A Gamestop store has reportedly been stapling customer receipts to Switch 2 boxes and puncturing holes in the screens

In "news to make your teeth itch", a Gamestop store in Staten Island has reportedly been stapling receipts to boxes containing brand-spanking-new Nintendo Switch 2 consoles. Ordinarily this wouldn't be much of an issue, but thanks to a lack of protection between the outer layer and the LCD screen inside, midnight launch attendees at this particular store have complained that some of their Switch purchases have ended up with holes punctured in the screen.

A thread on the Gamestop subreddit from user Konflick first identified the issue, although the original post has since been deleted by the moderators (via Kotaku). However, X user Wario 64 managed to grab images of a damaged Switch 2, and they're not pretty.

In a separate X thread, user Oadland Lynch reported the same issue, complete with photos of a damaged Switch 2 display.

"Now I'm gonna have to wait 3 months for the restock", said Lynch. "And yes, we were there for the midnight release so I bet everyone in this line is gonna have the same issue."

Beyond the idea that stapling receipts to a box with fragile electronics inside is probably not the smartest thing to do, it's surprising that Nintendo would package its latest handheld console in a box with only a thin piece of cardboard (and a plastic bag) between it and the outside world.

Our James received his Switch 2 yesterday, and was also surprised by the lack of outer packaging between the console's screen and potentially damaging objects. His display is thankfully unscarred, but looking at the box it seems like that, with a partitioning reshuffle, there should have been plenty of room to tuck the Switch 2 further inside to prevent a similar incident.

One can feel slightly sorry for the Gamestop employee here, as while stapling receipts to boxes is perhaps not the best idea, it seems unlikely they were aware it was potentially ruining the precious devices inside. And, no matter how I look at it, I can't help feel it's the packaging design that is primarily at fault. Electronics boxes get stacked awkwardly, thrown around, and reshipped as a matter of course.

As someone who receives several of them a week (yes, this is an awesome job, thank you) I can't count the number of times I've received a heavily damaged box, only to open it and find the sensitive components inside unharmed—thanks to a judicious use of foam, bubble wrap, and clever packaging design.

On the plus side, and without wanting to sound too flippant, at least affected customers definitely have the receipt as proof of purchase. As an update, Konflick has since posted that they've spoken to the manager of the store, and that replacement Switch 2s are on the way for a simple exchange. GameStop confirmed that replacement units have been provided in a statement given to PC Gamer.

"These occurrences were isolated to a single store in Staten Island, NY," a GameStop spokesperson said. "The affected customers—who represented a very small fraction—were swiftly given replacements."

All's well that ends well, I suppose. Still, next time you're at an electronics retailer and the cashier breaks out the staple gun, perhaps it might be worth asking if they've got a roll of good old-fashioned sticky tape they could use instead.