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Apple in Best Buy Pilot Over?
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KREX725 said:
You mean like the Dell Kiosk I saw at the mall the other day? Talk about a high visibility, high traffic area! People were all over the displays. I can not have cost Dell that much to rent the kiosk and put their equipment out.
I think that kiosks at the right malls (preferably somewhere in the central area and probably near all the cell phone kiosks) would be a very cost effective venture. Even if it did not work out long term the visibility would be good.
Huh?
I've a family member that works at BB. Its a McJob if you ask me.
Simply put, BB pays awful and dupes employees. Let's say you work for Xmas holidays. You start in November and work, for two months. However, they lay you off (you are temp help anyway) in under 60 days. This way, they don't pay you benefits and that 30 day bonus (for some video sales) is ineligible. They have pissed off many employee this way.
Or they shift you around (if you are good). Say you push some HDTV and actually know something about it. After a good run, they move you to another department...say video games or computers. Again, you are smart and knowledgable.
But think about who shops here. High-end stores that sell computers or HDTV, will pay their staff to know product. BB just buys in lot and sells what is profitable. (the markup on USB cables is hilarious...a 10' USB is $39.99...cost?...$6..if that..don't even ask about inkjet carts...)
For Apple to pull folks out, its numbers. If the return isn't there, why waste the resources. And with Apple stores being sold out of ipodMinis, I'd say keep stock in main stores a priority.
Face it, the only time I buy anything from BB is when its a deal/on sale/and rebated.
I've a family member that works at BB. Its a McJob if you ask me.
Simply put, BB pays awful and dupes employees. Let's say you work for Xmas holidays. You start in November and work, for two months. However, they lay you off (you are temp help anyway) in under 60 days. This way, they don't pay you benefits and that 30 day bonus (for some video sales) is ineligible. They have pissed off many employee this way.
Or they shift you around (if you are good). Say you push some HDTV and actually know something about it. After a good run, they move you to another department...say video games or computers. Again, you are smart and knowledgable.
But think about who shops here. High-end stores that sell computers or HDTV, will pay their staff to know product. BB just buys in lot and sells what is profitable. (the markup on USB cables is hilarious...a 10' USB is $39.99...cost?...$6..if that..don't even ask about inkjet carts...)
For Apple to pull folks out, its numbers. If the return isn't there, why waste the resources. And with Apple stores being sold out of ipodMinis, I'd say keep stock in main stores a priority.
Face it, the only time I buy anything from BB is when its a deal/on sale/and rebated.
BB Jumped the Gun?
Where I live, Best Buy started selling the iPod minis two days before the official launch. From what I've heard about Apple, this would not be taken lightly. Perhaps Apple cancelled the deal since Best Buy screwed up....
Where I live, Best Buy started selling the iPod minis two days before the official launch. From what I've heard about Apple, this would not be taken lightly. Perhaps Apple cancelled the deal since Best Buy screwed up....
?!
If this is the case, then Apple is more neurotic and controlling than I ever thought possible. How shortsighted.
If this is the case, then Apple is more neurotic and controlling than I ever thought possible. How shortsighted.
Okay --
First - I work at a Best Buy that carries Apple. We had a full time Mac Rep from Apple itself to only sell mac, but he was just transferred to Cali. Our new rep should be at out store within a few weeks.
Second - we do nothing more than try to sell macs -- why? Cause we make the largest Margin on the Macs. They don't hurt business.
Third - we have moved most of our macs to the front endcaps of the section. When you walk in the store, the first thing right infront of you is a 20inch iMac.
It really depends on which Best Buy you go to. If a sales person doesn't know a lot about the mac, he will go and grab someone who does. I'm a tech, and I get pulled away all the time to come and answer questions about the mac.
My store is part of a program called best Buy for business ( we are actually the #1 store of all 50ish that are in the program ) - we target our business to the small business around us - I can tell you that they are paying for me to go off and get certified in everything mac related - the program at our store has not ended.
First - I work at a Best Buy that carries Apple. We had a full time Mac Rep from Apple itself to only sell mac, but he was just transferred to Cali. Our new rep should be at out store within a few weeks.
Second - we do nothing more than try to sell macs -- why? Cause we make the largest Margin on the Macs. They don't hurt business.
Third - we have moved most of our macs to the front endcaps of the section. When you walk in the store, the first thing right infront of you is a 20inch iMac.
