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RadioShack Trying To Return To Its DIY Roots
An anonymous reader writes "In what seems to be a desperate attempt to keep the company afloat, RadioShack has made a video appeal to the DIY community that helped the retail chain grow into what it is today. The days of amateur radio operators and tinkerers flocking to the store are long gone, but it seems that the company wants to issue a mea culpa and move forward."
You mean that store that sells Cell Phone plans and accessories, and doesn't sell any electronic components?
cater to DIYs.... it's that there *weren't* any.
Make is changing this, of course, but we *all* turned into appliance operators over the last 50 years; no surprise Rat Shack went with the flow...
Can't even buy a 555 timer at RadioShack anymore...can't keep track of time, no wonder too little, too late.
And I'm still pissed off that you couldn't put the 286 in my Tandy 1000TX into protected mode.
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
FORT WORTH, TX—Despite having been on the job for nine months, RadioShack CEO Julian Day said Monday that he still has "no idea" how the home electronics store manages to stay open.
"There must be some sort of business model that enables this company to make money, but I'll be damned if I know what it is," Day said. "You wouldn't think that people still buy enough strobe lights and extension cords to support an entire nationwide chain, but I guess they must, or I wouldn't have this desk to sit behind all day."
The retail outlet boasts more than 6,000 locations in the United States, and is known best for its wall-sized displays of obscure-looking analog electronics components and its notoriously desperate, high-pressure sales staff. Nevertheless, it ranks as a Fortune 500 company, with gross revenues of over $4.5 billion and fiscal quarter earnings averaging tens of millions of dollars.
"Have you even been inside of a RadioShack recently?" Day asked. "Just walking into the place makes you feel vaguely depressed and alienated. Maybe our customers are at the mall anyway and don't feel like driving to Best Buy? I suppose that's possible, but still, it's just...weird."
After taking over as CEO, Day ordered a comprehensive, top-down review of RadioShack's administrative operations, inventory and purchasing, suppliers, demographics, and marketing strategies. He has also diligently pored over weekly budget reports, met with investors, taken numerous conference calls with regional managers about "circulars or flyers or something," and even spent hours playing with the company's "baffling" 200-In-One electronics kit. Yet so far none of these things have helped Day understand the moribund company's apparent allure.
"Even the name 'RadioShack'—can you imagine two less appealing words placed next to one another?" Day said. "What is that, some kind of World War II terminology? Are ham radio operators still around, even? Aren't we in the digital age?"
"Well, our customers are out there somewhere, and thank God they are," Day added.
One of Day's theories about RadioShack's continued solvency involves wedding DJs, emergency cord replacement, and off-brand wireless telephones. Another theory entails countless RadioShack gift cards that sit unredeemed in their recipients' wallets. Day has even conjectured that the store is "still coasting on" an enormous fortune made from remote-control toy cars in the mid-1970s.
Day admitted, however, that none of these theories seems particularly plausible.
"I once went into a RadioShack location incognito in order to gauge customer service," Day said. "It was about as inviting as a visit to the DMV. For the life of me, I couldn't see anything I wanted to buy. Finally, I figured I'd pick up some Enercell AA batteries, though truthfully they're not appreciably cheaper than the name brands."
"I know one thing," Day continued. "If Sony and JVC start including gold-tipped cable cords with their products, we're screwed."
In the cover letter to his December 2006 report to investors, "Radio Shack: Still Here In The 21st Century," Day wrote that he had no reason to believe that the coming year would not be every bit as good as years past, provided that people kept on doing things much the same way they always had.
Despite this cheerful boosterism, Day admitted that nothing has changed during his tenure and he doesn't exactly know what he can do to improve the chain.
"I'd like to capitalize on the store's strong points, but I honestly don't know what they are," Day said. "Every location is full of bizarre adapters, random chargers, and old boom boxes, and some sales guy is constantly hovering over you. It's like walking into your grandpa's basement. You always expect to see something cool, but it never delivers."
Added Day: "I may never know the answer. No matter how many times I punch the sales figures into this crappy Tandy desk calculator, it just doesn't add up."
http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b,2190/
Last time I tried to buy a capacitor at RS the salesperson showed me a bin of parts. I found what I wanted. I tried to pay for it, he just looked at him dismissively and said, "I don't care."
The RS of old would have raped me and charged me $3.29. This guy was just interested in selling cell phone contracts.
RS is dead.
Yeah, but they should have been prescient enough to have maintained an image, moved all of the DIY stuff to online only, pick up in store, etc. etc.
If they still have access to the suppliers and good contract/distribution terms, they could still correct this.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
Some time ago Corporate America decided they didn't need any stinkin' American engineers...toooooo expensive...outsource 'em all. RadioShack just followed along and eliminated elementary school for engineers in favor of pre-fab junk for the proles in a "We're a service economy now!".
Shouldn't let Wall Street run a country; they're only in it for themselves.
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
I was sure it was a Yes Men stunt until I saw it was posted on RS's official YT channel. I'm kinda disappointed in a way...
Grammar nazis are to this community what excrements are to gold.
1. Carry individual parts that aren't horrible. I need a specific capacitance, not an assortment of crapacitors that I never need. Even the things they do carry such as switches and audio connections I have found to be piss poor and not worth my time.
2. Carry Arduino, shields, and parts that would be useful for connecting the device to other sensors. This would actually be brilliant for them so I am sure we are in no danger.
3. #1 again. If they actually carried parts, ICs, and etc.. without the bullshit, I would be in there far too often.
They should try selling computer parts and not stuff like sign up for dish network and get a free gun. http://ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_ad32d46c-5692-11e0-ae2b-001cc4c002e0.html
1. Find Forrest Mims
...
2. Make him CEO
4. Profits (from DIY if profits from DIY are possible)
very few people scratch build any more, and IMHO Tandy/RadioShack didn't have the range of stock that other stores had. They die because they did a 1/2 assed job.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
When you charge me 40$ for 6' of cable because you are 'convenient', I will choose not to shop with you any time I've got other options.
Frankly, If I wanted a part right away at an exorbitant price, I'd have it shipped overnight express from sparkfun or some other online retailer. Hell it's probably still cheaper. I'm in Canada and Radio Shack as a brand went defunct years ago (bought out by circuit city and forced to rename to the source, then bought out by Bell). I mean, I'll always have the memories of old radio shack with its TRS-80's and Tandy computers or otherwise and remote control cars stacked in a pyramid around christmas, with all kinds of weird parts 8 year old me didn't understand but was fascinated by. All kinds of weird robots that didn't actually do anything. But that radio shack only exists in my memories. There is no going back. The world has changed. Robots no longer drive around in circles bumping into walls. Computers no longer take days to set up properly. Yes my first PC was a Tandy. I quite loved it.
Sadly, nobody goes to malls anymore anyways. Radio Shack was a place for men to go to wind down while their wives or girlfriends shopped for useless things like clothing and whatnot.
Goodnight, sweet prince of overpriced gouging.
It would be nice if they carried a much larger selection of parts. Long ago they found that a large inventory of low value parts took up too much wall space with too little turn. Unfortunately without traffic, the higher margin items didn't sell either.
They pretty much lost me when they became another mall toy store and cell phone shop.
If they would guarantee stocking all the common standard resistor values and capacitor values and most of the common IC's and transistors, then a hobbyist won't start elsewhere because the local shop is unlikely to carry a full inventory.
How hard is it to have in stock resistors of the 1, 2.2, 2.7, 3,3 , 4.7, 6.8, and 9.1 values in most multiplier values in 1/4 and 1/2 watt sizes?
A lack of semiconductors is their greatest downfall. They have maybe a dozen IC's in stock in the lines of the common 555 and little else.
The transistor selection is very thin. The most common small signal transistors are absent. 2SC1815 or a 2N249 are scarce.
If you want parts to build an interface to drive a sprinkler valve for robotics from an Arduino, there is nothing that would do the job. Power Mosfets for building any kind of H bridge for robotics is not in stock.
Other stores and online are about the only place to get those parts anymore. Radio Shack's failure has given Mouser a huge market. Mouser is not as convenient for a quick pick up of some 4.7K resistors and other small orders so Radio Shack is missing out on the electronics convenience store they used to be.
The truth shall set you free!
Known about this for about a month now, it's been a very badly kept secret with the ground floor guys at RS. From what I've gathered, it's the new CEOs push to really get back to what drew people to the store in the first place -- the "Oooh, neat" factor. How they execute it, however, is still up in the air; most RSs are dinosaurs in terms of getting new product in / clearing out old product. My experience with them was mostly replacing/repacking stuff that had its casing yellowed because they've been in the store so long.
To be fair, I can understand wanting to diversify a bit -- it's basically been focusing so much on cellphones for the past decade that it's no wonder that it might be tempted to garner more sales than from a market that has since become extremely competetive and harder to pull a large profit from without the messiah-like capabilities of its more salesman-like staff (the few are hard to find; the turnover is pretty awful).
I'd just be happy if A) It became a geek store again that B) could actually turn a good, fair profit. Dreams.
Do they still use radio? Is it not all internet? How can anyone continue when there is no radio? How can you have any pudding if not?
You are all aware that this article is coming from the Onion correct?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b,2190/
This article should never have made it to the homepage. Slashdot -1
There are already store(s) in my area that are filling the small and dwindling niche that Radio Shack once filled. They're farther away and few in number. Us old-timer tinkerers aren't likely to ever go back when we still recall how they so eagerly abandoned us when they thought the big bucks laid elsewhere.
Anyone remember Dow Radio in Pasadena, CA? I wonder if its successor is still there.
I had great memories of Radio Shack. I could go in there, and talk to a guy who knew the difference between a relay and a resistor, and knew what the funny coloured bands were used for. Little by little, the stuff I used for my projects left the store to be replaced by the same crap you can buy at any other of 100 stores. The people that knew what they were doing were replaced by people who really had no clue, and could have been selling burgers or mini-skirts, it really didn't matter. The final insult was when they started asking for an address and phone number for a credit card purchase. The last time I was in a radio shack, they would not sell me the item I wished to buy on my plastic without me giving my address to them. So I went to the other side of the mall and never looked back. I hope that radio shack wallows in the misery it has created for itself. When you are the k-mart of electronics, this is what happens, and no one will take them seriously as an electronics compoonent provider given their history.
Mean what you say...say what you mean.
Note to /.: Strip the CRLF pairs from CEO-speech reposted by anonymous cowards. Is a lot of empty space surrounding hot air.
http://www.thewambulance.com
There was plenty of DIYs around. Well at least in Canada anyway. But, radioshack got shoved to the dirt when their competitors(usually smaller places with better stock, and cheaper prices) out did them. About 30mins from my hometown there's a major DIY shop that carries just about every thing electrical you need. And what they don't have, they can get within 24-48hrs for you.
Price is another example. Simple 10 pack of 10ohm resistors were $8 at the shack, and $2.49 at another shop. Most of the time, even if you were driving 30mins you saved money. This is all 4-6 years past of course, but radioshack killed itself, by overcharging on everything. I mean really $4 for a red LED? What? I can by them for $0.18/c elsewhere.
Om, nomnomnom...
There's a local electronics hobby shop in my town. Good for when you need to pick up a particular type of cable or adapter, or some R/L/C component, or whatever, without waiting a week for it to show up from Digikey or Newark. But I'll admit, I have no idea how they're still in business.
I was mainly building digital and digital-analog circuits... so I'd go into Radio Shack and some sales guy would approach. (This happened not just once, but many times, seemingly a different salesperson each time.) I'd tell him I was looking for another Quad 4011 CMOS NAND Gate or a particular transistor or some such, and he'd get a blank look on his face. I'd say, "I know where they are" and go get them.
