RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing • Hacker News Board

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#31

Post by kabdib » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:48 PM UTC

whistlerbrk wrote: post #18

Why couldn't they just stay a hobbyist store instead of schlepping cell phones? This stuff is cyclical and we're on the up-cycle now as they are going bankrupt. Instead of having their employees push plans they could have had them grow and share their knowledge of electronics. Sad, this place was near and dear to me for a bit.

A couple years ago I needed a capacitor right now and bopped down to the local RS. The components were located in a the back of the store, in a bin they obviously were not proud of having. I found my part and went to the register.

The clerk just waved me off and told me to take the capacitor and leave. He wasn't interested in ringing it up.

Radio Shack is full of rot, from the top to the bottom, and I am surprised they have lasted this long. They will only be missed when you need that twenty cent part now, for two bucks.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#32

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:50 PM UTC

wycklendt14 wrote: post #17

I worked at RadioShack for 2 years in college in 2003 and I can say with out a doubt that the upper management lead the downfall of that company. They abandoned their core customers of electronics hobbyists and turned there employees into salesmen. I got paid $5.50 an hour but was told that was OK because I made commissions from cell phone sales which maybe upped my pay to $6.00 on a good day. No wonder there constan…

Tandy companies' management has always been insane.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#33

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:50 PM UTC

dewitt wrote: post #15

Apologies about the link to a restricted site. I didn't notice it since I landed on the article via a search. Out of curiosity, since several comments here complained about the paywall ("paywalls are nsfl"), and an equal number or more on HN run adblockers and/or openly dislike ads in general (the whole "you are the product" meme), how do you think news sites should monetize? Seems like newspapers still add value in…

[deleted]

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#34

Post by paperwork » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:51 PM UTC

whistlerbrk wrote: post #18

Why couldn't they just stay a hobbyist store instead of schlepping cell phones? This stuff is cyclical and we're on the up-cycle now as they are going bankrupt. Instead of having their employees push plans they could have had them grow and share their knowledge of electronics. Sad, this place was near and dear to me for a bit.

Cell phones were huge for them. I worked at a radio shack store in the mid-90s when they started stocking car phones (big, bulky items) and very shortly after that hand-held phones. We used to sell them like hot cakes. As a high school student, I made pretty good money selling pagers, phones and computers. Compared to these items, resistors and batteries were no match.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#35

Post by ThinkBeat » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:51 PM UTC

dewitt wrote: post #15

Apologies about the link to a restricted site. I didn't notice it since I landed on the article via a search. Out of curiosity, since several comments here complained about the paywall ("paywalls are nsfl"), and an equal number or more on HN run adblockers and/or openly dislike ads in general (the whole "you are the product" meme), how do you think news sites should monetize? Seems like newspapers still add value in…

I think there is a distinction to be made here.

Paywalls are fine. If you feel that the Wall Street Journal is worth your time and money then feel free to subscribe to it. But paywalls are a double edged sword. If the source requires people to subscribe to read it, then the vast majority of internet users wont have a chance to read it, and learns to avoid the site.

When you share a link in public forum and the link requires a subscription to read it, that means most readers wont have a chance to enjoy the content and they feel frustrated.

You can usually find an article about the same topic on a public site. The manner the topic is covered, the depth of the article, the quality of the coverage might be different but it will give the general public an idea about what it is all about.

As far as ads and ad blockers. Tivo and tivo like devices are pretty common now that you can skip over tv commercials. I think its the same with web based ad blockers. The truth is that the majority of people who use these things would not have had a positive response to the ad in the first place.

What does happen, both on tv and on the web, is that product placements in the content itself becomes more and more common.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#36

Post by xienze » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:52 PM UTC

snomad wrote: post #28

dewitt wrote: post #15

Apologies about the link to a restricted site. I didn't notice it since I landed on the article via a search. Out of curiosity, since several comments here complained about the paywall ("paywalls are nsfl"), and an equal number or more on HN run adblockers and/or openly dislike ads in general (the whole "you are the product" meme), how do you think news sites should monetize? Seems like newspapers still add value in…

> how do you think newspapers should monetize? Idea I had is to flip the model. Newspapers pay readers, who for payment agree to see ads tailored to their interests. Users are given short quizzes after article to prove they actually read. Fail, and they don't get paid.

I can't imagine how that could fail!

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#37

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:54 PM UTC

wdewind wrote: post #24

whistlerbrk wrote: post #18

Why couldn't they just stay a hobbyist store instead of schlepping cell phones? This stuff is cyclical and we're on the up-cycle now as they are going bankrupt. Instead of having their employees push plans they could have had them grow and share their knowledge of electronics. Sad, this place was near and dear to me for a bit.

Because what you're talking about is a much, much smaller business.

Adafruit, Sparkfun, et al, might like a word with you. Even though they are smaller businesses, they are thriving, there is nothing to say that they would be if RS had taken the same road.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#38

Post by specialp » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:54 PM UTC

Radio Shack cannot make money selling hobbyist things to support their expensive retail locations. We all love that kind of stuff but admit it, that business has gone online to places like Adafruit. Even hardcore electronic component retailers that were in low rent industrial parks, or in my case a guy that operated out of his basement when he could not afford the rent in his industrial park have closed.

For years cell phones and people not smart enough to order cables from Monoprice and the like had powered their business. People like me would go to Radio Shack to buy emergency things like a common transistor, or solder, and also to gobble up their ancient hobbyist stuff on clearance.

There is no model for small electronics stores anymore selling any type of good. Hell even the big box places like Best Buy are under immense pressure from online retailers.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#39

Post by mhb » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:55 PM UTC

copsarebastards wrote: post #30

A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales, but I think that they actually started failing earlier, when they expanded into a non-technical market. In the 80s and 90s I could go into a Radio Shack and buy resistors, fuses, soldering equipment, breadboards, various controllers and sensors, hard drives, processors: everything I needed to assemble an electronics project, fix a com…

A lot of people think RadioShack should have made the transition to internet sales

Huh? Like http://www.radioshack.com/

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#40

Post by funkdobiest » Thu, Jan 15, 2015, 4:56 PM UTC

Last time I was in RadioShack was in the 90's in Washington DC, and I went there for a connector, and there were literally 20 people in line all buying minutes for cell phones, with only one person in the store. I thought this was some sort of hidden camera reality/joke tv show. I just put the item down and left.