Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Retail Stores Seeing Significant Layoffs of Recent Hires?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That's not true every time. I've seen plenty of tech-dumb Apple employees, but there are some who really know what they're doing. I brought in my mom's MacBook Pro to a Genius because it was running at 225˚F when playing Minecraft, and the guy said that it's normal and that it happens to him all the time when he plays Minecraft. He then ran a hardware test and stress-tested it by opening a bunch of "y" commands in Terminal. The guy did this all very quickly.
I've heard horror stories about Geniuses wiping hard drives by mistake. It happened to my brother once, but he didn't have anything important on his iMac.
Give it enough time and John Browett will have all the staff talking boring tech specs, asking you literally every 10 SECONDS if they can help you, shoving sales down your throat.. the staff won't give a monkeys about what YOU want, I even bet we'll have special offers on!
But the last thing I would call any Apple store is over staffed! I know in the UK our economy has flat lined basically, but considering the profits Apple has then it can more then afford to ride it out and people are still buying their products... actually come to think of it, if I get the iPhone 5 in store how long am I going to have to friggin wait to be served!?!?
I tell ya, this is the NEW Apple, give it time and they will drag it into the gutter.
But the last thing I would call any Apple store is over staffed! I know in the UK our economy has flat lined basically, but considering the profits Apple has then it can more then afford to ride it out and people are still buying their products... actually come to think of it, if I get the iPhone 5 in store how long am I going to have to friggin wait to be served!?!?
I tell ya, this is the NEW Apple, give it time and they will drag it into the gutter.
Steve jobs would have never allowed this.
I am so fed up with people who say this. Unless you knew the man personally, or we're privy the countless hours of conversation that took place in his office on a daily basis, you barely have a leg to stand on with such obnoxious comments.
Opposing Viewpoint
As with any retail industry, there are fluxuations in the with the number of staff to cover the needs of the business. Apple is no different but they are being held to a different standard because they are Apple.
After reading the recent NY Times article about the Apple retail 'army', I was struck by yet another instance of my generation feeling like they are owed something.
When you take a job in retail and you are around the age of 18-25, it is likely one of your first jobs and you aren't necessarily going into the job thinking you have to support a family with children.
These are retail jobs for young people that are in college or fresh out of high school and have some vague knowledge of computing and Apple products and can present the best possible customer experience, in person. That's it.
One of my first jobs was at a now defunct record chain in the south and I made minimum wage at the time which was around $4.35 an hour. It wasn't a career and I knew it wasn't. I was in that directionless coccoon that so many twentysomethings find themselves in anymore.
What is needed is some perspective here. One of the Apple employees in the NY Times story is quoted as saying he made $11.25 an hour. In 1995 or 2012, for simply working retail in a nice clean atmosphere selling a product that EVERYONE wants..it sells itself.. that's a nice gig for a young person.
I think what this basically boils down to is envy. A wise man once said: "Envy is the only one of the seven deadly sins that doesn't even give the sinner momentary pleasure". I think that's applicable here. Apple has a bigger pile of marbles than anyone else and because they only are willing to pay a certain amount for employment in retail -- they must be destroyed or shamed or something.
A lot of adults could learn the lesson that I hope will eventually dawn on the Apple 'army' cited in the NY Times piece and that's this: Apple is working within the constructs of a free market system. They pay what the market will bare for a retail position and it is pretty competetive if you ask me. If Employee John Doe doesn't want it, Jerry Doe is on the way in the door looking for a part time job to pay for the gas and grocery money.
As with any retail industry, there are fluxuations in the with the number of staff to cover the needs of the business. Apple is no different but they are being held to a different standard because they are Apple.
After reading the recent NY Times article about the Apple retail 'army', I was struck by yet another instance of my generation feeling like they are owed something.
When you take a job in retail and you are around the age of 18-25, it is likely one of your first jobs and you aren't necessarily going into the job thinking you have to support a family with children.
These are retail jobs for young people that are in college or fresh out of high school and have some vague knowledge of computing and Apple products and can present the best possible customer experience, in person. That's it.
One of my first jobs was at a now defunct record chain in the south and I made minimum wage at the time which was around $4.35 an hour. It wasn't a career and I knew it wasn't. I was in that directionless coccoon that so many twentysomethings find themselves in anymore.
What is needed is some perspective here. One of the Apple employees in the NY Times story is quoted as saying he made $11.25 an hour. In 1995 or 2012, for simply working retail in a nice clean atmosphere selling a product that EVERYONE wants..it sells itself.. that's a nice gig for a young person.
I think what this basically boils down to is envy. A wise man once said: "Envy is the only one of the seven deadly sins that doesn't even give the sinner momentary pleasure". I think that's applicable here. Apple has a bigger pile of marbles than anyone else and because they only are willing to pay a certain amount for employment in retail -- they must be destroyed or shamed or something.
A lot of adults could learn the lesson that I hope will eventually dawn on the Apple 'army' cited in the NY Times piece and that's this: Apple is working within the constructs of a free market system. They pay what the market will bare for a retail position and it is pretty competetive if you ask me. If Employee John Doe doesn't want it, Jerry Doe is on the way in the door looking for a part time job to pay for the gas and grocery money.