I admit that was years ago. But the funny thing was, not very long after that I applied for a job at one of the local Radio Shacks, and a little while later received a letter in the mail telling me I was not qualified for the job. I was not sure whether to be upset over the unjust insult, or laugh at the hypocrisy of it all.
But I think that was one of the big things that killed the store. They had a policy of hiring people who didn't know squat about DIY stuff. Instead they tried to sell stereo equipment and cell phones and Christmas toys. But that's really not what they wanted -- or needed -- to do. Everybody else was already doing that stuff.
I would love to see Radio Shack get back to its DIY roots. This time around maybe they can sell Arduinos and 3D printers. Heck... people are already selling machines that are 3D printers and CNC milling machines put together. It doesn't get much better than that. I want one.
Radio Shack ran us out! We built their business but sometime in the 1990s, they started giving us the finger. Now THERE'S a hell of a business model - run off your most regular customers. First, the amateur radios disappeared. Then the parts. Over the years they've managed to discontinued everything electronic that I buy. A year ago, I got so fed up with it that I wrote them off forever. Thank God I live in a large city with a Fry's and a place called Tanner Electronics (a hobbyist's paradise - seriously - they have just about EVERYTHING that can be soldered).
If it weren't for online retailers like Mouser, DigiKey, RF Parts, and eBay, most people like me wouldn't have anywhere else to turn.
If this works, then soon, I expect a return of The Free Battery Card (one free per month for you youngsters).
I still have 2 punches left on mine, I hope I can find it.
After that they can bring back the tube testers.
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
Pretty much sums up the issue.
All of the 1000 series were XT Class machines. Yes, a majority of them technically had an 80286 CPU. My Tandy 1000 TL has a 9.15 Mhz 80286, but they only have an 8 bit memory bus,. They have no A20 handler. They cannot create an HMA or UMBs. They are basically 286s won an 8086 motherboard. But if your Tandy says it only has 640 K of RAM, it is lying. it eats 128 K as video RAM. So to get a full 640 K of RAM out of it. the board has to have 768 K. Getting more RAM requires an EMS card, I'm currently trying to find one that will fit my case.
I knw this because I just went on an extensive Tandy Restoration project. The Tandy 1000s could take a 16 bit ISA VGA card with the 16 bit part not plugged in. I replaced the Winchester MFM RRL ard drive with an IDE Controller an an IDE to CF adapter so I can use a Compact Flash Drive as a hard drive (and get a whole lot more hard disk space.)
added an 8 bit Western Digital WD8003 card and an AUI to UTP adapter to get it talking on my network under DOS, using the WATTCP stack with Internet applications and MS LanMan 2.2a with Samba. So yeah, Tandy hardwre is difficult to work with.
After watching that video, I am sick and tired of being referred to as a consumer, and not a customer. Unless we are in an economics lecture, or a corporate board room, I think it's truly impolite and frankly condescending to refer to someone that tries to make regular use of your goods and services as a consumer. When did we let this word weasel into our collective vocabulary? I think DIY can be summed up into two camps: 1) I want to learn how something works and I might as well make something fun and cool. 2) I am tired of being charged 5000% markup on something relatively simple, and will just do it myself thank you kindly I think neither of these camps is a market for folks that are willing to open their wallet. Are they trying for economies of scale? If so maybe you should call DIY people enthusiasts instead of consumers. You can't consume Do-it-Yourself. I guess you could eat yourself. So then, is Radio Shack advocating cannibalism?
http://www.thewambulance.com
Who made that? Your boyfriend?
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
The "Onion" article aside ;) I hope that it isn't too little, too late... despite all indications that it may well be.
The resurgence of people tinkering is an encouraging sign. Of course, there are still plenty of Ham Radio Operators out there. Yeah, a LOT of them are "Appliance Ops", but there are still those of us out there that *DO* enjoy tinkering! Here is proof! :)
http://www.mymorninglight.org.nyud.net/ham/
(My Ham Radio site, Coralized for Slashdot protection)
Willie...
Most stores DO carry the LM555, the one near me does.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062596
In a hurry, in a pinch, the Radio Shack fixes me up a couple times a month. Not that I like the store, or their prices, but *they there for me, baby!*
Incredible Universe
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
Basic business is to identify your competitors and then look at what they are selling, apparently the Shack can't even figure that out for themselves.
Lost me long ago with you very over priced gold plated every thing, lack of selection, crappy over priced tools and junk stereo equipment that replaced what was very good gear.
Linux modi 2.6.26-2-parisc
Radio Shack has been a ripoff for years. Why the hell would anyone who knows enough to DIY pay $4 for a 5 cent part? Sure, it might take a few days for it to come from Mouser, but honestly when you're designing a circuit, you need a lot of components, generally plan out what you need in detail and a retail place just isn't going to stock whatever exotic parts you are going to need for your project anyway.
Since there are far more folks who aren't with it enough to DIY, Radio Shack is far better off overcharging the masses for extension cords, sub par computers, and low grade RC cars in the mall. They just want the masses to THINK that smart people shop there.
Maybe Radio Shack can become the new Sharper Image?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
Somebody mod this comment "Insightful" please.
You broke our hearts TRS, I don't think we can trust you yet again, not now...
make a noise like a cheese.
They will basically end up selling kits to root your phone/console :/
Just sayin'.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Anybody who actually builds his own electronics is obviously a terrorist... People who buy this stuff will be closely watched by DHS.. through the security cams.. and besides, the alligator clips are just being used as roach clips.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Wouldn't know a PnP transistor from a 4001 IC, at least from what I've experienced in the odd store I pop into from time to time. I grew up on RS in the 60's & 70's with their "P-Box" construction kits, and the 150 in 1 project kit. Started out with those when I was 10,11 years old, then started tinkering by doing what if I change this resistor from a 1k to a 10k, or a 100microfared cap to a 10microfared cap. Now, you are lucky if they know the difference between a AGC fuse and an SFE fuse.
You want geek creds, you need to inspire people. Be the place where parents want to take their kids because they have a chance to learn something besides the best "fatality" moves. Think about offering classes. Have homebrew stuff displayed in-store so people can see what they can build. Embrace the niche.
They don't even carry antenna insulators anymore. But ham and shortwave hobbyist interest declined quite a bit due to poor conditions, caused by low sunspot numbers. After several years of low sales in that area, I can't say that I blame them for giving up on it. But now that sunspots are coming back, hobbyists are starting to take an interest again. Will RS be smart enough to change their inventory?
Anybody who actually builds his own electronics is obviously a terrorist... People who buy this stuff will be closely watched by DHS.. through the security cams..
That's fair...whatcha think we buy the stuff for, if not to watch the watchers?
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
Luckily for my area there are stores like JB Saunders to fill the void that Radio Shack left long ago. From now on I go out of my way to give them business in order to help foster a local business community. Plus they have boatloads of ridiculously useful stuff anytime I need it and I don't have to spend a ridiculous amount of money for an overpriced HDMI/USB3.0/whatever cable when I need it.
All things are subject to interpretation, whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and n
First, SparkFun has a hugely better selection than the local Rat Shack ever did. Second, OK, so you decide to shift focus. Where are you going to get the people to staff these places? You can't throw a few ICs on a wall display and expect the mouthbreather at the front desk to be able to help with it. I'd honestly rather buy from a vending machine than deal with the kid who's trying to upsell me to a gold-plated breadboard, and would I like an iPod case with that? Finally, prices, prices, prices! The cat ate the charger to my wife's laptop. I found a replacement through the manufacturer's website for $50, and from eBay for $16. Rat Shack only stocked a universal (read: Soviet styling with crap specs) unit for $80.
So how's this supposed to work? They're not going to outstock online stores or other established local specialty shops. They don't have a competent sales force (and probably can't get one, because people worth having probably wouldn't be caught dead working there). I can't imagine that they'll ever set reasonable price points. Nah, they're dead to me - and apparently to almost everyone else. The "Radio Shack" brand is crap, and I don't think they can salvage it. I think their best best is to throw it away and launch a giant rebranding and "we used to suck and we're honest about that but we're better now" blitz.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
As I look, right now, resistors at Radio Shack are selling for $1.19 in packs of 5.
Myself, I bought a giant bag of 1/8 Watt resistors (500 or so of them) from Radio Shack a few years ago, of widely mixed values (and with larger quantities of more common ones, and fewer quantities of less common ones).
IIRC, it wasn't all that expensive. I haven't bought any resistors since -- whatever I need, within reason, I can build out of that stock.
My biggest complaint, these days, is not that they don't have what I want. It's that they do have it, but they've only got one or two of them...and I'll need, say, six.
Kid-proof tablet..
Well, here in Canada, they solved some of these problems. The Radio Shacks all changed their names to The Source. Nice and generic, that, as it doesn't make you have any expectations of what it's the source of. Competing with Best Buy or other large consumer electronics shops was fixed by closing the shops in malls where there was also a Best Buy or other large consumer electronics shop. As for parts, fortunately, I've got another shop close by called Lee's Components where I can still by 555 timers, 741 op amps, voltage regulators, TTL chips, transformers, fans and all those little fiddly bits that hobbyists still need once in a while.
So, I guess I can see where the CEO is coming from. I cain't figure what they sell there that you can't get elsewhere for less with more competent help, either.
I wonder if they will partner with Arduino (and Open source) to not only sell parts but sell potential DIYers on the CONCEPT, by making available cool and low barrier to entry projects. Sort of like Heathkit used to do way back when.
Fry's Electronics demonstrates the direction that Radio Shack could have taken to survive...hell, Tandy's failed Incredible Universe store in San Diego was purchased and converted to a very successful Fry's store. To be successful Radio Shack would have had to be run by people who understand the needs and desires of today's techno-geek. Like most older technology companies Radio Shack came to be run by people who neither understood how to satisfy this niche market nor had the desire to do so. Instead they tried a "me too" strategy to sell small, high volume, high profit items. Of course there's a lot of competition for that market and RS had no competitive advantage over the competition.
America has become cynical about educating their future generations. We need to expose them early on to good teachers and engaging media that shows them how stuff works and how things are made. This will go a long way towards getting young people interested in science and engineering and provide them the supplies and other support to nurture their curiosity.
Those prices are a lot higher than I've seen, maybe RS Canada was getting too big for their own good. In my area, it was $1 USD for a 5pk of resistors. A lot, but not nearly as bad as your example. It's good in a pinch, but eventually gets hard to justify when I could get 100pcs. for $1.
Radio Shack needs to change their name to something that more accurately conveys what they really are. Unfortunately, I think "The Place Your Grandmother Shops To Buy You Cheap Electronic Crap Like an Electronic PIggy Bank Or A Really Low End RC Car That Runs On a Pair of AA Batteries On Your Birthday and Christmas" is too long.
This nails it.
1) stop trying to sell me a cell phone plan
2) be aware of electronical items that people buy (ac/dc adapter, dvi to vga converter, what a kvm switch is)
3) do not offer to order it from your catalog, if you reach for the catalog i'm out of the store
4) expand electronic section (resistors, switches, batteries that people actually use)
2) lower the prices, at least be the cheapest place to get at least 1 item (cheapest batter ir thermal grease or ANYTHING!!!!)
As RadioShack has started dropping parts, it has been harder for me to do the tinkering I enjoy.
Over the years I have gone into RadioShack only to find the parts that I knew they used to carry are no longer carried!
I have looked online for parts... They are there, however if I just need 1 or 2 parts for a project, it costs a fortune when you include shipping! And it is annoying to have to "Save Up" projects so that I can order enough parts at once to make the shipping cost worth while.
