iPhone 5 line sitters: Give us $40-$150 a day
Those are the market rates charged by people willing to wait in an iPhone 5 line for anyone who pays them. If you really want the phone and you really don't want to wait, these people will do the heavy lifting.
Apple isn't the only one cashing in on the iPhone 5.
Not only are marketers trying to piggyback on the media interest that the iPhone 5 is generating but some people are advertising their services as surrogate line sitters as well.
They offer to pinch-hit for people who really want the phone but who really don't want to wait in line.
The iPhone appears to be once again the hot item to own. On Friday at 8 a.m., Apple Stores are scheduled to begin offering the iPhone 5 to the public all across the country. Some are speculating that the lines for the latest generation of Apple's iconic cell phone will be longer than they've ever been. Meanwhile, some people see an opportunity to make a little money off the public's interest in the device.
A check of Craigslist shows that the market rates for line sitters vary. Someone in the San Francisco Bay area advertised that he or she will accept $150 to wait overnight at the Apple Store in Walnut Creek, Calif.
The person offers to start waiting in line at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and then turn over the spot in line at 8 a.m. Friday.
Someone else posted to Craigslist an offer to wait in line at the Apple outlet in San Ramon, Calif., for $40. Note, however, that the person offers only to wait in line starting at 6 a.m. on Friday, two hours before the sale begins. If demand for the handset is what Apple and some analysts say it is, then that could put the buyer well back in line once he or she takes the spot from the surrogate line sitter.
For an extra $30, the person who posted the ad said they would start standing in line the night before.
Compared with that, one line sitter is offering a choice deal in, of all places, Manhattan. This person offered to jump in line beginning on Wednesday and would charge $75. The person, however, said he or she would hold "places" for that amount. If that person is trying to sell their spot in line multiple times, how long before people behind this sitter get ticked off?
Buyer beware.
