Now personally I still like getting actual physical media for my games when possible. The simple reason is I have to use Comcast as my ISP, which leads to problems with digital downloads. For example if I get a 15 GB game and have to download it, Comcast holds that against me, and it goes against my 250 GB data limit, leaving me with 234 GB of data or less to use (for more information on the data limit please view this post and more online).
Yes I know that 250-15 = 235. However because the systems do data checks to make sure that all that binary code you are downloading is accurate, plus there is the initial signal to the servers, the start downloading code, and everything else, you spend more data with the download then its actual size. This is an issue since I cast games online, that means I have less data to use to stream games for everyone to watch. Worse, if I go over that 250 GB limit, Comcast will shut down my internet, until we call them and apologize and kiss (edited for content) and they turn us back on. Then if we break that 250 GB limit again... they can shut down our internet for a full year. That for me would mean NO high speed internet... PERIOD.
While I wont go into a rant here (since I have so many times before) this means that I have to be very careful how much data I use and physical media saves me from having to use data that can be better used elsewhere. Now GameStop selling a competitor's product is very interesting. I'm not sure if its just a sign of a weakening PC market that GameStop realizes they can't fix, or if its something more, but its definitely a marked change from the GameStop I used to work for.
Wow... that... wasn't short at all was it? My apologies. In our next article for now Kotaku really impressed me with what they had to say about pre-orders. For anyone who has gone into a GameStop or Best Buy and gone though the video game section you've probably been hit with a employee attempting to sell you a pre-order. Usually this comes with some kind of warning about them not getting enough copies of what ever game they are pushing. Since that game is anticipated to sell exceptionally well, what few extra copies they get in that arn't reserved for pre-orders, should they get any, are going to sell out in the first few minuets the store is open. Oh yeah, plus you get this really nifty exclusive stuff for pre-ordering.
Kokatu covers the reason they do this and the how you can combat this pretty clearly in the article. However as someone who worked at a GameStop store I can shed a bit more light on the subject then they do. You see at GameStop the membership card and pre-orders aren't just a good idea... they are a very strong part of how you are evaluated as an employee. They determine your raises, your promotions, and even if the company will keep you hired in the long run.
A employee who has poor sales figures for magazine subscriptions and game pre-orders will do badly on their yearly review. How badly you ask? Approximately 70 to 80% of your evaluation is graded upon these two sales figures. That means that on a traditional grading scale used in schools across this country, if you fail these two figures, you get a 30% at best, which is a F------------ or so. If you pass with top scores, you automatically get a C- to a B- grade.
Mind you its been many years since I worked for the company, however at the time I worked for them 75% of your yearly evaluation went to subscriptions and reservations (pre-ordes).. Of the remaining 25%, only 10% was allocated for customer service, the remaining 15% was for things such as attendance, appearance, professionalism, etc. That means if a GameStop employee is doing their job properly based off of those percentages they are only worried about making you feel warm, welcome, and ensuring you get what you want 10% of the time. In an 8 hour shift that means that this employee should spend about 48 minuets considering his or her customers... that's less then 1 hours worth of time. By the way its worth noting that I worked at a quieter store and it was still common to have 50 or more transactions a day... which means you were scheduled for less then 1 minuet of concern by the company.
I have seen employees who use what I personally consider brutish tactics such as making customers feel they had to make reservations just to get out of the store. These customers later come back and cancel those reservations which hurt the employees that they come back too because the loss of the reservation counts against the person taking the loss... not the person who made the reservation in the first place. In so doing the people using brute tactics are promoted rapidly above people with any level of seniority. That's right: sell enough reservations and subscriptions and you can go from seasonal hire, to store manager in less then a year if everything works out right for you.
That isn't to say that GameStop doesn't care about their customers. They care very much about keeping as many of us in their stores as they can, however their policy as explained by my managers at the time was this "If they have a reservation with us or subscription they won't go anywhere else because we have them hooked, so it doesn't matter what our customer service is like... they'll return anyway". My point of view was always the reverse: "Though good customer service, and though diligently working with our customers the reservations and subscriptions will come, and the customers will feel secure and happy placing them." Of the two which do you prefer? Yeah I thought so.
Anyway don't feel bad for the people who work for GameStop, they are cogs in a machine just like most of us in our working lives. Instead I ask you to consider "do I really need that reservation" or "is that piece of DLC really worth a reservation" before placing one. While I won't lie and say I won't reserve games, as a general the ones I reserve come from smaller publishers that my local stores usually don't carry with out it being via a pre-order. Games like Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist Of Arland, Cross Edge, Disgaea 4, or even Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2. My local stores simply don't get them in unless you pre-order a copy for yourself.
Now I personally despise that particular practice that they have. I have one electronics store near me and that is Best Buy. Past that there is Game Stop, Toys R Us and Fred Meyers. That is my entire selection in a nutshell. Is it any wonder I've started shopping with Amazon, and other online venues? As was demonstrated in "Miracle on 34th Street" its better customer service to be able to refer a customer to where they can find a product (such as Macy's did in the move) then to sell them something they don't want... in my case however, the stores can't even tell me where to look with the exception of "go online".
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment