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In this economy, $30k+ to work in a retail environment is pretty good. Also, how is GW "long hours"?! At most they work 8 hours a day, maybe 10 on 1 day of the week. The store is closed 30 minutes a day for lunch and 2 days a week. In my current job I barely make more than that, have a 40 mile commute, and have worked 16 hour shifts more times than I can count. You also get a 50% discount on everything in the store. If I worked at the GW less than a mile from my house I would have more disposable income and free time than I do now.

I just found out that the new manager is completely new to the hobby. I'm guessing he's the only person who applied for the job.

Maybe he's already mastered the atttiude!

 Random Dude wrote:

 slowthar wrote:
The guy working the GW store in my area told me his salary was $32,000 a year. Where we were, that was essentially minimum wage. And every interaction he had with anyone else in the company ruined his day, even though the kid busted his ass and actually did a great job building up the community and using it to drive sales numbers. Plus he had a 40 minute commute.

That was manager #4 out of the five years the store was open. As soon as their 5 year lease on the store ran out, GW closed the shop and, to the best of my knowledge, fired the kid.

Working for GW probably sucks harder than working in food service, and also has less career opportunities.

To be fair, New York is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. $30,000 is plenty enough money for a single person in almost every other state.

I live in the highest Minimum wage state. 32000 would be great to live on. I work full time with some over time and just barly make 22000 a year. 32000 is good for a one person income.
I work food service and a GW job is a lot easy trust me...

Workng for GW has it good points and bad. They get training every 3 months or so. They have to train their own back up people if they want time off.
The store I go two has only had two managers in the last 6 years. One moved up to sell in the company. They have turn over like any company. The newest manager has been here two years and is doing fine.

 slowthar wrote:
The guy working the GW store in my area told me his salary was $32,000 a year. Where we were, that was essentially minimum wage. And every interaction he had with anyone else in the company ruined his day, even though the kid busted his ass and actually did a great job building up the community and using it to drive sales numbers. Plus he had a 40 minute commute.

That was manager #4 out of the five years the store was open. As soon as their 5 year lease on the store ran out, GW closed the shop and, to the best of my knowledge, fired the kid.

Working for GW probably sucks harder than working in food service, and also has less career opportunities.

And that's saying something. Coming from someone who just got out of a series of line cooking jobs, working in foodservice BLOWS. If GW is worse than that, I don't know what to say.

 Robisagg wrote:

 slowthar wrote:
The guy working the GW store in my area told me his salary was $32,000 a year. Where we were, that was essentially minimum wage. And every interaction he had with anyone else in the company ruined his day, even though the kid busted his ass and actually did a great job building up the community and using it to drive sales numbers. Plus he had a 40 minute commute.

That was manager #4 out of the five years the store was open. As soon as their 5 year lease on the store ran out, GW closed the shop and, to the best of my knowledge, fired the kid.

Working for GW probably sucks harder than working in food service, and also has less career opportunities.

And that's saying something. Coming from someone who just got out of a series of line cooking jobs, working in foodservice BLOWS. If GW is worse than that, I don't know what to say.

It's probably not, but people love the opportunity to bash GW.

I've worked in food service and I spend a lot of time hanging out in my local GW and know the manager very well. I know the good and bad of both jobs. Food service has
- less pay
- longer shifts/later hours
- far more customer complaints
- less useful discounts (50% off GW stuff for anyone who buys even 1 box a month is a big savings over time)
- come home smelting like dirty dishes

Exactly which part of dealing with hot kitchens, dirty dishes and working til 10pm or midnight for $8/hr is better than working at GW playing with toy soldiers, modeling/painting your own army when you aren't dealing with customers, and going home at 8pm for $16-17/hr?

$32,000 which is about £20,000 is not that bad a salary for a recent graduate kind of level. But working in GW retail these days probably is fairly stressful compared to a lot of retail jobs.

One man shops in particular must be pretty horrible. You will be either be too busy handling customers, or if you have spare time to do any organising and tidying you won't be making your numbers. You will be lonely, bored and worried, or rushed off your feet.

Management is constantly looking over your shoulder and ready to fire you at a moment's notice, or maybe close your shop because they can get a cheaper lease somewhere else. You also know there is pretty much no chance of promotion any more.

It takes a fairly unusual kind of person to cope with all that, and have the skills to do a good job in the shop, and be enough of a believer to have the right attitude.

Part of GW's problem in recruiting for their one-man shops is all the above.

Toofast wrote:

Exactly which part of dealing with hot kitchens, dirty dishes anud working til 10pm or midnight for $8/hr is better than working at GW playing with toy soldiers, modeling/painting your own army when you aren't dealing with customers, and going home at 8pm for $16-17/hr?

I don't think you get to do much playing with toy soldiers or get much time to do your own hobby, there's just too much to do if you run a store on your own. I believe there's also an expectation to get store stuff painted at home.

