Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

kotaku.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 167 posts

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#141

Post by turtlebits »

tasty_freeze wrote: post #133
turtlebits wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He should keep these thoughts to himself for sure, but he’s not wrong. Hoarding toilet paper and food staples is dumb. Seasonal flu affects more kids and has worse symptoms than Coronavirus (as of now)

Is your argument that the number of people who die from the flu annually is greater than the number of people in the US who have died from the coronavirus in the past two weeks, and thus the coronavirus news is overblown? Look at the growth charts on this page: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ About 10x more cases every 8 days. Sure, the medical care for the current number of critically ill peopl…

I'm not saying the news is overblown, but of those contracting the virus, kids are of least concern (mild to no symptoms), especially if they don't have any other serious health conditions.

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#142

Post by leetcrew »

throwawaysea wrote: post #93
leetcrew wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno what the state of affairs for consoles is, but on PC, I can't think of a single game where you actually need a physical copy. if it exists, it's probably too obscure to be stocked at gamestop anyway.

What if the person playing the game doesn’t have a strong internet connection?

if you have even a 5mbps connection, you can download most modern games in a day or less. if you have less than that, two-day shipping from amazon and other retailers still exists.

I do actually think entertainment is pretty important in a time like this, just to keep people sane in general, but also as a carrot to incentivize people to actually stay in their houses. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to wait for it to be delivered though.

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#143

Post by ceilingcorner »

edmundsauto wrote: post #139
ceilingcorner wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, and that might have been a better solution than simply forcing everyone to go on unemployment, which is what will probably happen now.

Can you explain your rationale behind your thinking? I assume you were being hyperbolic with "everyone", aka 100%. What percentage do you actually think will hit the dole lines? How confident are you in that prediction? What behaviors of yours have changed because of this confidence? I've seen a lot of "the economy will tank because consumers can't visit shops". I've seen a lot of friends in food & bev lose their job…

I'm not even necessarily arguing that not locking down is the right move, but rather that we should be able to have the conversation as to whether it's worth it or whether there are other, better solutions to this problem (like Taiwan or Korea managed to do.)

In any case, as I mentioned before, the danger here is that the consequences are unknown. We really don't know what will happen, which in many ways is worse than a known danger like the virus itself. The complexity is rapidly spinning out of control and affecting trade, economics, other medical conditions, and virtually every job that isn't a remote programmer.

As far as numbers go, Cuomo just ordered that 75% of people stay home from work in NYC. If you google around, unemployment applications are growing exponentially. It seems likely that a pretty significant portion of the population will apply for it.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/cuomo-ord...

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#144

Post by hnta14235 »

braythwayt wrote: post #99
ceilingcorner wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First off, don't start any conversation by telling someone to stop thinking contrarian thoughts. Secondly, the risk of dying from the coronavirus from working at or going into a small video game shop is negligible. You are far more likely to get it at Walmart or a grocery store. Are you calling for the closure of these stores too? Thirdly, you are painting GameStop as some faceless entity. People work there. These pe…

You think the risk is negligible. The rest of the world does not. Good for you being a "contrarian," but neither you nor Gamestop get to act on each and every one of your contrarian thoughts. Lots of people, if left to decide these matters for themselves, decide that the risks of their behaviour are negligible. That's why Spring Break is crowded. But you aren't even framing this correctly. It is not just about the ri…

I'm an American. I'm a Gamer. I'm going to buy animal crossing today and there's NOTHING you can do to stop me. Just let that sink in.

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#145

Post by KingMachiavelli »

mikestew wrote: post #76
KingMachiavelli wrote: post #46

At least working at a GameStop in 2020 is pretty close self isolating. TBH I don't quite understand the outlash against some business deciding to stay open. A GameStop doesn't take more than 1 or 2 people to run, especially right now, and transactions are pretty simple and inovlve minimal contact. And they have a point about selling products people may want during this time. As far as I know, Walmart will still sell…

Since things started shutting down here in WA, and I’m kind of house-bound due to recent surgery, I’ve managed to not only buy video games but an entire console (finally bought that Switch), all without leaving my house. And, no, of course I didn’t buy it from GameStop. They’re still in business? Frankly, this comes off as pathetic regardless, they can do what they want. But essential? I can’t download groceries, but…

I mean having stuff shipped to your house just shifts the exposure from you to workers. Is Amazon essential? Amazon suspended some non-essential shipments (to them not customers) but they could get by with even fewer employees should they decide to only ship essential goods.

