[Artagra]

"Dediu refers to the giant gap between the cash Apple hauls in and what it pays its retail staff as Apple Store workers' "productivity." We'd guess there's probably another word for it, somewhere outside of the economist's lexicon."

Does the author of this article realise that different products have different markups? That Apple actually has to make these computers also? That a fair way to compare employee renumeration is directly, rather than through some random metric?

As an employee, I would rather earn $9 at store A selling $1000 worth of products than $5 at store B selling $6 dollars worth of products!

Do professional sports people feel taken advantage of? Cause you know, they get quite a small percentage of the total take of TV advertising that leverages off of their work.

/Rant Over. Wow, I wish more people studied Econ 101

[dodedo]

"That Apple actually has to make these computers also?"

Indeed. Why would a salesperson at an Apple store be entitled to more than the going rate for retail work? Merely because an Apple /engineer/ did an outstanding job? That's nonsense.

Can Apple store employees show outstanding performance relative to other distribution channels? Relative to other stores, or to online sales? If so then the retail employee is producing value and there are grounds to demand higher compensation.

But if the cash haul is universal across distribution channels, which it is according to the article, then the folks entitled to a bonus are working back at 1 Infinite Loop.

[beagle3]

> Merely because an Apple /engineer/ did an outstanding job? That's nonsense.

Furthermore, from what I've heard, Apple engineers don't get more than the going rate either for doing an outstanding job of executing the outstanding /designer/ vision. And neither do most of the people who work at design in apple.

But the outstanding /executives/ do actually get more than the going rate. That includes the heads of design, engineering and sales.

[yahelc]

Yes, professional sports people do feel taken advantage of. Did you not just see the NBA lock-out? Players genuinely feel like management is taking advantage of them. See this excellent Bill Simmons analysis over at Grantland: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7250994/business-vs-pers...

[Artagra]

Very good point! My argument is that feeling taken advantage of does not necessarily mean that you are being taken advantage of, at least in an economic sense.