It really depends on which Best Buy you go to. If a sales person doesn't know a lot about the mac, he will go and grab someone who does. I'm a tech, and I get pulled away all the time to come and answer questions about the mac.
My store is part of a program called best Buy for business ( we are actually the #1 store of all 50ish that are in the program ) - we target our business to the small business around us - I can tell you that they are paying for me to go off and get certified in everything mac related - the program at our store has not ended.
That's too bad I was really hoping that Best Buy was going to be able to sell more than just Ipod's.The trial for BestBuy is over. The ASCs that were assigned to them are being reorganized into the TheGoodGuys ASC group.
There were many problems. At CompUSA, the ASCs are allowed to install and demo most any software and accessory they feel is needed to sell. They are also allowed to offer and teach introductory classes and seminars.
The management at BestBuy would not let their ASCs install any software or peripherals at all. The BestBuy employees don't make commission and have no ambition to learn about mac. Imagine how worthless it is to not be able to demo a product and have sales people that couldn't care less about it since they get no benefit for selling it.
Say what you want about CompUSA, but they have made a BIG push the past few years to promote Apple. It benefits us since CompUSA bought TheGoodGuys so they are under the same agreements as CompUSA. Plus, since the average TheGoodGuys store is so huge compared to the average CompUSA they have more room for making a nice Apple section. In fact, at the newly remodeled and re-grandopened Reno TheGoodGuys is breathtaking. Even cleaner and nicer than an Apple Store. The great thing is you have to walk throught the Apple section to get to the PCs in that store.
There were many problems. At CompUSA, the ASCs are allowed to install and demo most any software and accessory they feel is needed to sell. They are also allowed to offer and teach introductory classes and seminars.
The management at BestBuy would not let their ASCs install any software or peripherals at all. The BestBuy employees don't make commission and have no ambition to learn about mac. Imagine how worthless it is to not be able to demo a product and have sales people that couldn't care less about it since they get no benefit for selling it.
Say what you want about CompUSA, but they have made a BIG push the past few years to promote Apple. It benefits us since CompUSA bought TheGoodGuys so they are under the same agreements as CompUSA. Plus, since the average TheGoodGuys store is so huge compared to the average CompUSA they have more room for making a nice Apple section. In fact, at the newly remodeled and re-grandopened Reno TheGoodGuys is breathtaking. Even cleaner and nicer than an Apple Store. The great thing is you have to walk throught the Apple section to get to the PCs in that store.
alright I currently work in computers at Best buy. Not everyone is anti pc and dumb...although a lot are. I constantly promote the apple products and answer all consumer questions with simplicity and techicality combined. We're not all bad. Oh yea the job does suck tho. We are not on commision and we are threatened all the time to sell Service Plans by the bosses. It's not a fun place to work at all.
For anyone planning to work at BB in computers...DON'T. It's a horrible job. I am not a sales whore and I will never push a sale. I educate the customer on a product and well then offer other products similar to their needs and let them make a decision on their own. Customers come back and ask me questions all the time. The thing is my supervisor hates this becuase I'm not pushing sales or Making customers buy the most expensive accesories. So I am yelled at everyday if I don't sell service. The only way to please my supervisor is to lie lie and lie to my customers and make them buy stuff they don't need. Our supervisors even tell us ways we can manipulate the customers so that we can trick them into buy stuff they don't need.
For example, We have cables that cost 16, 21 and 30 dollars. We'll tell a customer that they'll need a cable. So then what we do is say "Here let me get it for you" we then get the 30 dollar cable and toss it into his cart. Now he will waste 30 bucks on a cable that does the same thing as a 16 dollar one. If they ask how much it cost. We tell them. Too expensive? then we offer the 21 dollar one as the cheaper route. We ARE FORCED TO NOT TELL THEM ABOUT THE 16 DOLLAR CABLE. We are also told to lie about certain products so we can get customers to buy extra accesories:
For example, printers that come with full ink; we tell customers it's only sample ink so it'll run out in 50 prints. So we make the buy ink when they don't need to.
I also get yelled at for not trying hard enough when trying to sell 200 dollar service plans to a 500 dollar e-machine. I just can't pressure customers to buy our service plans when I see parents with 4 kids walking into a store struggling to make aliving and forced to buy a cheap E-machine. They are ueducated and I don't feel the need for them to waste money on crap that should be put towards food or college funds. My supervisor feeds on this and makes poor customers waste even more money by making them scared their computer will get screwed up if they don't buy the plan.