OR I have to stockpile parts to save on shipping, in the hopes that I will need them for a future project as well.
http://onlinecatalog.digikey.com/skin/entrymap/entrymap_DigiKey.asp?SkinId=7.4.2.7
When God goes to war, He drops big bangs.
...I can get that Tandy computer I've had my heart set on. 80% IBM compatible!
They should bring back the free battery card club cards, except with more eco-friendly rechargeable batteries. That way they can upsell the the recharging units.
excellent information.
I am 40(mumble) years old and it's been 20 years since they've had anything worth looking at in their Potemkin Village of a so-called electronics DIY store. And I'm being generous there.
Up here in the Providence/Boston corridor, there is a store called You-Do-It Electronics in Needham MA. You can get /anything/, really. If you ask nicely, I suppose they can find plutonium to power your radioisotope thermoelectric generator.
Radio Shack is going to have to beat them for me to step foot in one of their stores ever again.
--
BMO
Sayal
Before my time, but I'm assuming Radio Shack got its start servicing radio amateurs.
During my time (80's), radios were a "solved problem," but there were at least three new markets. First, in the pre-IBM PC days, everyone had to make their own RS-232 and printer cables because every computer had a different pin-out. Even if a commercial one was available, it was often more expensive (like $30) compared to the parts (like $10). Remember, this was the 80's, so multiply those prices by 3. ($90 for a pre-made cable vs. $30 for making it yourself). Second, terrestrial TV was still huge and Radio Shack was the most convenient place to get TV antennas, both indoor and out, and all the associated cabling and accessories, including rotators, bulk cable and crimpers. Third, for those of us early early adopters of home theater, Radio Shack was the place to get A/V patch cables.
So what should Radio Shack be selling now?
Well, computer and A/V cables are "solved problems" and available at Wal-Mart. Radio Shack should be focusing on the next bleeding edge consumer technologies -- the ones that are still sold in pieces and parts instead of all-in-one solutions. They could catch the tail end of home video security. There are a lot of cheap turn-key solutions, but there's still some special applications that call for pieces & parts: wide-angle, night-vision, motion detection, high-end PC capture cards, etc.
They could serve the homebrew robotics market. Right now, Asia is dominating advances in robotics -- we need some robot tinkerers in the U.S. just as the U.S. had for automobiles a century ago.
Finally, Radio Shack desperately needs to update its inventory for electronics tinkerers rather than using SKUs from 1980. Over the past 30 years, oscilloscope prices have fallen through the floor and are now well within Radio Shack price ranges. The world has moved beyond hex-AND chips. Radio Shack should be selling FPGA starter kits.
It may be that a metropolitan area can't support more than one or two such Radio Shacks that serve tinkerers. Perhaps Radio Shack needs to have a limited number of "Super Radio Shacks". But as with Micro Center, there are times where same-day pick-up is needed and even overnight delivery from the Internet is not fast enough.
As long as every home in America has a "junk drawer" Radio Shack will have a business model.
I really used to enjoy going into a Radio Shack store and check out all the different parts and build stuff. Then, they zapped it all, turning it into a cell phone / crap place. I've managed to find a few of their stores that still have managers that give a *hit an still carry resisters an such, but it's rare.
I haven't been in one of their stores since like 2002, and that was cause they had ladder line for antenna's.
Impress me Radio Shack, and carry all the stuff you used to.. and you'll get me to visit again.
Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
I disagree. Ratshack sold out its base over time because it lots its innovative drive. It became just another competitor to the cheap big box stores and lost because it's not a big box store. Radio Shack once sold some of the highest quality affordable home audio (yes, it did) and look where it went: RCA and other "brand name" CRAP. That's just one example of how it lost focus.
Radio shack has almost unprecedented community presence. They could offer services, like reflow soldering, act as a front end to an affordable pc board manufacture, and even offer walk-in cnc services. There's like 2500 stores in the US; imagine if you could walk in to a store less than 20 miles from the house, hand them a thumb drive, then stand there with the kid and watch while a cnc machine grinds out a part for you. No better way to get kids interested in this stuff than seeing it done and working hands on.
The first thing I read on their comment page was a guy asking for a switch for his guitar pedal.
They need to return to that niche market and market it well. Look at Lowes or Home Depot, or Napa Auto Parts. You go to Napa or Lowes and usually, the staff is at least of some help. Where the hell do you go for electronics nationally? No, I'm serious! You're out of town and that glass fuse in your laptop's car charger blew, and you're fucked.
Where do you go? When I was a kid, you went to motherfuckin' radio shack, you handed the guy the blown fuse, and he handed you one back that was relatively close in amperage. They knew their shit. Sure, they wanted my home address to buy it, but even at 12 years old, I knew to make somethin up. Kinda wish it was that way again. I needed brushes for a motor to a radiator fan on my car today. WTF was I gonna go? Nowhere. I bought the motor new, because it had to be done today.
I was with a group of middle-aged friends two weeks ago and someone mentioned that a particularly type of power adapter might be available at Radio Shack.
The subsequent conversation determined that
Talk about anemic marketing.
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The prices they charge for common cables is astronomical. When I see some poor unsuspecting person wander in and ask for something, it's usually for something they are going to end up paying $50+ for, when it should be 20 tops. To me this seems to be their only repeat customers. Old people, who want things handed to them without them knowing anything about it. I also remember back in late 04 wandering into one needing a DVI = VGA adapter, figuring they would be the place that would definitely have them... Nope.
I would love to see a series of kits of varying degree of difficulty, to introduce kids to diy electronics. I buy all my parts online, it doesn't make sense to do that retail. But a wide selection of kits might fly. For example:
- Simple one- and two-transistor constructions like flashers, rain detectors etc.
- Step up to ic based circuits, like simple radio receivers
- Then, go on to making a simple transmitter
- At this point, move on to logic circuits, in preparation for...
- A pic- or arduino based basic platform. From here, the possibilities are endless. The shack could build an online community around this, supplying modules and all the physical material through the stores. Sparkfun was mentioned already, I think having access to a retail version of that concept could work.
In the old days, I remember Philips having a great series of kits. YOu could even build a complete tv receiver. That's how I got introduced to electronics. It isn't true that today's gadgets are too integrated or complicated to understand.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the 2SC1815 was discontinued some 5 years ago. The only place I have found this recently is on discontinued stock websites or places running their stocks down.
easy for human
I think recreation is a key to their having some draw. Perhaps Radio Shack can embrace Maker Faire types of projects and reserve small parts of stores for interesting kits to build, carry the magazine, and even hold store seminars on recreational building. Alternatively they can continue to carry only cell phones, plastic crap toys, and go down in history like a dinosaur trapped in tar.
Radio Shack once sold some of the highest quality affordable home audio (yes, it did)
I can attest to this, being old enough to remember them and having owned quite a number of their products.
But... At 8pm on a Saturday night they had a component I could use to repair the power supply in my friend's projector. The "good" place for this stuff closes at noon on Saturdays (I'm rarely ready to buy electronics before noon on Saturday), and while Radio Shack didn't have exactly what I was looking for (an individual diode), they *DID* have a full bridge rectifier, which I was able to use in place of the discrete diodes to repair it. So, put down Radio Shack all you want, but damn it I still respect them.
They don't cater to them either.
They have barely any components
Zero manuals
99.9% of the place is trying to compete with wal-mart and failing horribly.
Sounds nice, but there's not money in small resistor packs. And anybody worth their salt now knows how to get parts without having going to Radio Shack, who will mail order them anyhow. Why have an extra step?
It's not all Radio Shack's fault. Look at how stuff is made now-a-days. It's all built by machines (and cheap labor) in China and thrown away when it breaks. Radio Shacks used to have repair centers across the USA. Not any longer.
But beyond that, Radio Shack has lost touch with their core constituency, those that had real radio shacks. Instead of a place to find neat stuff, they became the place for cell phones and RC trucks at Christmas time. I have avoided them like the plague quite successfully now (how many years (or decades) has it been?), and was quite bemused when I saw the new DIY email from them recently.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
> Why the hell would anyone who knows enough to DIY pay $4 for a 5 cent part?
Because paying $4 means you can have it NOW, on Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday, instead of having to wait at least a day or two for it to arrive. If it's Friday night and you just fried something, that $4 5-cent part just saved your weekend.
You may have but I certainly didn't. I watched my beloved radio shack get more and more useless as time went on. Today, they have a single small draw of resistors of varying values, all 1 watt. totally useless. If they want to get back to their roots they are going to need to renovate their stores and bring back all the bins.
Sony announced their launch of a new line of network security products
Radio Shack once sold some of the highest quality affordable home audio
And who bothers to have "high end" audio anymore? It just needs to work and blast out a loud noise - and last two years before it's thrown out for the next set of two inch speakers.
So much as the cnc and soldering reflow goes, it seems like the number of people doing that kind of thing on that level anymore equals the number of replies to this Slashdot thread!
Seeing this from the Rat Shack really has me wondering if they aren't in their death throes aka Ultimate Electronics and Circuit City (not to mention all the countless mom and pop shops that had "Hi Fi" in their name).
It's kind of a laugh. I remember when there was a shop that sold calculators, LCD watches and stereo equipment (and there were no cell phones then). Now you can find all that stuff blister packed at Wal Mart or at a grocery store even.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Resistors? LEDs? Those sound like items only a terrorist would want to buy.
The last time I went to radio shack was just looking for a thermal fuse. Having not been there in years and not immediately seeing the huge area in the back where all the components are stashed I was beginning to get worried.
But alas everything was there just tucked away in a series of space saving sliding 3-d shelves and bins. I found a close enough fuse right away and ended up leaving without anyone asking me if I wanted to buy a cell phone.
My suggestion would be to sell more hobby controller boards the kind with usb interfaces.. Adrino kits, phidgets, stamps..etc.
Also they should do a lego parts thing in their catalog/online/whatever where they have plans to build some interesting monstrosity with a list of parts you'll need to buy. Roombas, flying skynet drones, mecha-godzilla, whatever...
Ah yes, the bags of randomly assorted stuff! I fondly remember those. Resistors, capacitors, LEDs, a big bag for a few guilders; these were great for a kid on a tight DIY budget. We had a tiny but extremely well stocked electronics DIY shop two blocks down from the local RS; very often that shop was cheaper, but I always popped into RS to check their bargains. They pulled out of the Netherlands ages ago though...
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
If the CEO has that to say then I don't know why anyone would go there.
(but seriously, everything there is so expensive and shoddy, the salespeople actually are that creepy, and hobbyists can usually afford to wait a couple days or even weeks to order the exact right parts for significantly cheaper from internet / China)
If they're sincere about changing their image, they really do need to ditch the Radio Shack name. I know they were considering rebranding as, "The Shack" in some places, but I haven't seen a store adopt it yet. Maybe license "Maker Shack" or something. I dunno, just do anything you can to get away from the name with 2+ decades of bad history attached to it.
So change the name, throw out all the shitty RC cars and other trash nobody is buying, stock Uno's, Picaxe and Parallax Stamps, shields, sensors, modules, appropriate serial and usb cables, some etching crap and hire just one guy or girl for each store that's a tinkerer, even if they're only there in the evenings part-time. Put some decent tools on the shelf (the $35 Weller iron station, lose the rat shack house burner), 3 or 4 multimeters we've actually seen elsewhere, a rotary tool (Dremmel or similar), a few shelves of books on a variety of most popular subjects. Stock ham radio gear and learning materials. Put a netbook or two on the shelf somewhere (they might already do this). All that could fit in the back 1/2 of most rat shacks I've been in, and they can still keep an area for their lucrative mobile phone business up front if they absolutely have to.
Follow it up with a library of basic how-to information on your site that isn't completely covered in ads and awful branding. Do not require logins (you hear me instructables?). Do not spam or sell. Make useful videos. If you want to get silly, start doing basic electronics courses during your dead hours (every retail space has em). Donate stuff or manpower to your local hackerspace.
