Complaining about Apple retail conditions is like 'writing to Santa'
As Apple continues to fight against unionization in Apple Stores, staff reveal how they are being driven to seek union help in what used to be the best job in retail.
Apple Towson in Maryland. Credit: Apple
Apple truly changed the face of retail with the original Apple Stores in 2001,
"The center half of the store -- literally half of the store -- is devoted to solutions," said Steve Jobs in a promo video at the time. "Because people don't just want to buy personal computers any more, they want to know what they can do with them."
That focus on the customer rather than pushing products and upselling configurations is what made the Apple Store stand out. And it is now what staff are saying is gone.
Bloomberg interviewed a number of Towson Apple Store staff and was consistently told that the stores had become, as one said, just retail, "BS... it's just crafted in a prettier package."
"When I started with the company," said Kevin Gallagher from the Towson store that recently unionized despite great pressure from Apple, "it felt like the only number that they worried about was your customer service score. [Now] they're looking to milk every last cent out of every square foot."
"It kind of killed my spirit a little bit," Graham DeYoung, a 15-year employee at the Towson store, told the publication. "As a technician, my heart is to fix your shit. That's what I want to do. But what I'm encouraged to do is to say, 'Well, this is what your phone is worth for a trade-in.'"
The Towson store in Maryland reportedly used to have a "giant laminated photo of a tree" in the staff break room, where workers had to put a stick-on label every time they made a sale. The stickers had to include a device serial number so the claim could be checked.
"The tree pushed people to want to upsell," said the same store's Tyra Reeder. "You have to focus on your numbers being perfect."
Apple Towson ultimately unionized after Apple reportedly regularly asked for feedback and allegedly never responded to it. Ideas were "bubbled up" to management and forgotten.
"It's like writing a letter to Santa," said employee Eric Brown. "Pretty much just like an empty slot that leads to a fire pit."
Mandatory anti-union meetings were held, in which managers echoed senior vice president of retail and human resources Deirdre O'Brien's stance. She has previously said "I worry about what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship."
Apple Genius Derrick Bowles, who now advises pro-union Apple retail workers, says that managers said the same thing in more blunt ways. "If I have a problem with my wife," Bowles quoted one manager as saying, "I don't go talk to my mistress."
Reportedly, a Black manager cited union racism of the 19th century as a reason to not join. She is said to have touched her skin and said: "[unions] don't care about us."
"We remain committed, as always, to delivering the excellent Apple experience -- for our customers, our team members, and the communities we serve," Apple told Bloomberg. "Our retail and online teams connect with customers to help them get the most out of their products and ensure they receive an unparalleled level of support."
"We're proud to offer our teams exceptional benefits and strong compensation," continued the company, "including new family support and education programs."
Apple recently raised its hourly pay from $20 to $22, following increased moves to unionize. The Towson Store's laminated tree was taken down after that store successfully unionized.
It's not only retail staff who have been complaining about working conditions at Apple, but ex-Apple software engineer Cher Scarlett told Bloomberg that there is a difference. While many software workers have left Apple to find better conditions, she says retail staff have "been experiencing these kinds of issues for a long time, and they want them to be addressed, and they want to stay."
Read on AppleInsider
Apple Towson in Maryland. Credit: Apple
Apple truly changed the face of retail with the original Apple Stores in 2001,
"The center half of the store -- literally half of the store -- is devoted to solutions," said Steve Jobs in a promo video at the time. "Because people don't just want to buy personal computers any more, they want to know what they can do with them."
That focus on the customer rather than pushing products and upselling configurations is what made the Apple Store stand out. And it is now what staff are saying is gone.
Bloomberg interviewed a number of Towson Apple Store staff and was consistently told that the stores had become, as one said, just retail, "BS... it's just crafted in a prettier package."
"When I started with the company," said Kevin Gallagher from the Towson store that recently unionized despite great pressure from Apple, "it felt like the only number that they worried about was your customer service score. [Now] they're looking to milk every last cent out of every square foot."
"It kind of killed my spirit a little bit," Graham DeYoung, a 15-year employee at the Towson store, told the publication. "As a technician, my heart is to fix your shit. That's what I want to do. But what I'm encouraged to do is to say, 'Well, this is what your phone is worth for a trade-in.'"
