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Confessions of a Gamestop Manager
The site Consumerist has up a lengthy post from a former Gamestop manager, listing some of the sins, boons, pitfalls and promises perpetrated while he was on the job. Includes a discussion of the 'gutted' display game, pre-orders, the 'discount' card, trades, and lots of 'pro-tips' on how to get the most out of your Gamestopping experience. "19) Don't be afraid to sell things on your own! The going resell rates for any current games or accessories online is usually close to what we resell for. If its a much newer title and you don't mind listing and shipping it, you could make a small handful more selling it online yourself. Ebay and Amazon.com are obvious choices, but you may find other outlets that work for you."
To answer your question, that would be explained away as a "burp" in the system.
That said, I've done pre-orders twice at Gamestop and both times the actual game was sold out on release date. I don't bother; where I'm at it's easier to get a hold of a game from your typical Fred Meyer or Target department store on release day than it is from Gamestop/EB.
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The difference is that those people richly deserved it.
Your numbers are a bit off, from my experience. I've usually received about half what the used game sells for - for example, in one case with a recent release of a hot game still selling for $60 new, $50 used, I got $25 store credit. Of course, YMMV.
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Actually, the store was "Gamer's Edge" in Penticton, BC. I don't know if it's still open (the final story in Acts of Gord suggests it's not), does anyone know? I know Gord himself is in Japan or something now.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
I see a few comments in TFA about things you can do that will ingratiate you to the staff in a store. My own experience (UK-based) is that this really, really does matter. As a "good customer", you shouldn't count on automatically receiving any favours... but valued customers are always going to be more likely to pick up unexpected little bonuses.
:)
My own case in point here revolves around the launch of the Wii. I hadn't actually planned on picking one up, to be honest, but these were in seriously short supply in the UK right through to the middle of February in most regions. Now, I've gotten into the habit in recent years of buying most of my games from a small branch of GAME (our equivalent of Gamestop) that I pass in the morning on my way to the office. It saves me the stress of having postmen or neighbours steal games I've ordered online during delivery (this has happened a few times now), it's convenient and the staff in this store are good; older than the average straight-out-of-a-Mickey-Mouse-degree-at-university types you often get, deeply knowledgeable about games and generally not too pushy. Because they're a small store and often don't get much stock in, I tend to pre-order most games that I know I'm going to want. I buy enough games that the Loyalty card is worth it and I don't mind getting the odd junk-mail from them (they sometimes throw in vouchers). In short, from their POV, I'm more or less the ideal customer.
Now, as the only person in the team without family committments, I got roped into manning the office between Christmas and New Year. These are typically graveyard days - you come in late, take a long lunch and don't hang around in the evening, but you're there just in case anything goes wrong (always a major concern in my line of work). On the way into the office that week, I popped into GAME to pick up some title or other; I forget what it was now... some fairly crappy expansion pack I'd been putting off buying for a while, I think. When I get in, the manager tells me that they're expecting a shipment of a half dozen Wiis in some time around 11AM. At this point, my "shiny toys in short supply" circuit goes in and the Wii moves on my list from "meh, I'll pick one up cheap in a year or two" to "MUSTHAVEMUSTHAVEMUSTHAVE". He warns me to get over for 11AM, as they'll vanish in seconds when they arrive.
I go to the office, sit down and wait out the morning. At about 10:50AM, I'm getting my coat on to pop out. Suddenly, one of our senior managers (who has also decided to work these days) decides that it's time to have a long, in depth discussion with me about a project I've been working on. My heart sinks as the clock ticks around... 11:00, 11:15, 11:30... 11:45AM. Eventually, just before noon, I finally make it out of the office. I walk into GAME and the manager says "Sorry, they all went in minutes." I think I swore at this point. Then he says "But we held one back for you".
Gaming store staff are under an obligation to treat all customers equally and most will do their best to do so. You should never expect any favours. But don't be surprised when genuinely good customers do get the odd little perk.
I like how the SlashDot summary frames it as a scandalous tell-all of a former employee, when its actually a current Manager standing up for the company he still works at.
Anyway, as a former GameStop manager myself, I have to say that everything the article says is true, especially the part about choking on old copies of Madden that will never ever ever sell. The fact that they trade in for $1 is actually a relatively new policy (from about the time of the EB-GS merger). Sports games that were over 4 years old commonly traded in for under a dollar; Madden '02 traded in for $.05, which was more than it was worth considering how many copies we ever sold (it resold for $0.99 at the time). What's sadder is that we still had *new* Maddens from that year, with yellowed price stickers, for around $16.99 that no one ever even looked at.
And yes, if you want to get a GameStop employee's undying love, tell him when you come in that you were considering reserving some games but that you're gonna walk around and look first. He'll help you with anything. If its been a slow day, he'd prolly even blow you in the back room. Be sure to ask about pre-order bonus crap, Atlus sometimes has a pre-order soundtrack available for upcoming RPG's that they send out with preorders, and there's usually some random stuffed animal hanging around the pre-order crap drawer or box, and prolly random tshirts. Decks of card were popular around the time I left, I had one for Gun and the last Hitman game. There's always some vaguely cool crap hanging around, especially for games that just came out that no one preordered. Sometimes we get more swag then we ever see copies of the game...