That should be a pretty good start on a whole new business. Modify from there!
Looks to me like price and of course availability is the problem for the people. It's strange that RadioShack marks the price up in such a ridiculous fashion.. I read about someone complaining about an LED for 3$... In India it costs me 1 Rupee, about 0.02$. An assorted box of 100 resistors costs less than a 1$. The basic multimeter costing less than 2$.
I always remembered wishing components were available in India, as easily as in RadioShack.. but its surprising to hear the current state. Of course, this is a street famous for electronics in my city Hyderabad, where we get most of the simple components you would expect from a DIY shop. The problem is that, they are still not up to date on certain advanced things like microcontrollers, arduinos, development boards, and their knowledge doesn't extend beyond the small components. The Pickaxe is the commonly available dev board, and of course the AVR microcontroller is evergreen. But, the DIY and the ideas and the knowledge comes from the Universities... The students just come to this street to buy their components.
The last person to mod me down is a rotten egg..... there.. that should do it..
Once upon a time they were called Allied Radio Shack. That was right about 1970, which, give or take a couple years, is when I purchased my first P-Box kit. I also was the proud owner of a 50-1 electronics kit of theirs. It was back when the shell of the kit was actually made of wood. Jeebus, I'm old as shit. Their catalog was not as large as Sears back then, but it was very thick. There were all manor/brand/assortment of parts for the board level enthusiast. They got split up by the government as a monopoly in 1973. After the breakup, the stores still carried more parts than they now do, but the handwriting was on the wall. CB radios and CB radio paraphernalia were as plentiful as Ipod and their various accessories back in that era. The cell phone of the late 70's. There was an entire lingo surrounding the communications platform that would make today's basher's and grepper's proud. A proper 'gaming' rig of the era, to be considered truly bad-ass, would couple a single sideband (SSB) CB transceiver (triple the channels!) to an illegal high gain RF amplifier (aka "footwarmer" IIRC) and connect it to a dual antenna system (co-phase dual antenna). The coup de grace came in the final tuning of the antennas using an analog meter to properly adjust the 'standing wave' properties of your transmissions. Ten-four good buddy? I worked at Radio Shack in the 80's part-time while attending college. CB radio was all dead, relegated to an aisle at the nearest truckers cafe. The toys at Christmas were/are a HUGE profit center for Radio Shack. They make a bunch of money on those remote controlled Chinese manufactured toys AND they suck up $$$batteries$$$ like crazy. By and large, the Radio Shack of today is just a pale imitation of a properly stocked large Walmart electronics department. The few parts they do sell are now relegated to a couple metal cabinets. All DIY items are, and have always been, marked-up to the hilt. The few remaining parts that Radio Shack still carries are priced as if they were made from platinum or gold instead of silica and carbon. Mark-up so high it would make a pawn broker blush. Nothing would please management more than a return to the heady days when lines formed to pay 20,000% markups on quarter watt resistors. So Radio Shack is looking for suggestion? I'd suggest Radio Shack dump tons of money on Make events and promote American invention with increased vigor. Carry more hobbyist parts, and at prices that show a concern for their clientele other than just snatching as much of their pitiful weekly allowance money as possible. Ferchrissakes, Doritos haven't gotten any cheaper in the intervening years. Cut a brother some slack. Enjoy.
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway This is the road to hell
"Price is another example. Simple 10 pack of 10ohm resistors were $8 at the shack, and $2.49 at another shop. Most of the time, even if you were driving 30mins you saved money."
One of the things Rat Shack sometimes did well was have a fair stock of various bits and pieces close by to many people. There's significantly higher overhead to that, so there will be higher prices. And it's lucrative to charge people for the convenience. "Convenience store service, convenience store prices". Your corner store will mark up their soda a lot more than a warehouse club, too, but it's the difference between 5 min and 30 min. When people are in a hurry, that's when they go to such places. Same deal. Mail order generally offers the cheapest prices, but sometimes you need something ASAP.
dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
When I was a kid in the mid 80's you could go into a RS and gawk at computer parts like a keyboard that was made for actually building a computer (from scratch!) and things of that nature. I even bought a 555 timer projects book and pored over it. I never got into electronics much, I'm a computer nerd (who has dabbled...) but going into RS back then sparked my imagination. By the time I got a chance to actually WORK at a RS in the mid 90's I was disappointed. Most of the focus was on selling stuff with a higher markup with an extended warranty. And make sure you get peoples zip code and stuff! I actually got talked to by the GM because I didn't ask for it all the time. That didn't last very long. After that I went to work for a *real* electronics store (They're still around, amazingly) but I got my stupid ass fired because my 18yo brain refused to show up for work on time.
For RS to do what it did for me back in the day I should be able to take my 15yo son in there and there be more for him to gravitate to than the celphone junk.
Lastly, I went in there in 3 different stores looking for a 25V 2A transformer for a power supply project for building a foam cutter. I knew exactly what I wanted. The kids who worked there had no idea what a transformer was (they probably thought I was talking about the movie...) and were shocked when I brought a metal thing with wires coming out of it. They probably thought I was trying to build a time machine or something.
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
Not only do we not have the flying car we were all promised would be ubiquitous by now, we also lack a retail environment where we can purchase the parts to build one ourselves. You're going to wish you'd taken a more active role in personal manufacturing when it becomes necessary to drill your own oil well in order to be able to afford the non-flying (SUCKAGE) car you're stuck with now. Enjoy.
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway This is the road to hell
You can't buy a better 5mm white LED than the Radio Shack 276-0017. Anywhere. It's a little known fact. And my local Radio Shack does stock them.
Amateur radio used to be new and exciting. It also served a purpose - you could communicate with someone on the other side of the world. Wow!
It isn't needed today anyone who can afford a mobile phone can talk to almost anyone anywhere, and if you want some weird electronic gadget the likelihood is that you can probably buy it off the shelf rather than have to build it yourself.
It doesn't help that the average age of amateur radio enthusiasts has been increasing each year for several decades now and that rather than urgently exploring cutting edge technology amateurs are more inclined these days to just potter around. It just doesn't seem so new and exciting any more.
1. Overpriced
2. No-nothing employees
3. Pitiful selection
I used to shop at RadioShack all the time, but over the years they simply forgot what the store is supposed to be about. The last visit was several years ago when I was needing an adapter for a microphone jack. Nobody there knew what I wanted or even if they had such an item. I found it myself, but it was so over-priced that I just walked out without it.
Our company used to buy a lot of stuff there (fuse blocks, wire, switches, etc), but we found that we could buy the same stuff cheaper elsewhere.
I doubt I'll ever be able to forgive them for over a decade of "You've got questions? We've got cellphones!" treatment, and I'm not sure I need to, since all of the major mail order component companies sell online and are probably faster than finding the time to drag my butt to RadioShack. I suppose the only reason I've EVER needed them is when I was short something simple in a project and needed it yesterday, and most of the time when that has happened they didn't have it anyway. What really killed it for me wasn't that they stopped adequately stocking DIY parts, most at least carry some, but was instead the awful customer service. They never knew where anything was, and even checking out something simple meant waiting for the completion of the cell phone contract in front of you, so buying a pack of resisters for a few bucks took a half hour.
I had an extended warranty on a cell phone I bought from them which included free battery replacement. Well, they would not stock the part an insisted I turn in the old battery before they would order the part. Completely dishonest. I get my diy stuff on line from other vendors now and won't go into their stores.
It is your fault. You should be building more devices from scratch. It is your responsibility to prop up the economy of sparts. In fact if you harvest your own sparts from discarded devices (ddevices) then those sparts (spare parts) get recycled. First take them to Radio Shack so you can buy them back.
The last time I went to a Radio Shack, I looked up the part I needed online and it said the local store had it in stock. I went there to buy it, and the clerk didn’t have a clue when I asked him where the I.C.’s could be found. Integrated Circuit? Chip? Never heard of it. No clue. I gave him the Radio Shack part number. Still no clue.
This is a worst-case example of what I’ve always hated about Radio Shack – their employees have no idea what they’re selling. They need to fix that. Good luck – it’s been that way since I got into electronics in the early ’70s.
I applied for a job there once in my youth and was turned down flat because they required a college degree to work there, and I didn’t have one. It could be a degree in basket-weaving for all they cared, but you had to have it. Don’t know if that’s still the case or not, but it never helped – the clerks all seemed too dumb for the job because I knew a lot more about the products they sold than any of the clerks I encountered there.
I used to stop at Radio Shack at least 3 times a week for parts. But in large metroplex's they got their lunch ate by people who were just smarter. Here in Dallas / Fort-worth there are a few places with over 10,000 sqft of parts ( http://www.tannerelectronics.com/ ), with prices that are right. Radio shack made probably 1/3 their money selling antenna's and poles for broadcast tv's. 1/3 from DYI parts, and the balance from selling remote control toys at Christmas. Tanner has no less than 8 customers in it any time I am in there.
So how can they turn this to reclaim some of their old customers who are actually aware of them, and gain the new younger generation who doesn't?
1. Carry a few of the kits, blinking led's, crystal radio's, maybe a programmable remote control for TV's? For the kids who might DYI?
or crazy grandpa who would like to give a kid a gift that will make them think for themselves.
2. In some area's focus on selling the HDTV antenna's, and pitch it as get off the 50$ a month cable or satellite bill?
3. Christmas was always big with remote control vehicles, maybe a few more robotic style toys (programmable from pc)?
4. Increase digital selection, maybe since ttl is coming in smaller packages, offer those, and some soic to dil adapters.
5. Bring back some wire wrap, sockets, better selection of transistors, more resistors values etc. (Still small space usage)
6. Higher quality home stereo and surround sound systems (works in every market) and advertise this!
7.Become the goto for car stereo equipment with good brands, and speakers.
8. Make a online sales course for the fricking sales staff to watch while their waiting around for somebody to come in.
9. Better selection of power supplies, maybe some test equipment would be nice, (good meters, pc based digital scope or something!)
10. Become the king of batteries for cell phones probably a good idea, and carry a larger variety of cell phone accessories.
This will not work in every store. They are going to have to figure this out by location.
I looked around and didn't see anything appropriate, then I asked the young clerk, and he looked at me like I was nuts. I was about to leave when the "old" clerk came up to me and in a sotto voice said, "Come with me."
He lead me to the back of the store, where he disappeared into the storeroom for a moment. Then, he returned with a box full of their inventory of electronic components. He explained that they had received orders from management to remove all such items from their sales floor, but that he knew there was enough demand to justify keeping them around. I bought the parts I needed, thanked him profusely, and returned to work.
Too bad, but they've jumped the shark. I used to spend more time in RS than I did in school, but they turned into a cell phone and overpriced-computer-component shop. Don't know how they are going to pull anything together out of that to ressurect what they once were.
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True enough. But sometimes it's worth carrying such items to lure people into the store, where they might buy other, more profitable, items.
If you've ever been in a Fry's, you'll see what I mean. They have an entire row of oscilloscopes for sale, covering an order of magnitude in price. I doubt they sell many of them, but they are a clear sign that they are serious about the "electronics nerd" target audience.
And, meanwhile, you can buy small resister packs there.
I stopped shopping at Radioshack after I applied to work there and the manager made a HUGE point to tell me that they were trying to move away from electronics and basically focus on cell phones and cell phone accessories. I shopped with them briefly after that, but after a few times of going in and explaining a DIY project to the high school aged girl working at my local radio shack only to have her stare vapidly back at me, I decided I'd had enough. One time my buddy and I went in to try to find some rca jacks, because we were making an audio cable using some old 100' ethernet cabling. This girl actually told us you couldn't make an audio cable out of ethernet cable... wrong! It took me and my friend about 40 minutes to explain to her that a wire is just a wire and what you hook up on the ends is up to you if you make the wire yourself. She totally didn't understand, AND she had no clue where the jacks even were because in her words, "no one comes in for that stuff". But I'm sure she would have readily discussed cell phone cases with me.
