Good but long read.
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It was a great store that served an important niche in the market. Frustrating to have to order stuff from Amazon or Ebay now and pay the freight and wait......
Bought my first stereo system in the 70's from RS with my NY Daily News paper route money.....
Bought my first "CB" radio from the shack in '71. Old style 23 channel 4W. Before they were even standard in OTR trucks. Still works great today.
bob
Bought a lot of 'stuff' from them, convenient etc, if they were out of something, they got it overnight.. Now everything is: "Frustrating to have to order stuff from Amazon or Ebay now and pay the freight and wait......" or some other online retailer.....
Radio Shack was awesome back in the 70s... They had all kinds of cool kits to build.. bought tons of CB stuff there back in the day.. every fitting imaginable they had it all... Then they became a cell phone store with some cheap plastic toys.. They would have done much better if they stuck more with where they started stereos, ham radio and more higher end model kits along with all the electronic fittings and such.. but alas now they have gone the way of Bambergers , Gimbles , Caldor, Korvetts and soon to be <sigh> Sears :'(
Scott
We still have 2 Radio Shack stores here in town. They have the same type and variety of items on the shelves they had before the closing/buyout. I guess we are lucky, as the majority of their stores were closed from what I have read.
Its an American retail store mentality, you start with bright energetic, KNOWLEDGEABLE staff, you grow your enterprise, you hire some BEAN counters, fire the folks that know something and replace them with CLERKS, get rid of the little items, replace them with larger more expensive higher margin items and then watch as your competition eats your lunch! So lets see Radio Shack: Great staff, grew the stores, did away with small parts, added cell phones and appliances, hired clerks, and never had anything in stock. Got it! 
Russ
Well.... they outlasted Lafayette Radio Electronics.
I don't think there are enough hobbyists to support a store like Radio Shack, especially when they chose high rent locations like malls for their stores. Until recently, there were two stores in strip malls within 10 minutes from my home, plus two more in the nearby enclosed malls. We are down to one in a strip mall now.
My 1979 Mustang stereo was all Radio Shack/Realistic, my first home stereo as the same. CB, first LCD TV about a inch wide. I could go one and on. But the Radio Shack I knew as teenager hasn't been around for decades and I stop going because they weren't the same.
I became increasingly frustrated with RS. I distinctly recall what I swore would be my last visit to a RS store. It was in a strip Mall in FL in 2012 . Was looking for an HDMI cable. I was already doubtful about going in to RS as I was well aware that it had morphed into a very ugly place full of overpriced stuff. It used to be the "go to" place for reasonably priced cables. (Remember their gray "spaghetti cables?")
They had the cable I needed allright. But the price was absurd! No, I don't recall just what it was but it was utterly preposterous! There were no reasonably priced cables in the store at all. That was my last visit to a RS. I was done with them!
I see I'm not alone.
I just looked at the 1971 catalog (the year I graduated from college) on the website referenced in the article and can't believe the number of things in there I could still use as well as the many items I still have that work, like the air band scanner, and a big ole' pair of stereo speakers I made that are in the basement. Luckily for me, there is an actual retail electronics hobby store here in northern NJ that's still in business where I can get parts and such right away but I loved the catalog and remember when they ended it, I guess about 10 years ago, I felt it was the beginning of the end when that happened. I also remember there was a long period of time, as recently as 5-8 years ago, when no one in the store knew anything about anything and they were only interested in selling cell phone contracts, Obviously, the world changed on them and they just didn't react properly but that's 20/20 hindsight.
Rrman, this is old news. That Bloomberg piece was written two years ago in February 2015, when this happened.
We still have an RS store nearby the OGR World Headquarters in Poland, OH. I used to be a regular customer for the little things that the big box stores didn't carry. However, I haven't been in that store now for several years.
There's still one by my parents, but it's next to useless to bother going anymore as they don't have anything, or know anything.
Wow!! That is an interesting article. I buy stuff from RS several times a year. I ordered several new tips for my RS soldering iron from their website yesterday. I hope that I get them or I have just kissed $20 goodbye. Perhaps I can get my money back from the credit card company if they don't come.
There are two RS stores nearby. I will miss them.
NH Joe
Still have my 1974 top of the line Realistic receiver! Rock on !
ChiloquinRuss posted:Its an American retail store mentality, you start with bright energetic, KNOWLEDGEABLE staff, you grow your enterprise, you hire some BEAN counters, fire the folks that know something and replace them with CLERKS, get rid of the little items, replace them with larger more expensive higher margin items and then watch as your competition eats your lunch! So lets see Radio Shack: Great staff, grew the stores, did away with small parts, added cell phones and appliances, hired clerks, and never had anything in stock. Got it!
Sorry, I don't necessarily agree with your assessment.
I worked at RS in the mid 90s. We were very highly trained. We had to study and take tests in a variety of areas so that we were educated enough to help our niche customers who were very informed buyers. I can tell you that while you may have liked buying small parts they sold very poorly. I don't remember how many inventories I did by hand, but I can tell you that some of the small parts drawers would literally go for a whole year without being opened by a customer. We would joke that if it weren't for inventories nobody would ever see them.
What did sell well at that time? Audio/Visual, Computers, CB/Scanners, and Car phones (bag phones, later hand held). The highest margin product in the store was our RS brand batteries. The only thing they had us push harder than batteries was service plans.
Like many brick and mortar retail business (including hobby shops) the internet changed the game. Some companies were able to adjust and still differentiate themselves and some were not. Think about it, RS was where many hobbyists went to get not just tools and supplies, but also ask questions and learn. Once internet forums (like this one) became readily available the transfer of knowledge and information took a quantum leap. The RS differentiator was our expert people and product availability. Once you could sit at your computer and get access to all of the expertise in the world, any product you wanted, and lower prices it was the beginning of the end for RS IMHO. I'm honestly surprised they have been able to hang on for as long as they have.
... old news. That Bloomberg piece was written two years ago in February 2015, when this happened.
Still have 23 stores in our metro area......
Have to admit it's been a few years since I was in one and that was to buy some replacement specialty batteries....that they did not have.
Radio shack is like model railroad hobby shops. Ain't no more . The ones remaining have nothing.employees know nothing and look at you in bewilderment if you ask a question. I went into an RS store some time ago looking for some tuner cleaner. Three sales people came over to help me. Finally one said to me that the store does not Carry any food products. When I told him what tuner cleaner was he said he thought I was talking about Tuna fish. I do not know if the store is there anymore. There is no reason for me to go back there.
This is like Western Auto, a long favorite store wherel once bought batteries and tires. I hope the local hardware store hangs on. It is amazing what the big boxes don't stock, or want to sell you a bag of 100 when you need 2.
