Yet another reason why not to shop at GameStop.

As someone who primarily plays their vidja games on the PC, I don't have much use for places like GameStop. Their used games are overpriced, and I don't even own a console that's newer than the Playstation 1. I much rather prefer to buy my used NES and Genesis carts from ebay or from places like JJ Games (great service, excellent prices. okay, done with the plug).

Still, that doesn't mean that I don't care about how shitty GameStop is as a company, let alone a video game retailer. Asides from extremely poor trade-in value where they give you $10 for new games, like Killzone 2, and then sell that game for $40, they are notorious for demanding employees constantly push for pre-order sales and Game Informer subscriptions. There is a lot of debate as to whether there is actual commission-like pressure on these employees that is then tabulated in "employee reviews" that determine how many hours they get or whether they are let go.

One thing that is not in dispute is that they use fucked up Maestro debit cards to pay their employees who do not have direct-deposit. What's so bad about this? Read on.

Remember our post on student loan debit cards? The cards are pitched as a great convenience, or less expensive to distribute than paper checks, or more secure, when in reality they're germy with hidden fees that slowly nickel and dime your balance. Turns out, GameStop uses a similar system to pay its employees.

An anonymous GameStop employee writes,

It's a Comdata card (with fees) or direct deposit, but they really encourage you to use the Comdata cards. [See rebuttal to this in the comment below.]

They load your paycheck onto it, every two weeks (pretty standard), and you're supposed to have one free transaction after each payroll deposit.

• The only way to check your balance is to call the 1-800 number and jump through 4-5 prompts.
  
  
• ATMs that are supposed to accept the card often reject it (they are Maestro cards), and they -always- charge you a fee for being an out of network user. Comdata tells you to recover your fee from the bank, the bank tells you they don't know what a Comdata card is, and won't refund the fee. I even had one bank question me as to wether or not Maestro was a real card company. I got one ATM fee refunded from Comdata, and hit a brick wall from there on out.
  
  
• They recommend that you use it for your everyday purchases, with a fee occuring each time. Their own literature conflicts on wether or not this is a one dollar fee or a much lesser, 25 cent fee.
  
  
• Many companies will not do cash-back with one (one of Comdata's recomended methods for getting your money) because, despite being (technically) a Mastercard, and supposedly 'working just like one' (lie), it doesn't actually say Mastercard anywhere on the card.
  
  
• Many locations that accept Mastercard will not accept the Comdata card (despite what it says on Comdata's website).
  
  
• The only other way to get money off of your card is to do a funds transfer, often occuring fees at the bank level.
  
  
• It also leaves you with absolutely no record of how much, or how often you are paid (until you get your W2, but that is rather limited) except for Comdata's website, which I found was often either not updated or incorrect. It also took me half a week of playing telephone tag with them to even get signed up for the website benefits.

Gamestop is one employer who uses this service with little/no reason to. They are the world's largest specialty videogames retailer, and they do not have the "logistics" issues that other industries (Trucking, in particular) have that even possibly warrants the use of this horrible little card.

They claim it is because many of their employees are younger, and do not have bank accounts. That's the only reasoning I've heard from them, after months of (somewhat muted, I needed my job, however stingy the hours were and however minimum wage it may have been) complaining and questioning.

I would love to see some evidence that any other company of Gamestop's size/market share uses this system...

This obviously isn't directly a consumer issue, although if you work there and read the Consumerist, you can see why we'd suggest you opt for direct deposit and save yourself a ton of hidden fees, or pull out all the cash using your single free withdrawal. In a more general sense, however, we think it demonstrates GameStop's hostile attitude toward its own workforce. Forget that nonsensical "our employees don't have bank accounts" excuse; the only valid reason we can think of for a company to use Comdata is to save money on payroll fees, by passing the cost on to its own employees under the ruse of a cash card being more "convenient." It's yet another reason why we don't like to shop at GameStop anymore.
- Source

I first saw this story over at Kotaku.com, another Gawker blogging site:

GameStop employees can't get paper checks. True, most of the civilized world is on direct deposit by now. But for GameStoppers who aren't, the only alternative is a cash card that nickel-and-dimes them.

Consumerist talked about this in the past week. GameStop, as well as many retailers in the same market, offer direct deposit and these "Maestro" cards, which are inconvenient to use and which deduct fees if you use it more than once in a month.

According to a GameStop employee who contacted Consumerist, the drawbacks are legion. Checking one's balance can only be done over the phone. Literature that comes with the card encourages using it for everyday purchases, but is vague on what kind of transaction fee that incurs (from 25 cents to a dollar). ATMs universally consider the card out of network and pile on their own fees. You can't get cash back on top of a purchase like you can with a debit card. And the only way to get money out of the card and into your account, without doing an ATM withdrawal (remember, ATMs don't dispense coins or usually anything less than a $20 bill) is to do so at the bank level, which often incurs its own set of fees.

GameStop's justification for this is that many of its employees are teenagers and do not have bank accounts. That's a cop-out. Legal age to work in most states is 15, and while I don't have stats in front of me, I can scarcely imagine that the majority of kids so responsible as to be working a part-time job wouldn't open bank accounts to deposit their funds.

There is some dispute as to whether managers at the store level encourage employees to take the cards over direct deposit; the company line seems to clearly encourage direct deposit.

But either way, it's total bullshit that a business of GameStop's size doesn't lay out the cash necessary to run a proper payroll operation to pay employees with a paper check if it's needed, not some ripoff card that charges fees for doing absolutely nothing. I'm sure some white paper or business study out there applauded the beancounter who thought up this anti-worker "best practice," which seems to have been adopted by many large-scale retailers because of what it shaves off the overhead.

This is just another way business in America reminds its workers that they don't create or provide anything of value. They just cost money. Fuck this team spirit, team member garbage you hear in your interview or new hire orientation. And forget larger causes like health care or retirement savings, when business will chisel and cut corners on even the basic dignities of employment - like how you are paid. Until that costs too much. Then you're fired. That's the country we've built.
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I couldn't agree more with Kotaku's weekend editor, Owen Good. This practice is immensely deplorable. Here, in Virgina, local legislators have been taking a hard stance against the types of predatory practices used by payday lenders. This is way worse than that. Yes, you can avoid the whole hassle of these cards by using direct deposit, however, many former and current GameStop employees have commented that it took anywhere from a month to 4 or more to set up their direct-deposit. That means, that for at least 2 pay periods, these employees are forced to use these cards which are loaded down with hidden and excessive fees. Besides that, one should not have to choose between setting up a bank account or getting fucked over by your employer. One should never even have the option of getting fucked over by their employer!

While many may take the "whatta ya gonna do?" approach of apathy, with arms shrugged high into the air, I've decided to take the better route. I have printed a copy of the Consumerist article, along with a printed letter, and will be promptly snail-mailing it to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb, Monday morning. I have also emailed a copy of the Consumerist article to Sen Webb. I highly suggest you do the same for your own local legislators and federal representatives. Paying your employees in this manner should be illegal. You should never have to face the option of being fucked over and having your wages unfairly garnished by overhead fees. I don't know if this is illegal, but if it's not illegal, hopefully, it will be soon enough.