I grew up with Radio Shack being a DIY shop. Over the years I kept going there when I needed some odd electronic part. I noticed them becoming a mini Best Buy but never articulated that into a conclusion until I read this thread. Yah, bad idea. The bigger shops can do a better job than Radio Shack in that arena.
I don't know if they can go back to the DIY thing for the same reasons. At least in my area there are really big computer shops that also sell all sorts of electronic parts for DIY types. They can probably do it cheaper than Radio Shack.
Anyone remember the old days when you would buy a piece of wire from Radio Shack.? The clerk would fill out a huge receipt, by hand, asking you for your address and all sorts of personal information. That was hated and it took them so long to adjust. Ironic, these days they probably just pull it all off of your ATM/debit/credit cad.
Some of the things they could to that might bring in money
1. Bring the Tandy name back to computers. Offer up a Tablet (Tandy 11 - x86, resistive touch screen, SSD, OS on SSD, NOT in ROM.), Netbook (Tandy 11+ - WIndows or Linux), Notebook (Tandy 110), and All-in-one desktop (Tandy 11000), and a Barebones kit with build instructions/video (Tandy 11500). (the 11 being the last two digits of the year - All in Windows or a Radio shack branded Ubuntu derivative)
2. Build/Brand a media center device. Blu-Ray/DVD/PVR, USB/SD/Firewire (a lot of people stull use MiniDV Camcorders), Bluetooth remote and game controllers, the 25 licensed Sega games you see included with every $25 gaming toy preinstalled, some motion sensor games, and an interface built with XBMC or MythTV
3. Good selection of Digital cameras, camcorders, and accessories. A few high end/prosumer grade some mid grade, and a small selection of cheapos.
4. Selection of Tandy branded computer components. Video cards... some for people who want to work with Adobe apps, some for gamers, and some using chips a few generations back as Value cards. USB Hubs, SD Card Readers,cpu/case fans, some CPUs, Motherboards based on AMD and Intel reference boards....nothing fancy
Stuff that appeals to the mainstream crowd with more technical versions that appeal to the "techy" (or wannabe) crowd.
Make America grate again!
Radio Shack was my second job. I worked for them for about a year and a half starting around 2000/2001.I guess it's fair to say they were already heading down the path, Len Roberts was the CEO (is he still?) and the focus on cell phones was already big. However, over half the floor space was still DIY parts. Caps, resistors, diodes, pots, switches, etc. My first day in the store the store manager tested me by asking me to get him a specific component (I forget what it was now). He seemed relieved that I was able to actually get him that part. I didn't understand this until much later. (Fwiw, I was ~21, he was in his 40's).
As it was, I watched Len slowly sell Radio Shack like a cheap whore. Ever expanding cell phone space. The RCA wall. MSN dial up, and DirecTV systems. Shitty overpriced "gold" series cabling. Then they got rid of the Tandy name, and became Radio Shack Corp. To me that was the final death knell. The only thing that could possibly make anyone feel even the slightest twinge of guilt for the whoring was gone.
As I worked I understood more why people who knew better spoke of Radio Shack with derision, and mocked the slogan saying "You've got questions, we've got blank stares." It was all too true. Radio Shack was hiring young people who only knew how to sell things that made them money. If you came in needing batteries or a part, they could maybe walk you to the general vicinity if you were lucky, and then do their best to ignore you in hopes of the next mark to walk through the door and look at cell phones or DirecTV systems. Relations between stores was poor too in most cases. Employees from other stores would lie about product availability if the stock was limited, dicking you and the company out of a sale because they wanted the sale credit. Plenty of times I found some old item on deep discount and I'd begin the hunt for it across stores, and get so many replies of "nope, couldn't find it" only to later have a customer walk in wanting the last one we had to go with the one they just bought from $store (usually things like speaker pairs, and "$store" would almost always be one of the ones that claimed not to have said product in stick when queried).
All I can say is getting fired from that place was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. I have many fond memories, and I made a lot of friends (mostly amongst the older crowd), but it was a shit job going down the drain, specifically after my original boss got fired.
To little to late. Radioshack, I'm not coming back, F you.
I went into Radio Shack and asked if they had a car radio amplifier. I was looking for a 12 volt amplifier for my travel trailer. The sales boy said that Radio Shack had never carried car radio equipment. I'll admit that the Realistic brand of radios never won awards. But the store was close and they used to carry Radios and radio accessories.
Keep in mind 'ol Forrest Mims is a creationist so he may make the steps from 2 to 4 Pray for intervention from a higher power.
And RadioShack is no Wall Street Banking Firm.
$0.18/c ??? 18 cents per speed of light?
These days the true 'diy' market is so small it wont make enough sales to make it worthwhile to allocate floor space.
It is sad in many ways, but times have changed and 99.9% of the consumers out there just want the latest shiny object, not a box of resistors and diodes..
And radio? don't make me laugh, except for the hardcore ( that wont go to R/S) no one even knows what amateur radio is now.
For those of us that do still care, there are places out there.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
They are very unlucky and I don't know if Radio Shack is the sole culprit to blame.
I happen to be, erm, of a certain age (not that old!) and remember the ethos which existed back then when Jobs and Gates were younger. Jobs was a visionary guy which had the hability to find Woz (himself off-scale regarding tech issues). Gates was, erm -- well there were a lot of guys back then, but even I would know about them some 5 years later when the Apple II+ existed (and a BASIC implementation by M$!).
People loved to tinker with hardware; things were very expensive -- just like e.g. LED lighting is expensive today, four-digit LED displays were the easiest interface to see what happened inside those elementary, primitive components. When I connect my Linux PC to my TV I cannot help to be in awe for how much we made affordable through the years.
Yet, on the software side, we have gone backwards at supersonic speed. People knew what to do when RMS started the Free Software Revolution. Nowadays, there is a vicious circle:
a] People want to know less;
b] Software providers want you to know less;
c] You pay these latter enough money to get what you want, with disappointing results (i.e., nothing works);
d] You blame computing for being too hard, not you for being too ignorant;
e] With lowered expectations, you want to know even less;
f] Goto step [b].
Who's left to tinker today? Like before, people who work at big companies, just like back then with Woz. But if once they disdained the personal computer, now corporations have less goodwill and are prone to sue employees for what they deem their "intellectual property".
Ideas were to be shown back then; now they must be hidden and only shown after a hefty deal is made.
Good luck, RS, you'll need it...
If they REALLY want to get their mojo back they should sponser/support/create hackerspaces like this. Perhaps they could even establish space in some of their stores for this and have participatory events. (Just don't book them the same time as the comic store's MTG nights.)
Indeed, if they just carried everything that sparkfun has and charged a 50% markup, I'd probably buy it just so I can have it right then and don't have to come up with a bunch of other items to make the shipping worth it.
I'd probably still gripe about the 50% markup, but I'd buy it.
I needed a Firewire 400 to Firewire 800 connector. The sales guy didn't understand what I wanted and went to consult his big book. He came back and tried to sell me a 4 pin Firewire 400 to 6 pin Firewire 400 connector. I can understand that a sales guy may not have enough breadth of knowledge to know every connector off the top of his head. But you'd think that the average electronics store sales guy would be smart enough to look such things up correctly.
You had me...right up to the "ham radio gear".
It's dead Jim. Let it rest in peace.
Ham radio was about communicating - being able to build something that let you communicate (Talk was a much later addition) RIGHT NOW with people 20, 100, 1000, 5000 miles away. It was nearly magical.
There is no longer any magic in that - copying Morse at 20 wpm would be a curiosity to a kid along the lines of the manual spark advance lever on a Model T ford ("You had to do that?").
Doing anything with a dead technology is exactly what RS doesn't need - they've been doing that for 30 years. The only way to reinvigorate the stores at a base technology level is to figure out what it is that a 12 year old wants to do TODAY, and empower it.
I don't have an answer for that - in a world of IPhone Apps, who the hell cares about an Arduino?
And the worms ate into his brain.
Bring back the battery-of-the-month club and you'll get me back in the door.
I find it funny how so many Slashdotters are critical of the current RS business model. Has anyone actually looked at how the business is doing? RSH has had only one unprofitable year in the past 20. And although they don't have the exact same inventory lists, their most direct competition for most of what they sell has been big box stores like Best Buy and Circuit City. Look how many big box stores have died during the past 10 years - meanwhile RS keeps on going and going, generating cash at an impressive clip.
/. thinks a couple of bucks is WAY TOO MUCH for a capacitor or whatever. Their management seems to realize this also - they have been buying back the company's stock at a pretty good clip at current prices. Also, the market has beaten this stock price down to where another company may buy it just to pick up the additional cash flow - the stock is trading at very low multiples.
Requisite Anecdote: I was at a friend's house last weekend, and he had just bought a new digital camera at a garage sale. He was wondering aloud where he could find a cable for it. Standard USB cable used by thousands of cameras, cell phones, etc. His first thought was "Radio Shack probably has it." He was fully prepared to go there and probably spend way too much for it, esp. when compared to Monoprice or other sites that sell this type of thing at very low prices. I think lots of (normal, less-nerdy) people still think of RSH as the place to go for any kind of accessory item related to electronics. These are high-margin items. A few USB cables at 80% markup or more will cover a lot of missing component/part sales.
Plus, they sell a LOT of cell phones and plans. This is a profitable business. As an investor, I guess I don't really care too much that everyone on
i guess for me the prevailing thought is that its just completely unnecessary for them to do this. While i agree being able to get an LED or something else is good once in a while, Digikey and mouser both have MILLIONS of components, and (for me) they show up the next business day with ground shipping!
just head over to futurlec and grab a bunch of resistor assortments / IC packs / Regulator packs / 74XX packs and you've basically got your own 'radioshack' at home for maybe $20. Other than that, do some actual PLANNING and order what you need per project.
besides, does anyone really want to pay $4 for every single component they buy?
For less than 12 bucks you can get an excellent desoldering tool (Catalog #: 64-2060) from Radio Shack. Best thing I ever bought there.
When Radio Shack asked my for my SS number when I was just buying a battery they jumped the shark. This was in the 90's. They have been dishonest money grubbing whores likely even before that. (Very likely during the 80's when it become 'cool' to be be right wing and greedy.)
I would love to have a parts store like what the Radio Shack used to be when I was growing up. But saving some mogul who has billions to burn who can open up a private, ie not reporting to investors every quarter as to why they not fleecing every customer for every dime that they have, type of store that will have just parts and stuff...I don't see it happening.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
I used to work at Radio Shack and I know how they think. They think that cell phones is where the money is. I went to Vol-Tech for electronics and to college for computer networking. I was told that all that stuff is great but that is not what makes you money its selling "cell phones". "Sell Cell Phones," they say, "Thats where the money is. Parts and other stuff DONT MATTER. We don't make money on that so don't worry about it." "You want to make money don't you. The biggest commissions are on cell phones and the attachments u put on them. Surprise Surprise. How much commission is on parts and other items. NOT MUCH.
The people that work there besides me didn't know that much either. They were hired because they could SELL not that they didn't know anything about electronics. They couldn't tell u the difference between a And or Or gate. PNP or NPN? Whats that? Besides the manager and myself everyone else didn't have a clue. One guy there didn't even care for the rules all that much and was always bending the rules and making promises just to make a sell. And then when the angry customers came back b!tching about how something wasn't right he was never there or was "Always" busy so that he didn't have to fix the mistakes he made. He only still had his job still when I left because his Selling numbers was so high.