I highly don't advise working at BB. (someone posted earlier about working there)
For anyone planning to work at BB in computers...DON'T. It's a horrible job. I am not a sales whore and I will never push a sale. I educate the customer on a product and well then offer other products similar to their needs and let them make a decision on their own. Customers come back and ask me questions all the time. The thing is my supervisor hates this becuase I'm not pushing sales or Making customers buy the most expensive accesories. So I am yelled at everyday if I don't sell service. The only way to please my supervisor is to lie lie and lie to my customers and make them buy stuff they don't need. Our supervisors even tell us ways we can manipulate the customers so that we can trick them into buy stuff they don't need.
For example, We have cables that cost 16, 21 and 30 dollars. We'll tell a customer that they'll need a cable. So then what we do is say "Here let me get it for you" we then get the 30 dollar cable and toss it into his cart. Now he will waste 30 bucks on a cable that does the same thing as a 16 dollar one. If they ask how much it cost. We tell them. Too expensive? then we offer the 21 dollar one as the cheaper route. We ARE FORCED TO NOT TELL THEM ABOUT THE 16 DOLLAR CABLE. We are also told to lie about certain products so we can get customers to buy extra accesories:
For example, printers that come with full ink; we tell customers it's only sample ink so it'll run out in 50 prints. So we make the buy ink when they don't need to.
I also get yelled at for not trying hard enough when trying to sell 200 dollar service plans to a 500 dollar e-machine. I just can't pressure customers to buy our service plans when I see parents with 4 kids walking into a store struggling to make aliving and forced to buy a cheap E-machine. They are ueducated and I don't feel the need for them to waste money on crap that should be put towards food or college funds. My supervisor feeds on this and makes poor customers waste even more money by making them scared their computer will get screwed up if they don't buy the plan.
I highly don't advise working at BB. (someone posted earlier about working there)
Yeah, I've heard people complain about the BB people at the store trying to talk someone out of an Apple.
For what it's worth, went buy the BB closet to my house yesterday and they're blowing out their Apple systems, they have a bunch of imacs and emacs, don't recall now if they had any powermacs, sitting near the enterence on sale, they knocked $100 off them I think.
For what it's worth, went buy the BB closet to my house yesterday and they're blowing out their Apple systems, they have a bunch of imacs and emacs, don't recall now if they had any powermacs, sitting near the enterence on sale, they knocked $100 off them I think.
LilJesus2k said:
Yeah, the pushing the Protection Plans has gone too far. I was buying a cable to connect my iPod to my stereo and the cashier asked me if I wanted to buy a PP for $2.50 on an $8 cable. I asked her if I had stupid tattooed to my forehead. The manager asked me to leave the store. Before I left, I told him I spend a few thousand dollars a year there and would now be shopping around the corner at Circuit City.
rdowns said:
the one redeeming part of working merch at best buy was not having to sell those damn plans...i worked for them and they tried to sell me one on a cd player...they were like, we give you an employee discount on the plan! i wanted to quit right then and there.
Apple in kiosks/universities
I really like the idea of Apple opening kiosks in malls. Our local mall has a Dell kiosk, and there are ALWAYS a ton of potential buyers talking to Dell employees, trying the equipment, gawking at the flat screen monitors, etc.
Can you imagine what would happen if both iPods, Garage Band, the HD cinema display, and the revolutionary iMac were unleashed in a very public place like a mall?
And by the way..... I've also noticed that CompUSA has become as bad as Best Buy about Apple products.... and CompUSA is a certified Apple reseller!.... no knowledgeable personnel, software scattered all over, iPods locked up, signs falling down, etc. Apple could make such an impact just by having knowledgeable staff in these places. For example, I was looking for a Panther-compatible printer for my iMac...... the staff member working the Apple area was only "baby-sitting" that area. Of course he knew nothing....
KREX725 said:
I really like the idea of Apple opening kiosks in malls. Our local mall has a Dell kiosk, and there are ALWAYS a ton of potential buyers talking to Dell employees, trying the equipment, gawking at the flat screen monitors, etc.
Can you imagine what would happen if both iPods, Garage Band, the HD cinema display, and the revolutionary iMac were unleashed in a very public place like a mall?