ChiloquinRuss posted:Its an American retail store mentality, you start with bright energetic, KNOWLEDGEABLE staff, you grow your enterprise, you hire some BEAN counters, fire the folks that know something and replace them with CLERKS, get rid of the little items, replace them with larger more expensive higher margin items and then watch as your competition eats your lunch! So lets see Radio Shack: Great staff, grew the stores, did away with small parts, added cell phones and appliances, hired clerks, and never had anything in stock. Got it!
That matches my experience.
They ran out of stuff that was the only thing I went there for.
Instead they just kept trying to sell me a cell phone contract. That might have had a higher profit margin for them. There were better places to get cell phones from. So they lose. I probably wasn't their best customer anyways.
I always like getting greeted by some young, just out of high school person, who knows more than I do about what I really need. After all, they were trained.
"YOU NEED THIS PHONE!"
I, too .. spent a lot of time in RS. When I was a teen and a young man we had one in my home town, and next to it was a "record store" .... another cool place back in the day.
OGR Webmaster posted:Rrman, this is old news. That Bloomberg piece was written two years ago in February 2015, when this happened.
We still have an RS store nearby the OGR World Headquarters in Poland, OH. I used to be a regular customer for the little things that the big box stores didn't carry. However, I haven't been in that store now for several years.
Yep, knew it was 2+ years old, but still fun to read though towards the end all the clerks were "deer in headlight" starers!!
I believe, but don't quote me, that you can run a RS store under name license, but you buy all the inventory and up to you to sell it. No returns or buy backs. Its all on you what you THINK the customer base is and wants......
But I could be wrong on this point. I know of one RS store in Iowa were it is half RS and other side is an Ace(?) hardware. Owner is electronics knowledgeable which helps.
banjoflyer posted:My town still has one. Recently after a clerk swooped in on me to see if I needed any help I asked if they still had a selection of rectifiers for AC-DC conversion. The "Deer in the Headlights" look in her eyes was startling. I can't really blame her as I'm not really schooled in everything electronic myself.
Mark
Just for fun I was Christmas help at a RS store. Being an engineer I was conversant and helpful for someone looking for that left handed widget gizmo. After a week or so I was pulled aside and told you're here to push the high price stuff not the nickle dime parts or cables, and stop with the sketching diagrams (even if no one else was in store). Push those cell phones and computers and especially lie through your teeth about how valuable service contracts were (after all look at the fat commissions you will make (like I needed more money than I was earning)).
Needless to say, Dec 26th I was asked to not come back.
Good riddance!! But boy the markup were astronomical. Just move the decimal point one or two place to the right.....
Engineer-Joe posted:ChiloquinRuss posted:Its an American retail store mentality, you start with bright energetic, KNOWLEDGEABLE staff, you grow your enterprise, you hire some BEAN counters, fire the folks that know something and replace them with CLERKS, get rid of the little items, replace them with larger more expensive higher margin items and then watch as your competition eats your lunch! So lets see Radio Shack: Great staff, grew the stores, did away with small parts, added cell phones and appliances, hired clerks, and never had anything in stock. Got it!
That matches my experience.
They ran out of stuff that was the only thing I went there for.
Instead they just kept trying to sell me a cell phone contract. That might have had a higher profit margin for them. There were better places to get cell phones from. So they lose. I probably wasn't their best customer anyways.
I always like getting greeted by some young, just out of high school person, who knows more than I do about what I really need. After all, they were trained.
"YOU NEED THIS PHONE!"
Those kids were paid a minimal salary plus commission. If they wanted to make any money they had to sell the high margin products/services. Selling $5 of parts to someone that knew exactly what they wanted wasn't going to cut it. This obviously irritated you as one of those types of customers which just enforces my earlier statement that if you didn't need/want "trained" advice and you weren't interested in being sold a phone or sales plan then you were a customer the RS was going to lose once the internet made other options viable. I can tell you for certain that you were not the type of customer that RS wanted.
Erie_Lackawanna posted:Radio Shack was awesome back in the 70s... They had all kinds of cool kits to build.. bought tons of CB stuff there back in the day.. every fitting imaginable they had it all... Then they became a cell phone store with some cheap plastic toys.. They would have done much better if they stuck more with where they started stereos, ham radio and more higher end model kits along with all the electronic fittings and such.. but alas now they have gone the way of Bambergers , Gimbles , Caldor, Korvetts and soon to be <sigh> Sears :'(
Scott
They did have some cool science and electronics kits but they also sold a lot of cheap electronic games and toys, under the Tandy name, that were clones of the popular name-brand games from 1 and 2 years prior.
At the end the help was far less than knowledgable.
All these posts referring to the percent markup are humorous. Yes mark ups on anything in the parts aisles was HUGE, but not so for more mainstream items like computers, radios, phones, etc. Nobody had 350% markup profit on stereos.
Yes, the percent markup on the parts/tools and the like was a huge percentage, but there is/was not enough volume of sales on those items to pay the bills.
Like Jonathan, I worked there in the early to mid 90's, in my case during breaks from college. I learned during that time that I was not true "sales person" material, as I had difficulty convincing people they needed something they did not. However, my manager appreciated my technical knowledge and ability to help customers with most needs if they needed support help, so he was willing to overlook my not normally making any of the key measurements of $ per receipt, $ per line item on the receipt, etc. He and I had a generally happy co-existence. While I did not generally make a lot of money based on commission, there were exceptions occasionally when something in my specialty area was on sale (radio scanners, etc). (I also took every single certification test, so that looked good for him to have an employee that fit that corporate "desirement" for employees)
I'm obviously not a professional retailer, but from my memory, in those days $$ out the door was much more important than the percent profit on what you sold. Even if I sold $300 worth of parts over a day or 2 that was 75% profit(maybe more), it did not look as good as selling a couple stereos, or other big ticket items even if the raw $ worth of profit was lower on those big ticket items than it was for all the parts sales.
There definitely was at least an item or 2 that was a head scratcher that would even be hard to justify to a customer for someone with true sales skills. I remember when they tried to introduce a tower PC with nothing in it except a 486-66DX2 motherboard (which was probably the top processor speed of the time) as a "build what you want" (add everything up separate - memory, HDD, etc) experience. That mostly empty shell was around $1500, IIRC (maybe came with keyboard/mouse for that price, but nothing else until you added items on)! I certainly never was able to sell a customer on that route, but it was an attempt at getting away from just the pre-configured PCs that might have fallen short in one area or another for different applications.
