Staff selling Meghan Markle’s products at Netflix stores are earning less every hour than the price of her As Ever Rosé wine and honey
Her orange blossom honey sold out within minutes despite the $28 (£20.68) price tag.
But staff who will be selling the Duchess of Sussex’s wares at the new Netflix store won’t be able to afford it on their hourly wage, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Employees at Netflix House, which is due to open later this year in two US locations, will be earning as little as $20 (£14.77) an hour.
That means some of Meghan’s As Ever range will be more than they earn for an hour’s work.
As Ever wine lovers must purchase a minimum of three bottles for $90 or six bottles for $159 and 12 bottles for $300 – plus $20 for shipping and taxes.
Meghan’s crepe mix costs $14 (£10.34) and her herbal teas would be expensive for ‘Crew Members’ at $12 (£8.86)
Even her infamous flower sprinkles would be steep at $15 (£11.08) a pack.
The As Ever range could be featured in the Philadelphia and Dallas branches of Netflix House, the streaming giant’s first physical stores.
A Netflix source told the Mail that no final decisions had yet been made on any of the products that will be on the shelves later this year.
Meghan’s range of lifestyle products have been backed by Netflix and the streamer has said they will be sold in physical stores, but staff will be on $20 an hour
Two Netflix stores, pictured in Hollywood, will be the destination for the launch of Meghan Markle’s As Ever brand
Her orange blossom honey sold out within minutes despite the $28 (£20.68) price tag
Meghan collecting honey on her show
They will give fans a chance to buy merchandise from their favourite shows, enjoy immersive experiences related to hit programmes and eat at restaurants.
Despite the expiration of Netflix’s $100million (£73.8million) deal with Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, in September, the streamer’s chief executive Ted Sarandos has said he believes As Ever products will sell.
Mr Sarandos has said Meghan has an ‘underestimated’ cultural influence which is why the company partnered with her to launch As Ever.
This week Netflix revealed the job descriptions of staff it is looking for for the outlets in the King of Prussia shopping mall in Philadelphia and the Galleria mall in Dallas.
Among the jobs for the Philadelphia location is ‘Crew Member’ whose duties include ‘delivering best-in-class customer service and creating an exceptional guest experience’.
The description states: ‘The Crew Member will provide general information, sell and scan tickets, manage guest flow and queuing, sell merchandise, and more’.
Applicants must be at least 18 and have ‘knowledge of the Netflix platform and shows’, as well as be willing to work weekends and holidays.
Under ‘compensation’, the listing states: ‘$20 an hour’.
For that kind of payment, Meghan’s gilded life in California will seem a long way away.
Meghan’s rose wine sells for $30 (£22.16) a bottle but must be bought in packs of three, costing $90 (£66.47)
A Netflix House employee working an eight hour day would struggle to afford the price of half a case at $159 (£117.43) once they had paid taxes on their earnings.
The Daily Mail asked Netflix and a spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to comment.
Netflix has said it will set aside space in two of their brand-new stores.
The first of the As Ever stands will open in two of America’s biggest retail centres, the King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia and the giant Dallas Galleria.
The first store will be opened in the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania, a gigantic 2.8million-square-foot shopping wonderland northwest of Philadelphia
The second store is in the Galleria Dallas, an upscale shopping mall located in the north of the city
The stores are not completed but this is what Netflix’s Stranger Things store in Dallas looked like last year
But while details of products such as jam and pancake mix have emerged, the full range in store still has not.
When Netflix did have a pop-up for its hit show Stranger Things in Dallas last year that some critics unkindly compared to a cheap store in an airport terminal.
One Google review said of the now closed pop-up: ‘This staff and service are awful. It’s too crowded and everything is overpriced. Would not waste your time’. However, others were more glowing. One five-star review said: ‘This store has done justice to the amazing Stranger Things Netflix series’.
Meghan Markle has been dubbed the ‘new Martha Stewart’ after reinventing herself as a homemaker and influencer after leaving royal life.
But Martha herself appears less convinced that the Duchess of Sussex could be her successor as the next Queen of Entertaining.
‘I hope she knows what she’s talking about’, America’s most trusted lifestyle expert has said.
Ms Stewart, 83, has been accused of taking a thinly-veiled swipe question Meghan’s authenticity in a new interview about celebrities following in her footsteps.
Meghan, 43, has launched her Netflix show With Love, Meghan and her As Ever brand this year, to mixed reviews.
Ms Stewart said bluntly: ‘Meghan, I don’t really know very well. I hope she knows what she’s talking about’.
She added of the Duchess: ‘Authenticity, to me, is everything, and to be authentic and knowledgeable about your subject matter is extremely important’.
Martha Stewart has appeared to take a swipe at Meghan’s reinvention from royal to lifestyle guru
Gwyneth Paltrow and Meghan Markle shocked fans in March as they joined forces to shutdown ongoing speculation of ‘feud’ between them in a special Q&A where Meghan appeared in Paltrow’s kitchen
Netflix series With Love, Meghan dropped on the streaming site and received negative criticism despite being renewed for a second season
But Martha then lavished praise on Meghan and Harry’s neighbour Gwyneth Paltrow, praising her ‘very successful’ career as an actress turned entrepreneur.
Royal watchers claimed this was more shade thrown on the Duchess, with several claiming Ms Stewart was ‘calling out’ Meghan.
Martha gushed in an interview with Yahoo Australia: ‘Gwyneth has been very successful; she created quite an interesting body of businesses. She’s admired. She won an Oscar for heaven’s sake as an actress. She’s pretty powerful.’