Its no wonder no one that works there Knows anything. The employee turn around rate is so high because Radio Shack dumps u if you can't make your sales every month or don't make them any money. Even if you knew every spec about every item in there and could answer every question that every customer had about any product. It didn't matter because you were not making money for the company.
YES, everything is that store is way overpriced too. I was able to look on the computer to see what the "Shack" paid for an item and what they would turn around and sell it for. And then for them to claim it was cheap. $50 bucks for an HDMI Cable. NO...... $5.95 for a similar cable off of their own web site works for me. Its the fact that you get it "Right Now" so you can go home and use it right away is what you get charged for. The markup was 2000% on some items just to turn a higher profit margin. Every time you sold a computer or TV or some other big item there better be at least to Attached items to the sell or you was in trouble and in danger of losing your job. A Greedy Company.
The fact that now they realize they need to go back to their roots. Back to what made them big in the first place. LOL. Good luck finding workers that Know anything about electronics after you fired them all or and DIY's left that care to come look in your stores after you get rid of all the parts and components that they came looking for long ago and now get their parts elsewhere for cheaper.
Good luck Radio Shack... I think not. You already burnt your bridges long ago for a quick buck.
I have 3 young boys, and I'm dying for the day we can get the modern version of the "150-in-one" electronics kits I had as a child (they are a little young for that right now).
BUT, I have been in Radio Shack a few times in the last year - I bought some of those stupid little vibrating hex-bots, but my kids love them! They were also the only store (out of Best Buy, Target, etc) that had a replacement power cable for a LCD TV that seemed like a pretty common part.
I also recently bought several 9 volt battery leads to replace some worn ones on some toys.
Would I buy a cell phone or a camera there? Not a chance. At least I don't need to give them my address when I check out anymore.
The store is a far cry from my childhood where packs of resistors and capacitors decorated the walls, but its passable in a pinch.
If they would offer evening get-togethers of geek dads and their kids, and sell things like arduino kits, they could easily revive their lost glory in the DIY space. Hell, just hook up with the Maiker-fare types and Make magazine, find some VOLUNTEERS - the store just has to offer the space and a friendly vibe - customers would be hanging out there like kids in a candy store.
I started picking things up at Radio Shack back in the early 70s. At that time, the local one was run by a guy who had a degree in electrical engineering, and so did his other supervisor. These guys could literally sit down and build you stuff if they didn't have what you wanted...
Intimately familiar with the entire stock as well.
Far from the case now... I wonder how much of a market there is for the DIY crowd? I subscribe to MAKE magazine and build cigar-box guitars, so I'm always looking for little electronic bits.
If you're an investor, you should pay attention. Buying back company stock is a cheap trick to try to jack up share price in the short term without any real improvement in the company itself. It's a Wall Street game that brings no real improvement to the company for the long term.
Like I'm going to back a company that supports Lance Armstrong?
They're crazy (and overpriced).
radio shack hasn't been a cool destination since the 1980's.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
I recently bought a used (but working) 750W, 7 channel sound system. It put out an "honest" 120WPCH into each of seven channels, but can be switched to use just two, three, four ,etc. It's a pretty good Kenwood, cost a bit over $500 when new just for the HT receiver. I bought it to replace a 70's vintage TWO channel Marantz 2220 - that's 20 watts per channel of first generation, OTL (ie it uses bigass coupling caps to the speakers and a single polarity power supply) probably germanium transistor amp. After living with the Kenwood a few days I tore the thing back out and put the Marantz back in: it's FAR easier to use, it sounds better, and it's even LOUDER (as my neighbors will attest).
You may be happy with two inch speakers and shit that "just (barely) works" but many want something better. I'd even say most want better, but can't afford it or can't really find a demonstration that allows them to appreciate the difference. Just look at the multitude of videos on youtube, the deadtree magazines devoted to higher end stuff (tho I never even said Radio Shack sold "higher end" - in fact I said AFFORDABLE higher end, which is more like mid level) and the people willing to still pay dollars to go see movies in theatres -- where they can enjoy the sound without worrying about pissing off the neighbors.
ANd if you build anything nowdays you'll end up using SMD for some of it. That shit is mad difficult to solder, especially if you're over 40. This is why so many "kits" come with parts of pc boards already soldered. But what do you do if you design your own kit? Now you gotta track down a service. It would take less than 5000 worth of machinery at a location to be able to do this. Would they all make a return? Nope - but plenty in select "pilot" locations would net enough return to pay for an expansion in store coverage... just like those cellphone things they've been so stuck on these last years. And a whole lot more of a captured market.
With the combination of my son growing older, and having an interest in this hobby, can anyone suggest a few good books/websites to get started in this hobby? I think it'd be a great thing to learn along side with my son. Also, anyone know of any places around Ottawa, ON that sells this stuff?
Radio Shack never was a real good parts store. Olson Electronics was better. There were some local parts stores that were much better (Delta Electronics). Most all of them have vanished. Radio Shack did have a big store that was great (can't remember the name) but it was similar to Allied Radio. We had a local store here in the Atlanta Area. They sold everything from cases to test equipment. Like most of their other trial balloons (Incredible Universe, etc), they went bust. I will go to RS for small parts (led's etc) as it is the only local venue left. We are lucky here in Atlanta to have Fry's. They have most anything that RS would stock and much more of it.
You'll change your tune in a few years when the power grid is gone and it costs thousands of dollars to travel to the next state.
Here's a two part plan for Radio Shack: First, sell a limited selection (broad and shallow) of quality consumer goods at a high markup. Second, sell DIY parts without a profit so you can co-opt the knowledge of the DIY/geeks for product selection and trusted recommendations.
Brick and Mortar is expensive and can't compete with the web; so don't. Limit the selection of printers, for example, to 3 or 5 that are really good and sell them at a large premium over other retailers. Make service deals for the models, teach staff everything about those models, work every angle you can to convince people (esp. geeks) that they should just TRUST Radio Shack to have picked good printers. A desktop printer might be $90, but I'd happily pay $200 if I believed that you weren't just out for profit, but had really selected a great product and I could get great service for the product. Websites are cheaper, but Radio Shack can talk to you about your issues. Also, with corporate scale Radio Shack could make deals to allow for cheaper ink, in-store service, better software drivers, and many other "soft" issues that would make it worth a large premium to buy at Radio Shack. If Radio Shack just picked a few good printers, people could use the selections, but buy from Amazon. It's all the rest of the related issues that justify the premium, and that depends on trusting Radio Shack.
DIY geeks offers value to Radio Shack in 3 ways. First, by selecting products and sharing knowledge about issues, workarounds, alternate uses, and service opportunities for those products. The DIY crowd will hear about every problem with the printers you sold in the example above. Second, they are the ultimate marketing demographic for retail electronics. If the DIY/geek crowd recommends Radio Shack to everyone it'll be a success again. Third, they'll keep Radio Shack honest and on track. The culture of open and honest opinion will overwhelm short term corporate interest in the quarterly revenue statement, because Radio Shack will be dependent on the good opinion of a group that won't pull punches.
Selling resistors and LEDs without a profit (hopefully) makes sense considering the above two paragraphs. No profit on a 10 cent resistor doesn't matter, because you can't compete with the web on such things anyway, and the goodwill of the DIY/geek crowd can make the sale of consumer goods profitable. Here's a few ideas on how to get that group: Cheap prices; competitive with the internet stores. Let people order multiple parts online and ship them or pick them up at the store, and create "kits" of parts that the community recommends for projects. Retail space is expensive, so only have the most commonly needed parts at the store, and sell them at same cheap prices you have for online orders. Also, let the community tell you what components to stock in the stores. Make a DIY card for charging small parts, not another visa/charge card, but a community/club card that makes it easy to grab a handful of 3-cent parts and self-scan them; no waiting on a service person to check you out. Get Bruce Schneiner to design the DIY card. Give $50 worth of parts to every DIY group you can find. Let the community vote on everything, and offer suggestions on everything. Have some DIY items in-store, like Arduino's on display. Get health insurance for retail staff and pay them less (no commissions) so that geeks will choose to work there because they love the subject matter and environment.
tomorrow who's gonna fuss
... why they moved away from their hobbyist roots. I worked for RS for four and a half years, back in the early 1990's, went through their manager training program, and at one point I was in line to get my own store. (Then in 1995 I was offered a job with an ISP, and the rest is history...)
The "force-feed" merchandise in the backs of the stores (called this because the computers in Ft. Worth decided how many of each item each store needed, instead of the manager ordering them) always had the highest margins in the store. I remember looking up a pack of resistors once. We were selling it for 99 cents in the store, but the store cost (the amount which Ft. Worth charged the store on its P&L) was only 18 cents.
At the same time, we had just started selling RS's first multimedia PC (i.e. with a CD-ROM, sound card, and a few games and an encyclopædia of zoo animals) for $1,999... with a store cost of $1,930. Of course, my paycheck was commission, so I concentrated more on selling computers than selling resistors... and even thouth the huge paychecks were nice, even back then I wondered why they didn't structure things to make the employees concentrate more on margins and profits (which the store managers' pay plans do) instead of just raw volume...
I don't buy from you even though you are the only shop in my town that sells electronics components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, ICs, connectors etc.).
You don't offer any value over digikey, Mouser etc., their inventory is huge and they almost always have what I need, if not I'll order from other specialty online retailers. Your offerings are totally laughable.
Sure, I could use your 1/4 Watt 2.2k resistor, but why should I when I need to order other stuff you don't have, anyway?
Please become a digikey partner, or Mouser partner, or whatever partner, so that you have a reasonable inventory. I'll order using your partner's web site and get the parts at your store, with a reduced shipping cost (hopefully zero, but a reasonable amount is OK) and a shorter delivery time.
If you operate this way, I might buy something from your local inventory once in a while.
If RS is listening, they should hire you as Director of Cluefullness.
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
Why did Radio Shack go from a hobbyist store to a glorified alarm clock store in the first place? Why do they need to make this change now, and are they only going toe deep or will they really give us what we need?
Twinstiq, game news
Zero chance that THIS current approach will improve their sales.
Historically, as in back in the 60-80s, their DIY customers were actually ppl that were IN THE FIELD. That is, these were ppl that made their products, OR their competitors. Likewise, a number of them designed them as well. When Radio shack moved to supporting China in China's illegal manipulation of money by bringing in their cheap, poorly built products, RS was destroying their customer base as well. At this time, if radio shack REALLY wants to get that customer base back, they must rebuild it, OR move to where the manufacturing is done.
So, they COULD move to CHina, however, China's gov. will simply allow chinese only retailers to have lower prices and destroy you there (china IS a command economy despite what fools claim; the only capitalism is in exports, and even that is controlled). The other choice is that you could seek out NEW innovative products from America, As well as look for new manufacturing from here. In doing that, Radio Shack would encourage new engineers, as well as electronics builders.
One cheap and easy approach on that would be to issue X-prizes on this. It will not solve Radio Shacks issues overnight, but it will build up their customer bases slowly, while at the same time, giving RS advertising.
The real problem is that Radio shack has shown over and over that they will take short cuts to QUICK profits rather than a long-term view. As such, I suspect that Radio shack will do nothing except wither on the vine.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
If you truly wanted to turn your business around, get involved, in contact with, a local hobbyist, hacker-space group and start a relationship. Your presence is vast in the US, and so are small groups that directly use what you sell. And no, I'm not talking about cell phones, knock-off home and car electronics, or random Japanese toy robots. The last dozen times I've bought something from Radio Shack, it was either misc. components, connectors, or for bench equipment. When I think of Radio Shack as a source for something I need, I will only ever use it for immediate elec. component needs and the lateral, a physical bench tool, or circuit prototyping gear.
