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Anyone know what an assistant manager at gw can expect to earn in the UK? Before / after tax?

Seem to recall their actual managers start on a whopping £14K.

Yeah you're going to be looking at minimum wage.

Ouch, no surprise there though

"Assistant manager" probably covers everyone else in the shop. After all, quite a few shops are only one man, so by default if there's even a second person working there...

I think a manager starts on £14K and goes up to £15K once they finish training. That is what I read recently, and that's before tax. But you would probably qualify for working tax credits.

Only get working tax at over 25 unless you have a kid.

Just confirmed 14k on gw careers site. Do I want to be worse off financially, though not much, but surrounded by a hobby I love... with discount...?!

Decisions...

Not worth getting out of bed for

kitch102 wrote:Just confirmed 14k on gw careers site. Do I want to be worse off financially, though not much, but surrounded by a hobby I love... with discount...?!

Decisions...

Something to think about is, will you spend enough for the discount to make up for how much less you are earning?

My brother was in this position once, working at a lower paid job to get a discount on what they sold, but rarely actually bought anything because he couldn't afford to after living expenses, even with the discount.

Yeah I can understand that.

Reckon its gonna be a no go at that, not unless I can bring.me bills right down too and that's as likely to happen as me enjoying using Finecast lol

Buy stuff with discount, to sell on ebay. Use that to offset wages

So, do managers get that in London as well? £14k is barely a living wage in London. After tax, you'll be taking home £990 per month.

For a BASIC room in London, before bills, you are looking at about £400 per month, in a shared flat. Add at least £50 for bills. £200 for food, toiletries, etc... Assume transport is a pushbike, or you are looking at a minimum of another £100.

That is with no mobile phone, no broadband, no cinema trips, no DVD purchases, no computer games, no trips to the pub, no clothing allowance, no home contents insurance, no meals in restaurants.

I suppose if you use the library for books, Lovefilm at £10/month for DVDs, replay your old computer games on your out-of-date PCs, ride a pushbike, buy clothes at Oxfam, eat mostly baked potatoes and have no social life, you could find £300 per month for GW. I would not want to live that life though.

Unless your parents will let you stay at home rent free, I suppose.

I think you get a small additional package for London, but it hardly dents the actual living costs of the area.

Do people in the UK not commute? I work in a city where I can't afford to live. A 40 minute train trip home is nothing.

Still more than I'm earning

Im making 20k £ equivalent in USD as a stupid tech support monkey... and I spend a good 50% of every day reading books on my phone (kindle for DROID) or reading forums.

Bottom line is, gw pay is crap, and the discount is crap too. So what if you get half off... I can get 30-40%started off using ebay. The extra money from having a real job is worth it.

is that a year or month?

kitch102 wrote:Just confirmed 14k on gw careers site. Do I want to be worse off financially, though not much, but surrounded by a hobby I love... with discount...?!

Decisions...

Yeah guy, unless you are still living with your parents rent free, or any place rent free with no living expenses, it's not worth it. The 50% discount is crap compaired to what it used to be. If you have any bills or extra living expences and you are the primary provider I would not take he chance. I've worked there befrore and it just becomes a job. I lost all love for GW stuff after my experience there.

On the other hand, if you have a GW or wife who makes a good salary then it might be a nice little 'boost' to your income but you have to watch out for 'hobby burnout'.

Not worth getting out of bed for

Could lie there I suppose and draw the scratcher.

Going back to the OP, at £14k yu would pay £1305 Tax and £812 National Insurance leaving a montly take home pay of £956.06.

If you got £15k then this increases to £1,094.06.

So pretty much what people have said before, fine if you already own a house/live with parents/ponce of the Mrs/independently wealthy no good if you want to support yourself/family in any meaningful way.

GW in the states is typically now Tuesday to Sunday with Mondays off. Most of the guys I still know who work in GW stores supplement their income by painting armies for other people, or selling painted armies. Unfortunately, you are then stuck in the bind pretty much building and painting models all day to pull ahead.

Don't get me wrong, if you love it, and your a good painter, you can really do just fine on GW salary and selling. If you live through the initial cut years IE those years where they would can you for little to know reason, you might even get somewhere.

However, for me... i'd rather suggest working for a company where you have a better paycheck, job security, and can still find a discount online. Oh the GW discount... I don't think its 50% in the US. Plus going to work for a minature gaming company just for their discount is a way to set yourself to dig into a deep financial hole.

-Loki- wrote:Do people in the UK not commute? I work in a city where I can't afford to live. A 40 minute train trip home is nothing.

Yes, but commuting will cost you more than you save on rent by not living in the city.

Also, whoever mentioned London, I'm pretty sure they'll pay London Weighting, its kind of a general consesus as living in the London area, or commuting to the London area is a considerable ammount.

However, if you're in a low cost area (for example the North) then working for £14k at an early to mid twenties in a job you'll REALLY possibly enjoy for a few years isn't bad. Your general rent in those areas are less than (or in the region) of £400 a month North of B'ham/Notts area and you can easily get a 2 bed for less than £500, so bills should come in the £300 region so not too excessive, especially if you walk or local bus it to work.

Either way, do what works for you, if you live with mum and dad and pay £100 a month rent, no reason not too, if you pay more than £500/£600 in bills you're going to have to consider it vs your lifestyle.

GW routinely checks sellers on ebay and locates employees who do the buy on discount and sell on ebay deal. They then fire that person.


It is not an easy thing to do, but they have done it. In order to sell on ebay, you have to actually paint the models first.

There is an in-joke (except that it's more a simple truth than a joke) amongst GW retail staff that you can't afford any other hobby. They can only afford 40K because of the discounts....

Is that even legal?
It´s less then absolute slave wages over here ffs.

A teenager at mcdonalds or at a gas station earns more then this.

Is this common for the -uK or is it just GW?
If this is the norm then no wonder they all riot and loot like mad over there.

I'm 26 and spent most of my days after college in sales, I started at 13.5k basic with 2k bonus (yeah, really) which later went up to a whopping 14k just before the recession hit.

Then moved jobs for 17k basic and 9k bonus, only I had to travel further so the increase in basic only covered the extra expense, and all my accounts hated the company I worked for, so never earned any bonus! Good times

In my experience, all jobs in britain pay like crap. My fair lady is a nursery nurse and gets even less than that, and she's raising peoples kids for a living! How's that fair?!

So yeah, it's not just GW, it's the country. The rich stay rich, the rest, well who gives a gak.

working retail is for kids

Yeah, you get paid what you're worth in reality, and how many people there are who can do what you can do.

Working in retail in the UK is not a great wage. But getting any job in the UK is difficult right now. And unfortunately employers know this and can afford to offer lower wages.

I'm 40 and on reasonable money as a civil servant, but I'm prepared to jack that all in to work nearly anywhere if I get the chance. Money is not everything, and my job is making me suicidal. I'd rather take the peace of mind and happiness over the money. I'm not saying that's at Games Workshop, just saying that you should not always look at the money.