I was downtown past midnight recently and was surprised to see this eerie line of empty chairs outside the Pioneer Place mall. What was this? A Rose Parade flashback?
No, said a friendly security guard doing his patrol, this was people waiting for the Apple store to open in the morning. The line has been there every night for the past three months. Instead of waiting on the curb, people set up the lawn chairs, then park their car right next to the mall and stay in there all night, keeping warm and vigilantly watching their spot. In the morning, the professional Apple hoarders get first into the Apple store and buy as many iPhone 5’s or iPad minis as they can. Then, they can turn around and resell them for more.
Apple tries to deter stockpiling and reselling its popular products by rationing purchases: At Portland’s store, you can only buy two iPhones at a time—when they’re in stock. I just called the store and they have neither iPhone 5’s or iPad minis. The clerk encouraged me to call back daily to check if they’re in stock. This has spawned an industry all itself of Apple flipping. If someone in the Portland line is rewarded for their night-long wait with the luck of being first into the Apple store on a day it actually has iPhone 5’s, they could buy two for $200 each and easily sell them for four times as much. It’s a gamble, but a quick way to make $800 a night by gaming Apple and its hype-hungry buyers.
I lingered too long by these chairs—as a friend and I stopped to take a photo of the seemingly empty street, suddenly three people jumped out of cars on the block and ran over. “You in line?!” one man asked quickly. No, no, no, no thanks.
So you sleep in a car and sit on the sidewalk for three months, in the hopes of making $1,200 profit? This story makes me sad.
Sent from my iPhone.
Pretty sure you can’t get an iPhone for $200 w/out signing a service contract thus reducing the alleged profit margin/night.
Don’t you have to enter into a two year contact to get a phone for that price and then pay a contract termination fee if you get out early? I assume they don’t and just deal with all the debt collection stuff later on. Great business model.
I got mine last week. A guy at the store told me to make a reservation online at the magic hour of 10 pm, and then I got an email in the morning that it was ready for me, then I went in to pick it up.
http://www.apple.com/retail/iphone/
My brother, however, somehow managed to walk in and just get one a couple of weeks ago. I guess the hoarders had that day off.
I’m still wondering where these people in the U.S. are who are paying extra. It’s not that hard to figure out how to get one. My friend in Miami, though, bought a bunch and sold them in Brazil. I don’t think he did the lawn chair thing, though he did mention possibly flying to Puerto Rico to just to get some from the Apple Store there.
This is pathetic for so many reasons. It’s probably more lucrative to just get a job in a burger joint in the long run. Of course, having a job flipping burgers is actual work, as opposed to sitting in your car guarding the sidewalk for days on end. Pathetic.
They aren’t paying extra in the US. The phones are being shipped back to China to be sold. Ironic, no?