Dell shuttering mall kiosks?

Sad news brewing in Round Rock this morning. After slashing "dozens" of call center employees in Ottawa yesterday (and scrapping plans for 1,200 more), it looks like Dell is taking its cost cutting initiatives retail. Unfortunately, we're not talking lower prices here. We have word from a number of sources that Dell's 150+ Dell Direct Stores are about to meet the business end of the corporate axe. Whether that be in full or a partial reduction we don't know. Nevertheless, with Dell now firmly entrenched in Wal-mart, Staples, and Best Buy, the mall kiosks sure seem redundant. Expect more on this later in the AM after Michael Dell's had a chance to address the troops.

Read -- Dell Ottawa closures

[Taylor @ Jan 30th 2008 3:13AM]

The kiosks are completely redundant. Theres one in my mall thats totally empty, and a Best Buy across the street that does more Dell business in a week then they do in a year. Nobody wants to shop at a Kiosk because they don't even carry stock, they just order online like you already could from home.

[Kyran @ Jan 30th 2008 3:58AM]

I totally agree. The only purpose my local Dell kiosks have is to give Dell an excuse to charge me tax for ordering their 24" LCD from across the country.

Okay, so I was able to get the kiosk guy to knock $25 bucks off an order of $500 or more, but it's still basically just ordering online in a public place.

[Mickey Jones @ Jan 30th 2008 10:44AM]

Oh great. This frees up a kiosk for another phone service, hand cream, toy helicopter sales person.

[Unemployed @ Feb 3rd 2008 1:00PM]

unfortunatly you don't have a clue what the kiosk do as far as business. I was a manager at a kiosk and although I am not thrilled about their decision I do know what kind of dollars they do and that they were extremely helpful to the consumer. In closing for the geeks of the world that know exactly what they want in a computer the kiosks weren't as important, but for the people who needed a good computer with more power than the ones offered at the retail locations the kiosk was a highly useful tool.

[michael @ Jan 30th 2008 4:20AM]

It's not a wonder. Looking at some big electronics at a kiosk, doesn't feel as satisfying as going to a real store. Usually any kiosk with electronics brings up thoughts of "junk". Usually little gadgets and doodads. And it's not like the Dell kiosks were that interesting.

If they open a store, and have interesting items and a crowd pleaser, then I might be interested.

[m @ Jan 30th 2008 3:42AM]

dude, you're getting laid off.

[nxtiak @ Jan 30th 2008 3:44AM]

Dang, if they close their kiosks, where will people submit there subpeonas for small claims court to?

[teej @ Jan 30th 2008 11:17AM]

michael scott's special filing cabinet?

[Jagannath A @ Jan 30th 2008 4:37AM]

all your call center jobs are belong to us

-India

[Glenn @ Jan 30th 2008 4:58AM]

I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.

[Chosenbydestiny @ Jan 30th 2008 6:18AM]

Darn, where will the Dell employees go now? File for unemployment?

[Jeff M @ Jan 30th 2008 5:07PM]

They will be forced to get a real job that they won't be embarrassed to tell people about.

Uh, I work at a kiosk in the mall selling computers that people can't even take home with them. (inside head - and I don't even work for Dell. I work for a nine month hiring agency called Spherion only got a few months left. Dang! Maybe I can work for Apple! (That would be an even worse mistake!)

[Pastry Chef @ Jan 30th 2008 6:23AM]

Does this mean that they can stop charging tax again? Personally, there were many times that I didn't purchase things from Dell.com because they started charging tax due to the fact that they had those stupid kiosks in my state.

[aoeu00 @ Jan 30th 2008 10:12AM]

Very good point! Down with tax!

[Sam @ Jan 30th 2008 7:10AM]

ok lets think about this...i go to the apple store, crammed full of people, it has a nice atmosphere and good service and lots of toys to play with. 20 feet away is a dell cart with 2 employees and 5 computers. it looks pathetic and its physical placement make it something everyone will pass by and never visit. bravo dell.

[Dan S. @ Jan 30th 2008 8:56AM]

At Halloween, he morons in the local Dell kiosk, about 200 feet from a 45' Apple Store actually had obnoxiously-orange T-shirts on that read 'no one wants an Apple for Halloween.' They also made a point of loudly verbally harassing anyone who walked by with an Apple bag or wearing an Apple shirt.

