Comment Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score 1) 353
hiring people to work in your store who can't afford the product
Who said they can't afford it? An iPhone 5 currently goes for about $500 on eBay. US minimum wage is $7.25/hour, so it takes about 70 hours (1-2 weeks) to earn that much, pre tax. Even if they're paid double minimum wage, an iPhone 5 is something that you can easily slip into your bag, and selling it on eBay will double your weekly income for a tiny extra effort. If you manage to average one every week, then it's a nice extra income, and if you're willing to steal from your employer then you probably aren't going to be in too much of a hurry to declare the income for tax purposes either, so it will more than double your take-home pay.
Forcing employees to spend time on the premises without pay is clearly illegal, but to pay them enough that there was no economic incentive to steal would mean paying 10 or more times minimum wage and I don't think any retailer can afford that.