While I am not generally a fan of service contracts (aside from a contract I have on a dehumidifier for the train room right now), back in the days I was there, the RS line of covering things that might even be the consumers fault (dropping, etc) was pretty decent. It may have said such things were officially not covered, but many times they were. I recall a hand held scanner coming in once that literally looked like it had taken a bullet in the area of the speaker and whatever electronics were behind it. I recall my manager at that time being flabbergasted that they actually fixed that under the service contract, but they did.
-Dave
New Haven Joe posted:Wow!! That is an interesting article. I buy stuff from RS several times a year. I ordered several new tips for my RS soldering iron from their website yesterday. I hope that I get them or I have just kissed $20 goodbye. Perhaps I can get my money back from the credit card company if they don't come.
There are two RS stores nearby. I will miss them.
NH Joe
As stated in other posts, the risk there was several years ago (when they were in actual bankruptcy). If you ordered recently, you will not likely have any problem.
And if you still have 2 stores nearby, they probably aren't imminently in danger of closing (unless through normal business course of events it's deemed not beneficial to continue for that specific store). The mass closings were also about 2 years ago.
-Dave
My first train came from Western Auto in 1957.
I am having fun reading all of these posts. RS is a company that didn't pay attention to their OWN customer base! So far none of you have mentioned their golden opportunity piece, the TRS 80. They were really on the cutting edge and in those late 70's years had knowledgeable staff and Tandy management were really smart folks. When the technologists were replaced by the bean counters they lost their key 'smart' personnel.
You al have related that once upon a time they had smart folks and you went there for answers. When the answers stopped so did you! Hmmmmm. Russ
A very good friend of mine has owned a Radio Shack franchise for probably 30 or 35 years. He's gone through about every electronic craze since CB radios were popular.
Initially a lot of the RS locations were franchises with individual owners. Eventually the company began not renewing the franchise agreements, forcing the owners out of business. Shortly thereafter, a company owned store would open nearby.
He had a friend who owned a franchise that wanted to relocate their store to a nearby town and needed permission from corporate. The owner met every criteria set by corporate but they still refused his request. Shortly thereafter a company store opened in the same town.
Lionel Grandpa posted:A very good friend of mine has owned a Radio Shack franchise for probably 30 or 35 years. He's gone through about every electronic craze since CB radios were popular.
Initially a lot of the RS locations were franchises with individual owners. Eventually the company began not renewing the franchise agreements, forcing the owners out of business. Shortly thereafter, a company owned store would open nearby.
He had a friend who owned a franchise that wanted to relocate their store to a nearby town and needed permission from corporate. The owner met every criteria set by corporate but they still refused his request. Shortly thereafter a company store opened in the same town.
Millennial bean counters at work.. Today, companies complain about "no employee loyalty"... What happened to company loyalty to their employees?? GONE.. Glad I'm retired!!
Woodson posted:Millennial bean counters at work.. Today, companies complain about "no employee loyalty"... What happened to company loyalty to their employees?? GONE.. Glad I'm retired!!
AMEN brother!!! Same here. After 9-11, my avionics company couldn't shed employees young and old fast enough. From what I hear from those who are left is a work,work, work or else culture has pervaded its atmosphere. Many oldsters counting the days until they"pull the pin".
RS, since about 1965, was basically an electronic "convenience store." They didn't have much, and what they had wasn't the best, but they were close by and had a lot of commonly requested items. Like any convenience store, they got in trouble when they stopped being convenient!
We have two stores here in Frederick, but the sell mostly the same, stuff that you can buy in any other store (many times for a cheaper price). Had a store in Rockville (where I work) about 30 miles away that had lots of parts. Use to stop there to get stuff for the layout. The good store (Rockville) is gone, but the two local (Frederick) stores are still open.
My greatest fear is that when my 1975 RS receiver needs parts, where will I find them! 
We bought a really nice pair of bluetooth speakers for the living room recently so I sold one of our stereos. Sold the Sony Receiver and the 6-disc Sony CD player, and kept my 1975 RS receiver and 1977 direct-drive Technics turntable for the train room! 
Jim
rrman posted:Woodson posted:Millennial bean counters at work.. Today, companies complain about "no employee loyalty"... What happened to company loyalty to their employees?? GONE.. Glad I'm retired!!
AMEN brother!!! Same here. After 9-11, my avionics company couldn't shed employees young and old fast enough. From what I hear from those who are left is a work,work, work or else culture has pervaded its atmosphere. Many oldsters counting the days until they"pull the pin".
I was lucky enough to "pull the pin" early (58).. Loved my job but could no longer deal with the administrative BS..
Its called "change". RS is a "dated" store
Theres no longer a big market for items to cobble together your own electronics when you can walk into a "big box" store and grab an "already built" reliable electronic whatever. Sony and Panasonic surpassed Realistic during the demand for big home stereos in the 70's and 80's. They then marketed to the demands for smaller electronic music devices like the Walkman.
The cellphone is all anyone needs for they're electronics anymore. Phone, TV, Stereo, Camera, Videocamera, and computer all in one. RS's attempt at selling cellphones was too little to late.
Not entirely the same but ,when is the last time you rented a movie from Blockbuster? Folks here doing OGRs online subscription, will you be suprised when the printing company closes?
Had RS found a way to continue being profitable, it would have been nothing like the store everyone remembers anyway. The old RS of the 70's is just not relevant in todays society.
JD-train, I am in the same boat as you.
My Realistic STA-2150's tape monitor button is starting to get flaky. I stopped using a cassette player years ago, but still run a Dual 1258 turntable and Sony speakers through the thing. Even though I don't have a tape player anymore, that button is important because I run the whole works through my desktop computer and that is the button that does the job (used to do a lot of music editing and vinyl restoration converting the music to different formats). I guess that when it poops out I'll just be out of luck. Looking at various modern brands on the internet, I haven't seen any that has the right connections in a combination to replace the current receiver.
I pulled the pin at 67 then found out our company never paid into the pension fund. 28,000 people left with little or no pension. Worked for them for 51 years. They are now out of business. Nobody was ever held accountable.
To keep it on point I shopped at RS allot thru the years but the changes to RS have changed my shopping habits.
rman posted:
Woodson posted:
Millennial bean counters at work.. Today, companies complain about "no employee loyalty"... What happened to company loyalty to their employees?? GONE.. Glad I'm retired!!
AMEN brother!!! Same here. After 9-11, my avionics company couldn't shed employees young and old fast enough. From what I hear from those who are left is a work,work, work or else culture has pervaded its atmosphere. Many oldsters counting the days until they"pull the pin".