And by the way..... I've also noticed that CompUSA has become as bad as Best Buy about Apple products.... and CompUSA is a certified Apple reseller!.... no knowledgeable personnel, software scattered all over, iPods locked up, signs falling down, etc. Apple could make such an impact just by having knowledgeable staff in these places. For example, I was looking for a Panther-compatible printer for my iMac...... the staff member working the Apple area was only "baby-sitting" that area. Of course he knew nothing....
question fear said:
Some of the plans are worthwhile however. As a tech, someone who deals with the end results of the plan, it is nice to have on some products. A $50 dvd player, no. A cell phone, yes. Vacuum, yes. Simply put, I see a lot of items come back in, they are pieces of machines, machines do break. Do you think the manufactor is going to give a rats a.. on a cell phone that was bought for 5 bucks. You can send it to them, but I doubt, highly doubt, they are going to spend the labor on it.
Sometimes, the PSP is actually worth it.
The Dark Side
Actual Conversation at Best Buy:
BornAgainMac checking out the specs and prices of the $500 dollar PCs
Salesguy: Can I help you?
BornAgainMac: Oh, I have a Mac and really enjoy it but I am tempted by the Dark Side with these low prices for a Windows PC
Salesguy: Mac is the dark side
BornAgainMac didn't have a comeback line for that response but I still believe Windows PCs tempt you with their fantastic specs dollar for dollar and you pay for it later with your time for the life of the machine.
Actual Conversation at Best Buy:
BornAgainMac checking out the specs and prices of the $500 dollar PCs
Salesguy: Can I help you?
BornAgainMac: Oh, I have a Mac and really enjoy it but I am tempted by the Dark Side with these low prices for a Windows PC
Salesguy: Mac is the dark side
BornAgainMac didn't have a comeback line for that response but I still believe Windows PCs tempt you with their fantastic specs dollar for dollar and you pay for it later with your time for the life of the machine.
Bolt said:
i think there are a lot of people (myself included) who would agree, but best buy pushes them to the point of excess, which accounts for the backlash...no one here has denied the need for a psp on a computer or vacuum, but when the item is under 50 its a little stupid to spend almost a tenth or more of the cost on a psp you probably wont use.
Not Over.
i work at a best buy store that was not part of the mac program to begin with. reading this thread, i was curious. i asked the gm tonight at work, and he confirmed that the pilot went well, and other best buy stores [including ours] will get the Macs. I.m never leaving that aisle. Oh, by the way, were supposed to push the service plans...and you can.t totally blame us...we make roughly 12 bucks everytime we sell a computer...this week, everytime a compaq went out the door, we lost 30 bucks. unless the consumers want to pay more for the product [which they don.t] then we have to be pushy about the plans......on some items [like cables et al] it.s stupid and i don.t offer it...but on computers [my department] i do.
Christien
i work at a best buy store that was not part of the mac program to begin with. reading this thread, i was curious. i asked the gm tonight at work, and he confirmed that the pilot went well, and other best buy stores [including ours] will get the Macs. I.m never leaving that aisle. Oh, by the way, were supposed to push the service plans...and you can.t totally blame us...we make roughly 12 bucks everytime we sell a computer...this week, everytime a compaq went out the door, we lost 30 bucks. unless the consumers want to pay more for the product [which they don.t] then we have to be pushy about the plans......on some items [like cables et al] it.s stupid and i don.t offer it...but on computers [my department] i do.
Christien
I too am a Best Buy employee. I just wanted to verify, dispute some of the things said here. I've worked at Best Buy for over six years. The main reason I continue to work there is because I am a college student and they are flexible with my hours, and I've made a lot of good friends there.
But let me say this, Best Buy has its own very large internal "intranet" where we can get all the latest information about what's going on in the company. I have not yet seen anything about the mac pilot being over, but I'll try to do a search on it tomorrow. If it is over, it'll be in our news within the week. remember, though, this was a PILOT... if the pilot is over, that could mean that we won't carry macs any longer, or it could mean that all of our stores will now carry them.
