Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Pauly Hart
www.paulyhart.tk
As it is with most people, I have been eagerly anticipating the release of Apples newest baby, the iphone 4g. I have waited with most other consumers in this hectic world of commerce for the coming of it, and I was told by the powers-that-be that I would be able to receive my new baby tomorrow, Thursday, June 24th.
Now I am being told otherwise. This morning at the coffee-shop, I was talking with a former Apple employee. He had with him something very very frightening. A sheet of paper that was a blow to my trust in the world at large.
"They handed me this and I just walked out the door." He said.
"I would have done the same thing." was all I had to say.
You see, The only people that will be getting their phone on Thursday are the people who pre-ordered it. No new sales will be made that day. Neither at AT&T stores, nor at Apple stores.
The world must wait until next Tuesday, June 29th, to go to a store to purchase the Apple iphone 4g.
The reasons for this are easy to understand if you step away from your humanity and view it through the eye of the ever money hungry corporation. I know it irks you to try it, but lets see it their way for just a second.
Here's how unimportant you are: They would rather displease a potential customer than a return customer. From the 600,000+ preorders, there are bound to be delays and mis-ships and sleepy employee's that mess things up. So, in order to nip that in the bud, there WILL be a surplus of all preorders at EACH store. So, if a store has "sold" 1,000... Somewhere along the lines of 1,100 will show up at that store.
Obviously the AT&T and Apple employees are going to feel that they "deserve" first dibs and so the supposed 100 that should be hitting the floor are being "saved" in the back as "floor models".
You think that this is not so? Think. I worked at Kay-Bee Toy Store the Christmas that Tickle-me-Elmo came out. How many were sent to the floor from the first shipment? Around half. And that was just a silly doll from the barrio.
This is why you will not get your phone after standing in line for eight hours. Corporate Greed. If there was an incentive program for the employees I am quite sure that the tide would stem and more often than not you would face gruntled employees and not disgruntled ones. however, the Shylocks that sit at the top of the eco-pyramid of both corporations will see to it that money comes in pocket as quick as it can. And whether this affects your happiness is not their concern.
Their only concern is increasing shareholder value.
Their own value.