In my town there used to be a electronics surplus that blew Radio Shack out of the water. Ham gear, mobile and home, obscure power supplies, and a component inventory that was complete. Sadly, they went out of business, and my local RS is my only recourse for immediate needs, short of next day on-line orders. R.S, you're in a position to become a physical presence to many many groups that know your name, but know you've slacked in the past decade. Turn it around, and all involved will be better for it.
Regards,
Hopeful Customer
Another problem is that you're not going to hire people with a good knowledge of electronics for minimum wage + commissions. "You don't need that...thingy you're looking for. What you really need is an over-expensive cell-phone plan!".
RadioShack lost it's luster a long time ago, and I'm pretty surprised it's still around. All my parts now come from online stores where I can get bulk packs of components for the same price as a single component from RadioShack.
~X~
Radio Shack once sold some of the highest quality affordable home audio (yes, it did) and look where it went: RCA and other "brand name" CRAP.
Oh, let's be fair. It also started selling overpriced Monster crap also.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
18 cents? You're still paying too much for red LED's. I can get them for 0.0195 cents at mpja.com
Even thought their selection is kinda weak and unorganized, I am glad that I can walk down the block here in Brooklyn and buy a switch, transistor, or some LEDs for a project. It's nice being able to do this instead of ordering and waiting or spending an hour+ on the subway to get to some specialty shop. And when I was a kid, my favorite place to spend money and browse was Radio Shack, buying books, parts, and kits for little electronic projects. Without Radio Shack, I'm not sure I'd have gotten into electronics as much. Yeah, some stuff about them is annoying, but having to say "no, I don't need a cellphone" whenever I buy something there is a 2-second hassle I'm willing to deal with in order to have electronic parts whenever I want em.
That's probably about what they need to charge to turn a profit. You can't pay a guy $10/hr (or whatever employees make there) and have him sell a handful of five cent parts in an hour.
Would be nice if they really do return to the DIY roots there. I bought some capacitors for my LCD screen and fixed it up, even though they were around $2 each and I had to get 4 of them. I know I could have got them cheaper online, but it was for my computers LCD monitor and wanted it working properly again ASAP. Defentally would be nice for them to have more selection in that area. Though would like to see their prices go down as well..
Riight! So lawyers all by themselves went on a crusade to save people from erector sets, chemistry sets, jungle gyms, etc?
No new kits. No amateur scanning microspcopes. No graphene circuit primer kits. Pitifully little nitinol - if any at all. No amateur czochralsky kits. Or vapor-deposition ones. No Farnsworth kits. No DIY nanosilicon chip kits. No DIY quantum dot chip kits. No nano-machine shop kits.
Depressing, to tell the truth. One would believe everything to be still in the old pitiful 20th Century.
After the strange purchase of the Canadian Radio Shack chain by Circuit City (which promptly went bankrupt), the original Radio Shack opened up new stores to compete with the stores that it had already off sold years before. This didn't go well and after a poor attempt at reentering the Canadian retail space they were gone. What's left is still a large chain (now called The Source) is now purchased by Bell Canada and has a very poor stock of electronics indeed.
No, not naked women.
Be the Brookstone of Maker Tech. Bring us the tech tools and devices that get us all hot and bothered. Things that makes us say "cool" and "awesome". Sell home hand tools. Sell home workbenches. Sell the ultra configurable multi everything tools. Sell computer controlled wireless tools. Sell kits to add cameras to our cars. Infrared LEDs to blind traffic cams reading our license plates. In dash monitoring systems that hook into ODBII jacks. Have hands on demos in store. Rotate the demos. Rotate the merchandise. Make radio shack a place we want to go because we think we'll see something interesting.
Invite local maker groups in to display their toys, and then sell those toys. Fine, have cell phones. But also find me the coolest blue tooth devices to go along with them. And find me the *quality* devices, so that I know if I buy it from the Maker Shack, it will be a good device.
Make "The Shack" a brand of tech chic, instead of a brand of rebadged crap electronics.
Corporate America is not Wall Street. There are only about 7,000 NYSE/Nasdaq listed companies in the United States. I suspect there are far, far more companies in the United States than that.
You might be right about the ham stuff. I only echo the sentiment around the table at the local hackerspace. Guys there are very, "I think that would be awesome, I never did it". Either way, I'm sure they could do some real research on that to be sure.
As for the Arduino thing, they've never been more popular, they're extremely easy to play with and the barrier to entry is ridiculously low. That's the biggest win you'll find if you're trying to attract anyone tinkering with electronics.
You're pretty much right about the ham gear. Most of it these days is prepackaged stuff. And the morse code that is used is machine generated and received.
So replace it by robot kits, or some such. The concept here isn't that it's ham gear qua ham gear, but rather something electronic that people can build and has a category. Something doable that's just a bit on the edge. (Robot mini-cars seems a good place to start, but that's just me.)
Do I think they'll do it? No. But they probably could. It *would* require a bit of investment, and hiring some different staff...people who were tinkerers. I really doubt that they're serious about this. We'll see.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
..when the local Fry's (actually, 3 of them that are within a 10-mile radius of me) and Altex carries aisle after aisle of discreet components? Oh, and at reasonable prices too.
It's really a no-brainer: RS sold out long ago, and they're no way they'll get their piece of the market back. In fact, the answer is so obvious, I'm really not sure what the question is.
I started playing with Arduinos a year ago, and even though I live in Silicon Valley where I can go to Fry's or (even better) Halted, if all I need are a couple of LEDs or resistors or some solder or a 555 timer, it's really convenient to be able to stop in to my neighborhood store on the way to the grocery instead of making a longer trip. Sure, the selection's not extensive (especially for connectors of various types or microcontrollers), but if I just smoked the last green LED or need a resistor value I don't have, they're usually ok.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I worked at RadioShack for about six months two years ago, and I was an awful employee. I was constantly pressured to sell RadioShack credit cards (Why would anyone want to be in debt to RadioShack? Is that TV you cannot afford worth it?). I was discouraged from aiding people from finding items in the small parts drawers because it took too long and the items were generally less than $3. They heavily incentivise salesmen to push unnecessarily expensive cables and put special focus on selling cellphone plans. The worst were the sales terminals: a hodgepodge of text and lite GUI interfaces from various companies and eras, using obtuse acronyms and abbreviation, to create a system where in a single key-stroke could become an irreversible mistake.
Our store uniquely mismanaged (three managers in 5 months), yet the policies were corporate policies. The experience was disillusioning and disheartening.
I do not believe that they are making any real changes; this is merely an advertising campaign.
Last time I was in to buy a fucking pl259 or 254 or whatever retarded BNC adapter...
a. It cost..... wait for it..... too much!
b. The guy at the counter was nowhere to be found. Read: Not Visible
c. I ain't a thief, so I left the fucking connector on the glass counter and walked out
d. I'll search eBay now for a bulk lot and have it mailed and cut you completely out and save.
e. Back in the "Amateur radio days", as a repair dude, I was doing 2 grand a month at Ratshack
f. Ratshack isn't a vulgar slang word, it's actually an unofficial standard.
note1: If there's still a USPS (Maybe Greyhound package express?)
USPS Fail? http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_23/b4231060885070.htm
note2: The time before the last I was after an RF Switch... it ended up bought off someone on ebay.
note3: I don't like paypal, I am scared of paypal
Rat Shack's biggest mistake was moving it's stores to malls. Higher rent, limited space. Another was focusing on the cell phone market.
And yes Amateur Radio is still around and still going strong! Amateurs are on the forfront of technology, No one at RS would know that as RS carries almost nothing that Amateurs want these days...no worthwhile Shortwave receivers let alone any Amateur Radio transceivers, antennas, etc... Their selection of components and connectors is very small and shrinking daily.
And yes their prices are way way way extremely to high! What they get for being in a mall!!
Radio Shack would benefit greatly from wholly committing to the Maker-phenom, so well promoted/covered by WIRED. Borrow the strategy of retail shops like Michaels, catering to scrap book fanatics, and bead crafts. Likewise, maybe to a lesser extent, the workshops given by Home Depot and their ilk. If a local Radio Shack offered an affordable (I buy the kit of stuff from them + a modest fee) class on how to put something like this together: https://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MSUMP&Click=37845, it would be tits UP! Without some innovative strategy like that, the only other way they'll survive is if somebody like Moto buys 'em up to instantly launch into the retail marketplace. MototHTCstore: one stop shopping for all the kinds of products you used to buy at the local Verizon store: the busiest store in your mall!
I have been going into RS ever since I worked there in 91.
For the first handful of years it was decently the same,
you could at least find someone, at some shift, in each
store that was able to answer a REAL question.
I just totally proclaimed the place dead and no longer
a necessary place to "check" for stuff, when I went in
for a sub-mini male to 3 VGA female out. And the guy
was like huh? And I said, can I speak to the manager
and he said, I am.
If you can't speak cable... you can't run a Radio Shack.
If you don't have the cable I need and can't or won't get
it for me, you're not a Radio Shack.
RS, you're dead to me. Glad I sold my stock a while back.
Anyone want to buy my Tandy Model 4P? I won't be needing
it any more!
-AI
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion
Remember when you could buy that big fat 12AWG zip speaker cable with the soft, mushy outside for like 33 cents a ft? That was AWESOME cable; wish I still had them.
What's weird is that we're all here saying the same thing, "They won't, but how cool would that be?"
If they don't, I hope someone else does. The closest things I've got are Fry's and an American Science & Surplus. Both of which are pretty far.
I gave up and now order everything online, because they shack just doesn't have it. Sure, it might be listed online, but it's not in stock at any of my local stores. When I was a kid, I spent the majority of my money (lawn mowing & paper route earnings) at Radio Shack, not only on component, but books and I loved their bargain table. They sold really decent radios too -- Realistic scanners & ham gear were among the best. But there was also lots of cheap plastic crap that dragged them down, especially in the Christmas season. Radio Shack became Rat Shack or Radio Shlock.
My first "real" job was at Radio Shack, making minimum wage plus commission. The store was small and didn't do much business, and you had to make a minimum dollar amount of sales per hour or there was no commission. The boss always stole the big-ticket items, but eventually I was able to garner a few computer sales to make something about the $3.35/hr. I left after eight months because it was hardly worth the $100/week I was making. If they want to keep good people, they have to pay them a decent wage, and have decent working conditions. The inner city stores are staffed by people who barely speak English, never mind have any knowledge of the products or desire to help. Suburban stores tend to be a little better, but not always.
Radio Shack should reach out to hobbyists by creating a community of DIYers...not only electronics but other technical crafts as well. Tandy started out as a leather hobbyists store, and also at some point had sewing supply stores, and then bought the original Radio Shack chain (from Boston, not Texas) and eventually ditched the other businesses. If Radio Shack were to become Tandy (like they are in Europe), they could branch out to supply more than electronic stuff. Chemistry, metals, etc. But first, fix the electronics hobbyist reputation. Do this by keeping lots of stuff in stock. Yes, the stores pay half a cent for a pack of resistors (or did in the 80s) and sell them for $.39, a huge profit margin. But I don't mind this, because of the transaction cost and the immediate availability. But keep it reasonable, eh? I'll pay $.49 for a pack of five resistors, but not $.99. So what if it takes two years to sell that which is shipped in, because the cost of the item is low and so is storage.
yes, arduinos, sensors, and other things. Yes, the essentials for electronics work, such as soldering equipment and wire, plastic boxes and so forth.
