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RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

wsj.com

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Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#81

Post by freehunter »

musername wrote: post #27
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…

write an article about it. and please don't call online news vendors the papers

WSJ and NYT are the papers even if you're reading them online, because they literally are newspapers in real life.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#82

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

dragonwriter wrote: post #73
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There are not many people that have an immediate need for... There are not many people that have an immediate need for any one particular item in a dry goods store on any particular day. The same is true for other stores and was always true for nearly every item RS carried. I think the arguments ITT boil down to: did the internet kill RS, or did RS finally succumb to its own poor management.

> There are not many people that have an immediate need for any one particular item in a dry goods store on any particular day. Small floor-plan dry goods stores aren't exactly a booming business, either. > I think the arguments ITT boil down to: did the internet kill RS, or did RS finally succumb to its own poor management. And the answer is "yes". (In longer form, the internet was a key factor in a shift in the ret…

I think we are pretty close to agreement now!

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#83

Post by Retra »

debacle wrote: post #45
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…

People who use adblock are just entitled. They are manipulating the tragedy of the commons and then absolving themselves of any responsibility. They'll defend their right to use adblock militantly and then go pirate a game using the same defense. It's a personal moral defense rather than a logical justification.

>They are manipulating the tragedy of the commons and then absolving themselves of any responsibility.

The tragedy of the commons is entirely about that lack of responsibility. This is why we try to use social structure in lieu of 'free for all' decision-making.

A. If you think vehemently defending adblock is 'militant', grow up.

B. Using adblock has nothing to do with pirating games.

Make better ads. People might want to see them. Don't be so repetitive, abrasive, deceptive, obnoxious, etc. (Google made quite a lot of money by offering text-only ads, if you'll remember.)

You can't make a completely useless and shitty product and demand that people eat it, either. Talk about 'entitled'.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#85

Post by danielweber »

sharkweek wrote: post #57

One of my favorite writers covered his tenure at RadioShack back in the early/mid augts http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy... It's one of the funniest/most heartbreaking articles I have ever read, but also explains a lot about RadioShack's slow spiraling collapse.

This is a wonderful story. A management clusterfudge all the way.

I'm confused by him saying that you don't get commissions until hitting a threshold that he "barely" hit once, and then a paragraph later he talks about someone returning phones that got him a $40 commission (so he now loses that commission).

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#86

Post by dspillett »

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 don't disagree with paywalls generally, but I don't think paywalled content should be (intentionally) linked as the main subject on HN or similar unless that is the only good source of information about the matter in hand. It stops us masses actually reading what you have posted for us to read.

If all the non-paywalled sources are lacking detail, then I'd suggest using one of them for the main link and add a "more detail behind the paywall" comment immediately below.

Obnoxious advertising (pop-ups, auto playing audio, ...) is universally bad though and should not be linked to at all if avoidable. I'd prefer a paywalled source to one that uses obnoxious ads/trackers/other.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#87

Post by tmm »

specialp wrote: post #38

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 ce…

I live near Baynesville Electronics[1] and somehow they've managed to stay in business for a really long time selling stuff that RadioShack couldn't seem to competently sell. (The 50 years part of their sign has been up there at least 10 years).

They do a surprising amount of business from local engineering firms, AV/network/cable installers, and little IT shops because where else are you going to get a 25 pair Amphenol connector, a quad op-amp, some colored heatshrink tubing, obscure batteries, and a 1% 27.1kohm resistor at 9am on a Saturday? They are expensive compared to online retailers (for small parts), but they carry Arduino and RPi and the cool-kids stuff too at only a small markup.

As a kid, the closest electronics shop to me was RadioShack (Radio Shack then) (and it was my favorite place to go). It was right next to where I got my hair cut and in the same shopping center as the grocery store, so I got to go at least every other week. Back then, they had two (maybe three) aisles of electronic components, copper clad PCBs for etching, ferric chloride by the gallon, both 40xx and 74xx series logic in DIP packages; all sorts of stuff. I haven't been in an RS for a long time, but last time I was there I couldn't even find a barrel connector and they used to have a dozen different sizes. Even in the early 90s I guess RS was an expensive store - a five pack of resisters was $0.50 or a dollar - but ordering on the Internet wasn't an option and mail-order was difficult if you didn't have a business account.