Dude just looked at her phone and said "yep looks good" and then she bought her plan. I am sure the GENIUS could have easily looked at the phone at the cash register....
It doesn't take an Apple Genius more than 5 mins to look at a phone. Booking an appointment for that is just stupid.
Everytime I enter an Apple store there is a sea of blue t-shirts. I can barely enjoy theporn for 2 minutes before being interrupted.
This is true at my nearest Apple Retail Store, too. Others here have said the opposite about their local Apple stores.
Companies should pay employees what they're worth, and show some loyalty to them by not cutting them off on a whim. I hear that good customer service is a part of the Apple image. So their store staff is more important to the company than your average store staff.
BTW I havent had any bad experiences at the Apple store in Ottawa.
I was at the main Toronto store on Saturday and there certainly was lots of staff. Most stores would be happy to have as many customers in a day as Apple has employees working.
First the Best Buy style ad campaign, which was evidence of a complete lack of good taste at the very top (hear that Tim Cook?) and now a round of Best Buy style layoffs. It's Polaroid after Edwin Land, all over again. We were hoping Apple might be that one rare company that could sustain its magic after the departure of its visionary leader, but no.
I would say I am the opposite, my nearest store is pretty big but their isn't too many staff in it.
What will retail suicide nets look like?
Slim and stylish, but they'll only hold five pounds without three extra adapters.
Slim and stylish, but they'll only hold five pounds without three extra adapters.
Last edited:
I agree. If you want people to have a positive view of the apple store - you have to give the employees higher salaries or similar benefits to make them happy. Unhappy employees = crappy experience for customers.
Everytime I enter an Apple store there is a sea of blue t-shirts. I can barely enjoy the
I wish that were the case for me, been in 4 Apple stores across the UK and it was a sea of customers and too few staff, nearly always spend 20 minutes approaching staff and getting told "Sorry I'm busy, but X can help you" "Sorry I'm busy, but Y can help you".
Exactly, sometimes some common sense needs to be applied. My RMBP needed a screen replacement, and after they fixed it, Apple's genius didn't tighten the screws properly so some of them were protruding causing a sharp edge and some creaking. I had to rebook another appointment since I didn't spot it when my computer was returned to me. Well, when I went back I was sitting there for 45 minutes after my appointment time and someone off the stand-by list was even seen right before me. 3-4 genius' asked me what I was in for since at that point they hadn't seen many RMBPs and were all curious. I told them all two screws needed to be tightened. You'd think someone could have either taken it in the back and fixed it quickly, or gone to get me the dam screw driver. Sure enough when someone actually saw me, it took 2 minutes to fix. They all had time to stop and chat with me, but none of them had time to tighten the screws apparently.
I'm all for waiting for your turn an all, but if someone has been in multiple times already in the first few weeks after a purchase, you'd think they should get a little priority, or if someone has a quick issue like only needing an approval for Apple Care+, then the tech can pause what he's doing for those 30 seconds.
I suppose this may explain why I haven't heard anything from the apple stores in my area about the applications I sent in more than a month ago. Whenever I'm in there it's busy as hell and there's what seems to be a 4 to 1 ratio of customers to employees. can't imagine the store running with fewer employees. I guess I can forget about that option for some sort of employment
If paying the employees more or hiring more employees would help customers enough for it to be worth it, then they should hire them or pay them more. "Apple is rich" is not a good reason. Yes, they should be paid what they are worth.
Just look at McDonald's for a more extreme example. It's a huge, successful company that pays its unskilled employees little. They aren't worth much to the company because if they leave, replacements are easy to find.
Last edited:
Oh no, it took all of 45 minutes for someone to check out your computer for free. Thats forever compared to.... Oh yeah, no other computer company does that for free
Well, why are there appointments then? Also, did you ignore the fact that someone without an appointment was seen before me? Finally, this was the third time I had to go to the store to get a brand new computer fixed. Many places, and most Apple customers on these very forums, got theirs swapped out for a new machine on the first appointment.
And every single company does that for free for new purchases. Most other computers, HP, Dell, etc. there wouldn't be wait times either since the stores aren't jam packed like Apple's.
Huge difference of "want to" and "can't". Tim Cook makes $52 million a year. No human deserves or needs that much money per year. He could be perfectly fine on half that (along with the millions and millions that the other execs make). Put the other half towards jobs. Not to mention the $117billion in cash they have sitting around. Absolutely no reason to lay anyone off at Apple. This quite frankly disgusts me.
So why are they complaining about high pricess for Apple products? Surely they can afford to pay a little more
Considering they again reported record sales of every device last quarter (other then iPod) vs the previous year, there is no stagnation going on...but keep making up fake stats and statements.
Smart businesses (unlike our Federal/State/Local governments) know when to ramp up and ramp down...and they make sure they have $$$ for rainy days.
Apple owes no one a job. Typical 'socialism'....