What's wrong with us workers? Do you think the Apple executes have some secret message board where they ask questions like: "Is it unethical for us to sell iPhones for $800 when they only cost $20 to produce?" Capitalism is what it is, you play the game and shouldn't feel bad the (few!) times you win.
> Is it unethical for us to sell iPhones for $800 when they only cost $20 to produce?
If you're going to make an argument, why make a strawman?
My $1000 iPhone 7+ costs roughly $220 in materials. [1]
Apple's stated gross margins are 39%, and last quarter was a net profit of $17.9b on revenue of $78.4b [2], so that's 22% net profit. So overheads are somewhere around 17%.
To sum up where your $1000 on an iPhone goes:
$220 components
$390 other cost of goods: assembly, transport, packaging, blah, blah.
$170 overheads
$220 net profit
I'm more than happy to allow Apple $220 of profit on my iPhone. You may not, but let's debate that rather than a ridiculous claim that they're only $20 to produce.
> I'm more than happy to allow Apple $220 of profit on my iPhone. You may not, but let's debate that rather than a ridiculous claim that they're only $20 to produce.
Huh? Your extensive nit-picking doesn't refute the parent's point or even relate to it in a meaningful way.
The point of his comment had nothing to do with the actual cost of an iPhone. It was just to make a point that iPhones as an example make a strong profit margin.
You called the previous poster's exaggerated example a strawman, then made an inappropriately detailed response to an argument that wasn't being made in the first place.
disagree. its better to consider the ethical implications, and adjust your behavior accordingly. just because other people are ok making money unethically doesn't mean you should give yourself a pass. i get that there is an asymmetry between some companies and their employees though.
I think you missed the point a bit. A company isn't people. The company the author works for will not feel remorse (it's not a person) when it'll squeeze every last cent out of a customer to maximize profits. I don't see why the employee should feel bad when it maximizes it's "profit margin" in relation to such entity.
But I don't think it is unethical for Apple executes to overcharge for iPhones (my example was numerically wrong though, as photojosh points out). People are happy with iPhones so they buy them, just as this company is happy with the work the employee is performing.
