Posted on 09/15/2014 8:19:49 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
Gentlemen and gentlewomen of a certain age harbor fond memories of trips to RadioShack. In days of yore, ham radios and homemade guitar amplifiers would emerge from the mysterious jumble of wires and audio components hawked by this unpretentious electronic retailer.
Whatever one’s view of this American institution with about 27,000 employees, it is near death. On Thursday, RadioShack warned that it may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I really admire people like you that dig in and fix stuff like that.
I did manage to replace a broken micro USB jack on my tablet. Used the mini screw driver set I bought at Radio Shack come to think of it.
I had no idea a screw could be that tiny - had to stack up two pairs of reading glasses on my head just to see it.
I have a few systems that all use the CR2032s.
Before Radio Shack, there was Allied Radio, a mail order outfit that actually carried American-made components. That isn't components like amplifiers and tuners, but components like resistors and capacitors and inductors and serious broadcast grade vacuum tubes. This was a radio amateur's dream - real quality parts for construction projects out of the ARRL Handbook.
Allied even had their own line of Knight Kits - nice rugged things like Signal Tracers, Signal Generators Grid Dip Oscillators. Pretty much what Heathkit used to market, but in rugged steel cases instead of aluminum "lunchboxes."
Then Tandy/Radio Shack felt that they needed a mail order warehouse and catalog department and they acquired Allied. Sadly, all they wanted was the infrastructure. They cared little for industrial supply, quality American-made components, the excellent kit line. They replaced everything with cheap Japanese or Taiwanese components.
Further disappointment was when you went to their stores and found clerks that were completely clueless and arrogant about it as well. If you didn't know exactly what you wanted when you went in there, the help was no help, and might even condescend to try to talk you out of what you thought you needed. I boycotted them for years.
When I finally bought my computer, the logical economic choice might have been the TRS-80. Other choices at the time were Heathkit's S-100 Buss offering and the Commodore Pet. I bought an Apple II Plus, and didn't miss RS one little bit.
Now I ony darken their door to buy the odd cable coax connector or a battery for my cellphone. I won't miss them one little bit!
Digikey is good, so is Mouser.
When I want stuff like diodes for a penny and 2N3904 transistors for two cents I go to.
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/
Shipping is pretty much actual cost and very reasonable and fast from Thailand.
Here is a five pack from Amazon, for $2.58 and free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/Maxell-CR2032-lithium-batteries-pack/dp/B006GDL0FY
Walmart has a Panasonic 20 pack for $8.62, free in store pickup.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/UPG-85967-C3986-UPG-CR2032-Lithium-Batteries/21632074
When I had to replace the charging port on my kids brand new Dell laptop because it broke off the MB, the part cost me $7.50 and I bought an insanely cool rugged set of tools for fine work online at Amazon for about 15 bucks (they had about a dozen or more types to choose from)
Neither of which I would have been able to get at Radio Shack.
Their solution to this problem?
Stock up on Chinese garbage nobody wants to buy.
Anybody still invested in this company is a sucker,or complicit.
Well, it’s not a surprise. In fact, it is slightly surprising they have lasted as long as they have. Still, it’s sort of a wistful moment. I love all those neat little gizmos and gadgets they sold. I was never skilled enough to build my own ham radio, but I do remember those fun little electronics learning kits and all the (then) hi-tech computer stuff.
At least I still have Edmund’s Scientific for my “gee whiz!”/ amateur mad scientist urges. :-)
We have to realize that the drones wandering around texting each other do not have any use for what RS traditionally sold. I still have four RS scanners, three of which get use to this day.
Just cleaned my local store out of 12V relays for an automotive tweak project. The expertise and desire to use what they used to sell is dwindling fast.
When I started to get back into electronics, after many years, I decided I needed a decent temp-controlled soldering station. Now all the guys in the robotics club I’d joined said RS was junk, but I had fond memories, so I bought their top-of-the-line iron.
And it was junk.
Now nobody expects their $15 irons to be anything but crudely servicable, but when you’re paying 10 times that, you expct more. With this, I go nothing of the sort.
