[PaQSO] Radio Shack Closing Many Stores

[Michael Coslo]

On Feb 19, 2006, at 11:07 PM, Mark K3MSB wrote:

> Not really any surprise.
> RS Has lost their niche market, that of providing goods for  
> experimenters, for two basic reasons.  First,  there are not many  
> experimenters around anymore.  Second, they're in business to make  
> money, and they make more money selling cell phones than capacitors.

	When RS went over to cell phones in a big way, I knew that it would  
be their death. The cell phone market is become mature, and now that  
most people have one, the sales taper off.


>
> RS now sells cell phones and other consumer electronics and has to  
> go head to head with Wallmart, Circuit City etc, and that's not easy.
>
> I used to hit RS for resistors etc, but now I'll go out of my way  
> at lunch to the local electronics store for those parts (better  
> quality).  Between the local place and Mouser,  I can get pretty  
> much what I want.  Granted I have to wait for Mouser, but that's  
> usually not a problem.
>
> It's always fun when one of the sales persons comes up to you when  
> you're looking for a part:
>
> Them:  Can I help you?
> Me:  Yeah.  Have any 0.047uF 200V orange drops?
> Them: Sir, we don't sell candy here.
> Me:  Thanks.  An orange drop is a capacitor.
> Them:  What do you need it for?
> Me:  I'm recapping my Hallicrafters SX-101A.
> Them:  A what?
> Me: A radio. you know, a thing with tubes in it?
> Them: Tubes?
> Me Yeah, those glass thingys that light up when you plug 'em in?
> Them:  Hey Jack (Yelling to his boss) do we have tubes?
> Boss: Tubes?
> Them: This guy needs a capacitor for his tube.
> Me: No, I need a capacitor for a radio that uses tubes.
> Boss:  Sir, do you need a cell phone?


Ha! I love it!

	Most of the folks in the local stores have been pretty good, and  
there a a fair number of savvy ones, at least here in State College.

	My only funny experience was once when I needed a USB cable. In awe  
of the  outlandish prices,  (20 bucks for a 3 foot cable) I made the  
mistake of asking the clerk the reason that the cables were so dear.

	"Well sir, they have to use different metal compositions in the  
cables, because everyone knows that different frequencies travel at  
different rates through regular cable." These exotic metal  
formulations speed up or slow down the different frequencies so that  
they all arrive at the same time".

	Looks like audiophile snake-oil hokum has hit the computer market. 8^)


(BTW, I bought the cable, and then  later bought a nice 6 foot long  
one at Big Lots for 3.99. Both work equally well......

	- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -