Apple Preparing Retail Employees to Return to Work With Tips From South Korea Reopening

[MacRumors]

Apple in mid-April reopened Apple Garosugil, its lone store in South Korea, located in the Seoul's Gangnam District.

Apple's South Korea reopening has served as a test ground for further store reopenings, and Apple created an instructional video on reopening practices that's now being shared with other retail employees around the world as they prepare to reopen stores. We're not able to share the video, but it provides a good overview of the measures Apple is putting in place to safely operate retail locations.

Retail employees are following a strict set of guidelines that very heavily emphasize social distancing of two meters (or six feet in the United States). Apple is taking the following measures:

• Prior to when work starts, all employees undergo a health screening complete with a temperature check, with the results logged in a daily spreadsheet.
• Daily briefings are done in the mornings in the Forum area at Apple Stores, with employees making sure to sit at least two meters apart.
• Prior to being allowed in the store, customers are also given a temperature check.
• All Apple Stores are providing hand sanitizer, which customers are encouraged to use.
• Stores are limiting the number of people inside, forming lines with customers waiting at least two meters apart.
• Products purchased by customers or returned after repair are delivered from the back in a relay system, being handed off from employee to employee to allow each person to stay in a separated zone without back and forth.
• Product specialists and Genius Bar staff are positioning themselves across tables away from customers in order to maintain distance.
• In the forum area, employees sit one cube away from customers they're interacting with.
• Employees are encouraged to communicate with one another through the Talk app to cut down on unnecessary movement within the store.
• Half of the workstations in the back are empty, with employees working at alternating workstations to keep more distance between them.
• Tables have been rearranged to put products on corners to prevent customers from being near one another.
• Products on tables have been reduced.
• Communal tables and couches have been removed from employee break rooms and have been replaced with individual chairs evenly spaced about the room.
• Operating hours are reduced.
• Employees are all wearing face masks.

After opening its South Korea store on April 16, Apple has reopened its sole store in Vienna, Austria, and 21 stores located in Australia. Stores in Germany will begin reopening on May 11, and all of the newly opened locations are following many of the same guidelines listed above to keep both customers and employees safe.

There's no word yet on when Apple retail stores in the United States will start to reopen, but Apple CEO Tim Cook last week said that stores in North America will begin reopening starting in the month of May.

Apple plans to evaluate data and make reopening decisions on a city by city, county by county basis, following local guidelines and recommendations before opening up a store.

Article Link: Apple Preparing Retail Employees to Return to Work With Tips From South Korea Reopening

 

[Blackstick]

"You can't HEAR ME?!? I said your repair will be $1,240!!!"

 

[smithrh]

Last bullet in that list should have been first.

Also, customers should have to wear masks as well.

 

[barkomatic]

It seems like the yearly tradition of people camping/lining up to buy new iPhones on iPhone Day is over.

 

[gretafour]

The masks only help if everyone is wearing one. Requiring employees to wear and not customers is just to give customers the illusion of safety. I wonder how many conspiracy theorists we have on MacRumors today?

 

[now i see it]

Stores were typically way overcrowded in the past anyway. This distancing seems a lot more reasonable & inviting than the sardine can experience of yore

 

[iFan]

The masks only help if everyone is wearing one. Requiring employees to wear and not customers is just to give customers the illusion of safety. I wonder how many conspiracy theorists we have on MacRumors today?

Some states/countries require mask use for all people who can't social distance in public (New York/Illinois for example) - so your point is moot.

The places Apple is re-opening in right now have extremely low case counts, single digit % positive confirmed cases, and low hospitalization numbers. The level of community infection in these states is much lower than NY, LA, Chicago, or Detroit.

Apple is choosing Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama, and Alaska as the first states to open. Pretty safe choices.

 

[jpn]

i think they unfortunately stopped short of having employees also wear the apple Designed in California face shields.
not a very friendly look to sell upper end product.

also, apple Talk app?
the one that apple canceled many years ago?
i hope this walkie-talkie app is brought back by carriers and apple for everyone.

unfortunately apple doesnt have the right stuff to make customers wear face masks.
that is telling.

 

[cardfan]

Nope not wearing a mask. Sorry Apple.

 

[iFan]

seriously, i question opening the apple stores to sell retail product.
stores should be re-opened for repairs and service only. not to sell product.
all new sales should be done on-line.

Why? What great risk does a store create by just handing a box to a customer who has already prepaid everything online? This line of extremist thinking does not keep people safe - it lacks logic. There are ways to sell things in very limited/low risk ways.

I don't think you understand how Apple plans to mainly sell these products - buy online pickup in store.

 

[az431]

The masks only help if everyone is wearing one. Requiring employees to wear and not customers is just to give customers the illusion of safety. I wonder how many conspiracy theorists we have on MacRumors today?

Masks help everyone, including those who are not wearing a mask. It doesn't take a medical degree to realize that if someone with COVID sneezes and they are wearing a mask, they are less likely to infect others. And if someone with CVOID is not wearing a mask, then those who are wearing a mask are better protected than without a mask.

It is not true that they "only help if everyone is wearing one."

 

[kahwatter]

Nope not wearing a mask. Sorry Apple.

Customers will be required to wear a mask. If not you will not be able to enter the store. Just FYI.

 

[az431]

Nope not wearing a mask. Sorry Apple.

Why apologize to Apple? Either you catch it from someone else or you pass it on to someone else. Apologize to your family or whoever you infect.

 

[iFan]

Nope not wearing a mask. Sorry Apple.

Then you don't have to visit their private property where they are allowed to require a mask be worn. Pretty simple.

This line of thinking really doesn't stem from any logic. In fact, I'm pretty sure these type of tweets and fb posts originated from outside America just to create division and chaos. I am pro re-opening the economy and want businesses to re-open in a safe way as quickly as possible.

Masks are one of the easiest things we can do that reduces risk of infection while still maintaining our liberty and freedoms. Especially indoors. Even without this virus, if we all wore masks inside where you can't distance (subways, stores, etc) - we would probably have a lot less cold/flu annually. If there is one good thing that comes from this virus, even one, I hope it makes people more hygienic.

Target is wiping down every cart and every register between customers. I'm all for easy to do safety measures that lower our exposure risk to any sort of virus or bacteria, while recreating a strong economy. Even the plain old flu, or cold, sucks!

 

[lambertjohn]

Nope not wearing a mask. Sorry Apple.

Then you won't be going into an Apple store. Sorry cardfan.

 

[confectious]

Nope not wearing a mask. Sorry Apple.

Great job putting everybody at risk out of nothing but stubbornness. Your words are what make employees scared to go back to work.

 

[JoeShades]

Great job putting everybody at risk out of nothing but stubbornness. Your words are what make employees scared to go back to work.

Some people are unable to wear masks because of trouble breathing, like people with Asthma

 

[WannaGoMac]

What is the Talk App?
[automerge]1588970026[/automerge]

Masks help everyone, including those who are not wearing a mask. It doesn't take a medical degree to realize that if someone with COVID sneezes and they are wearing a mask, they are less likely to infect others. And if someone with CVOID is not wearing a mask, then those who are wearing a mask are better protected than without a mask.

It is not true that they "only help if everyone is wearing one."

Problem is most cloth masks do various levels of very minimal reduction of spread (studies range from 3-30% i've seen reported in the last month). Meanwhile folks then touch their faces more and aren't as careful with their hands because false sense of security that the mask is barrier to transmission.

 

[compwiz1202]

Last bullet in that list should have been first.

Also, customers should have to wear masks as well.

The other one that seems to always be sorely missing for businesses reopening at reduces capacity is appointment only. What is the point of enforcing distance and masks inside if hundreds outside are breaking the rules with no enforcement???

Plus will they do some sort of curbside for outside stores and maybe a pickup kiosk inside if people preordered?

 

[PeterRollback]

What is the Talk App?
[automerge]1588970026[/automerge]


Problem is most cloth masks do various levels of very minimal reduction of spread (studies range from 3-30% i've seen reported in the last month). Meanwhile folks then touch their faces more and aren't as careful with their hands because false sense of security that the mask is barrier to transmission.

 

[4sallypat]

Some people are unable to wear masks because of trouble breathing, like people with Asthma

I don't like masks either but anyone who has problems breathing should be in a HAZ MAT suit with oxygen tanks and exhaust filters.

Remember, the mask is to protect others around you, not to filter out the virus.

 

[JoeShades]

I don't like masks either but anyone who has problems breathing should be in a HAZ MAT suit with oxygen tanks and exhaust filters.

Remember, the mask is to protect others around you, not to filter out the virus.

So anyone with asthma should be in a hazmat suit? ok lol

 

[orthorim]

Two completely different conversations are happening

Some thing they need masks (don't help BTW) to protect themselves from THE PANDEMIC!!!!

The others think they need to protect themselves from the nazi/nanny state that was introduced by the cabal.

Who is right?

Well all I can say is the second group is the one that doesn't want to censor the first group....

If anybody here wants to repeat the CNN talking points (which in case you have not noticed change every 2 weeks) please refrain from doing so. All it does is repeat information that is blasted everywhere anyway so it's not new, and it only serves to prove your obedience to a totalitarian medical control system.

 

[JoeShades]

Two completely different conversations are happening

Some thing they need masks (don't help BTW) to protect themselves from THE PANDEMIC!!!!

The others think they need to protect themselves from the nazi/nanny state that was introduced by the cabal.

Who is right?

Well all I can say is the second group is the one that doesn't want to censor the first group....

If anybody here wants to repeat the CNN talking points (which in case you have not noticed change every 2 weeks) please refrain from doing so. All it does is repeat information that is blasted everywhere anyway so it's not new, and it only serves to prove your obedience to a totalitarian medical control system.

Fear is a great tool for authoritarians.

 

[hipnetic]

This sounds like a miserable experience for all involved. Hopefully a cure/vaccine or better information about what the real risks are/aren't are clarified sooner rather than later, because I wouldn't want to work in an environment like the one described in this article for very long.

As it is, I'm finding the grocery-shopping experience to be miserable. And don't get me started on the "one way" aisles in the grocery store. I think that's a nationwide thing, and it's just stupid for several reasons I won't bother to mention, because they're hopefully fairly obvious to most people (but, if not, feel free to ask and I'll let you know).

Supposedly restaurants are going to be allowed to reopen with similar rules. I think one of the initial ideas would be to only allow restaurants to serve people via outdoor dining...as if most restaurants have that or are in areas where the climate makes that viable. But even if they allow inside dining, they're going to basically restrict it to allow for half (or less) of what the restaurant previously could handle. How can that be a viable business model for a restaurant to operate under (and that's not even accounting for the *added* costs of making sure employees are temperature-checked daily, wear masks, clean everything down every 5 minutes, etc.)?

Here's the reality...a lot of small businesses are on life-support right now because of the stimulus checks and forgivable (but you better read the fine print) small-business loans, but once that "free money party" ends (which it probably will soon), the smarter small business owners will do the math and realize that it's simply not financially viable for them to reopen at all. They'll shut down. Others will give it a try and realize within a couple of months (if that) that they're in the red and will have to shut down.

Unless the government wants to continue to print barrel-fulls of money (which is going to bring a different set of problems), the "everything's fine" mentality we've been seeing over the last couple of months will be coming to an end, and a lot of businesses will be going out of business, and a lot of people will be out of work for a long while.