Originally posted by David1:
I pulled the pin at 67 then found out our company never paid into the pension fund.
28,000 people left with little or no pension. Worked for them for 51 years. They are now out of business.
Nobody was ever held accountable.
Meantime the CEO's CFO's get their "Golden Parachute" 
Almost like "Slave Labor" to the masses who supported and got those CEO's and CFO's to where they were in the first place!
Almost like "Slave Labor" to the masses who supported and got those CEO's and CFO's to where they were in the first place!This is Why I left the Private Sector. But the Public Sector is not too fat behind either!
ChiloquinRuss posted:Its an American retail store mentality, you start with bright energetic, KNOWLEDGEABLE staff, you grow your enterprise, you hire some BEAN counters, fire the folks that know something and replace them with CLERKS, get rid of the little items, replace them with larger more expensive higher margin items and then watch as your competition eats your lunch! So lets see Radio Shack: Great staff, grew the stores, did away with small parts, added cell phones and appliances, hired clerks, and never had anything in stock. Got it!
I could not have said it better. Even fifteen years ago I couldn't buy a spool of solder at Radio Shack.
I got my TIU connector cable from them the serial port to USB. I noticed that most of their stuff as far as resistors and capacitors were really expensive. I shop at Digikey and Mouser for things now.
The old Radio Shack flyer items that are now on smart phones: http://www.deathandtaxesmag.co...-on-your-smartphone/
Firewood posted:The old Radio Shack flyer items that are now on smart phones: http://www.deathandtaxesmag.co...-on-your-smartphone/
Assuming you have cell service. If the network bogs down (think 9-11 level of hysteria), your cell phone won't receive much as an AM FM (FM edited out after Rob's correction below was noted) radio without it, right? (or have they added true AM/FM receivers into phones now that don't need to be via your data stream or some app to get the radio feed?)
Same for the scanner, etc. I know there are scanner aps out there, but that only helps you if there is cell service, right? I don't think multi-band RF receivers (aside from cell bands to operate the phone, of course) are now being built into cell phones, right?
How do you do a round-robin type discussion with multiple friends (like CB) with a cell phone, especially if you are somewhere there is no cell coverage?
Note, depending on demographics, places with contents similar to what RS sells/sold can be successful. In the Silicon Valley area of California, there is a store (Fry's) that caries nearly everything you can consider for home/consumer electronics, and also hobby stuff like the parts aisles of RS used to be. The key is (i believe) that they are in a demographic area with a very high concentration of technical people to buy all this stuff. I don't know if that chain exists too far away from Silicon Valley. It seems they have something like 34 stores, half in CA, with a scattering of a few in other states.
-Dave
I worked at Radio Shack when it was an electronics/electronic hobby store back in the mid-1970's. I miss them, but they got away from what made their niche market -- parts, niche electronic items, supplies, kits, books -- and got into consumer electronics and cell phones (along with a zillion other competitors). Like someone posted above, it has all the look of a "bean counter" takeover.
AGHRMatt posted:I worked at Radio Shack when it was an electronics/electronic hobby store back in the mid-1970's. I miss them, but they got away from what made their niche market -- parts, niche electronic items, supplies, kits, books -- and got into consumer electronics and cell phones (along with a zillion other competitors). Like someone posted above, it has all the look of a "bean counter" takeover.
To veer off topic somewhat. It is like today's gas station that is a mini food market, and vice-versa in Iowa a grocery chain now has gas stations on their premises. Ditto pharmacy is a mini department store of products with the drug counter is WAY back in the corner of the store, and Target, Wally worls are into pharmacies. Seems everybody gets into everyone elses business. And so likewise RS ventured too far from its niche roots and "flamed out".
On a personal note, my uncle who gave me the electronics bug, ran a radio, TV and small appliance store rather successfully for years that provided a nice home, car, money to well educate both children etc. My dad however could see the handwriting on the wall with the large electronic appliance chains popping up in Pittsburgh area. He advised my uncle (dads brother) to think of quitting while ahead. "Nah, there will always be people needing repairs, buying radios, TVs and small appliances with personal touch" Well he rode it out almost into bankruptcy, closed shop then bemoaned that he didn't take advice and quit.
Sometimes sticking to your knitting and doing what you know best without being all things to all people, and knowing when to bow out is good, but then, what do I know??
Nate posted:Radio shack is like model railroad hobby shops. Ain't no more . The ones remaining have nothing.employees know nothing and look at you in bewilderment if you ask a question. I went into an RS store some time ago looking for some tuner cleaner. Three sales people came over to help me. Finally one said to me that the store does not Carry any food products. When I told him what tuner cleaner was he said he thought I was talking about Tuna fish. I do not know if the store is there anymore. There is no reason for me to go back there.
Tuna Cleaner ...........rolling on the floor with that one 
Dave45681 posted:(or have they added true AM/FM receivers into phones now that don't need to be via your data stream or some app to get the radio feed?
All of our smartphones have FM radios. They require a headphones cord for the antenna.
Dtrainmaster posted:Nate posted:Radio shack is like model railroad hobby shops. Ain't no more . The ones remaining have nothing.employees know nothing and look at you in bewilderment if you ask a question. I went into an RS store some time ago looking for some tuner cleaner. Three sales people came over to help me. Finally one said to me that the store does not Carry any food products. When I told him what tuner cleaner was he said he thought I was talking about Tuna fish. I do not know if the store is there anymore. There is no reason for me to go back there.
Tuna Cleaner ...........rolling on the floor with that one
Well you never know where that tuna has been.
ADCX Rob posted:Dave45681 posted:(or have they added true AM/FM receivers into phones now that don't need to be via your data stream or some app to get the radio feed?All of our smartphones have FM radios. They require a headphones cord for the antenna.
OK. I learned something today. Not using my phone often enough to justify a smart phone plan, I live in the dark ages with a prepaid flip that costs me maybe $100-$120 a year to keep active.
I do have an iPod touch that I bought about 2 1/2 years ago, and it doesn't have an FM radio, but maybe that is another difference between the actual phones and similar generation iPod touch.
-Dave
And now we bring you Harbor Freight! A new store every three days, really! 
Is their growth internal by just stocking new stores or is it ? ? ? ? Fortunately so far here locally at least one or two employees in each of our stores is actually knowledgeable. Time will tell. Russ
I think the lack of knowledgable staff is not limited to RS. Went to an auto parts store for some 1/4 inch gas line to repair an old 1919 Faribanks Morse stationary engine and the clerk kept asking me what car it was for. I kept saying all I needed was a length of 1/4 inch copper line. Finally told them that it was for a 1919 Fairbanks Plugoscillator Throttle Governed engine. The looked at me like I had bugs all over my face.
