Apple is again the focus of a New York Times profile for the newspaper's "iEconomy" series, but this time the spotlight turns from China and shines brightly on the company's apparently underpaid retail staffers here in the U.S.
The New York Times filed yet another report on Apple over the weekend, another in a string of "iEconomy" profiles, which have thus far remained largely on the iPhone maker's manufacturing in China.
That changed with the June 23 entry entitled "Apple's Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay," which, as you might guess, attempts to expose Apple for paying too little to those who sell their Mac computers and iGadgets at retail.
For example, there's Salem, New Hampshire employee Jordan Golson, who sold $750,000 worth of Apple products over three months, yet couldn't afford to pop the cork on a bottle of champagne to celebrate the occasion.
“I was earning $11.25 an hour,” Golson reveals. “Part of me was thinking, ‘This is great. I’m an Apple fan, the store is doing really well.’ But when you look at the amount of money the company is making and then you look at your paycheck, it’s kind of tough.”
The crux of the report focuses on how Apple makes $5,647 per square foot of retail store space, compared with glitzy retailer Tiffany, the second ranked store chain who makes a mere $3,085 per square foot. There's also a disparity in their pay scale, with Apple employees averaging a base pay of $11.91 per hour against Tiffany's $15.60.
"About 30,000 of the 43,000 Apple employees in this country work in Apple Stores, as members of the service economy, and many of them earn about $25,000 a year," the report explains. "They work inside the world’s fastest growing industry, for the most valuable company, run by one of the country’s most richly compensated chief executives, Tim Cook."
On the flip side, the report does note that Apple pays "well above the minimum wage of $7.25 and better than the Gap," considered "average pay" by the report. "The company also offers very good benefits for a retailer, including health care, 401(k) contributions and the chance to buy company stock, as well as Apple products, at a discount," the report also noted.
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(Image courtesy of The New York Times)
Geoduck
June 26, 2012 at 6:08am
This is typical of entry level retail. Look at any big profitable company and you'll find people earning minimum at the bottom. Think ExxonMoble pays EVERYONE $20/hr or more? Think Berkshire Hathaway does? No, there are higher level skilled jobs and there are low paying entry level jobs and the people at the bottom just scrape by. I used to work for a call center. Top management got paid VERY well. I was in the middle and was comfortable though it was tight and my wife had to 'unretire' and take a job to keep a roof over our head. The poor schleps manning the phones got minimum, no paid lunch, and as nearly all of them were part time, no benefits. Fair? What's fair got to do with it, it's business and that's the way it is.
This is why I do not read the NYT: bias always wins out over facts.
OUfan08
June 25, 2012 at 10:59pm
Why is this even a story! I work at a gas station night assistant manager making $10.39 a hour cleaning up after people, and yes that includes vomit!! If you don't like it you go work elsewhere, simple as that. I hate the fact that people feel entitled so much these days! Live within your means and this won't be a big deal, but stop pretending that everybody is entitled to $15+ per hour!
Winski
June 25, 2012 at 10:24am
So, somebody at the NYT has a jones for Apple, hey?
They best know where the line is that they CANNOT step over before a building happens to fall on them... Apple is a patient giant sometimes, but when you awake the slumbering behemoth, you're usually done.
ryanbyui
June 25, 2012 at 7:30am
I worked at Apple as a Genius for three years and this article was very accurate. I loved working for Apple.
However, the problem is that people think that the "corporate" part of the company is mixed with the Apple Store part of the company and it is not. Nobody gets more let down or confused by this than the people who are "higher up" in the Apple Store world. There are people who are in management who think that they are going to show up in Cupertino, or technicians who think that they will be designing operating systems. There is a very large divide between the corporate world and the retail world. Now, I am no business insider, but that would make sense as to why their retail employees are not paid as much. Retail is not Apple as people seem to think of it.
Having said that, I think that Apple allowed me to stand side by side with some of the finest people I have ever worked with and those people deserve a raise...and a big one.
davemanson
June 25, 2012 at 6:21am
Don't forget about the Apple Care phone support agents. They make between $10.50 and $12.50 an hour, depending on the level of support they provide.
