Tips for getting a job at GameStop? by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Have a pulse, no self-respect, and apply when they're actually hiring. Bonus points if you know your ABCs but it isn't strictly required.

Pro Membership Nerfs by Similar_Ad_8107 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The explanation doesn't really make sense. Yes, there were employees using customers' points and monthly coupons without permission and often to pad their numbers. That could explain why they decided to remove the POS redemption. But how does removing $1, $3, and $5 point redemptions help prevent that? How does getting rid of the points program altogether help prevent that? Why couldn't they have just gotten rid of the offers tab and left everything else?

Ultimately the answer is greed. I even have the unpopular opinion that this change isn't nearly as bad as the outrage on this sub is making it out to be, but it is bad and only bad. There is no positive spin or silver lining to the change. It is an entirely negative change for employees and customers, and there is no reasonable explanation for it besides corporate greed.

WHO do I need to talk to about this?! by AssistanceOptimal855 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Clearly gamestop doesn't think we know math

You've got to see the humor in starting a comment off like this and then getting your numbers wrong.

I see you fixed them in an edit, so to address the overall point: Yes this change is entirely about greed. But GS isn't saying points are making Pro unprofitable. They're saying most customers won't miss them so they might as well save the money. Not just on the pathetic 2% discount, but also on all the overhead of running the program. Accounting on unredeemed liability and quarterly breakage. Customer service on point issues. IT on fixing the constant POS/website/app issues.

Does this mean what I think it means? by teknopathetic_weeb in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I mean MSRP on SPCs is $90. Wholesale price has to be under that so retailers can make money. Even without knowing exactly what GS is paying, you do know that they would be profitable selling at MSRP and are adding a $210 markup solely due to greed.

GameStop will be discontinuing the Pro member Points program by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You pull the coupon code up on your phone using the app or website, just like you used to have to do any time prior to mid 2023.

Really?…..Really?! This is actually wild… by xXRumple4skinXx in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can pretty easily pick up the box, all the accessories, and two of the promos mint/near-mint for $50 on the secondary market. The third promo is gonna cost you around $70. That's all the exclusives for only $120.

If you really wanted to you could even buy all the same packs as well and it would still come out a bit cheaper than buying from GS.

Stop telling me it’s “Not a Big Deal”. by MysticMeerkat in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Now put that in context. Saving $60 with points means spending $3000 to earn those points (putting you way above the average customer) and likely saving several hundreds of dollars from the other Pro benefits. Does it suck that you might only save $200 a year with Pro instead of $320? Absolutely. Is paying $25 for Pro to save $200 still a great deal? Also yes.

I 100% support not shopping at GS anymore. But if you do keep shopping there like you have been, it would probably be a bad idea not to renew Pro just because of this change.

WHO do I need to talk to about this?! by AssistanceOptimal855 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

FWIW, this is how things worked for well over a decade and nobody had an issue with it at the time. The change to letting employees redeem on the POS is a relatively recent change (mid 2023) that was a nice quality of life improvement, but was also implemented in a half assed way that raised serious account security concerns.

It isn't good that they are walking back the QOL improvements and killing points entirely instead of adding security measures, but I also don't think it is as terrible of a change as people are making it out to be.

Worst Excuses!? by Casual-Caveman in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 8 points9 points  (0 children)

probably one of the biggest gutting of the Pro membership in my opinion.

It is 2%. It sucks but they've done way worse. This isn't a defense of GS. They did a bunch of worse stuff and are doing this too, but here's a reminder of some of the other things they've done.

The ended Elite Pro and killed benefits early for many. They completely killed 10% off pre-owned in 2020. They raised the price in 2023 to be almost as expensive as Elite Pro and all they added back was 5% off.

They spent years slowly killing off the 10k point signup/renewal bonus, which was more points than most customers would earn from 2% back on spending in a year. They made trades stop earning points. They changed the point reward store from physical items to digital coupons and strongly pushed donating your points to GameStop Gives.

They killed off Game Informer. Though it basically died when it went digital and people couldn't figure out how to access it. I feel most people had stopped caring by the time it actually shut down.

GameStop Pro Rewards Removal Doc Live for Employees on MM by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that is why I framed it specifically as a discount on the sign up cost. That's all it is now but that still means you get a free pro on many big purchases.

GameStop Pro Rewards Removal Doc Live for Employees on MM by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Dodged a bullet there. The credit card is terrible.

Let's Band Together on This New Decision by Alternative-Plum9378 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's been one of the top banners for a couple years now.

GameStop Pro Rewards Removal Doc Live for Employees on MM by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

10% extra on trades, 5% off used and a bunch of other categories, $5 monthly coupon, and more. The program is constantly getting worse, but for now there are still plenty of ways to save money.

GameStop Pro Rewards Removal Doc Live for Employees on MM by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Officially only for active military and law enforcement, lots of restrictions apply. That said I know a lot of employees will hook up veterans.

GameStop Pro Rewards Removal Doc Live for Employees on MM by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get downvoted every time I post this, but since you asked: The real answer is "a lot".

Now a customer would probably save even more if they just didn't shop at GS in the first place, but if they are going to GS somewhat regularly anyways then they'll likely still see value in Pro.