As to what others have said, not all Best Buy employee's are idiots. But as a previous user made note... employee's are CONSTANTLY being shuffled around to different departments, primarily for reasons having to do with their "performance" in areas like accessories and PSPs. So when you walk into the computer department, you are probably talking to an employee who sold appliances two weeks ago, and car stereos five months ago. Best Buy CAN be fun, if you have good management. Right now we have good management at my store and it's fun. But three months ago, it was horrible. In the six years that I've been with Best Buy, I've probably seen 2-3 store managers a year, I've seen Supervisors get promoted and then demoted in the same month, I've seen store managers demoted to all sorts of positions. The reason why the guy or girl your talking to may not be very enthusiastic about computers is probably because they really like home theater stuff, but the supervisor got chewed out by the manager who got chewed out by the district manager, so they moved the kid to another department. The guys in the yellow shirts who greet you when you come in used to be theft control, now they're not allowed to look at the monitors because it will distract them from greeting customers, and one guy was let go because he wasn't "Bubbly enough".
This being said, don't be surprised that Best Buy gives you poor service. There is pressure on everybody from the people above them. Literally, every store in our company competes to be number one in their district, region, and company. If your store is ranked below 200 in the company for a couple of months, you'll see managers get booted. I've never accepted a supervisor position because I saw what everyone else has gone through. Right now, at my store, we have a great team of managers and supervisors, but in three months we may not.
Pay is also horrible unless you're a supervisor or a manager. The discount is generous but you can't really afford to use it unless you work 40+ hours a week, and even then it's tough.
Also, you all were talking about Margin. Best Buy doesn't make anything on computers, and very little on monitors. They will literally make $10 on some computer systems, maybe 10-20% on a monitor. Like has also been said, we make probably 75% on cables and things. The reason why managers pressure their employees to sell them is because if their store doesn't perform, they'll be out of a job. Some managers just don't know how to deal with the employees. So there is pressure to sell these things, and some of it IS legitimate. I'm sorry, but the more expensive monster cables DO give a much better picture than the $10 generic brand. Best Buy is constantly changing its focus... fortunately for the customers, managers no longer bonus off of MARGIN (they used to). Which is GOOD, because that means they only push revenue... so if you don't want $100 worth of cables with your computer, it's alright.
Finally, those warranties CAN be a good thing. I don't like them, but look, you buy a $3000 TV and a $500 service plan is a good deal. They'll come to your house and re-calibrate it any time you call, and the service plan easily pays for itself if you have to have it repaired. And remember, Best Buy doesn't make the product, Sony, or Toshiba, or some crazy off brand makes the product. So, while it is highly profitable, for the most part it is really beneficial.
I bought a 3 year Apple Care plan when I got my G4, it was just as expensive as a Best Buy warranty. But when my headphone jack stopped working, they replaced the whole mother board... I'm thinking that the warranty pretty much paid for itself.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending or attacking Best Buy, I'm merely relaying the facts. I'll let you know if I find out about the pilot, and I'll quote.
But let me say this, Best Buy has its own very large internal "intranet" where we can get all the latest information about what's going on in the company. I have not yet seen anything about the mac pilot being over, but I'll try to do a search on it tomorrow. If it is over, it'll be in our news within the week. remember, though, this was a PILOT... if the pilot is over, that could mean that we won't carry macs any longer, or it could mean that all of our stores will now carry them.
As to what others have said, not all Best Buy employee's are idiots. But as a previous user made note... employee's are CONSTANTLY being shuffled around to different departments, primarily for reasons having to do with their "performance" in areas like accessories and PSPs. So when you walk into the computer department, you are probably talking to an employee who sold appliances two weeks ago, and car stereos five months ago. Best Buy CAN be fun, if you have good management. Right now we have good management at my store and it's fun. But three months ago, it was horrible. In the six years that I've been with Best Buy, I've probably seen 2-3 store managers a year, I've seen Supervisors get promoted and then demoted in the same month, I've seen store managers demoted to all sorts of positions. The reason why the guy or girl your talking to may not be very enthusiastic about computers is probably because they really like home theater stuff, but the supervisor got chewed out by the manager who got chewed out by the district manager, so they moved the kid to another department. The guys in the yellow shirts who greet you when you come in used to be theft control, now they're not allowed to look at the monitors because it will distract them from greeting customers, and one guy was let go because he wasn't "Bubbly enough".
This being said, don't be surprised that Best Buy gives you poor service. There is pressure on everybody from the people above them. Literally, every store in our company competes to be number one in their district, region, and company. If your store is ranked below 200 in the company for a couple of months, you'll see managers get booted. I've never accepted a supervisor position because I saw what everyone else has gone through. Right now, at my store, we have a great team of managers and supervisors, but in three months we may not.