I agree that Radio Shack is not what it used to be. Nonetheless, I was able buy (online) replacement soldering iron tips for my very old RS soldering irons. So I'm glad RS is still around and supporting at least some of their old products even though I wish they were more like they were in their best years.
Who remembers Lafayette electronics? They had a catalogue with radio kits and accesories. I think they were called Heath kits. You were able to buy a crystal radio for little money. They were endorsed by the shop teachers in school. Later on Radios Shack became a competitor. I am quite certain that Lafayette had a store in Manhattan. They faded out of existence. I wonder if one could find an old catalogue on eBay?
Lafayette Radio Electronics! I was going to post this last week but didn't think anyone else would remember them. They had a huge warehouse store in Syossett NY. My dad had a tube amplifier from them that he used for the stereo in the house when I was a kid. I believe that they sold Heathkit.
prrhorseshoecurve posted:rman posted:
Woodson posted:
Millennial bean counters at work.. Today, companies complain about "no employee loyalty"... What happened to company loyalty to their employees?? GONE.. Glad I'm retired!!
AMEN brother!!! Same here. After 9-11, my avionics company couldn't shed employees young and old fast enough. From what I hear from those who are left is a work,work, work or else culture has pervaded its atmosphere. Many oldsters counting the days until they"pull the pin".Originally posted by David1:
I pulled the pin at 67 then found out our company never paid into the pension fund.
28,000 people left with little or no pension. Worked for them for 51 years. They are now out of business.
Nobody was ever held accountable.Meantime the CEO's CFO's get their "Golden Parachute"But the Public Sector is not too fat behind eitherThis is Why I left the Private Sector.
"But the Public Sector is not too fat behind either!"
Might depend upon where you live. Here a company can close and say there is no more pension money and you are out of luck. Also here, and at least one other state, government employees have their pensions, cola increases, and health care guaranteed for life by the state constitution. Or as one friend put it, "the biggest example of discrimination allowed today."
It is amazing how CEO's and other execs never loose their bennies.
Nate posted:Who remembers Lafayette electronics? They had a catalogue with radio kits and accesories. I think they were called Heath kits. You were able to buy a crystal radio for little money.
Sure. We had some Lafayette retail stores here (Maryland-D.C. area). I remember buying a combo AM/FM tuner with built in cassette player and speakers. It was a poor man's music system but I thought it was cool at the time. Think I bought that "outfit" in '69-'70?
In the 1950's and 1960's the US electronics business was state-of-the-art and booming. Many young people started by building electronic kits and did science projects which prepared them for college education and good paying jobs in the industry. The electronics stores selling parts were all over the place and focused in one section of Manhattan called Radio Row. I was such a hobbyist who later graduated from engineering school and had a good career in the high tech industry. Sadly there is little opportunity in the electronics industry today and the closing of Radio Shack just confirms that.
Radio Shack has become just another phone store and most are dropping the electronics components part of the business. Only one RS in the Portland area still stocks some, but now we order on-line and pick up at the local RS.
Nate posted:Who remembers Lafayette electronics? They had a catalogue with radio kits and accesories. I think they were called Heath kits. You were able to buy a crystal radio for little money. They were endorsed by the shop teachers in school. Later on Radios Shack became a competitor. I am quite certain that Lafayette had a store in Manhattan. They faded out of existence. I wonder if one could find an old catalogue on eBay?
Yep I do!! Dad bought me a Lafayette regenerative shortwave tube (tubes - pre-transistors that glowed in the dark ) receiver kit. I remember him saying we would work on it each night making 3 or 4 solder joints. That lasted about a week before he decided I could follow directions and solder wires (with a Weller solder gun no less, amazed I didn't destroy parts with heat) Sucker worked first time out the door! Don't know what happened to it after I left for college though
Dennis LaGrua posted:In the 1950's and 1960's the US electronics business was state-of-the-art and booming. Many young people started by building electronic kits and did science projects which prepared them for college education and good paying jobs in the industry. The electronics stores selling parts were all over the place and focused in one section of Manhattan called Radio Row. I was such a hobbyist who later graduated from engineering school and had a good career in the high tech industry. Sadly there is little opportunity in the electronics industry today and the closing of Radio Shack just confirms that.
Here in the rust belt we had Lafayette (LRE) as well as Radio Shack and mail order catalogs from Federated Purchaser Electronics.... and the usual supply of Heath Kits.
Radio Shack in it's heyday was surely a treasure trove. Rosin core solder in relatively inexpensive spools, great pencil soldering irons of various wattages and tips, soldering supplies, wire of all types, resistors and capacitors and transistors as well as metal boxes and knobs.
I built my first transistor throttle in the mid 70's from plans in MR as well as parts from Radio Shack as well as a local electronics supply house. The supply house was across the street from one of the nations foremost telephony labs and the counter parts guys were always friendly to help the young fellow whose dad dropped him off at the door. It was nice to hear them explain to me the difference of NPN versus PNP transistors and what kind of power supply transformer I needed.
The disappearance of Radio Shack simply echoes the broader society in that people are glued to TV/phone/game/computers and have little interest in the actual "infrastructure" of technology, of much of which is now engineered and built offshore.
Yep, sadly gone are the days of school science fair projects, huge Christmas retail train displays and model railroading merit badges and that is reflected in things like the Shack's downward spiral.
Heathkit was a separate company headquartered in Benton Harbor, MI, and made all sorts of electronic kits including computers near the end. A friend of mine built a FM Tuner and pre-amp/amp combo unit when we were in High School. I liked Eico better for the money so I built a HF-81 in 1961. It still works for the train room with a couple of homebuilt plywood "Atlas" speakers. It is very well regarded to this day which is not bad for $69.95 back in the day (Of course $69.95 then=$568.54 today!):
"This d*** thing does not sound anything like it should; it's just too good! I have not heard this much bloom, soundstage, naturalness, and soul from anything less than $1200... maybe more! The big name drones need to study up...Can $100 really buy this much soul?"
http://home.earthlink.net/~eico_hf81/
Heath also had retail stores and in 1974 I wanted to build one of their color TV kits so traveled the100miles or so to the Maryland suburbs to see one in person before laying out the $650 for the 25" chassis and another $170 for the dual speaker all-wood cabinet. Prices look high today ($820 then=$4,439.71 today!):but for a rectangular 25' Color TV dual-speaker "console" it was actually cheaper than a RCA/Motorola/Zenith of the day and I saved not having to pay for all of those pesky "alignment" and "de-gaussing" service calls. Took a couple of weeks to build (never saw so many circuit boards but photostream below will give you an Idea) but I could repair it myself and it worked for 16 years until the fly-back went out and I could buy a brand-new TV for $400 in 1991.
