My name is Mudd wrote:Ops = operations; receiving, shipping, inventory control, stocking/pricing...everything that keeps the store running and not in the sales dept itself.
Commission sales can be weird at times, especially if A) you're not sure how it works, and B) if there are some un-trustworthy sales folks working the same floor at the same time. You're paid off of what you move out the door, not for your time...you can put in 40-50 hours a week and not make a dime if you didn't shift product. Just sayin...
you do make minimum wage if you dont make enough sales to fade. "fade" is a magical word in guitar center land that means you sold your weight in gear. like I could do $30,000 in sales $10,000 in profit for the month. sometimes less in profit. $8,000 maybe. you get paid on %2 of the sales and %10 of the profit. so in the 30/10 I get $600 + $1,000 for a total of $1600. more than a months pay at minimum wage.... BARELY. but I had to work my ass off. moving heavy stuff, climbing ladders, cleaning toilets, empty garbage. often being told to work unreasonably fast and not take my breaks per state law. asking me to work through my UNPAID lunch. you have to go through some training both in product knowledge and sales. they do fire people who cant sell massive amounts of merchandise. the guitar techs are outsourced through 3rd parties but they sometimes wear GC shirts. the discount is cost plus freight + tax. freight is really cheap. like $0.02 on a pack of guitar picks. the DRVX1 mic had a cost of less than $3 but sold for $50. thats not typical but they know how to make money. cheap labor is obviously a priority for marty albertson and bane capital investments.
one of the stores was not nearly as bad as the second one I worked at. it depends on the staff. you wont be able to get much gear if you dont have a bunch of cash to begin with. thats how it was for all the GC employees.
last I heard it's 1.5/8 for new hires now totes bullshit, basically unless (like you said) you work your ass and give in to the corporate jack offs and likely dickish managers (mine aren't too bad for the most part....well, most of the AMs aren't bad and the two main guys are pretty cool) off you're gonna be making minimum wage. At which point I'd suggest working in accessories as it's almost entirely a clerk gig, you'll never fade in accessories, and it's difficult in guitars, pro-audio is prob the easiest assuming you know what you're talking about and have half a mind to sell, drums is also impossible to fade (at least here). I got moved to guitars about a month ago and it's hard, seriously. It's a lot of walking around and looking for people to sell to, honestly it reminds me a lot of trudging and grinding in wow. sometimes there are a bunch of people looking at stuff and I get excited, it's more likely someones gonna buy something nice in that case. other times me and the other sales guys are racing to get to one or two customers :/
bnet: htsamurai#1534
instagram: lastoneawake
stanimal wrote:Ummm yeah, didn't realize we loved HT that much
McSpunckle wrote:I'd guess it depends on how attached you are to your soul.
you learn pretty fast that ethical treatment of customers /=/ money and is therefor frowned upon. we charged some people more for the same products simply because we can. like not giving them a discount on a floor model thats already beat up. my manager would wisper in my ear "I heard him tell his friend that he needs this guitar for a show tonight" so instead of just discounting the only one we have cause its scratched, I would tell him
"yeah its $699 do you want to get it" "can you nock some money off for the scratches?" "if you want it in a box I can order you one right now free shipping and send it to the store or your house" "its got a huge fucking scratch and your gonna charge me full price?" "I dont want to sell you that one if its got a huge scratch in it. I'll just order you one and ship it to your house" "I really cant wait, can I talk to the manager" "sure" (waits 10 minutes) "whats going on here" "[has to explain himself again]" "sure I can help you out, I'll get you one thats fresh in a box, never been touched" "I cant wait" "its up to you. its whatever you want. you have options" "I'll just buy this one I guess" success!
when someone comes in that knows the manager or long time customer that spends a lot of money, things change dramatically. sliding scale of bullshit. like everything at guitar center.
exactly, I seriously go through this every day. however we do order things in to replace whatever they've bought that didn't work out for them managers here tend to be pretty cool about things like that, for the most part.
bnet: htsamurai#1534
instagram: lastoneawake
stanimal wrote:Ummm yeah, didn't realize we loved HT that much
I will say this about the Fresno GC, where HT works...I've bought bass gear from that store in the past, and never had a bad experience; the guitar guys do know what they're talking about, don't pressure-sell, and in general are a pleasure to deal with.
dubkitty wrote:it's the Death Metal version of "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite."
behndy wrote:...or Unsuspecting Tourist Penetration.... whatever does it for you.... i don't judge....
there are good stores and bad stores definitely. new york is kinda weird. they dont come up to you at all. store policy. arizona is pretty laid back. california has a gc on every corner so they hire anybody. hollywood is a weird one. its the first one so its huge and high end. whenever we called them for anything they could really give a shit about anything we needed. all the sales guys are old as dirt in hollywood. with 214 stores, there are going to be all types of people and stores. but if you look at the way the owners of the corporation fuck with their customers and employees, you start to see a pattern.
you'll make money in new york. a lot of money my friend. in that case. do it. watch out for sales people that will snake you for a deal. not everyone is there to make friends. start off with a positive attitude. dont be bitter like me until its over. treat your customers well. this is new york. reputation is key. lots of repeat business. lots of traveling clients. industry people.
im hoping that since its in westchester ny and a wealthy part of the county, theyll be a bunch of spoiled preteens whose parents come in to buy them gear for their generic scene breakdown bands
Doesn't somebody here work in accessories or something? Employee discount, A job is a job, commision???.
All in all, I say do it. What's the worst that can happen? You end up spending every day hearing crappy, solid-state Spyder amp, botched Led Zeppelin and Gun N' Roses riffs allow with your douchey coworker talking about how his lame screamo band are dropping their EP next month and whole thing might "...take off from there."
BOOM-SHAKALAKALAKA-BOOM-SHAKALAKUNGA
Behndy wrote:i don't like people with "talent" and "skills" that don't feel the need to cover their inadequacies under good time happy sounds.
They will fire you if you buy gear at cost and flip it. They dont always catch you. But if your constantly buying gear thats more than your paycheck, its pretty obvious.
I've had friends and relatives buy things for other people before using their employee discount, since those things are usually gifts and not every single day the companies didn't "find out."
