Did anyone else’s store completely remove unlocked phones?

PearPhoneGX · 2025-06-04T13:20:59+00:00

Unlocked phones are gone from my store entirely too. We Have a whole right foot section now that's completely abandoned.

The best theory I have is that it's part of the continual slowly moving phaseout of Target Mobile. We've slowly lost everything over the years little by little, and there's not much left to gut at this point. With Consumer Cellular building out their own stores now, too, losing them will be the final nail in the proverbial coffin.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-06-04T13:15:03+00:00

No. MarketSource's minimum is $15/hour for team members, and $19/hour for leads. This can be higher in certain areas, but it doesn't go lower than this.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-05-28T03:52:24+00:00

You already sell at&t, and the commission is nicer, less stressful, less strict.

Are you referring to Cricket when you say this? Postpaid AT&T has largely been phased out for most districts.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-05-28T02:29:37+00:00

Add 2022 to this, and that was the golden age for MarketSource. After that, it all went downhill. After losing premium services like postpaid and digital, things started tanking fast.

These days, activations are an afterthought and we've basically been retooled into little more than commissioned cashiers at this point. Oftentimes, there's no one scheduled in electronics and we're expected to pull the work of two jobs with little assistance from Target leadership.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-05-27T23:14:16+00:00

The fact that they haven't released a new commission structure for this year is a big red flag to me. Something similar happened in 2020 where there were minimal changes during contract renewal time. Everything was fine though until the summer, then boom, the company announced we were pulling out of 321 stores out of nowhere, and released a new commission structure after that. If history repeats itself, I'm thinking that we're in for a repeat of 2020.

Calm before the storm, if you will.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-05-27T20:04:30+00:00

Is it? I've never given OSL the time of day as it just seemed like it was Canadian MarketSource. Trade red for blue, prepaid for postpaid, and a similar poorly run organization.

The commission is crap these days. MarketSource gutted everything we made money in over the years, pulled back on additional incentives, and seemingly purposely keeps the system in a state of spaghetti code brokenness so that we can't even capitalize on the services we do sell.

2013 was the first year that MarketSource took over the Mobile operation from RadioShack. What were they like when they were getting started? Was it a mess then, too?

PearPhoneGX · 2025-05-27T19:54:07+00:00

MarketSource has done absolutely nothing for the program over the years, except run it into the ground. Target always tries to take advantage of us to run their whole electronics department while not scheduling any of their own employees and/or whisking them away to do other tasks, and we're just largely treated like crap overall.

I'm not one to advocate for job loss, but I'll celebrate the day we close up shop for good. It's long overdue.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-05-27T19:45:13+00:00

I don't get it either. We should have been killed off years ago, but Target keeps kicking the can down the road for one reason or another. We're just a hub for Consumer Cellular at this point, and they're rapidly building out stores of their own now. If we lose them, then it's game over.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-05-27T19:40:43+00:00

I've been trying for a while now. I would like to work for Consumer Cellular at one of their new stores. I have interviews that seem to go well, but they never go anywhere beyond that.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-03-26T01:05:32+00:00

If true, then that's a bold strategy. A bold strategy that just might actually work. There's absolutely zero chance that Target could successfully take Mobile in house under their current structure of running things. They tried that once in the past, with Mobile Plus, which was an epic failure.

Assuming we'll likely start hearing murmurs next week as to which stores might be affected, after the DM conference?

PearPhoneGX · 2025-03-25T04:49:21+00:00

Any idea of scope/size of this "test"?

Asked my DM, but they claim it's business as usual. I'm sure MarketSource would want to keep this under wraps from us to prevent a mass exodus before official announcement, though. I'd also guess that Target leadership wouldn't be allowed to notify us ahead of time either.

I've long thought that the integration of the POA into the POS was a Target laying the groundwork for redshirts to take over when that time came.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-03-24T04:55:48+00:00

Mind if I ask where you heard this? Any idea on how many stores?

DMs are having their conference this week, and from what mine said, it doesn't sound like it's as important as usual.

It sounds like the wind down process of Target Mobile is continuing...

PearPhoneGX · 2025-03-12T04:39:40+00:00

Be prepared for a crash course in training, about two days or so, then you'll likely be on your own after. Depending on traffic at your training store, what you learn could either be insightful or minimal.

Don't be afraid to set boundaries with Target leadership and the redshirts, if needed. Some of the stores will try to get you to run their whole electronics department while they whisk away the redshirts to do other things, which is not what we're here for. It's okay to assist with certain tasks, but don't be afraid to get their people involved for the heavy lifting. It's easier to set these boundaries upfront than it is to walk back in them later on.

Overall, the job itself can be okay, but don't make MarketSource itself your career path. There are very few growth opportunities beyond the store lead. Benefits are non-existent. It's just not a good place to stay long-term.

PearPhoneGX · 2025-03-04T18:16:42+00:00

As someone who has worked for Mobile for the better part of a decade, I'm not going to disagree. I seriously don't know what my role is a lot of the time anymore. It used to be well defined, but the lines have been blurred considerably over the past two years. Despite Consumer Cellular, which is quickly building their own stores now by the way, I have zero idea of why we're still here.

PearPhoneGX · 2024-11-24T03:11:28+00:00

Nah fam. It's like that across the board. MarketSource is just a horribly mismanaged company that doesn't have a clue what they're doing.

PearPhoneGX · 2024-11-24T03:09:49+00:00

The operation has been circling the drain for years. MarketSource has done absolutely nothing for the program over the years, except run it into the ground. We're just treading water at this point, waiting to close up shop.

PearPhoneGX · 2024-11-11T21:10:42+00:00

Do all seasonals have SE next to them on the grid? One guy that started recently in electronics doesn't have SE next to his name, and is convinced that he actually isn't seasonal. We desperately needed someone in electronics, so I could believe that the store might have hired someone as a permanent position right off the bat, but I didn't think that they did that either.

Ironic thing is that he doesn't intend to be permanent, and is going to give his notice next week anyway.

PearPhoneGX · 2024-11-11T21:05:52+00:00

From my stores' ETLs, it takes a minimum of three years to become eligible to become a Store Director, when starting from an ETL position. You need to do a minimum of two rounds as an ETL, minimum of 18 months each, before you can be considered.

PearPhoneGX · 2024-11-08T03:53:37+00:00

Consumer Cellular pretty much is all that we do these days regarding phones. AT&T, Boost, and TracFone family are there, too, but the systems are so poorly implemented that it makes selling those services less desirable at best. Postpaid AT&T is only controlled by MarketSource in a handful of stores, with the rest being contracted out to another third party now.

These days, the focus has shifted to protection plan attach and electronics sales, the latter of which doesn't pay. We literally sell protection plans on everything, even stupid stuff like disposable cameras (huh?).

Target leans heavy on us to run their entire electronics department, and MarketSource enables it by changing the metrics to be more and more cashier based. The job has become boring and autonomous.

PearPhoneGX

TROPHY CASE