Pay is also horrible unless you're a supervisor or a manager. The discount is generous but you can't really afford to use it unless you work 40+ hours a week, and even then it's tough.
Also, you all were talking about Margin. Best Buy doesn't make anything on computers, and very little on monitors. They will literally make $10 on some computer systems, maybe 10-20% on a monitor. Like has also been said, we make probably 75% on cables and things. The reason why managers pressure their employees to sell them is because if their store doesn't perform, they'll be out of a job. Some managers just don't know how to deal with the employees. So there is pressure to sell these things, and some of it IS legitimate. I'm sorry, but the more expensive monster cables DO give a much better picture than the $10 generic brand. Best Buy is constantly changing its focus... fortunately for the customers, managers no longer bonus off of MARGIN (they used to). Which is GOOD, because that means they only push revenue... so if you don't want $100 worth of cables with your computer, it's alright.
Finally, those warranties CAN be a good thing. I don't like them, but look, you buy a $3000 TV and a $500 service plan is a good deal. They'll come to your house and re-calibrate it any time you call, and the service plan easily pays for itself if you have to have it repaired. And remember, Best Buy doesn't make the product, Sony, or Toshiba, or some crazy off brand makes the product. So, while it is highly profitable, for the most part it is really beneficial.
I bought a 3 year Apple Care plan when I got my G4, it was just as expensive as a Best Buy warranty. But when my headphone jack stopped working, they replaced the whole mother board... I'm thinking that the warranty pretty much paid for itself.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending or attacking Best Buy, I'm merely relaying the facts. I'll let you know if I find out about the pilot, and I'll quote.
question fear said:
Agreed, but as other posts have said, the people pushing the PSP's are basically forced to do so, so I give them some leeway. All you have to do is say "no", and it's pretty easy to do if you end up doing it every single time you go there...
jsw said:
I work at Best Buy, and yes, you're right. I could give a flying **** whether I sell a service plan or not. I'll offer it on every sale to avoid getting yelled at. I wouldn't buy it myself except on something that cost upwards of $500.
Well I go to the Niles (Golf Mill) Best Buy.
I remember less than a year ago when the store started stocking Macs. I was all excited to check it out, so I went there to find what I pretty much expected.
The Macs were mixed with the other PCs. On the smallest isle (hard to fit in). And with a huge ladder right in front of all the comptuers.
Pretty typical. I've seen the same type of set-up at CompUSA as well. However, a Virginia Beach, VA CompUSA had a whole corner of the store devoted to the Macs, which was nice.
These big stores have lousy salespeople anyway. It takes about 20 minutes to get someone to "help" you. And, usually, they know far less about the products than the customers.
The anti-Mac politics of the staff and displays is pretty evident.
The Windows machines have a nice demo going on. The Macs (as has been stated in one of the first posts) are either password protected, or THROTTLED. I mean, they have some folders in the trash. Aliases of everything all over. Programs renamed things like "957oirwjoiaglk;sj". A pink desktop picture, wrong resolution, basically all hosed up. My favorite is when iTunes doesn't have a single song available in the library. Nice way to demo it.
Unless there is a dedicated Apple employee in these stores 24/7, I believe they do more HARM than good for Apple. Customers see the Macs all hosed up, and want nothing to do with them.
R,
IJ
I remember less than a year ago when the store started stocking Macs. I was all excited to check it out, so I went there to find what I pretty much expected.
The Macs were mixed with the other PCs. On the smallest isle (hard to fit in). And with a huge ladder right in front of all the comptuers.
Pretty typical. I've seen the same type of set-up at CompUSA as well. However, a Virginia Beach, VA CompUSA had a whole corner of the store devoted to the Macs, which was nice.
These big stores have lousy salespeople anyway. It takes about 20 minutes to get someone to "help" you. And, usually, they know far less about the products than the customers.
The anti-Mac politics of the staff and displays is pretty evident.
The Windows machines have a nice demo going on. The Macs (as has been stated in one of the first posts) are either password protected, or THROTTLED. I mean, they have some folders in the trash. Aliases of everything all over. Programs renamed things like "957oirwjoiaglk;sj". A pink desktop picture, wrong resolution, basically all hosed up. My favorite is when iTunes doesn't have a single song available in the library. Nice way to demo it.
Unless there is a dedicated Apple employee in these stores 24/7, I believe they do more HARM than good for Apple. Customers see the Macs all hosed up, and want nothing to do with them.
R,
IJ