Even a successful manager of a T-Mobile TPR store has no job security

Phone Arena

26-05-2025

Besides the corporate T-Mobile stores owned by the company itself, there are retail locations known as TPR ( T-Mobile Premium Retailer) which are owned and operated by independent firms that have the permission to use T-Mobile branding and sell the same products you'd find in a corporate store. According to a social media post written by an employee who works for one of the independent operators of T-Mobilr TPR stores, it sounds as though job security at these stores is pretty low even if you're a successful store manager.
For example, Redditor prodbyfear wrote a long post explaining what happened after he started working at an unnamed T-Mobile TPR in February 2022. Two years later he became assistant manager as his sales numbers put him among the leaders in his district finishing in the first quintile every month. He was promoted to store manager last August and, as he put it, "me and my reps were making wonderful commission checks way into the new year."
Outside of a T-Mobile store in Butler, New Jersey. | Image credit-T-Mobile The first problem occurred this past January when two of his reps (one with the "override" code) applied an unauthorized discount to iPhone 16 purchases in their employee accounts. The store manager was out at the time, and didn't even know about the discounts until loss prevention put the hammer down and canned the two salesmen. This left the store manager without two of his best reps forcing him and two other employees to put in outrageous hours. In February the store fell into the fifth and bottom quintile.
Making matters worse, the company that owns these stores raised the metrics that its reps have to meet or face losing their jobs. The monthly goal of activating 90 voice lines (125% of the target) rose to 120-130 voice line activations (again, this was 125% of the monthly goal). For a store that is struggling, making the metrics goal harder to top might not have been such a smart thing to do.
The store manager made a critical mistake in retrospect when he told the company he works for that he needed help. The firm told him that he shouldn't need to ask for additional help and that there is no reason for the store not to remain profitable and remain a top 50 store in the company.
The store manager got involved in a personal issue that had nothing to do with the store (he was arrested for a misdemeanor outside of work and the charge has been cleared). Still, when he returned, the District Manager came by the store, and out of camera view he told the store manager that he was going to be demoted and if he didn't agree to the demotion the company would "kick rocks" at him and get him fired.
The only thing I can think of reading this is that when it comes to some of T-Mobile 's TPRs, shady does as shady is. I know many of you younger phone enthusiasts out there might consider a career selling the devices you love so much. One thing I learned as a younger smartphone fan before I got the PhoneArena gig is that reps really don't care about smartphones. Nor do they keep up with the news in the industry. I used to visit a Verizon store near me and chew the fat with some of the reps about upcoming phones and not one rep I spoke with knew what new phones were on the horizon. That seemed surprising at first until I realized that it is a sales job and their job is selling the inventory they have, not telling a customer to wait for the next model because it will have a better ultra-wide camera sensor.
If you do decide to check out mobile device sales as a possible career, my advice would be to stick with corporate-owned stores and stay away from the seamy, slimy side of smartphone sales that you could experience by working for the wrong third-party authorized dealer.
We have reached out to T-Mobile asking for a comment on this article. Any response will be added in an update to this story.