GameStop is Starting a New Rewards Program, It Sucks May 24, 2010
Posted by Maniac in Editorials.trackback
GameStop has announced today that they’re replacing their overpriced Edge Card (they charged $14.99 a year for 10 percent off on used only games, you’d need to buy over a hundred used games to justify the price) with a free and paid reward program.
I have absolutely nothing against free reward programs. Many retailers and supermarkets offer their customers free rewards simply for shopping where they would shop normally. Coupons, discounts, and gift certificates are issued for free to program members, just for regular shopping at a store. But this program looks like a pretty twisted version of much better programs just to exploit customers.
This sounds like a pretty terrible idea, since the point system is far too high and the rewards are far too cheap to justify so high a point value for the goods offered. You get ten points per dollar spent on new games, and twenty points spent on used games. There are a few bonuses offered, like points for signing up and points for your birthday.
The rewards range from coupons for $5-$10 off purchases ranging from 4000 to 8000 points to even free Xbox 360 controllers or Turtle Beach X11 headsets for 40,000 points. So you get five dollars off for every 400 dollars spent? You get a free 360 controller for spending 4000 dollars there? That’s rediculious!
Now, if you want to know a much better program, Best Buy offers a program that gives consumers gift certificates good for anything in the store just for spending money there. If you become a member of their Reward Zone, you get one point for every dollar spent, and if you have a premium account or credit account you get an extra percentage on top of that. 250 points equals a free five dollar gift certificate, and they do add up, you can use them on anything you buy. They also will send you free coupons, usually once a month in the mail, and while those do have restrictions (like 10% off only on games, movies or music), they’re free coupons!
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“(they charged $19.99 a year for 10 percent off on used only games, you’d need to buy over a hundred used games to justify the price)”
Really? Over a hundred used games? Maybe if you only buy $1.50 used games…
Math is scary, I know. But let me help you through this particular issue.
10% of a dollar is ten cents. 10% of ten dollars is one dollar.
Therefore, if you want to make back the $14.99 that the Pro card costs (NOT $19.99…you really just don’t get those pesky numbers, do you?) you have to buy $150.00 worth of used games over the course of the year.
Now, considering that Gamestop routinely prices their newer used games for roughly $50-$55, then you just have to buy three of those to make back your $15. Or you could buy 15 older $10 games.
While I may have exaggerated my figures for the purposes of humor, Whistle Blower Zero did the math out way back when, and if I remember his correct figures (and I’m quoting him) you’d have to spend over $150 dollars in used games to make up the difference.
By that math by spending 200 dollars in used games you would save a grand total of five dollars. And the card is only good for one year, so you’d have to spend 200 in the course of that one year on used games. Also the card cannot be used on something that would make it a serious deal like a console. If it was valid for purchase of a used game console, it would be great, but it’s not.
However, you were right about the card being 14.99 and not 19.99, and that was just an err of memory when writing the article. I will correct it.