I doubt it's worse than working in a kitchen but it's a long way from being paid to hobby, which is why so many get disillusioned and the turnover is so high

I wonder if staff turnover was so high in the old days when people did get paid to hobby, making armies on discount, building great terrain pieces and conversions, and so on. I have two things in mind about it.

The first is that selling well is done best by enthusiastic people who enjoy the product or service they are selling. The second is that GW have a recruitment problem that is severely affecting their sales by preventing them from operating their one-man shops.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I wonder if staff turnover was so high in the old days when people did get paid to hobby, making armies on discount, building great terrain pieces and conversions, and so on. I have two things in mind about it.

The first is that selling well is done best by enthusiastic people who enjoy the product or service they are selling. The second is that GW have a recruitment problem that is severely affecting their sales by preventing them from operating their one-man shops.

No, but the whole full-time/part-time thing was structured a lot differently then, after they restructured the part-time contracts in 2005 staff turnover would be naturally higher.

I had a great time the 4 years I red-shirted for GW, but the totality of my observations and feedback from other staff members at various levels of the business would lead me to strongly believe it's a place to work.

Another part of the puzzle of GW's difficulties falls into place.

$32k is about £20k.

I'd happily live on that much anywhere up North, but in London £20k would not be enough for a decent lifestyle for anyone over 21.

I expect the same applies in NY for $32k.

Do GW pay all store managers the same, or does it depend on location?

"Does GW treat its employees as commodities that are only there to make money for the company?"

Show me a company that doesn't act like this!

My charge out rate is three times my 'hourly' rate.

You could live a student lifestyle (a bedroom in a shared house in a run-down area) in London on £20K a year but most people get tired of that by their mid-20s at least.

Like most retailers, GW had a "London-weighting" to pay, at least while I was there.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
You could live a student lifestyle (a bedroom in a shared house in a run-down area) in London on £20K a year but most people get tired of that by their mid-20s at least.

Off-topic I guess: For flexible people there is a way to pay about half the going rate if you don't mind communal living. To avoid squatters, security companies (acting on behalf of developers) are renting out empty buildings (old offices/schools waiting for redevelopment for example) to tenants at "low" prices. The other downside is you only get 1-2 weeks notice to move location.

 Fifty wrote:
$32k is about £20k.

I'd happily live on that much anywhere up North, but in London £20k would not be enough for a decent lifestyle for anyone over 21.

I expect the same applies in NY for $32k.

Do GW pay all store managers the same, or does it depend on location?

You'd be about right.

State to state costs of living in the American Northeast is some of the highest in the nation. Thus why there isn't a GW store in a lot of New England (or at all, to my knowledge).

Along the lines of the Income comparisons, I'm on disability so my Annual Income is $8,892...yeah $30k sounds pretty good to me :/

Christ, I'm currently doing an entry level phone tech support job while going through uni, and getting $43k AUD per year (~$40k USD). $35k AUD (~$33k USD) being a "good" wage is a little baffling to me. I guess it's just a bit different here, of course.

 Random Dude wrote:

 slowthar wrote:
The guy working the GW store in my area told me his salary was $32,000 a year. Where we were, that was essentially minimum wage. And every interaction he had with anyone else in the company ruined his day, even though the kid busted his ass and actually did a great job building up the community and using it to drive sales numbers. Plus he had a 40 minute commute.

That was manager #4 out of the five years the store was open. As soon as their 5 year lease on the store ran out, GW closed the shop and, to the best of my knowledge, fired the kid.

Working for GW probably sucks harder than working in food service, and also has less career opportunities.

To be fair, New York is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. $30,000 is plenty enough money for a single person in almost every other state.

NYC on 30k a year before taxes is a bad idea. I'm only making low 40s in my early 20s... but the city is simply too expensive.

From previously talking to a few managers, it seems they were paid around $14-$17/hr for a 40/hr flat workweek with some minor OT here and there. This is the same wages an average 19-22 year old is making in the US with some minor certs/associates degree. Most managers also tend to be mid to late thirties - which this level of income is garbage

 Random Dude wrote:
So, as the title suggests, my local GW store just got its 4th manager in 2 years. The first stayed for 1 year but left after a fallout with management. The second left on better terms (He simply found a better paying job). The third was an interim who stayed for maybe a month. The situation puzzles me because the store itself has been doing very well. People are always in an out, buying frequently. I guess my question is this: Does GW treat its employees as commodities that are only there to make money for the company? I cannot think of many reasons why the turnover rate would be so high.

I'm deeply sorry - our local GW manager took a few loans and made his own FLGS. This is now the huge hub of gaming in my local area

I suspect that the turnover is high for several reasons. The management have an expectation that a manager can magically increase sales without giving them the necessary tools or leeway to do so. For example, it may be important to be open certain hours (such as after 9 PM) to build a community. It may also be important to have space to play the games. When the managers fail to increase the sales, they get reamed out. Not fun.

