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RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

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Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#221

Post by Goronmon »

jordigh wrote: post #113
Goronmon wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author has no lordship over my computer or my mailbox. I can toss out junk mail. I can even more easily program my computer to toss out ads. Programmability is a very natural feature of a computer, so why not use it? My home, my computer, my rules. This reasoning falls apart pretty quickly when you take into account that you are adblocking content you specifically requested. Effectively, your justifications are t…

I'm fine with paying for things. I mentioned donation buttons and paywalls. I'm not fine with making my computer do things I do not want it to do or forcing me to watch things I do not need to see.

Are you claiming that someone or something is forcing you to visit certain websites?

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#223

Post by hellgas00 »

syntheticnature wrote: post #131
hellgas00 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Toronto, Canada where there are a bunch of independent stores that sell hobbyist electronics and seem to make a good profit doing so, so the market isn't dead. I like to buy stuff online but there have been plenty of times where I've been stuck needing a sensor, resistor, or things of that sort, and don't want to wait for 2 weeks for it to ship from China. It's a false premise to say that electronic compone…

I don't disagree, but there is a scale issue Radio Shack has. As a quick example: Population of Toronto, Canada: 2.5 million. From http://wheretobuy.klab.ca/ I see seven stores mentioned for electronic components. Population (not including the large college population which perhaps adds another 33%) of the county where I live: 155,400. Number of Radio Shack stores at present: 3. (There used to be two more.) Even assu…

You posted a website that lays out relevant electronic components supply stores in an easy to digest manner. The problem I see is that the average hobbyist might not know where to start without first knowing about that site.

For instance, I used to buy computer parts from BestBuy because it was easy, they were everywhere, and I didn't know about the smaller stores that were better priced and staffed with generally more knowledgeable staff. I knew about BestBuy because it had a large brand identity, and could market to the general population. RS was large enough to market their business stream to the general population, while these smaller stores can not.

When it comes to sourcing components, you are left to do the research if you want to buy from brick and mortar. If you want to buy a tablet or gaming console come to BestBuy because they told me they have everything.

I still think RS had a great model in hobby electronic, and I really think they could have developed that model, not only for their own financial gain, but to the betterment of society. I didn't find out about hobby electronics until I was in my late teens and more substantially early 20's studying Engineering, probably because it was never effectively marketed towards me.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#224

Post by rhino369 »

ChickeNES wrote: post #185
rhino369 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You got the cause and effect backwards. They expanded into non-technical markets because the technical market was failing. >resistors, fuses, soldering equipment, breadboards, various controllers and sensors, hard drives, processors: everything I needed to assemble an electronics project, fix a computer, make something. Almost nobody uses any of these. Those who do it as a hobby and don't wanna pay corner store retai…

Actually the Microcenter near me (Chicago), has expanded their selection of electronic components significantly in the past couple of years. What once was one rack is now an entire wall, with Sparkfun, Adafruit, Parallax, and Seeedstudio stuff, Arduinos, Beaglebones, and Raspberry Pis, and plenty of resistors, transistors, and other individual parts.

I have fun memories of the one on the Northside. My harddrive failed during finals and I had to go out that night and get one.

I actually paid for Xubuntu there hilariously enough. Paid like 2 bucks for a CD with it, so I could go online and download windows.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#225

Post by dylan604 »

TehCorwiz wrote: post #134
rgbrenner wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

started failing earlier, when they expanded into a non-technical market. Radio Shack was dead when the 80s ended. Look around, where are the small computer stores that used to be all over the place? They went the same way the record store did... Radio Shack works in an era where computers are $10000, and people build and solder their own computers. That era is gone. And that's why Radio Shack will die. Pretending tha…

In the last 5 years Microcenter has been expanding their selection of electronics tools, kits, and parts. Not to mention Fry's which has always carried a selection of electronics tools and parts. They've essentially picked up the market that Radio Shack dropped.

Have you seen Fry's selection of electronic components lately? There are 3 within a 30 minute drive of me, and I visited all 3 of them in one day trying to find a component without having to order it online. Their selection was not any better than the local Radio Shacks. The selection of components at RS were in drawers and was not impressive. The selection at Fry's was also not as impressive, but since they were just on hangers on a fairly large amount of real estate, all of the bags were yellowed and nasty looking. Some of there stuff even had a layer of dust on them.

I'm not trying to bag on Fry's, but I would not be surprised if their component selection gets eliminated to make space for refrigerators, microwave ovens, and color TVs.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#226

Post by jordigh »

Goronmon wrote: post #221
jordigh wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fine with paying for things. I mentioned donation buttons and paywalls. I'm not fine with making my computer do things I do not want it to do or forcing me to watch things I do not need to see.

