right now I wouldn’t even get $10 of store credit. While a used copy of Halo 5 is probably selling at their store for over $50. Total joke

Trade in value is $3, it is selling for $9.99

I don't get the happiness over a business failing, not only will there be people losing jobs and less jobs available overall, but there will be less places to get games, yeah you can order them online and get them in 2 days to a week but it's nice to be able to jump in the car, drive 5 minutes and have it in hand immediately

Sometimes their prices are higher, sometimes they are lower, shopping around isn't that hard if you have a phone
 

bleedblue1223

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Jan 21, 2011
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Trade in value is $3, it is selling for $9.99

I don't get the happiness over a business failing, not only will there be people losing jobs and less jobs available overall, but there will be less places to get games, yeah you can order them online and get them in 2 days to a week but it's nice to be able to jump in the car, drive 5 minutes and have it in hand immediately

Sometimes their prices are higher, sometimes they are lower, shopping around isn't that hard if you have a phone
Why act like Gamestop is the only store to get games at. Bestbuy, Target, Walmart, etc.

Digital game sales are what's killing niche stores like Gamestop. Why even order online or drive to another store, when I can just download it to my console. All I have to wait for is the download and I can even download it before it releases a lot of the time.
 

Unholy Diver

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Why act like Gamestop is the only store to get games at. Bestbuy, Target, Walmart, etc.

Digital game sales are what's killing niche stores like Gamestop. Why even order online or drive to another store, when I can just download it to my console. All I have to wait for is the download and I can even download it before it releases a lot of the time.


I never said they were the only place, but them closing still means less places to get games and jobs lost.
 

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Trade in value is $3, it is selling for $9.99

I don't get the happiness over a business failing, not only will there be people losing jobs and less jobs available overall, but there will be less places to get games, yeah you can order them online and get them in 2 days to a week but it's nice to be able to jump in the car, drive 5 minutes and have it in hand immediately

Sometimes their prices are higher, sometimes they are lower, shopping around isn't that hard if you have a phone
You don’t understand why people are excited to see an evil corporation fail? One that has mistreated customers and employees for years? I’m thrilled to see them go under. GameStop was never a career for anyone other than the regional and district managers who push dreadful practices onto their employees, so I’m not too upset they’re out of a job. The others are basically minimum wage jobs that can be found anywhere.
 
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chicagoskycam

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You don’t understand why people are excited to see an evil corporation fail? One that has mistreated customers and employees for years? I’m thrilled to see them go under. GameStop was never a career for anyone other than the regional and district managers who push dreadful practices onto their employees, so I’m not too upset they’re out of a job. The others are basically minimum wage jobs that can be found anywhere.

mmm I would not say all employees experienced this level of dissatisfaction but I'm sure some did. It's still going to be a lost job for many people and I'm sure they prefer it to some of the alternatives.
 
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Hammettf2b

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You don’t understand why people are excited to see an evil corporation fail? One that has mistreated customers and employees for years? I’m thrilled to see them go under. GameStop was never a career for anyone other than the regional and district managers who push dreadful practices onto their employees, so I’m not too upset they’re out of a job. The others are basically minimum wage jobs that can be found anywhere.
I haven't heard about this as I haven't really looked into it. What is their policy that mistreats their customers and employees?
 
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Commander Clueless

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If GameStop does hypothetically go under, I wonder if we will see the space for small, niche gaming shops to make a bit of a comeback?

The big boys like Amazon, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc. will continue to dominate the AAA pre-order scene I'm sure.

I don't celebrate the loss of something that I once thought was pretty great (EB Games in Canada at least), but there might be a slight silver lining?
 

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I haven't heard about this as I haven't really looked into it. What is their policy that mistreats their customers and employees?
Extreme sales pressure to the point of outright badgering. More than a typical retail job, GameStop employees face strict discipline for failing to meet quotas. For many years it was their stupid membership that they’d try to sell to every customer and if they failed to reach their quota(which was typically unreasonably high for something that so few people actually want) they were written up. Terminated after three write ups. Now it’s moved to refurbishing tech like phones and tablets. They’re forced to pester every customer about their phone and receive at least five trade ins a week, when they offer a pittance because their margins have to be so high to stay afloat. It’s the same tactics they used to use on games, but now nobody is buying physical games anymore so store credit is useless. . Of course they aren’t going to get many trade ins. Again, they’re written up for failing to reach that goal and terminated after three. It’s clearly a sinking ship and they’re doing everything they can to line the pockets of the executives before eventually going under. They really should just pull the plug now. Their market is so niche that they’ll never survive.
 

Hammettf2b

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Extreme sales pressure to the point of outright badgering. More than a typical retail job, GameStop employees face strict discipline for failing to meet quotas. For many years it was their stupid membership that they’d try to sell to every customer and if they failed to reach their quota(which was typically unreasonably high for something that so few people actually want) they were written up. Terminated after three write ups. Now it’s moved to refurbishing tech like phones and tablets. They’re forced to pester every customer about their phone and receive at least five trade ins a week, when they offer a pittance because their margins have to be so high to stay afloat. It’s the same tactics they used to use on games, but now nobody is buying physical games anymore so store credit is useless. . Of course they aren’t going to get many trade ins. Again, they’re written up for failing to reach that goal and terminated after three. It’s clearly a sinking ship and they’re doing everything they can to line the pockets of the executives before eventually going under. They really should just pull the plug now. Their market is so niche that they’ll never survive.
This isn't a thing exclusive to Gamestop. Tons of companies do the exact same thing because it helps drive sales. Target does/did the same thing with its Red Card program trying to get customers to sign up for their Target Red Card. Employees can and did get reprimanded if they didn't get a certain amount . I'm not saying it isn't annoying to deal with, just saying that this practice is a lot more common than most think and definitely not exclusive to Gamestop.
 