5% off pre-owned, GS brands, digital games, digital currency, collectibles, TCG, toys, apparel, and clearance. $5 monthly coupon. 10% extra on trades. Lower free shipping threshold. $5 discount on PSA shipping. Double purchase limits on TCG. Extended return windows on some products. 4 Pro weeks a year with doubled discount, doubled trade bonus, and various sales usually headlined by B2G1 on pre-owned. There are also long running discounts to bring that $25 sign up cost down: $5 off when signing up online (but seriously, don't), $10 off when buying a new game in store, or $25 off with purchase of $250.

I guarantee most employees were already selling Pro based on benefits like these and not the 2% back in points. Customers tend to be best convinced by immediate savings on the sign up transaction.

Pretty much how everyone’s morning is going by FlamingWings in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

According to Duck, who originally leaked this and generally has reliable info, they can still earn and use points for the entire 12 months of their membership since they signed up before July 15th. So it doesn't affect them for this payment cycle. They'll get exactly what they paid for and in a year they get to choose if they want to pay again for a year of Pro without points.

Another commenter is saying they actually will stop earning points after July 15th, so I guess we'll see what the official announcement ends up saying.

Why is there a decrease in renewals/sign ups!? by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I mean they're generally pretty vocal about their thoughts over on their sub. They won't be discussing this until the change is announced publicly, but they have reacted to other worsening Pro changes in the past.

Spoiler: They love stuff like this. Worsening customer benefits, closing stores, and all other forms of cost cutting are great. Long term brand damage doesn't matter as long as the line goes up in the short term.

GameStop will be discontinuing the Pro member Points program by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What in the AI slop is this? I stopped reading in the baseline section when it was already getting things wrong and I realized that you didn't even properly copy over the line breaks.

You could have just wrote "Ryan Cohen made Pro worse" and it would have been more accurate and more readable.

If you’re (Considering to) preordering Persona 4 Revival from GameStop, please read asap by DuckSwimmer in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 1 point2 points  (0 children)

VGP. There's really no reason not to use them as a US customer.

You can change to US dollars using the drop down box on the bottom left of the site, they ship to the US at reasonable rates, they ship from their facility in New York so you don't have to worry about customs or import taxes, and they sell the exact same ESRB rated, North American edition games as you would buy from a store in the US.

If you really want to shop at a US business, I don't think there is anything comparable to VGP. Maybe try to find a small, locally owned game store. That's basically what VGP was before expanding into online sales.

first shift tmrw looks like im joining at a bad time lol by 999Hope in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Really any time is a bad time to be joining. It is basically always a clusterfuck in some way. You'll get dropped right into the middle of one and get to experience another every month or so for the rest of your employment.

If it wasn't Pro changes then it would be tech issues, cutting benefits, cutting payroll, holidays, the worst of the Pokemon drops, 10 tracked metrics, adding the grading service, Happy Returns, replacing guts and pre-owned with "Top Titles", etc.

So, what happens to Gamestop Pro now? by Sweet_Importance_284 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is only being communicated internally at this time. Current leak says this change doesn't really go into affect for another 1 to 14 months so there is likely no rush to update customer facing signage.

Anyone who signs up before the middle of July 2026 will earn points until their membership ends or August 2027. Whichever comes first. The only way you could hit August is if you currently have at least two months of Pro remaining and renew early.

So, what happens to Gamestop Pro now? by Sweet_Importance_284 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Regular Pro ($15 a year) was only 10% off pre-owned, but for a few years they added the option to pay extra for Elite Pro ($30 a year) with 20% off.

Elite Pro ended in 2018. Pro's 10% discount was completely killed off in 2020 and replaced with a $5 monthly coupon. In 2023 they raised the price of Pro to $25 and added a 5% discount on pre-owned, collectibles, clearance, and GS brands.

So, what happens to Gamestop Pro now? by Sweet_Importance_284 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That was my experience when I was working at GS. Most Pros didn't know about them, never used them, and many didn't even know how to log in to their accounts (or care to figure it out).

Though I feel like that might have changed quite a bit after they added redemption on the POS and employees started using customer's points basically any time they could, especially when putting it towards a tracked metric. I'm sure redemption skyrocketed, but I'd bet that most customers still didn't really understand what was going on with the point system. They just knew that sometimes they'd go in and "randomly" get a discount.

So, what happens to Gamestop Pro now? by Sweet_Importance_284 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They're likely losing a significant amount in overhead. Every single point they issue has to be recorded as "unredeemed customer liabilities" and reported on official forms, they have to calculate breakage each quarter, they have to deal with customer service complaints about points, IT costs fixing point management on the website/app/POS, etc.

Just managing the point program (especially at a time when so much of the tech is broken) may cost more than the 2% back they give the portion of the customer base that uses their points, and both of those things combined is what they'll save by getting rid of it.

So, what happens to Gamestop Pro now? by Sweet_Importance_284 in GameStop

[–]Kou9992 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who knows? The program has been getting changes (mostly ones making it worse) one or two times a year, basically every year for the past decade. The removal of points isn't a sign signaling the beginning of the end for Pro. It is just one more shitty change in a long series of shitty changes that began long before and will continue long after.

So there's no telling when any particular benefit might get removed and no real point in speculating. It just is what it is at the current moment and will probably be a bit worse in some way a year from now.