No, stand alone as in the standard register -- where you would pay cash OR CC.
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Apple Revamping Retail Store Staffing and Checkout Tools
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No, stand alone as in the standard register -- where you would pay cash OR CC.
I'm not the one who gets his kicks out of harassing a frontline retail clerk over something they have no control over. You can be "plugged into the scene" all you want, you're still the equivelant of the guy who walks around in July asking everyone "Hot enough for you today?"
iPod Touch with a camera
Apple will be using the iPod touch with a Camera, could we see an update before the Holiday Season? 11/3/2009?
Apple will be using the iPod touch with a Camera, could we see an update before the Holiday Season? 11/3/2009?
Sense a trend here? Guess what, probably 1 out of every 3 customers makes the same smartass comment. The average Apple Store employee probably hears it 30 times a day, every day. And every time they hear it, they have to put on a silly smile and pretend the idiot who said it is the first person to ever make such a brilliant observation.
Retail would be the perfect job, if it wasn't for the customers.
Yes, this is precisely the reason why I hate working in retail. Customers bring me all their troubles and worries as though I'm the president of the company, and could actually do something about it. I get paid by the hour. My job is to take your money, nothing else. Moving right along...
I see where the positions that were already on the floor (Specialist + Concierge + Personal Shopper) are combining (they all directly dealt with sales anyway), but where did it say anything about hitting numbers? Yipes.
Wow, people were confused by different t-shirt colors? I never even noticed them. It wasn't hard to spot the store employees though; they were the ones with the desperate-to-please look in their eyes.
I wonder if exist any info about the barcode integrtion, for my incoming POS app I want that very badly. But I have not luck contacting to apple and to any other suplier that OI think (like zebra).
SH*T! There goes my AppStore idea to sell to Apple
- I always wondered WHY, if they use their own products for point of sale (software different), that purchase for wireless point of sale couldn't be implemented on the iPhone?
Shoot.
- I always wondered WHY, if they use their own products for point of sale (software different), that purchase for wireless point of sale couldn't be implemented on the iPhone?
Shoot.
Wonder if this explains the rumors of a camera on the iPod touch.
Perhaps they're special touch models used for barcode scanning.
Otherwise, are they going to add an external module?
Perhaps they're special touch models used for barcode scanning.
Otherwise, are they going to add an external module?
They don't exist here. They took registers out long ago. The only thing close to a register is at the Genius Bar.
This announcement is nicely timed. I was at the Apple Store last month and mentioned how much I hated the "paying hunt" in the follow up feedback survey.
Since the current EasyPays can't accept cash or checks, iPod recycles, Genius Bar checkouts, etc ... every store has at least one register for those types of transactions.
At the store near me, the register is a laptop at the end of the Genius Bar. Looks just like the laptops the Geniuses use, except it has the credit card swiper thing on the counter in front of it. Behind the counter, it has the cash drawer, Telecheck machine, etc.
I thought it was an external module, and the "hold up" has been that iPods/iPhones haven't been able to use external modules until the 3.0 OS came out earlier this summer.
IMO, they'd be absolutely nuts to introduce a special version of the touch, just for their retail stuff.
Since they need to ruggedise the touch, I sort of envisioned a 'sled' (with a barcode scanner) that the touch slides into. Be interesting to see what it really looks like!
For remote cash transactions, I'm envisioning an idea of Apple having multiple customized remote cash registers throughout the store coupled with a dock (and maybe a receipt printer). Then any employee with an iPod Touch requiring cash would simply come up and insert his iPod touch to instruct the register to open.
I never noticed anything to inform customers of what color shirts to look for anyways and found that too confusing. My last 2 trips to the Genius bar (both over a year ago) were abysmal. The greeter didn't greet me, the person who is supposed to check people in for Genius appointments was away helping customers, and the Genius's skipped over me according to the queue being displayed on the screen at the Genius bar. My last trip took 45 minutes just to speak with a Genius despite having an appointment.
As for the lack of a proper checkout stand, the last item I bought was a iPod Nano (fatty) shortly after they switched to not having the stand, and that was the last time I have ever purchased anything from them in-store. I've been getting everything from Fry's and Amazon now, instead.
Damn hippies!
As for the lack of a proper checkout stand, the last item I bought was a iPod Nano (fatty) shortly after they switched to not having the stand, and that was the last time I have ever purchased anything from them in-store. I've been getting everything from Fry's and Amazon now, instead.
Damn hippies!
I'm wondering since Apple will be using iPod Touches for there new device with barcode scanners, if this will bring the introduction of the iPod Touch with a camera? Since the iPhone 3GS with its camera can use programs like Redlaser to scan barcodes very very accurately now.
They will probably eliminate the concierge (especially since it's easy to check yourself in if you have an appointment), keep the Geniuses, Creatives, and iPhone Specialists at their respective stations and everyone else will have a iPod Touch.
Not sure how the money is going to work though.
I don't really see myself going to an Apple store for much anymore, what with the elimination of the software section from most of them.
If you've ever seen an Apple store on a normal day with 20 employees ringing up sales, I'd say you were lucky. Most of the time when I go in there most of the employees (who, for whatever reason, tend to be quite dirty and goofy looking) are standing around doing nothing, talking to each other, therefore making it difficult to buy things. Remember, this is retail. You generally do not get "go-getters" or "superstars" in retail. That's why they HAVE that job. In fact, one girl told me once, she just got the job because she thought it would be a cool place to work, she admitted to knowing nothing about Apple stuff. Not exactly stringent standards.
I once saw a guy saying how Apple employees were going to have to take a stand against the new MS store, and how they would have to dig deep and search their souls for what mattered (because you know, MS was offering some of them more money to come work for them instead). For all you guys who take this like a religion there are thousands and thousands more, who just think its a cool store, or that Apple stuff is just...you know...a fashion statement.
I love how, just as Microsoft launch their stores full off staff in multi-coloured t-shirts, Apple goes and changes all theirs to monochrome.
Well the original announcement that came out months ago said that they would be making quite a few. So ya never know...maybe more than two??
I can so see a 'Red Laser' type application being used - thats of course when the touch gets the camera .
.Which is exactly the point I was making. People don't know that. They only know the Genius Bar is where they can get tech support, so everyone standing there has tech support issues waiting to grab the attention of the barma ... I mean, Genius, as soon as they become available.
So the options are stand behind someone on the floor getting a product tour or stand behind someone at the Genius Bar with a tech support question. Either option can result in a long wait.
There's no differentiation between the "register" and the support section of the Genius Bar. It's just one big free-for-all.
I liked having the different colors. If you aren't a complete moron it isn't that big of an issue - oh wait, 99% of the general public are morons. My bad.
Oh, I agree. I get the feeling that Apple wants all of the transactions rung up on the EasyPays, vs. a long line at the single register that most stores have. I was just stating that the store near you does have a register somewhere, even if they only use it for the stuff that EasyPays can't do.
It's weird that your store doesn't have free people that can just ring you out. At the store near me, they have most of their people up "giving product tours" (as you call it), but there are always people back in the accessory area who are ringing up stuff with the EasyPays. Customers buying back there just gather around them. The biggest delay seems to be how long the EasyPays take to do something. It's like the employees scan a barcode, and then wait 10 seconds for it to show up on their screen. Hopefully the iPod touches will more things along more quickly.
Either way, it seems like Apple is aware that it can improve on the whole sales/paying experience, thus the changes.
They need some dedictated checkout lines. The store I visit only has one person ringing up people and that line during the holidays usually has about 10 people waiting.