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Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

nytimes.com

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Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#11

Post by jrockway »

briandear wrote: post #7

When you are an input, you will never get rich. Apple store employees are not tricked into the job. They are promised x and they get x. If they don't like it, they can go work for a Microsoft store. Or, they can stop complaining and create something themselves. Apple has created so many jobs, not just at Apple, Inc., but with the entire economy that has developed as a result of their products. Perhaps the NY Times ou…

Your points are worth making, but your tone paints you clearly in the fanboi camp. This line is particularly goofy sounding:

"I think that the NY Times is just jealous -- after all, Instagram is worth more."

You do know that newspaper articles are written by individuals, right? The CEO of the Times probably didn't even have any idea that such an article was being written.

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#12

Post by toyg »

nanijoe wrote: post #3

For me , here's the key paragraph from the article: "By the standards of retailing, Apple offers above average pay — well above the minimum wage of $7.25 and better than the Gap, though slightly less than Lululemon, the yoga and athletic apparel chain, where sales staff earn about $12 an hour. The company also offers very good benefits for a retailer, including health care, 401(k) contributions and the chance to buy…

For comparison, companies like Oracle and IBM don't offer "the chance to buy company stock" even to senior techies and consultants, nor do they offer any real discount on their own products anymore.

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#13

Post by emmapersky »

When I was a student in London I took a job at the Regent Street apple store, the pay was a few £s above minimum wage (similar to the ratios mentioned in the article), and I gladly accepted the offer as they were paying towards the top end of retail wages at the time.

I never really felt that I was underpaid in any way, and I stuck around for about 2 years through the end of my degree. It was a great place to work, and I still have a bunch of friends from those days, some of who still work there.

Sure, it's not a world changing job, and compensated equivalently, but it is a great job and there are 30000 or so americans (and many more worldwide) who's rents are being paid through there jobs.

Good for Apple!

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#14

Post by tseabrooks »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #9

This article starts out with a fallacy that immediately made me stop reading: Jordan Golson sold about $750,000 worth of computers and gadgets at the Apple Store in Salem, N.H. No. The ~$3M dollars that apple spends on advertising daily ( http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Apple-products-guru-m... ) are what put Jordan Golson in the position of seeing $750,000 worth of purchases be made in front of his cash regis…

Yes, I read the first line and stopped reading, switching instead to these comments. I'm sure he sold a couple of people but the vats majority of those "sales" are going to happen either way. Apple has a huge "marketing force" in their rabid fans (for good or for ill) and they probably deserve a lot of the credit along side apples official marketing.

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#15

Post by [deleted] »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #9

This article starts out with a fallacy that immediately made me stop reading: Jordan Golson sold about $750,000 worth of computers and gadgets at the Apple Store in Salem, N.H. No. The ~$3M dollars that apple spends on advertising daily ( http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Apple-products-guru-m... ) are what put Jordan Golson in the position of seeing $750,000 worth of purchases be made in front of his cash regis…

[deleted]

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#16

Post by itg »

glhaynes wrote: post #10
nanijoe wrote: post #3

For me , here's the key paragraph from the article: "By the standards of retailing, Apple offers above average pay — well above the minimum wage of $7.25 and better than the Gap, though slightly less than Lululemon, the yoga and athletic apparel chain, where sales staff earn about $12 an hour. The company also offers very good benefits for a retailer, including health care, 401(k) contributions and the chance to buy…

They just upped the discount on Apple hardware, much to the delight of the employees I know: http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/20/apple-starts-500-off-macs-250-...

And a 25% pay increase. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-21/apple-retail-store-...

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#17

Post by yummyfajitas »

nanijoe wrote: post #3

For me , here's the key paragraph from the article: "By the standards of retailing, Apple offers above average pay — well above the minimum wage of $7.25 and better than the Gap, though slightly less than Lululemon, the yoga and athletic apparel chain, where sales staff earn about $12 an hour. The company also offers very good benefits for a retailer, including health care, 401(k) contributions and the chance to buy…

Also note that Lululemon is a fairly special case - most people who work there have significant athletic skills in addition to normal sales ability. Sales staff often do stunts like yoga performances in the store window, etc.

(My sister, also a crossfit instructor, was a fairly typical Lululemon employee.)

The idea to convince upper class soccer moms that the only thing preventing her from doing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loszrEZvS_k is the lack of $85 yoga pants.

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#19

Post by angrycoder »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #9

This article starts out with a fallacy that immediately made me stop reading: Jordan Golson sold about $750,000 worth of computers and gadgets at the Apple Store in Salem, N.H. No. The ~$3M dollars that apple spends on advertising daily ( http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Apple-products-guru-m... ) are what put Jordan Golson in the position of seeing $750,000 worth of purchases be made in front of his cash regis…

All the money Apple puts into engineering and marketing counts for squat if someone goes into an Apple Store and has to deal with salesperson who is unhelpful or not knowledgeable. Best case you end up with an unhappy customer, worst case you loose a sale or a customer for life.

The Apple Store isn't Walmart, the people that work there aren't just cashiers. Hang out in the Apple store for 10 minutes and listen to the people there talking to customers, now do the same thing at Best Buy.

Re: Apple Stores’ Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

#20

Post by ryanwaggoner »

emmapersky wrote: post #8
Shivetya wrote: post #4

Oh hell am I going to step into it. Uh, its retail job. No one there creates the products they sell. Better yet, its not a hard sale. I would bet the majority of people entering an Apple store are there to buy something, provided they can afford it. While some could and can make a living off of these jobs I see them as a stepping stone. As in, I would be forever fascinated by how these product I sell and obviously li…

Have you ever worked in retail? I suspect not given your condescending attitude towards the skills retails works need. Exceptional customer service (which is what Apple Stores used to have, I think it's dropped off in recent years) requirers exceptional interpersonal skills, and is not something that anyone can just turn on, it's a skill - sure not one you learn through the traditional education world, but a highly v…

Sorry, but no. I have worked retail, as have many of my friends and family. It's a low skill job, which is why it pays what it does and is done by armies of teenagers.
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