You'd think that they would have noticed that every time they made an obnoxious comment, people who were actually browsing their kiosk would, literally, turn and walk away.

[Former Kiosk Employee @ Jan 30th 2008 7:22AM]

You know what? They did this to us overnight. Some of us are having our worst fears confirmed by Engadget before they even tell their employees. Yesterday we had jobs, and now we have a conference call in an hour with no details as to what is going on. I understand that we were not super busy but for a small cart in the mall we did a decent amount of business, despite out overhead. This is the nature of lay-offs I suppose, but we got f***ing screwed. The people they have on the kiosks are not some 16 year old in Best Buy that can't find the space bar, we are the only face in Dell sales you will EVER see and as much as I understand that Best Buy/Staples can sell and demonstrate our product they aren't capable(atleast currently) to do what we did. Alot of us are the enthusiasts, the people that get excited and buy computers every year, or more frequently, and Michael Dell(a former system builder) just said let me save a penny a share and C**K slapped us in the face. The best part about it is that we were not a cost to the company, despite what you think we were atleast in our Region very profitable.

[Skeezle @ Jan 30th 2008 7:42AM]

So go apply for a job at the Apple store now.

Like I've said all along - Dell sucks.

[Jeff M @ Jan 30th 2008 4:14PM]

Ha ha, sucks to be you. Now go get a real job and get a MAC! I worked there until last week. Never been happier now that I quit that stupid job. Dell treated me terrible. Gave me very few hours, terrible commission (.5%), and location had almost no traffic.

[HAHA JEFF @ Jan 30th 2008 4:29PM]

Hey Jeff glad you timed out so nicely, Even Spherion employees got a decent severance package you moron. Enjoy working at Apple(Mac is the product line) I'm sure they will welcome you.

[Unemployed 2 @ Jan 31st 2008 2:39PM]

I agree it sucks. I was with them for almost 4 years!! When Best Buy started carrying Dell, I had people coming to me saying how they(Best Buy) employees didn't know what they were talking about and they weren't helpful at all. They rather wait for the computer they really wanted instead getting something some punk kid points out. FYI most Spherion hires got hired on as Dell, if they were good enough. I know my paycheck said Dell and not Spherion. Sucks I won't be getting any more of those anymore.

[egloskerry @ Feb 12th 2008 8:47AM]

You don't want people generalizing Dell kiosk employees? Then don't do it to BBY employees. Most PCHO departments have some of the most knowledgable employees in the store, and that's saying something, because HT has some pretty smart people too.

[wickedpheonix @ Jan 30th 2008 7:46AM]

The kiosks weren't completely redundant - they would often have higher-end PCs for people to test run before buying online, and that was really pretty much their sole purpose. Sure, I can go look at one of these $700 Inspirons at the local Best Buy or Staples, but only the kiosk would have that new dual-8800M GTX XPS system.

[Andrew D @ Jan 30th 2008 8:25AM]

I used to work for the Dell kiosk and they weren't ment for the people who could order online. We were acting as consultants in the buying process.

At the Apple store you get a big inventory and lots of friendly faces. They don't need to consult you on anything cause you have like 4 things to choose from and seriously the normal consumer doesn't need to "upgrade" anything on a standard Apple.

Pc's are different and some people really enjoyed meeting face to face to discuss what they needed in thier computer.

It's sad they are getting rid of these as i know many were profitable. The kiosk i worked at made anywhere between 30k-60k a week depending on the time of the year.

[Max W @ Jan 30th 2008 2:49PM]

Is the 30-60k a week what was made in profit or how much product you sold, because those are two different things. I find it hard to believe that a Dell kiosk made 30-60k in profits per week. If they did they would not be closing them

[Andrew D @ Jan 30th 2008 2:51PM]

OH no no def not profit!!! That is revenue. However, we were very margin rich in what we sold. It was a case of 2-3 kiosks in an area doing great and 2-3 doing reeeaally bad. I guess Dell figured instead of consolidating the kiosks again to just axe it and focus on Best Buy etc.

[Darrell Eads @ Jan 30th 2008 8:45AM]

I work for dell, and I am currently on hold awaiting a conference call on this subject. I work at a kiosk and we were not notified on anything until about 10pm last night when we where made aware our kiosk in the mall was being taken apart. The security guards called us to make sure we knew what was happening. Ill update if I can after our conference call. It was supposed to start at 8:15am EST, but its 8:40 now and I was just told it would be about 5 more minutes.