Copyrighted Heathkit GR-2000 TV Chassis Pix from another owner but you have to copy and paste the whole URL to get there:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/34737609@N07/with/3259562732/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/34737609@N07/3259562858/in/photostream/
My cabinet is in the background of this 1977 Catalog Cover and I did buy the on-screen clock board which really amazed people at the time..
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Same here Woodson
I received my replacement soldering iron tips from RS via on-line mail order today. I am happy.
RS on-line may continue to be a good source for electronic parts. Everything seems to be going on-line today.
NH Joe
It seems things are churning again.... We will have to see what may survive this time.
Bankruptcy for Radio Shack, part two.
-Dave
It's circling the bowl, there is no way out!
ADCX Rob posted:Dave45681 posted:(or have they added true AM/FM receivers into phones now that don't need to be via your data stream or some app to get the radio feed?All of our smartphones have FM radios. They require a headphones cord for the antenna.
Yes, but many have them disabled.
The Hidden FM Radio Inside Your Pocket, And Why You Can't Use It
A Chicago based electronics company named Allied Radio & Electronics was another fine catalog store that sold Knight Kits...mostly shortwave radio kits but they had a few others. They were a great source for parts in the 1960s.
Heathkit!
My first 2 stereos were Heathkit (that I built); the first being 1967. The technical high school I attended, had the students (including me) assemble Heathkit oscilloscopes and signal generators.
That was the start of my career in electronics.
gunrunnerjohn posted:ADCX Rob posted:All of our smartphones have FM radios. They require a headphones cord for the antenna.
Yes, but many have them disabled.
The Hidden FM Radio Inside Your Pocket, And Why You Can't Use It
Ours all work. T-Mobile has free(no data charge) music streaming anyway, and we have all unlocked Nokia & Blu phones. But I can see the reasoning from the perspective of lesser carriers.
The Radio Shack in Seymour Indiana is closing also. Radio Shack built their own coffin, nails and all when they turned it into phone shacks. There is a phone store on almost every corner. They should have kept it the way it used to be. You don't change something that works.
Kerrigan posted:Radio Shack has become just another phone store and most are dropping the electronics components part of the business. Only one RS in the Portland area still stocks some, but now we order on-line and pick up at the local RS.
Exactly the uniqueness and the Radio Shack company roots were cast aside and what remained was an ordinary electronics CATV, internet and smart phone appliance store, trying to compete with the nations largest retailer-WALMART? Are you kidding me! Its a difficult time for any business right now. The latest casualties are the Ringling Brothers Circus and Staples. Perhaps the days of the multi-national retailers and shopping malls are also coming to an end.
Warning: Sensitive folks that just happen to be baby boomers read at your own risk: 
I'm not trying to start an argument, but I'd like to add a different perspective to this forum topic. Radio Shack ultimately collapsed because of A) the way Americans began purchasing their consumer goods (going back to the 70's) and B) changing demographics (ie: aging baby boomers).
My grandparents built things, saved their money and occasionally would purchase some of the things they built: you know worked in factories, saved money and paid a little extra for American made products while living in houses that were around 1,000 square foot. Most people of my grandparents age also bought a car and maintained it themselves and kept if for 5 to 10 years. My grandparents generation bought their small houses with 20% down, financed for 10 to 20 years and usually saved up and paid cash for their cars. They did this while on average, had 5 kids to feed and raise.
Here's an article that shows home size by decade: http://www.newser.com/story/22...ecade-by-decade.html
My parents generation: aka, you guys , or otherwise known as the baby boomers or the me me me generation built houses that were nearly twice the size as that of my grandparents (with 30 year mortgages and usually nothing down), bought cars with credit (and financed over 4 to 6 years). Additionally, the average baby boomer family consisted of only 2.1 kids.
Essentially, the me me me generation (aka you guys) demanded instant gratification. Couldn't wait for that giant suburban cookie cutter McMansion and couldn't wait to have a giant SUV for you and spouse parked out front. The only problem with this is that generally speaking, the baby boomers couldn't pay for most of this stuff so they financed everything.
The must-have-now mentality embraced by you boomers is what ultimately led to all the factories being sent to China. Your insatiable lust for instant gratification and more/cheaper junk is what led to China's rise. Let's face it man, most Americans aren't going to go work in a factory (assuming they had the choice or chance to). So, due to this, most Americans of your generation would rather buy Chinese junk and just replace it if it broke. I saw all of the above happen before my very eyes growing up as an 80's kid.
And because you guys bought everything on credit and with nothing down, you primarily caused the housing collapse in 2009 (along with the government and the Banks help). Now, my generation is still paying for that. So yeah, thanks for that.
Additionally, because you guys only had 2.1 kids on average, my generation (Gen X that is) is going to have pay a lot more to sustain your over-inflated retirements.... You guys had 5 people to pay for 2 retirees, my generation has one person per retiree. So yeah, thanks for that.
This is why Radio Shack is no longer around. Just my 2 cents.....
And excuse my lack of brevity here. 
You're welcome.
Is it really any wonder why we stopped at 2.1? 
Too bad. I remember when Radio shack use to be a real electronics store. Had a couple of Realistic CB radios from them as well as numerous parts & tools. It's time has come and gone.
TrainGuyMcGee posted:Warning: Sensitive folks that just happen to be baby boomers read at your own risk:
I'm not trying to start an argument, but I'd like to add a different perspective to this forum topic. Radio Shack ultimately collapsed because of A) the way Americans began purchasing their consumer goods (going back to the 70's) and B) changing demographics (ie: aging baby boomers).
My grandparents built things, saved their money and occasionally would purchase some of the things they built: you know worked in factories, saved money and paid a little extra for American made products while living in houses that were around 1,000 square foot. Most people of my grandparents age also bought a car and maintained it themselves and kept if for 5 to 10 years. My grandparents generation bought their small houses with 20% down, financed for 10 to 20 years and usually saved up and paid cash for their cars. They did this while on average, had 5 kids to feed and raise.
Here's an article that shows home size by decade: http://www.newser.com/story/22...ecade-by-decade.html
My parents generation: aka, you guys
Essentially, the me me me generation (aka you guys) demanded instant gratification. Couldn't wait for that giant suburban cookie cutter McMansion and couldn't wait to have a giant SUV for you and spouse parked out front. The only problem with this is that generally speaking, the baby boomers couldn't pay for most of this stuff so they financed everything.
