It would appear that game retailer GameStop is having some financial problems.  Specifically, the company can't afford to pay the high salaries paid to the company's executives.  The solution to this?  No, it's not about cutting those high salaries.  It's to cut back on the number of hours made available to hourly employees, while salaried managers have to work extra hours (for no additional pay) in order to pick up the slack.  Employees are also being instructed to increase the number of pre-orders and magazine subscriptions sold to customers.  Kotaku has the story.

I have heard rumors that they aren’t making enough to cover the large salaries in the upper management. This is the reason they have started selling bundled Xbox 360’s on Gamestop.com for $1500 a piece even though the stores still haven’t even come close to satisfying all of the customers who reserved it over 6 months ago.

This is what happens to a company that puts more resources into selling pre-orders and magazines instead of actually selling games off the shelf.  I can't even go into a GameStop anymore without becoming frustrated because the franchises around here just don't order any copies of a game to sell off the shelf and instead only deal in pre-orders.  I'm also sick of the sales pitches to buy an expensive console bundle or a pointless magazine.  I can't be the only person who feels this way about the company.  If more and more of GameStop's targeted demographic are going to other stores where they won't be hassled by the starving help, then I'm not surprised in the least that the company is having problems.  Bring on the direct sale of games from the publisher to the customer!