The Towson store in Maryland reportedly used to have a "giant laminated photo of a tree" in the staff break room, where workers had to put a stick-on label every time they made a sale. The stickers had to include a device serial number so the claim could be checked.
"The tree pushed people to want to upsell," said the same store's Tyra Reeder. "You have to focus on your numbers being perfect."
Apple Towson ultimately unionized after Apple reportedly regularly asked for feedback and allegedly never responded to it. Ideas were "bubbled up" to management and forgotten.
"It's like writing a letter to Santa," said employee Eric Brown. "Pretty much just like an empty slot that leads to a fire pit."
Apple's anti-union measures
Apple is being investigated by the US National Labor Relations Board over allegations of union-busting at at New York store, and Towson staff told Bloomberg how they had seen the same thing.Mandatory anti-union meetings were held, in which managers echoed senior vice president of retail and human resources Deirdre O'Brien's stance. She has previously said "I worry about what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship."
Apple Genius Derrick Bowles, who now advises pro-union Apple retail workers, says that managers said the same thing in more blunt ways. "If I have a problem with my wife," Bowles quoted one manager as saying, "I don't go talk to my mistress."
Reportedly, a Black manager cited union racism of the 19th century as a reason to not join. She is said to have touched her skin and said: "[unions] don't care about us."
"We remain committed, as always, to delivering the excellent Apple experience -- for our customers, our team members, and the communities we serve," Apple told Bloomberg. "Our retail and online teams connect with customers to help them get the most out of their products and ensure they receive an unparalleled level of support."
"We're proud to offer our teams exceptional benefits and strong compensation," continued the company, "including new family support and education programs."
Apple recently raised its hourly pay from $20 to $22, following increased moves to unionize. The Towson Store's laminated tree was taken down after that store successfully unionized.
It's not only retail staff who have been complaining about working conditions at Apple, but ex-Apple software engineer Cher Scarlett told Bloomberg that there is a difference. While many software workers have left Apple to find better conditions, she says retail staff have "been experiencing these kinds of issues for a long time, and they want them to be addressed, and they want to stay."
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
these people do not want to be judged in performance but instead want participation trophies.
I am glad Apple is freezing hiring and next move should hopefully announce layoffs of the worse performing stores
thank you Tim Cook
Walked into my local Apple Store yesterday to inquire about having the back glass on my iPhone 13 Pro Max replaced and I asked the three workers standing in the front of the store if under AppleCare they would only replace the glass (my preferred option) or if they would replace the whole device. Out of the three none could answer for sure. What you used to get in Apple Stores was knowledgeable salespeople that loved the products as much if not more than we did. I’m not sure how unionized workers change that mentality and dynamic but I’d love to see the change.
Since the battery replacement program corporate has begun to appreciate what retail can do. Higher pay, benefits for part time workers, more restricted stock grants, leave and vacation increases, tuition reimbursement. Heck paying every retail employee to stay home through out the pandemic. Including paying part timers their average from the holiday quarter.
The friction is middle managers. They are the ones putting up the upsell tree and jacking the antiunion messaging. Most have never had a management course and especially the old school Ron Johnson/Steve Jobs retail messaging. There are still people in Apple Retail that, as Steve would say, "bleed in Six Colors" we'll see if Dierdre can remember those days.
Then you get the Jobs this and the Jobs that from people who clearly don't know anything about the man. Yet they blabber the most about him.
Honestly if the various Apple senior execs just tried doing the jobs of these workers they take for granted and assume are easily replaceable. Suddenly a lot of things would change. They’d push like crazy for better working conditions at the store, and they’d completely rework things for people on the phones if they actually experienced the world their employees live in every day.
Part of the issue I think is they're just too successful now so there's not enough room to do what they used to be able to do. There's no room for a class to be held in one let alone the noise from the store itself over top of a speaker in the class. There's no true genius bar anymore. You just meet a person at a table who is trying to fix 5 other people's issues at the same time so you really never feel any true attention to your issue.
My store is usually absolutely packed with people so it's just a pain in the ass even being in there. They really need a larger location.