The must-have-now mentality embraced by you boomers is what ultimately led to all the factories being sent to China. Your insatiable lust for instant gratification and more/cheaper junk is what led to China's rise. Let's face it man, most Americans aren't going to go work in a factory (assuming they had the choice or chance to). So, due to this, most Americans of your generation would rather buy Chinese junk and just replace it if it broke. I saw all of the above happen before my very eyes growing up as an 80's kid.
And because you guys bought everything on credit and with nothing down, you primarily caused the housing collapse in 2009 (along with the government and the Banks help). Now, my generation is still paying for that. So yeah, thanks for that.
Additionally, because you guys only had 2.1 kids on average, my generation (Gen X that is) is going to have pay a lot more to sustain your over-inflated retirements.... You guys had 5 people to pay for 2 retirees, my generation has one person per retiree. So yeah, thanks for that.
This is why Radio Shack is no longer around. Just my 2 cents.....
And excuse my lack of brevity here.
Well said. I believe another factor is the internet and its "eye candy" ads enticing the viewer you can have it now with that credit card number.
Interesting thread but I suspect Rich will shut it down unless we get back to build our locos and cars and bend our rails as we lay them, saving our pennies until we can afford them no easy credit card here, since we already use "Chinese junk" trains on our layouts for the most part (yeah I know there a few American built ones, but that's another subject).
My two cents observation.
billshoff posted:A Chicago based electronics company named Allied Radio & Electronics was another fine catalog store that sold Knight Kits...mostly shortwave radio kits but they had a few others. They were a great source for parts in the 1960s.
In the late 1960s Radio Shack's parent company, Tandy, purchased Allied, which was a real surprise, as Allied was a pretty serious supplier to business and commercial customers as contrasted to Radio Shack which was hobbyist and consumer oriented. Allied was subsequently bought and sold numerous times, I forget who owns them now.
After Tandy divested Allied, they tried to get into the commercial market again in the 1990s with an operation called Tech America, which was sort of an Allied Radio "Lite." Didn't work out, they were clobbered by DigiKey and Mouser who were both rising at the time.
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My parents generation: aka, you guys , or otherwise known as the baby boomers or the me me me generation built houses that were nearly twice the size as that of my grandparents (with 30 year mortgages and usually nothing down), bought cars with credit (and financed over 4 to 6 years). Additionally, the average baby boomer family consisted of only 2.1 kids.
LOL, I'm a tail end boomer, and can agree with most of what TrainGuyMcGee wrote.
But then again, the real houses that are being built these days in my area are still fairly large, and often extravagant. I doubt that Boomers are the main customer. (there are "tiny homes" but how many are really out there).
If you want to generalize, the children and grandchildren of boomers are not into do-it-yourself hobbies. They spend their free time playing video games.
I think there were two other factors in the demise of Radio Shack:
shrinking market - Few want the types of product Radio Shack sells.
Overpriced, lesser quality goods - Those who are interested in that sort of product can get better goods at lower prices elsewhere.
We still have a Radio Shack nearby. The only product I can see myself purchasing there would be one or two semi-conductors. I wouldn't buy anything else from them, not even switches or any other parts.
They're history!
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What gets me is that I never saw RS ads in places that could grow the business. ORG, MODEL RAILROADER for parts. TRAINS for scanners. And very few ads in QST, the ham radio magazine. These are/were areas RS could grow the business selling what they had/have now. Plus having a store almost every two miles did not help.
it is called change, and the world is seeing a physical world, going to a wireless, and immediate, acquiring world, thru what
the world wants , internet access, and simplicity when we have our bedroom nighties and socks, sitting in the kitchen.
Everybody embraced the
mallsism, back in the 80's, oh this is nice: shop , shop, shop till you drop, and even many went thru renovations just to meet
the colorations of our age. NOW, all that is history, and the big problem is what are we gonna do with the buildings, ( we
are not) but the kids, will. Same exact thing happened in Transportation: you saw a freight terminal in every little town in
America, --whoops, that got expensive, reduce to mega centers, and bring the employees to one centralized location.
Walked into, Best Buy, 1 of the continued many , big box stores headed south, looked drones over, and thought what a hassle
to go thru the check out line. Got home and in about 5 minutes hit on Amazon, and viola, it will be here Monday. No lines
no questions, and Had my socks on. Would not touch physical retailing at all, and continue to be admiring how a few of
the sponsors here , carry on with success. Radio shack tried in the last days to enhance a BORING, store, with an array of
cell phone lines. Did not understand that one as the news has been about 2 years old, of their demise. Just another store
that is being replace various ways. Whose next , ?? TARGET !!!!
The electronics stores around here have become like hobby shops, very rare. We used to have a few pretty large electronics stores here, McGee Radio, Burnstein Appelbee and a few others that I have forgotten. They had almost everything you could imagine electronic wise. We even had a nice Heathkit store. I think we are down to one now and it's mostly geared for computer networking, commercial electronic supplies, etc. and more like a commercial electrical supplier. Not much general consumer/hobbyist wise.
To PLCProf's post about Allied, there was another one, Laffayette (sp?) that I used to get catalogs from when I was in Jr high or so. They had all kinds of neat stuff. One year, I conned my parents into buying me a portable fold up stereo from them. It was a pretty cool unit as I remember, with turntable. Not sure what ever happened to it? Not long after I got this unit, I got a nice new Redd Foxx album. (He was pretty foul for the time, back in those days, but very funny to a 12-13 year old!) I had only listened to it once or twice, had my stereo set up down in the basement. Anyway, while listening one day, my mother heard it. She came down, took the album off the turntable and broke it right in half over her knee. Then proceeded to yell at me about the album and I got in big trouble!! I went with strictly rock music of the day after that, top 40 that was played on the radio. Only the good clean stuff.
Anyway, we still had 3 Radio Shacks left (that I know of) a couple weeks ago. I used to visit them every couple of months and would try to buy something. They still had the drawers of electronic parts and it usually wasn't hard to find something of interest. Even if it was way more expensive than you could get it elsewhere. It's still kind of sad to see them go though, as it has been with all our local hobby shops.
There was is an old electronics store in San Rafael, California that is still open. I could spend hours looking for old parts in that store. There were things in the back that had been there when I was a teen. It was almost as fun and a train store. The brothers that ran it could answer any questions you had, and I had a lot. Nothing like that here but we still do have a small Radio Shack in Lahaina. Don
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Radio Shack thrived, along with Tandy Leather, and Heathkit among others, is because kids (we the older generation,) enjoyed building "stuff" from kits and components. We used to like to listen on shortwave for people in other countries and cultures.