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Unholy Diver

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You don’t understand why people are excited to see an evil corporation fail? One that has mistreated customers and employees for years? I’m thrilled to see them go under. GameStop was never a career for anyone other than the regional and district managers who push dreadful practices onto their employees, so I’m not too upset they’re out of a job. The others are basically minimum wage jobs that can be found anywhere.


Evil corporation? As opposed to the bastions of charity like Walmart, Amazon, and almost every other big company? I spent 20 years in retail in a few of the largest companies in the US (Macys, and TJX) and in a few smaller companies and they all had some crappy policies and expectations, that comes with the territory. Pretty much every retailer has their "dreadful practices" be it getting people to apply for credit cards, rewards programs, upselling, etc. it is part of the job. Yeah a lot of the jobs are minimum wage or close to it but they are still jobs, jobs for high school and college kids, or people who just want something part time and might want to work around games and geek stuff and they will still be lost jobs and more people without them
 

Unholy Diver

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Extreme sales pressure to the point of outright badgering. More than a typical retail job, GameStop employees face strict discipline for failing to meet quotas. For many years it was their stupid membership that they’d try to sell to every customer and if they failed to reach their quota(which was typically unreasonably high for something that so few people actually want) they were written up. Terminated after three write ups. Now it’s moved to refurbishing tech like phones and tablets. They’re forced to pester every customer about their phone and receive at least five trade ins a week, when they offer a pittance because their margins have to be so high to stay afloat. It’s the same tactics they used to use on games, but now nobody is buying physical games anymore so store credit is useless. . Of course they aren’t going to get many trade ins. Again, they’re written up for failing to reach that goal and terminated after three. It’s clearly a sinking ship and they’re doing everything they can to line the pockets of the executives before eventually going under. They really should just pull the plug now. Their market is so niche that they’ll never survive.


I have never been pestered or badgered about any of these things and have been in Gamestops hundreds of times, anytime I am in there I am greeted upon entering, asked if I needed help, and when I reply "No just looking around" I am left alone unless I ask for help, either these policies are not enforced in Pennsylvania and Ohio or I am just a lot more intimidating than I realized as a short pudgy middle aged guy
 

RandV

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I have never been pestered or badgered about any of these things and have been in Gamestops hundreds of times, anytime I am in there I am greeted upon entering, asked if I needed help, and when I reply "No just looking around" I am left alone unless I ask for help, either these policies are not enforced in Pennsylvania and Ohio or I am just a lot more intimidating than I realized as a short pudgy middle aged guy

Back when I shopped there I wouldn't really call it 'pestering' but you were always asked about the membership or any thing they were running at checkout. I'd assume a lot of what you get though would depend a lot on how well the store does with these sorts of quota's and the amount of pressure they're under to how 'aggressive' the staff is. If they're making their quota's without a fuss, then no problem you can be laid back. If someone's going to be fired if they don't sell 10 more memberships this week, then it's going to get a little more pushy.

Anyways in terms of 'job loss' really it's more 'job disruption'. These are small scale retail outlets usually found in malls and the like, typical you shut a store like this down those people working there lose there job but a month or two later you'll just have a new store with new jobs taking it's place. Retail stores are congregated and always hiring so if you have good retail experience hopefully they should be able to quickly find employment somewhere else.

Though this all under 'normal' circumstances I mean, not counting the potential covid-19 depression and a general shift away from retail. Who knows how that's going to effect things.
 

Oilslick941611

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This isn't a thing exclusive to Gamestop. Tons of companies do the exact same thing because it helps drive sales. Target does/did the same thing with its Red Card program trying to get customers to sign up for their Target Red Card. Employees can and did get reprimanded if they didn't get a certain amount . I'm not saying it isn't annoying to deal with, just saying that this practice is a lot more common than most think and definitely not exclusive to Gamestop.
every retail store does this. Not hitting your numbers for Credit Cards is bad. HBC makes you get 2 credit cards per shift, and if you are a cashier you get the extra responsiblitly of 30% of your transactions need to be on the HBC credit card as well. Its called Blend, its awful, not only do you need to make customers sign up for the card, you also have to make them use it. Im glad im done with HBC. worst company to work for, any company with a store brand card is like this. the products in the store aren't the actual products, HBC doesn't sell jewellery, furniture and clothes, it sells credit. cashiers get 2 dollars added to their pay for every application they get, or at least did when I worked for them, I heard they get HBC rewards points now, which is worse.
 

Hammettf2b

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I have never been pestered or badgered about any of these things and have been in Gamestops hundreds of times, anytime I am in there I am greeted upon entering, asked if I needed help, and when I reply "No just looking around" I am left alone unless I ask for help, either these policies are not enforced in Pennsylvania and Ohio or I am just a lot more intimidating than I realized as a short pudgy middle aged guy
This is how my Gamestop visits are as well.
 

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