Apple cuts 1600 from Apple Stores

Cleve Nettles
|
April 24, 2009
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The quarter wasn't all roses for Apple.  Turns out, it has been reducing employee hours at the Apple Store to the tune of 1600 equivalent jobs.  We say 'equivalent' because not all workers were full time.  Currently Apple Retail employs 14,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from 15,600 at the end of Apple's first fiscal quarter, according to a filing with the SEC.  The reduction of numbers wasn't a result of any particular directive or massive layoff, Apple just slowed hiring as the normal high turnover of retail lowered job numbers.

The per store revenue fell to to $5.9 million from $7.1 million year over year.  Overall, revenue increased just 1 percent to $1.74 billion, yet 45 new stores having opened last year.  So, Apple wasn't immune.  

While Apple is reducing numbers, they might want to consider some "turnover" in their iTunes Apps Store approvers.

 

 

Comments (13)

Anony-mouse (not verified) | April 24, 2009 - 7:04am

The Apple Store employee turnover is hardly what I would consider a "high" turnover rate. When I go into my local Apple store, I'm able to spot employees that I've known for years, and it's not just one or two, but several.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 24, 2009 - 7:56am

Wow, your one store experience seals the deal for me! All other quantitative analyses of Apple stores are irrelevant. Thanks for contributing such great and statistically relevant information to the discussion.

Too funny

Jerad Hill (not verified) | April 24, 2009 - 8:21am

I think Apple is not doing their company any justice opening up Apple stores all over. We still have a privately owned Apple Authorized Dealer in town that I will only buy from. Apple should have helped him out rather then opening stores in the same town. Apple is going to do to themselves what Starbucks did. Open to many stores to fast and have to cut the fat when performance is down. All closing stores does is hurt brand moral. I think Apple should have only opened stores in big cities. I remember driving to the bay area, a little over an hour away to go to the apple store. Now I don't give a crap and would rather order online then deal with the so called Apple Genius' whom mostly quit their job at Starbucks so they could wear a t-shirt to work.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 24, 2009 - 9:46am

Jerad Hill
Just to let you know
Mac Genius have an hardware and a software certificate OS X
whose are not easy to get

so before judge people, switch on your brain!

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 24, 2009 - 8:33am

1600 people divided by 250 stores is about 6.5 people per store. Probably wouldn't even notice that considering the amount of people that work in most stores

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 25, 2009 - 7:58am

Pretty snobbish attitude.

You'd be thinking differently if it was your job.

So Apple won't just cut you and let you get on with life
They deprive you of hours and make you live in Poverty.

Oooooooooooooh. The Beauty of Apple

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 24, 2009 - 8:50am

Except it sucks only having 8 hours a week and this being your only job...

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 27, 2009 - 11:42am

If 8 hours a week does not fit your financial needs, then get another or different job. Will the whining ever end???

Dan Birchall (not verified) | April 24, 2009 - 11:23am

This doesn't actually mean *anyone* lost their job.

Using the "full-time equivalent employee" language is talking about hours worked in aggregate. So you CAN have an 11.75% drop in "full-time equivalent employees" by actually getting rid of 11.75% of your employees - or you can do it by cutting everyone's hours 11.75%.

In fact, in November 2008, it was widely reported that Apple was doing exactly that - managing retail staffing costs by asking retail staff to work fewer hours.

This newly announced reduction in "full-time equivalent employees" does not explicitly correlate to the loss of ANY jobs. While I am sure the number of employees has declined due to post-holiday adjustments or people leaving and not being replaced, a large portion of the change in "full-time equivalent employees" is certainly due to reductions in hours worked.

jay-t (not verified) | April 25, 2009 - 12:15am

As far as I am concerned, they cut hours, that WOULD represent 1600 full time employees! So, they did not necessarily fire people, they just work less...

insiders perspective (not verified) | April 25, 2009 - 5:40pm

"Mac Genius have an hardware and a software certificate OS X
whose are not easy to get
so before judge people, switch on your brain!"

Mac Hardware and Software certifications are so straightforward as to be ridiculous!

If you can't read the print material, get some basic grasp on it and get through 60 or 80 multiple choice questions, you shouldn't be able to be in control of difficult things... like cars and TV remotes.

The Genius Bar guys have something that most Apple Reseller Employees will never have - the ability to make a decision and act upon it without going through the bureaucracy that is Apple.

It's a shame your certifications didn't cover "Functional English 101" rather than delving into " CYA 102" (An Apple employee pre-req LOL)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 25, 2009 - 6:55pm

What's the starting and the average salary for an Apple Store employee?

Eric (not verified) | April 27, 2009 - 9:43am

You bit with the Apple bashing articles that got their facts wrong. Apple did not lay off 1,600 people. They're opening 25 new stores this year. Try to be more accurate in the future, please.