[NJARC] Why the Internet didn't kill Radio Shack

Wed Apr 1 17:57:03 EDT 2015

I can speak only for myself but I imagine that some on this list have had similar experiences with Radio Shack.
First off, I have bought several scanners and shortwave receivers from them over the years and I have been happy with all of them.  They were worth what I paid and reliability was better then average, in my experience.  I guess up to about the year 2000 or so, buying components from RS was common for me.  But after they concentrated more and more on cellphones and the like and the component shelves dried up, I stopped going.  By then I had discovered Mouser and have used them and eBay for all of my component needs ever since.
I don't really think that RS management was to blame, it is just the price of progress.  When you think about it, modern electronic products are now no longer repairable.  Pick and place surface mounted parts, not much bigger then ground pepper flakes, have made the cost to replace the end item so low that repair a thing of the past.  Not to mention that reliability is, for the most part so high that one gets tired of the old cell phone or what have you long before it fails.
When I left the cell phone industry, the cost to manufacture a phone was around $300.  The most costly component was the six volt battery.  The production life cycle of the cell phone was 18 months.  The first three or so months, the phone sold for $300, the next three or so months it was at $100 or so.  In the last months of production, the phone was free for signing a new contract since all of the R&D and production cost had been recovered and a nice profit was made by all.  Ah, the beauty of mass production!
15 years of so later, I imagine that the cost to make a cell phone is much lower.  My Blackberry Z10, which I think is wonderful and intuitive to use, was free to me for a two year contract extension.  It has an 8MB camera so I no longer have a need for the Nicon Coolpix 2000 camera and the GPS receiver in the car.  The Z10 has more speed and memory then either of my first two or three PC's I paid a king's ransom for.  It just blows my mind!  And to think our favorite hobby is the collection and restoration of ancient vacuum tube radios and electronics; it is just plain crazy.
Is anyone collecting cellphones?  I have a few early AMPS and DAMPS Ericsson and other makers of cell phones, some NIB, some engineering samples and some with only the circuit board, free for postage.  If InfoAge is interested, I'll throw in a cellphone schematic!Jim

   From: Alex Magoun <a.b.magoun at ieee.org>
 To: njarc at mailman.qth.net 
 Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 1:18 PM
 Subject: [NJARC] Why the Internet didn't kill Radio Shack

Per this Fortune reporter (http://fortune.com/2015/04/01/why-the-internet-did-not-kill-radio-shack/?xid=gn_editorspicks&google_editors_picks=true), though I'm curious what the profit margin is/was on selling components to restorers/DIYers/hackers/makers compared to cell phones.  Besides, it was selling, or trying to sell, consumer electronics at least 40 years ago.
Alex
~~~
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