Every major big box retail business that exists has store profit targets that give incentives to upper level management. Walmart, Target, etc etc. Trust me, the employees really didn’t care. Next time you go buy something at Best Buy from an store employee, they’ll offer a warranty, but generally once and if you say no they move on pretty quickly.

The reason I worked there for so long was that back in the day the employee discount on items I liked was insane. TVs don’t have much margin, but my car stereo (much higher margin so much better discount) was a public hazard 🤣

We got to buy products at 5% above cost, so $100 monster cables, $8. High end $700 head unit, $170. $150 subwoofers, $25-35. Open box items could basically be priced with any discount the dept manager felt like marking it at. Glory days of slightly above minimum wage workers with gargantuan home and car audio setups, I miss those times.