Retail Employee Perspective of Bricks in Boxes

Ever get home after an exciting trip of running to some retail store to purchase the latest gadget that you just had to have, only to open up the box to find something other than what you were expecting? I never have, but there are many who haven’t been so lucky, and we see proof of this every so often with a disgruntled blog post of someone expressing their woes.

In recent memory, there have been stories of people opening their product to find bricks or stones, floor tiles and even meat (could you imagine how bad that would have to smell!?). This isn’t an issue that likely happens every minute of the day, but it does happen enough to make us all wary about leaving the store with our purchase. Usually, I look all over the product to make sure it feels solid, and doesn’t look like it’s been opened before, but some people are very crafty, so even that may not protect you.

Ars Technica took the time to interview three previous employees of differing stores, to get down to the bottom of things. How does this happen, and who’s behind it all? It seems that most often, it’s not the employees doing this, but actually the customer. One scheme is to purchase the product, replace it with something of an equal weight, and then bring it back to the store for a refund. Nice.

What I found most interesting about the story though, wasn’t so much the actual topic at hand, but the knowledge of  just how hardcore Apple is with their Apple Store employees. Imagine having your bag searched by the manager on duty after each shift, and also reporting each electronic item you own when you come to work. They’re truly gung-ho about making sure nothing gets stolen internally, and it must work, since few of the stories like these have an Apple Store at the source.

My question to you is, what would be better, opening up a box to find a pile of bricks, or opening up a box to find a bricked product? Well, I sure know one would be more interesting than the other…

As for employee theft, Apple keeps its stockroom locked with more locked cages inside, and employees must sign out a key from a manager before gaining access to product. And that’s not all. “All employees’ bags had to be searched by a manager prior to leaving the store at the end of a shift,” Apple David said. “Any personal tech gear had to be registered with the store, and a manager would issue a ‘personal technology card’ with your items and their serial numbers, which would be checked every time you left the building with said gear.”