I think that factors related to it being a one man store are also a problem. For example, to go to the bathroom, you have to kick everyone out of the store. This is of course undesirable. Thus, either you screw your customers, or hold it. Not good options.

The pay is not bad. The problem is that they turn people over. If you lose your job at GW, it may be difficult to get another retail job, as other employers may not be looking for people who have lost jobs. Most people have the common sense to stay away, even with the money being offered.

The money isn't good for the responsibility of operating a one man shop. You don't just have to make sales, you have to do everything including stocktaking, security, demos and so on. For all I know they even make you clean the shop.

The only thing you don't get to do is to line manage staff, which is an important aspect of developing a career in nearly any line of work.

And very little chance of advancement within GW because the management structure is so flat now.

Basically it is a dead end job, unless you stay just long enough to prove you have got the ability to run a one man shop and can use that to get into some better company.

People drawing comparisons with the food industry (and really, they're not, they're drawing comparisons with menial labour jobs, whether they be food, hospitality or production line type jobs, I did my time in hospitality and worked with many chefs who were both talented and passionate about what they did and were well compensated for doing it) aren't really comparing like for like.

The GW job carries a lot more pressure and responsibility, you're a lot more "visible." Nobody is likely to lose their job if their performance while washing a batch of dishes is a few % lower this week than it was last week.

Let me reiterate - GW store management involves many of the negatives of retail management, very few of the positives and working for a company that seems to view it's front line staff as a resource to be exploited, rather than an asset to be nurtured, in many cases.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
For all I know they even make you clean the shop.

I'd be completely stunned if they had any cleaning service, even for an hour a day.

The role isn't really management; you do nothing that you could use to get a management position anywhere else (dealing with accounts/stock ordering/staff), that's all done at HQ level.

Exactly, really, any reference to a staff member in a GW one man store should really be expressed as "manager."

 Kilkrazy wrote:
For all I know they even make you clean the shop.

This was the case 10+ years ago, it was a Monday morning task since basically no customers used to come in on a Monday anyway. Dust all the shelves, clean the windows inside and out etc etc (not hovering, that was done after closing every day).

 Baragash wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
For all I know they even make you clean the shop.

This was the case 10+ years ago, it was a Monday morning task since basically no customers used to come in on a Monday anyway. Dust all the shelves, clean the windows inside and out etc etc (not hovering, that was done after closing every day).

TBF, even though I spent a number of years as a "proper" manager (fiscal responsibility, team of staff, input into hiring and firing, stock management etc, etc) the buck still stopped with me WRT the presentation and cleanliness of the shop, so if that meant me getting the Hoover out and spraying some Pledge around, so be it. We were authorised to pay a professional for window cleaning (but most stores I ran had very large plate windows, so did justify it) but otherwise it was all down to me or the 'lucky' individual I delegated it to.

 Random Dude wrote:
I would also like to point out that $30,000 is the average yearly income for a single American. I'm not saying it's great pay, I'm saying it's not extremely low or unlivable.

here some info
http://blog.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/paye/tax/comparison-of-uk-and-usa-take-home/

 insaniak wrote:

PastelAvenger wrote:
[...but having multiple skills and being asked to use them all on a day by day basis but being only paid the same as one of the lowest retail chains is pretty bad.

Yes and no. Working a job you enjoy can make up for a lot... It's not for everyone, but a lot of people would be happy to overlook the low salary in exchange for working around their hobby.

Of course, working in a games store (particularly one run by a company as peculiar as GW) sounds much more fun than it actually is, which would be the reason for the rapid turnover. It takes a particular sort of person to stick with that sort of position, with that sort of company.

The person I know who's really happy with running a GW store is married, with their spouse working the 'power' job. Managing a GW store essentially lets them indulge in their hobby and pick up the money they use for their yearly vacations.

Working it to support myself entirely, I would find to be a very discouraging and demoralizing prospect. There's very little opportunity to grow or do anything with it.

Herzlos wrote:

Toofast wrote:

Exactly which part of dealing with hot kitchens, dirty dishes anud working til 10pm or midnight for $8/hr is better than working at GW playing with toy soldiers, modeling/painting your own army when you aren't dealing with customers, and going home at 8pm for $16-17/hr?

I don't think you get to do much playing with toy soldiers or get much time to do your own hobby, there's just too much to do if you run a store on your own. I believe there's also an expectation to get store stuff painted at home.

I doubt it's worse than working in a kitchen but it's a long way from being paid to hobby, which is why so many get disillusioned and the turnover is so high

My local GW manager would beg to differ. He has all his painting and hobby supplies in a tackle box sitting under one of the painting tables. He can paint all he wants as long as he gets up and assists customers immediately when they walk in. Also, you don't have to kick everyone out to go to the bathroom. We have a trusted group of regulars that make sure nothing walks out the door while the manager is in the bathroom. I guess it would depend on the store. Once you have built a solid group of good people, there's always going to be 3-5 regulars there to help keep an eye on things.