[Dan S. @ Jan 30th 2008 8:59AM]

Classy. Very classy. "Don't come to work tomorrow -- it no longer exists. Have a good night."

So, is Michael Dell giving this money back to the stockholders?

[Ben @ Jan 30th 2008 8:41AM]

Yeah! No more sales tax!

[Joe @ Jan 30th 2008 8:42AM]

Dell has been asleep at the wheel for awhile. Retail is very simple. It calls for something called inventory on the shelf.

[Darrell Eads @ Jan 30th 2008 8:48AM]

I can confirm that the kiosks are shut down. As of last night I am out of a job, severance information should arrive today or tomorrow to us through the mail. They have arraigned partnerships with Staples and Best Buy for us kiosk employees to possibly work for them.

[Andrew D @ Jan 30th 2008 9:02AM]

...You're still going to have to pay tax

[Mikee @ Jan 30th 2008 9:06AM]

I find it absolutely ridiculous how a company as rich as Dell *desperately* needs to cut costs. Maybe if they put more emphasis on customer satisfaction rather than cutting costs, they would gain more money from new customers and they wouldn't need to cut our jobs.

Seriously, do the executives of Dell actually use their computers? How about their tech support? Indian tech support is the *worst* thing that could have ever happened to the technology industry. It's not like the major corporations don't know about the absolutely terrible service from India...They just don't care. Instead, they give them fake ass American names as if they are really fooling anyone.

The more these technology companies "cut costs" the more we the consumers get fucked.

Fuck you Dell!

[parki @ Jan 30th 2008 2:02PM]

Don't buy a Pontiac and expect to be treated like you're at a Mercedes dealership.

[Andrew D @ Jan 30th 2008 9:18AM]

2 months severance and options to go to best buy or stapels.

[HowlinRob @ Jan 31st 2008 12:06PM]

It happened this morning...all US based Kiosks are official closed...

[opus @ Jan 30th 2008 10:10AM]

The cost cutting at Dell has spread to tech support too. Now when you call with a system problem they ask you if you live close to a Best Buy and suggest that you take your computer to Geeksquad. Obviously the deal between BB and Dell included making Geeksquad the defacto tech support department for Michael Dell.

[Craig Tucker @ Jan 30th 2008 10:23AM]

Sorry to the former kiosk employee(s) posting here, but I've found every Dell kiosk worker to be absolutely useless. You have a finite product line (handful of desktops, handful of laptops, maybe a printer and a tv), cant you take 20 minutes out of your time standing there to maybe, oh I dont know, learn the specs? Most recently I was inquiring about the thinnest laptops Dell had. I asked if they were offering solid state drives, and the kiosk employee had to look it up. I could've done that myself. When I inquired about the Sony tv, and what happened to the Dell-branded TVs, the employee had no clue. What happened to customer service? Salesmanship?

[Darrell Eads @ Jan 30th 2008 10:31AM]

Some Kiosk employees were not actual Dell Employees and may have been new. My kiosk, there were 2 dell employees and 3 non Dell employees hired through a company called Spherion. Our spherion employees where very knowledgable, but I can't say that for others. The non dell employees were hired worked no longer than 9 months before they were laid off.

[Sdeezeee @ Jan 30th 2008 11:46AM]

You had one bad experience but an finite amount of product "we" could sell virtually anything off the site and at better prices and Im certain that most of us knew a heck of alot more about the product more than what you know. You had one bad experience, dont bundle us all in that

[Craig Tucker @ Jan 30th 2008 12:14PM]

Never said it was my only experience, just using it as an example of why I'm not surprised they're being closed down. Did I say anything about your kiosk, or all kiosks other than the ones I have been to? No. This is a case study. Fact is, on more than one occasion I've approached a kiosk with the intention to buy, but the salesmen turned me off from it. They couldn't tell me one thing about the products sitting right in front of me without reading directly off the tag. Thanks, but I'm not an idiot, I can read. So I'm sorry I didn't go to your kiosk, or maybe I'd be typing this on a shiny new Dell, but sadly my experience was such that I am not the least bit surprised this sales approach has not panned out and Dell is eliminating it.