Most kids today shun such activities, preferring to be married to their iPod, tablet, etc. I see it in my own kin. Not interested in building erector sets, just chasing samurai on a tiny screen.
Sad days ahead for our culture.
Aaaaaaaand there it is........
Tandy Leather is another one. I had a leather working class in Jr high school. I think it was a part of the Industrial Arts class or Woodworking class if memory hasn't failed completely there. We made several projects in class. I even made a few more projects over the next couple of years after the class. Supplies came from Tandy Leather.
I walked into a Radio Shack about a year ago just get a special battery. One they did not have it and on line it sated they did. I looked around and found them using the same business and same everything. I said to myself they will not last with this program and low and behold here we are two years later and they are back in bankruptcy.
I see the last post on this thread is now over a month old. RS announced they are closing 36% of their stores, according to Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com...tores-closing-2017-3
So yesterday, I dragged my grandson into one of the two remaining stores in the Akron/Canton area and bought $119.89 worth of wire, fastener hardware, caps, diodes, and the like, and paid $18.79 for the lot. Their small parts are 90% off as the closing deadline looms closer (end of March.) The closest store to remain open will, according to the employee I spoke with, now be one hour east of here. It's a shame their leadership didn't take them in the right direction, but that's the way it works.
They simply cannot compete with big box stores and the interwebs.
The Radio Shack that many of us are lamenting the loss of is a relic from a time when electronic products were made to last, and be repaired when needed. Now, replacement products can often be imported from Asia more cheaply than they can be repaired, and fewer tinkerers are left who can or want to repair these products even when parts are available. Model railroaders are somewhat of an exception, but we too-often overestimate our importance in the grand scheme of things. So Radio Shack never really found a replacement niche and had nowhere to go, as a brick-and-mortar presence at least. I think they could survive as an online supplier of electronic parts but they’ve moved so far away from that area of their business that they may not even have the desire or knowledge within the organization to do so. One could go back in time and start second-guessing what the blacksmiths and livery stables should have done to stay in business with the advent of the automobile, but some things simply end, with it being nobody’s fault.
German posted:I think they could survive as an online supplier of electronic parts but they’ve moved so far away from that area of their business that they may not even have the desire or knowledge within the organization to do so. One could go back in time and start second-guessing what the blacksmiths and livery stables should have done to stay in business with the advent of the automobile, but some things simply end, with it being nobody’s fault.
True, true. But do you really want to scoop the P***???
Yes we can order online but when you need that left handed widget to connect A to B on Sunday afternoon, who you gonna call??
German posted:One could go back in time and start second-guessing what the blacksmiths and livery stables should have done to stay in business with the advent of the automobile, but some things simply end, with it being nobody’s fault.
That's pretty well said, that's exactly what is happening here. Think of Sears, Macy's, etc., it's a similar situation. They haven't adapted with the changing of the tides and they're about to be swallowed up by the sea.
rrman posted:German posted:I think they could survive as an online supplier of electronic parts but they’ve moved so far away from that area of their business that they may not even have the desire or knowledge within the organization to do so. One could go back in time and start second-guessing what the blacksmiths and livery stables should have done to stay in business with the advent of the automobile, but some things simply end, with it being nobody’s fault.
True, true. But do you really want to scoop the P***???
Yes we can order online but when you need that left handed widget to connect A to B on Sunday afternoon, who you gonna call??
I'll scoop the p**p! I have a big garden! .
As far as "who you gonna call?", it's more like "who you gonna blame?". While this is beating a horse that's been beat endlessly here, people chasing the lowest price online rather than supporting local brick and mortar shops are a big part of the , but certainly not the only, reason those shops are no longer there when we need that left handed widget. And one would be mistaken if they think a shop can stay in business selling you those little "emergency" items while you shop the bigger ticket items all over the web. Ive been in hobby shops with poor service and grumpy owners with no people skills, which perhaps deserved to close. But in other cases they close because we are patronizing anyone, anywhere, who will undercut them in price.
Blame seems to be a rather strong indictment. If I can go to the Internet and order a bunch of parts from Digikey or Mouser for 30% of what I'd pay at Radio Shack, including shipping, I'd clearly only buy truly immediately needed stuff from RS. I typically have my parts from major on-line vendors in two-three days from the order. There's very little I do with model trains that needs faster response time.
There's not anyone to "blame" here, it's just the world evolving to a new reality. You either evolve with it or close your doors. We may lament the passing of such stores, and in some cases we'll realize that we really lost something valuable, but it's gonna' happen in any case, human nature.
Poor management, shallow depth of stocked widgets, quite a few failed or ready to break products, retail pricing, lack of knowledgeable staff, for an opener.
I'm here in Ft Worth, home of RS. Paper this AM said that they've filed with the employment commission to kick off the WARN act (notification of large layoffs). They say by May they'll be gone.
I missed the original post to this thread. Like others, I went thru the RS CB's, audio, etc. Then in 1979 I bought a TRS-80 and learned how to program it. Quit my job and went to college to get my BSCS, and the rest, as they say, is history. So, Thank You, Radio Shack, for jump-starting a very rewarding career.
I've discovered very few things I cannot find on Amazon in quantities I want. Frustrating to look at Mauser et al for small quantities of (anything); no, I really don't need 1000 of a SPDT switch, and I really don't want to pay $15 shipping for a $5 part. Thank You Amazon Prime for taking care of that matter....
Carl Orton posted:I've discovered very few things I cannot find on Amazon in quantities I want. Frustrating to look at Mauser et al for small quantities of (anything); no, I really don't need 1000 of a SPDT switch, and I really don't want to pay $15 shipping for a $5 part. Thank You Amazon Prime for taking care of that matter....
That's a bogus argument. I routinely order small quantities of parts from Digikey and pay $3-4 shipping for the whole order. Quantity one of common electronic items at Digikey or Mouser are far cheaper than quantity one of the same item at Radio Shack. Add to that that Digikey and Mouser have tens of thousands of individual items in stock, a typical Radio Shack would be lucky to have hundreds.
Another point, I didn't have to pay Digikey $100 for the privilege of getting items shipped promptly. BTW many, if not most, small items on Amazon are NOT available for Prime free shipping unless you order with other items, they call them "companion" items.
There is no free lunch.
The Radio Shack Support Website is still up, With the MA/CT stores closing for good tomorrow, I'm not sure how long it will continue to be available.
You can download operator, service manuals, schematics, parts lists, board diagrams for most Radio Shack products from it (even ones 25+ years old like my Pro-2004 scanner).
Google the Radio Shack Part number and Manual it it will should take you to the Radio Shack support page for that product.
Lad