I miss what they used to be, but the state of the hobby has changed - most things center around a microcontroller now (RS never carried any in my recollection, though they did have some EPROMS ... maybe they had an 8051?) and I can do things with a half dozen discrete components and an Arduino in a few hours that would have required twenty or thirty TTL logic chips, wirewrap sockets, and a whole weekend not so very long ago.

I wish there existed something like a fusion between the traditional hobbyist electronics store and a modern hackerspace. Some place where I could go to rent time on a 3D printer, CNC machine or reflow oven and also buy the missing parts I need and get advice on whatever I'm working on.

I think the market still exists for walk-in hobby electronics stores, though I grant it's not an easy market to survive in. I don't have the answers, maybe the folks who own Baynesville do.

[1]http://www.baynesvilleelectronics.com/index2.ivnu

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#88

Post by gtjay »

Having moved to Australia in recent years, I was very happy to see that JayCar, their equivalent to Radio Shack, seemed to be doing quite well. This is judging by what I've seen of the stores in what is considered a fairly backwards part of Australia (Queensland).

The difference seems to be two-fold. First, Jaycar didn't go through an insane expansion (there are only 12 or so locations per state). Second, they've grown "out" from their core market of electronics hobbyist instead of betraying it. Just a few examples: custom car stereos, solar panel accessories, camping/RV electronics, boating electronics, and DJ-stuff like laser projectors. This is all in addition to the arduino and 3D printing stuff that you'd expect. There's a huge amount of cross-over between these markets, which works out great for Jaycar.

There is one additional factor keeping Jaycar healthy that probably shouldn't be underplayed. Due to mining and a less crypto-facist view of unions, Australia has not (yet) completely gutted it's blue-collar market and culture. Jaycar advertises almost exclusively to this "tradie" (as the Australians call it) demographic. Jaycar is marketed as a "manly" thing, not a "nerd" or "tech" thing. In fact, it's even drummed up minor controversy from feminist as being exclusionary with ads focusing on "leaving her to go to your man-cave" and whatnot. This part of Jaycar's success probably can't be replicated stateside. The market of people who have the skills to fix a small electric outboard motor and can still afford one died with the rest of blue-collar culture and jobs.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#89

Post by jawns »

dspillett wrote: post #86
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 don't disagree with paywalls generally, but I don't think paywalled content should be (intentionally) linked as the main subject on HN or similar unless that is the only good source of information about the matter in hand. It stops us masses actually reading what you have posted for us to read. If all the non-paywalled sources are lacking detail, then I'd suggest using one of them for the main link and add a "more…

> I don't think paywalled content should be (intentionally) linked as the main subject on HN or similar unless that is the only good source of information about the matter in hand.

I think a fair expectation is that if you're going to post a link to a paywalled site, you should add a brief summary of the article as a comment. (Kind of like a companion to tl;dr, only in this case, it's te;dr, for "too expensive; didn't read.")

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#90

Post by lanaius »

dragonwriter wrote: post #66
themoonbus wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter that they are successful though, they operate on a much, much smaller scale than Radioshack. The maker market isn't nearly large enough to sustain a company of that size... that is to say, if Radioshack shrank to the size of one of Adafruit, it be a colossal failure as a corporation. The only chance they had to stay relevant was to challenge the Best Buy's of the world, but they failed to do that.

> The only chance they had to stay relevant was to challenge the Best Buy's of the world, but they failed to do that. They tried -- back when what is now RadioShack was Tandy Corp. and Radio Shack was one of its units, it tried with the Incredible Universe stores -- but gave up because at the time their boutique Radio Shack stores were more profitable than their big-box Incredible Universe stores. Of course, for wide…

Boy did I ever love Incredible Universe. Must've gone there 20 times as a kid, don't think we ever bought a single item.
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