Are you claiming that someone or something is forcing you to visit certain websites?

Don't be disingenous. I'm saying that when I merely visit certain websites, they try to manipulate my computer to do or display things certain things I may not agree to. They try to make my computer run certain code that doesn't suit well with me or make my browser show images or text I don't want to see.

I consider unsolicited advertising pernicious and inherently morally wrong. Manipulating people into buying things they don't need creates an awful consumerist society of people who spend their lives acquiring junk that doesn't make them happy. I have never asked to be advertised to most things that are being addressed to me. I don't think this means I should ostracise myself from society when I can just adblock.

More superficially, if I decided to change font faces or sizes on some website, would you say I've breached a certain social contract of how the website author decided I should see that website? Am I robbing them of their artistic integrity by not honouring their font choices? If I think advertising is pernicious, and in fact react negatively and with anger to most advertising, am I doing them a horrible disfavour by changing the page to not show those ads?

I don't think I am. Once the bytes arrive on my computer, I should have the right to display those bytes in whatever form suits me. I hate ads and savage consumerism so much, that it's really in everyone's best interest if I don't see them.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#227

Post by soylentcola »

TehCorwiz wrote: post #134
rgbrenner wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

started failing earlier, when they expanded into a non-technical market. Radio Shack was dead when the 80s ended. Look around, where are the small computer stores that used to be all over the place? They went the same way the record store did... Radio Shack works in an era where computers are $10000, and people build and solder their own computers. That era is gone. And that's why Radio Shack will die. Pretending tha…

In the last 5 years Microcenter has been expanding their selection of electronics tools, kits, and parts. Not to mention Fry's which has always carried a selection of electronics tools and parts. They've essentially picked up the market that Radio Shack dropped.

Microcenter is pretty awesome (has its flaws but it's basically what I always wished Best Buy and the like could be.

It ain't gonna happen but Microcenter doesn't have locations in many areas so I'd love it if they bought up a bunch of the little Radio Shacks and turned them into spinoff/satellite "Nanocenters" or some such. Maybe just stock the small stuff (hobbyist electronics and other things that don't take up a load of space) and rotate in the most popular/in-demand items from their normal stock.

The volume and low margins of their bigger stores would help with costs that would be harder if they were only the smaller shops but it would be a cheaper way to bring computer hardware and other electronics to brick-and-mortar stores that are closer to more customers.

I realize this would probably be a mess and never work due to market changes but it's a nice fantasy.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#228

Post by soylentcola »

a3n wrote: post #193
morcheeba wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this is a cool idea for a store, does it really fit with the assets that Radio Shack has? Here's what I see they've got to work with: - lots of retail stores in crappy locations. There's no way I'll hear the difference between a Grado and a Sony when the juicer at Orange Julius is echoing down the hallway. It would be perfect for 3d printers, though. - Cheap, non-committed workers. I'm not sure it would be wort…

> Cheap, non-committed workers. Isn't that the case with 99% of retail? I'd think any executive that proposed paying retail workers a living wage with predictable hours would get fired as a traitor in the War on Employees.

Yeah I worked there in the early 2000's for maybe 6-8 months. It was miserable. Having any technical knowledge or interest in learning new things was zero help at all. All they cared about was how many new cell contracts you sold and as this was the only way to make more than minimum wage, we were quickly broken down and begrudgingly pushed those contracts and upsold those extras.

The whole place was terribly hostile to employees and we actually had to drive out of town once a month for "sales meetings" where a bunch of middle management patted each other on the back and talked about the new acronyms for whatever their current dipshit strategy was to squeeze a few more points of growth onto this month's charts.

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#229

Post by soylentcola »

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…

Don't forget how you had to sell a certain amount every day for a week in order to even qualify for commission/bonus/spiff/whatever they were calling it that week. Then they wouldn't schedule you for enough hours/shifts to possibly meet that number.

And don't you just miss the Sunday sales meetings where you had to drive someplace and listen to some suit go on about HOTASSS or whatever the stupid acronym was?

Re: RadioShack Prepares Bankruptcy Filing

#230

Post by funkdobiest »

mistermumble wrote: post #59
funkdobiest wrote: post #40

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.

I remember going to RS stores to buy a 99 cent part and the clerk having to write, in long hand, on a triplicate form, my name and address and the item, before entering the amount on a cash register. I refused to give my info, and he said he could not sell me the part without it, so I said: "OK, my name is John Doe at 123 Main Street". He looked at me quizically and then wrote it down on the form without a word. For…

I totally forgot about that! I used to give them 1600 Pennsylvania as my address. I was bike messenger at the time so I knew all the good addresses in DC and would give them all the big federal buildings.
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