Yeah, I was a PT at Borders. Not asking if they wanted a Borders card was bad. But getting more was good, and managers bonuses depended on it.
I had a great way of getting people to sign up, if they said they didnt have a card, i’d just say “great, so here’s your card and i will give you your point son this sale.” I didnt ask, they had to say no. I understand this will rile may SDMBers, but they could say no, the card was free, and there was no downside at all.
Once ina a while someone wouldnt say no until after the sale was finished and then the next customer would have a small bonus on their card.
One of our managers got fired as she used her card for all customers that didnt have one.
However, they would NOT fire you if you had a poor % on getting people to sign up. I never heard of that happening.
Ok, that employee could get fired for not asking. And your walking out did nothing.
Yes, it does annoy some customers, and so write a letter to the president/CEO. Dont make a employee, who has NOTHING to do with that policy- risk getting fired.
Cashiers may not be fired for lack of signups, but I suspect it’s part of their annual review. I worked in the print department at OfficeMax and only occasionally worked the register for non-print sales. I did promote our business sales card/program though for frequent business customers though.
Our business salesperson would evaluate how much the customer would spend annually on print and other office supplies and give them a discount based on items they usually buy. She definitely was evaluated on her business sales and it actually was a good deal for the customers.
yep it was one in indiana…
When we got our first GameStop there was a manager/sales clerk that didnt bother talking to the parents of the kids…she just pushed the hard sell straight to the kids over any objections… and if you said “well we don’t have the money for that” she figured out how you could get it …
like we went in to pick up a preorder and something new came out and my nephew was physically disabled and was delayed mentally in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy and he wanted it and we were politely trying to get out of the place … what did she do? she took a canceled preorder (the one that came with a bunch of swag and was 90 bucks) and put it in his arms and then we got the little lip trembling and tears were gonna happen in those big brown eyes so we caved…and still got nicked for 3 more pre-orders …
(ill tel lthe story on how we got a ps2 in our Walmart one day …that was an even more ridiculous moment …ill tel lya )
After that, they built the 2nd one and we went to it where they at least asked us first before showing him stuff
While the profit on pre-order games is minimal (reportedly $10-15 max), the cash in hand months before any payment is due to the vendor is crucial, especially now as GamesStop is seriously struggling financially.
To top it off, Kotaku reported that GameStop recently changed their pre-order refund policy. If you don’t cancel your order at least 30 days before the game release, you’ll get store credit instead of cash.
The same concept applies to the BAM Millionaire’s Club membership. Better to get $25 up front, than earn it little be little with each visit.
The importance of upfront membership fees is crucial to businesses like Costco and Sams Club where the majority of their earning are through membership and only 2-3% of their profit is from actual sales.