While of course I don't think GameStop really needs to be open. - I am more curious if people's attitudes will change in 2-4 weeks of self isolating. I think there's a certain excitement/anxiety to this at first especially among those where self isolating means working from home to semi-vaction. Eventually, I think a lot of people's commitment to self isolating/distancing will waver.

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#146

Post by ryandrake »

sschueller wrote: post #25

These executives are showing their true selves in this crisis and it is absolutely disgusting. From Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos, these are not idols, they are parasites on our society.

At least in the US, this pandemic has really exposed a lot of people's true colors. TP hoarding, hand sanitizer price gouging, ignoring social distancing measures, businesses desperately claiming they're essential so they can keep profiting at the expense of their employees' health. The ugly "I gotta get mine, screw everyone else" attitude is raw and on display for the world to see. Really disappointing to see in the media every day and a bad flex for America.

EDIT: Talk about showing true colors: Someone leaked what's apparently an internal conference call between the company's execs and their store managers, where they're being instructed to keep everything open despite health concerns: https://twitter.com/CAMELOT331/status/1240743954246709265

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#147

Post by ebrenes »

Someone with a bit more knowledge, but isn't this basically correct, despite how moronic it sounds. Yesterday I was looking at California's critical sector list[1] and it seems stores like GameStop would be covered as critical infrastructure at a first glance.

And it listed the following:

    Retail (e.g., retail centers and districts, shopping malls).[2]
[1] https://www.cisa.gov/critical-infrastructure-sectors

[2] https://www.cisa.gov/commercial-facilities-sector

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#148

Post by [deleted] »

ascagnel_ wrote: post #83
sjburt wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla refused to close the Fremont plant and told workers they were essential because they were providing transportation [1]. Musk has also said that the virus response has been overblown. [2] Musk is now saying that they well produce ventilators, although they have no design, no experience in medical devices, and a factory that makes cars, not ventilators... [1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a31748353/tesla-alam…

> Musk is now saying that they well produce ventilators, although they have no design, no experience in medical devices, and a factory that makes cars, not ventilators... He's also said they will only do so in the event of a shortage -- he has not said he'll be proactive and divert manufacturing resources to prevent any shortage. Worth noting that SpaceX, not Tesla, would be the business making the ventilators, as th…

[deleted]

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#149

Post by bdcravens »

itake wrote: post #37
sschueller wrote: post #25

These executives are showing their true selves in this crisis and it is absolutely disgusting. From Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos, these are not idols, they are parasites on our society.

GameStop is running on fumes. If they close down their stores, they will completely lose their business. By staying open, they are at least collecting some revenue. Also, these employees should be thankful they even have a job right now. Many retail / service industry jobs have laid off their staff.

> GameStop is running on fumes. If they close down their stores, they will completely lose their business.

The state of their business isn't a criteria right now to determine if they should be open.

Re: GameStop: We Can Stay Open During Lockdowns Because We're 'Essential Retail'

#150

Post by cosmiccatnap »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #138
dvtrn wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not being snarky, I'm trying to understand your disagreement with the medical community who have repeatedly advised us "this is not like these other things, please do not compare them to these other things" vs your responses of "why aren't we acting like this with other stuff" and essentially doing exactly what the people trying to get us out of this are saying DON'T DO. That's my point. Could I have an answer?

Well it's certainly not "just another flu" so I don't disagree with doctors there at all. I mentioned it in another comment, but: the doctors are not the problem here. Of course doctors will recommend the best medical advice and I don't doubt the medical consensus. The issue is a broader one: what are the societal and economic consequences of total shutdown? Are these consequences better or worse than the estimated d…

The fact that you just won't admit you might not have thought this through says more about your openions validity than anything else.
Post reply on HN