There has been suggestions of offering PCB services. This is a good idea. Expand upon this, and provide things for maker bots and so forth. Keep us geeks coming in for the essentials and we might as well buy that other item while we're there, that thing that makes lots of money. Make us trust you, Tandy, and we'll show up. I am not asking for rock-bottom prices or electrical engineers as salesmen. I am not asking you to complete with digi-key in stocked items. Just be a good alternative to mail-order, be the places that saves our a$$ when we blow that diode and we need to fix it RIGHT NOW and now wait for mail-order. Bring back the ham radio stuff if you can, along with CB, FRS, shortwave. But keep us in components first...make us your electronics hardware store.
Remember their Battery Club cards? I still have one somewhere, from 1979 I think.
Fry's isn't any better than Radio Shack for DIY, at least in Seattle. Seriously. I was appalled at how small the electronics/DIY area is (down to only 3 sparsely-stocked aisle-sides, squished next to the Otterboxen and hard drives). I was helping my sons with their science projects on each of the last four successive weekends, and after repeated visits, it seems like Fry's even less selection in those aisles of pegged bags of components, than a typical radio shack has in that compact cabinet of drawers.
The thing that really pissed me off was magnets, or the lack thereof. Fry's has 3-4 different types of spooled magnet winding wire. Radio Shack has 4-5 different packages, including a multi-pack of different guages, clearly designed for school projects. But Magnets suitable for ANY kind of electronic/electrical project? Radio Shack has a few round fridge magnets, and Fry's has NONE. Nada, Zilch. They've got the wire, so.. what the hell? They seriously sent me to Lowe's Hardware for regular old ceramic bar magnets...
And there was the epiphany: It turns out that Lowes Hardware has a big aisle of those Radio-Shack style component drawers with all kinds of odd machine screws, electrical and RF connectors, project boxes, brass posts, and a dozen different kinds of ceramic and rare-earth magnets. Add in a selection of transistors, LEDs, switches and a couple of timer & STAMP ICs... and that's what Radio Shack SHOULD be.
Hmpf. RS asks the top three things I want? More selection, more inventory, and more doodads. Get it?
-J
I think not...(*poof*)
Please for the love of Pete tell me you get this is satire...
Computer DIY was the lick Frys filled the niche they are on the late freight totally missed the bus.
They have to wait for the next big thing.
Sorry I am never building me a health kit TV on my kitchen table again.
Oh ever sense I started buying batteries at the 99 cent store I have had no need for radio shack.
And sense they want to charge me to tether my phone now I don't need one of those either.
Because there is more wifi than there use to be phone booths.
...Aaaannd now we get to have a discussion about how big-box home-improvement stores are killing traditional hardware stores. (R.I.P., my neighborhood's Ace Hardware)
Ace : Lowe's :: Radio Shack : Fry's
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
There was this girl I knew, and she was always comparing herself unfavorably to this other girl who was taller and bustier. She had a real chip on her shoulder about it.
Hearing this complaint for the Nth time, and being in one of my rare nice moods, I pointed out to her that there was nothing wrong with her - she wasn't inferior, just different - and if she tried to be someone else, she'd always be a second rate copy. Whereas if she was just herself, there was nobody who could beat her at that. Needless to say, she took it as a wind-up.
Seems some CEOs have similar brains to dizzy undergrads. Your chances of outwalmarting Walmart are miniscule.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'd just like to send a big thank you, AC, for posting this. I usually skim /. comments but I slowed way down to saver every richly satirical line (and so spot-on too). I'm glad to see you re-posted it from the Onion because, as I read through it, I kept thinking there's no way in hell anybody could quickly pound out such a gem off the top of their head.
Radio Shack asking "how can we get back to our 'Do IT Yourself' roots?" is the completely wrong question. The question that's begging for an answer is "Do WHAT yourself?"
Component level repair? Not in this day and age of disposable electronics. Hell, Radio Shack (and their manufacturers) don't repair anything at the component level anymore (at most they swap out boards), why should they expect their customers would want to? Even for things that could easily be repaired, most people simply don't want to. True example: a week or so ago I accidentally snapped a capacitor off a video card I was replacing - 30 years ago I would've headed straight to RS to pick up a replacement to solder in - now the thought never even crossed my mind.
Build your own gear? Um, let's take a look at Heathkit and copy what they're doing . . . oh wait!
Experiment with some hobby and/or educational circuits? Sure. Not out of the realm of possibility, but how many stores will it take to service that market? I don't honestly know, but it's definitely not a few thousand.
Build "solutions"? IMHO, this was Radio Shack's basis for success and needs to be the focus for their future. It used to be if you had a problem you could look to RS for a solution. Bad TV reception? Go down to the RS and pick up a new antenna or maybe a signal amp. Problem solved. Wife need a phone extension in the kitchen? Go down to RS pick up some wire, modular plugs, and a wallphone. Problem solved. Picture out on the TV? Pull the tubes and go down to the RS to test them. Problem solved (not really, but we felt better about ourselves for trying). Can't hookup the tape deck to the hi-fi receiver? Go down to the RS to pick up an adapter. Problem solved. Sure technology has changed, but certainly not the need for good solutions. And by "good" I don't mean selling the customer a new receiver when they really just need an adapter! Today, unless your problem is "I don't own a cellphone", it's unlikely RS will have a solution for you.
Are there other things they could do? Probably. But I believe solving problems/needs must be at the center of anything they try. Then maybe Radio Shack will once again be the place to go for solutions. (yeah, yeah, I know that sounds ridiculously obvious - yet somehow they and many other businesses seem to have lost sight of it)
Exactly! I live in Sebastopol Ca, the home of O'riely(Make Magazine) and the local Radio Shack has a little bit of stuff but nothing really worth making with. A few miles away is HSC (Halted) and they have MAKE stuff up the wazoo! They are busy all the time. It is the new "Radio Shack".
With all the great products out there like Lego and Arduino, why isn't RS jumping all over this? What about Open source software AND hardware? What about encouraging innovation and experimentation and open source and then re-integrating advancements and projects their customer base comes up with into kits and open-standard hardware?
How about using some of those Billions they appearently made to develope a line of open-source hardware components? Release the specs and buy from the lowest priced producers? How about Arduino Kits? Classes and competitions for the local schools?
How about buying up all the old Zenith Heathkit stuff and promoting Radio!
How about tube testers in store for all the local musicians and sound guys with a nice stock of common tubes, sockets and transformers?
How about bringing back radio as a means to communicate, only with digital as a new twist on the old Ham? Hams are doing this stuff anyway, so why not promote it? Encourage young budding engineers to talk to each other with the radios they MAKE! It's not hard to do, and it's really cool to do when you are 10! Arial photography, rockets, kites, balloons combined with radio, phones cameras etc. allow 10 year olds to do some really cool stuff.
Then there is Tesla. Wire to wind coils, and caps and lead-ins and such to make BIG sparks and resonant coil systems?
I think their biggest problem is that they are trying to sell for Wall Street and not their customers!!!
Radio Shack batteries have always been junk. They have 80% capacity of any other brand. Don't believe it? Test one. Compare against any other.
When I was in Junior high and High School, Radio Shack really did cater to the DIY crowd.
However -- I'm 55, so that was some 40 years ago. I built a Geiger counter for a science project, and the only part they had to order was the actual Geiger tube. They had it in 3 days - pretty good for back then. It really was a great place to get electronic parts and kits, back then at least. Oh, and the clerks knew their stuff too, and did'nt look confused when you asked where the capacitors were.
I worked for the shack - long ago - but the parts on "THE WALL" had a cost to the store of pennies - and the markup was 200-1000% - this was in the day of the battery card - but how much could have changed? lower the price....
maybe if they hooked up with someone like jameco the could do it right - and offer the Android experimental kit
RS was an interesting place for audio back in the 70s. What was fun about them was that they'd source audio components seemingly without considering the quality, but for the price point they wanted to reach. So the quality in a particular receiver, say, might be fantastic or just crap. But there were some real corkers: I found a Sherwood-made receiver with MOSFET output stage, one of the very first with digital tuning, with amazing, warm 60 *real* watts of power that they sold in '79. And there are various speaker systems that are still looked for by the vintage audio crowd, to just name a few examples.
As for components, in addition to restocking the components themselves they need to hire staff who are enthusiastic about DIY as well, so when you go to ask if they have a particular type of relay in stock you don't get the deer-in-the-headlights, thousand yard stare.
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
I believe one of the greatest enemies RS has is thieves. I remember once how each RS was very well stocked with old and new tech as well as overpriced electronics. But you knew that at least that piece of electronic was built to last, and if it failed you could come back to RS to get the part to repair it. As a teenager trying to learn electronics I remember how much pressure was placed on the staff to shadow teens like myself because so many others knew what was worth something and would walk in and steal it. I always got dirty looks and frankly understood why after seeing many kids always going into RS and taking stuff. Eventually that will change the stance of the company and stop carrying items small enough to hide in your pockets and at the same time raise prices to overcome the loss of stock.
WTF are you talking about? Maybe *you* turned into an appliance operator, but the first thing I do when I enter a room and see something with screws is pull out my pocket knife with screwdriver (what? you don't have one? poor soul . . . ). I used to go to Radio Shack all the damn time in high school, picking up parts to plug in to breadboards for designs out of Forrest Mims books. Then Radio Shack started carrying cheap crap, crappier than the shit you could get at The Sharper Image, and I could never find what I needed in Radio Shack, so I started ordering online. Radio Shack kneecapped themselves, plain and simple.
Nathan's blog
Many -perhaps you- make the fundamental mistake of thinking that going to a store, buying a smartphone, and playing with a few apps makes a person some kind of techno-genius. The toobz is in reality pretty boring, technology wise.
The dead hobby of Ham radio did many of the things that today go for awesome and kewl years ago. Email of course, we've tweeted via APRS Automated Position Reporting System) for years. I squack my position and find direction via computer and APRS. We use it for public service work over large areas, example might be a bicycle race. The individual units are located in various vehicles, sag wagons for the exhausted, repair vehicles, and emergency vehicles. I might follow behind th elast rider with a computer that has software that plots the vehicles position on a map. When a vehicle is needed, I can send the closest one - or the one best equipped, to the needed location. Each vehicle in the system transmits a digital signal containing position, and a short message it needed, to a series of repeaters mounted across the state. The repeaters re-transmit these signals so we can all see where each other are.
The dead hobby of Ham radio uses a lot of digital communication modes. One of the more popular is a phase shift keying type mode running at 31 baud via 180 degree phase shift. There are faster modes available via adding more phase shifts, but bandwidth increases, and more room for error. There are image transmission systems, either slow scan television, fast scan or file. The computer has been a great addition to Amateur radio either through writing programs or just using them. And most amateurs give their software away.
We talk via satellites we build and launch into orbit, then we communicate using them. We launch balloons to near space in conjunction with universities and schools, and conduct real research with them. We bounce signals off the moon and communicate via meteor ionization trails.
And yes, some folks use Morse code. So what? It's old school, but again, so what?
And we design and build hardware - and used to buy a lot of parts at the Shack, before they thought that cell phones were high tech.
About Hams? Ye ken naught, and if you're going to spout off about them, at least learn a little because a little truth goes a lot farther than a tired stereotype.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Yeah, the Fry's in Downer's Grove, IL, puts on a good show of having all kinds of cool components, but try actually finding a specific thing you are looking for. Never! For example, you'd think a place like that would have capacitors in the style and values for fixing power supplies and motherboards. Jack squat. Most of their "selection" is just the same Chinese crap you find everywhere. Yeah, ok, this 5000 watt power supply that weighs 130 grams is going to work just fine...
The number of comments on the RS site was over 750 last night. It is now 400. They have been deleting comments massively for some reason.