How a Professional Line Sitter Preps for the iPhone 6 Launch

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Professional line sitter Robert Samuel started his business—SOLD, or Same Old Line Dudes—during the iPhone 5 launch back in 2012. And now, just days before iPhone 6 madness descends on the city, he's grown his place-holding, cold-withstanding, bathroom-break-forgoing army from one dude to over twenty.

We called the entrepreneur to talk about line strategy, competitors, and how to reserve one of his sitters (he's taking orders through tomorrow evening).

Are you in line RIGHT NOW?

No, not right now, but in the next couple days we plan to be.

How early are you getting there?

I don't really want to give that information out, there's a lot of competition out there on Craigslist! It's like me being Pepsi telling Coke what I'm doing.

Okay but how early though?

I'll be there very, very early.

Since you started your business, are there more professional line sitters in the game?

Right now, there seem to be a lot of individuals offering line sitting services. It's not organized and they don't have a company like I do, it's just, "I'll wait for a phone for you, " like I did when I was starting out.

How many employees are you sending out for the iPhone 6 launch?

I'm sending out about 20.

Are you still taking orders?

We're taking orders through 8pm tomorrow evening.

Do your line-sitters buy the phones for customers? Or are they just holding their place in line?

For the most part we're just holding their place until the person gets there and then we swap.

What's changed since your first iPhone line-sitting gig?

The first time I did it was a fluke, and then i had the idea to make it business. During the iPhone 5 launch I had one customer and I have 20 for the iPhone 6.
· Same Ole Line Dudes [Official Site]
· SOLD Inc [Twitter]
· SOLD Inc [Facebook]
· What It's Like to Be a Professional Line Sitter [Racked NY]