[Jacqueline @ Jan 30th 2008 10:47AM]

There's a Dell kiosk (I guess it's still there for now...) at a local mall around my way and the attention it gets from folks ranks just below a car accident. Barely any "rubbernecking" as you pass on towards the food court.

[Darrell Eads @ Jan 30th 2008 10:52AM]

Its not there now. All 155 were dismantled last night.

To the person who said 2 months pay, where did you get that from? I didn't hear that during the conference call. I did get some money deposited in my account this morning, but they said it was current pay and 100% of commissions to date. I am wondering about spiffs, holiday pay, personal time, etc...

[Sdeezeee @ Jan 30th 2008 11:46AM]

Im on hold too for that same conference call. One thing that bothers me almost as much as this unnecesary layoff is the ignorance that most of the ppl on here. You obvioiusly dont know what your talking about. We "were" the face of Dell, just because you ignorant A-holes can scrap a pc and put it back together in a matter of minutes doesnt mean that the other 98% of ppl can. Most ppl that came to our stores had no idea what kind of computer to get and they didnt want to be treated like cattle in a herd just being dished out the same kind of Best Buy "here's a box" BS that they now are forced to deal with. We were a 500 million dollar business for Dell and on average brought in more than 5%-10% more margin than online and phone sales. Which means lower prices for you idiots since Dell was making more money. Not only that but our prices were better than any of you could EVER get online even with your coupon codes.

So instead of b*tching and talking out your @ss about things you obviously have no idea about, how about a little bit of sympathy for the hard working Dell employees that just lost their jobs.

Plus, whoever this apple guy who keeps bitching about the kiosk near his beloved apple store, get a life and get over your h@rd drive envy. Apple computers will NEVER be as good as Dell computers. period, end of sentence.

[Pastry Chef @ Jan 30th 2008 6:57PM]

A little bitter, are we?

Look, sucker. You sold boxes. Commodities. Little separates your boxes and the competitor's boxes other than price.

[Sdeezeee @ Jan 30th 2008 1:37PM]

Pastry Chef, get a life you loser

[Jeff M @ Jan 30th 2008 4:56PM]

Uh, look dude, the company you WORKED for sucks and it Sucks to be you and I'm happy your laid off. I know because I just was laid off last week because my 9 month contract was up and they wouldn't extend it. Guess I know why now. Fact is, the company didn't pay their employees much. $10/hr base, crappy commissions(.5% and 1% for orders that were on Dell preferred accounts(crappy)) How stupid is that? I couldn't get more hours toward the last months I worked there. Only getting about 12 hrs week, they would never give employee discounts, kiosk was in shambles, tarp, doors falling off hinges. etc, etc. If i ever needed to make changed to orders, manager would delay order 3 days. Even if we had to change customers address, 3 days!

There was a time when I had to threaten legal action to get the pay that they owed me. I could go on and on but why? I'm just so happy that they closed these kiosks. Our kiosk wouldn't get the products until months later after they were introduced. I received almost no training whatsoever through the nine months I was there. Not talking about product training. Talking about sales training. You get the picture. I don't feel sorry for anyone of you Dell employees that is without a job. For nine months, they dangled the carrot in front your face that was a Dell position at the kiosk. That meant that you would get paid a whopping .3% more commission. Whoooaaa! Their quotas were almost impossible to meet over a period of time and almost no one ever obtained the "coveted" Dell employee status. Why, because the customers suck and so does the company. I worked my butt off for nine months and came super close to meeting the quota to be a Dell employee. But nope. Thanks for nothing Dell.

You should be grateful that Dell is forcing you to get a real job that you won't be ashamed to tell people about. "Umm, I work for Dell"(you work for Spherion, not Dell) at a, uhh, mall kiosk.

[Jeff Don't Think @ Jan 30th 2008 5:04PM]

Jeff I think you are confused. You worked for a temp agency Spherion NOT Dell. They wouldn't extend your 9 month contract period because weren't good at enough at your job to get promoted, like many of us did.

We got 17% off new systems if you stuck around long enough.

Also, another perk of being a full timer at Dell was that your commission was doubled and buddy that adds up.

Don't take your failures out the rest of us because you didn't work hard enough to get a full time gig. Employees just like yourself are a contributory factor to a mass lay off like this.