I wrote a letter to their management, pointing out that a revolution in electronics hobbying was going on, and they were missing it, because of crap like this. I never got a reply.
(And I bought a Weller, for less including shipping, online, and it has served me well.)
Chapter 11 isn’t death. If the company were purchased by a PE firm like Bain (who turned Staples into what it is) it could be great. But it needs a completely new management team because the clowns running the show don’t have a clue.
There are harmless cashiers at normal stores who don’t pester customers and simply move on with the sales, and then there are the smug RS punks.
One of them went even went into victim mode and started in that *I* would make him look bad to his manager if I didn’t give him the info he demanded for the mailing list. Yeah, it was my fault that the idiot was an arrogant a-hole. Yeah, that attempt at shaming me was going to make me give him any info.
I wanted to ask him if he had ever heard the word “No” in his sorry life, but he seemed unhinged enough. What a piece of work. He was obviously accustomed to manipulating and bullying people. I was not hostile, merely polite but firm with my “No thank you”, yet he came unglued. If this were an isolated incident I would pass if off as a rogue jerk about to be terminated, but these character types were the norm at RS. Definitely a systemic problem.
I only needed a small cable adapter but it was rather obscure and I didn’t want to goof up on a mail order. I went everywhere else first hoping to avoid RS, but there I was just wanting to pay the $3 or $4 and be outta there. I was about to walk out empty-handed when the kid in a huff decided to shut his trap and ring up the sale. Probably because another clerk wandered in from the back.
Sheesh, I can’t imagine what type of manager seeks to hire these types. If not for RS they’d be employed by the Obama regime as Obamacare navigators or IRS thugs.
I used to love going to RS when I was a kid....but things have changed. I really can’t find half the stuff I want. But the worst part is: I can’t stand there and browse. In my mind I’m trying to figure out a workaround for the part I can’t find...and the clerk won’t let me, just asking repeated questiins while I’m trying to think. And frankly, the clerks don’t know anything. They haven’t for a long time.
There main purpose seems to be cell phones now. I bought my daughter’s phone there - as we’re waiting for one clerk to set it up, the other one notices my phone...and is quite forward, asking me if I had a contract on it etc...trying to make another sale. Anyway, it took them around twenty minutes to set up the phone, and I remember staring around at the toys and other electronics - and realizing I had no interest in any of it.
I’m surprised they lasted this long.
I have an idea how they can survive. They need to scale back the number of stores they have, and retain those in or near strip malls and foot traffic. Then bring in fresh merchandise - namely tools that crafts people use, like portable drills etc. Also crafts merchandise. This will put them in some competition with stores like Michaels and Joannes for crafts, and competition in a small way with hardware stores like Harbor Freight and Orchard Supply (very small way).
There aren't enough stores where men can browse and buy things while the women shop. Having merchandise like this will make Radio Shack popular and profitable again. They need tools and crafts supplies for men, not toys and junk for rappers.
I had several similar experiences. I wrote the company to complain. Before long I received a letter in response. Is said that in the future, all I had to do to avoid being badgered for my personal information was to show that letter to Radio Shack clerks. Apparently I was supposed to carry that letter with me at all times when I might visit a Radio Shack store.
I thought of a better solution.
(Also, I never forgave Radio Shack for buying Allied Radio. Those were the best catalogs ever.)
The TRS-80 Model 100 was a true landmark in computing. It was the first "notebook" computer that was portable and practical. This model was incredibly popular and used long after other computers of its time were thrown away. I think it only was made obsolete by the iPhone era. There are still clubs today where owners keep theirs working. This was the last machine that Bill Gates wrote code for, and he considers it one of his favorite computers of all time.
I worked at Radio Shack in grad school. My First Class Radiotelephone license and Extra Class Ham license drew a regular repeat customer base of over 400 customers. The resources were in stock. The stock in the store is no longer suitable for my customer base. Mouser, DigiKey, Sparkfun, Adafruit and others cater to that group. The online suppliers rival the old Allied Radio catalog that rested on my desk starting in the late 60’s.
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