If your Dell Badged Reps were doing their jobs the kiosk would not be in shambles.

[Jeff M @ Jan 30th 2008 5:54PM]

Jeff I think you are confused. You worked for a temp agency Spherion NOT Dell. They wouldn't extend your 9 month contract period because weren't good at enough at your job to get promoted, like many of us did.

Uh, I know I worked for Spherion, you freak. That's why I'm even more happy my job ended. I was very good at my kiosk. I came super close to to the numbers they wanted me to be at. But I wasn't quite there so "no soup for you". Thats a great way to run a business. Get rid of the employees that spent all the time training and learning the ropes and then if their numbers are barely off, then dump em for a new guy that really doesn't know anything and now where going to go through the process of training the guy all over again which takes away resources and time from those who know what their doing!

Um, your wrong, there was not that many employees that made it to Dell status. There was only one at my kiosk and we were consistently one of the highest revenue earners in the nation. And who really cares anyway. You still worked at a pathetic kiosk and still made pathetic money. I know what your commissions where and it was not that impressive.

We got 17% off new systems if you stuck around long enough.

Wow. I'm happy that you got your piece of crap system a little cheaper so you can save money you'll shell out pretty soon for a new power supply.

Also, another perk of being a full timer at Dell was that your commission was doubled and buddy that adds up.

Wow. 1% commission on computers without a Dell preferred account. Everyone reading this, I want you to join me in laughing at this comment right here. Whoa 1% and maybe 2% if you can actually get someone approved for Dell Preferred Account. Whooa, watch out people. I make 2% on a computer. I'm rolling in it now. Do me a favor and stop deceiving yourself. You got screwed over on commissions but just won't admit it. Everyone of my friends laughs when I tell them how much I make in commissions and even the 2%, they still laugh.

Don't take your failures out the rest of us because you didn't work hard enough to get a full time gig. Employees just like yourself are a contributory factor to a mass lay off like this.

I worked harder than anybody at my kiosk so shut the f up. I did the best I could with the people I talked to and the hours I had. I was number 3 in the nation last year in revenue. My lead was number one. He did 100k during one month in the summer. I did 95k one month and consistently brought in 60-85k/month in revenue the entire time I worked there. Did you ever bring in 95k in a month? Didn't think so.

No, employees like YOU are the contributory factor because you then sit on your butt after your crowned Dell employee, surf the internet trying to figure out how to get past the filters and get into youtube and laugh inside at the other employees that are only making .5% - 1% like your doing now. Well, who's laughing now?


If your Dell Badged Reps were doing their jobs the kiosk would not be in shambles.

Our kiosk wasn't quite in shambles as you think but was lacking supplies and proper maintenance on doors and the tarp that could only come from corporate. I was always the one that had to dust and clean up after everyone else including the Dell badged "lead". Dell really didn't motivate the employees enough to do their job giving them the pathetic pay they did and I don't blame them. The fact is, I don't have to be "dell badged" to know I'm a good worker. I blame the pathetic company that I worked for not realizing that if I'm barely off on my drums report, yet I bring in some of the highest revenue for the store and the highest revenue per hour out of anybody working there, then that should be good enough for them to consider giving me, drum roll please, 1/2% more in commissions. Whooaaaaaaa!

And guess what buddy, you still didn't even get a freakin business card with your name on it! How does that make you feel.

Uh, Sdeezee, Dell employee or not, you don't have any job anymore and that makes me very happy. They would have extended my contract but they were planning on closing the stores so thats why. I was told that by my manager. So now get out there and find a real job that pays more than 2% commissions. Don't even start me on the spifs. Only with Vista Ultimate! Stupid.

Lastly, Let me send some spittle in your direction.

[Sdeezeee @ Jan 30th 2008 9:17PM]

Your lucky I dont know who you are and where you live cuz Id be at your door kicking your sorry loser ass right now. BTW I was making over 60k a year working at that job, sounds like your kiosk was a real craphole and even for you not to get hired along with them says allot about you. Its like not being able to get hired at mcdonalds. "Coming very close to the numbers" you couldnt hit your goals you loser, my whole team doubled their goals every week. And as far as your manager telling you that they were going to close the kiosks, the sales managers didn't know until last night. Nice attempt at an obvious lie.