Radio Shack and to-3 insulators rant

Zinfer

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Can't believe there's noone around here that has any transistor insulators, mica or silicone.
Actually had to place a large order for some on ebay. Now I have to wait for shipping in this season for 3 lousy insulators.
I wish Radio Shack would just plain go out of business already so I'm not taunted at every lack of some obscure electronics item and the vane hope Ratshack would possibly have it. Which, they never do.
Rant
I drive all the way across town because the other went out of business on this side. It's about 8pm, cold and blustery. They are talking at the counter for long lengths of time with customers about cellphones. Then another customer enters and immediately he gets talked to because he's looking at cell phones.
Finally I get a teen clerk (I came prepared with a transistor in pocket to show him) that doesn't know what a transistor insulator is. Says he doesn't think they have it but he'll look it up online.
Well, I can buy it myself anywhere online, that's the reason I was there, in the store.
Who are these people that go to radio shack to buy a cell-phone? Please Ratshack, just die already. You no longer have anything to do with Radios or a Radio Shack. You cater to no particular audience or customer. You threw your base completely under the bus. You no longer have a niche market. Your not a big box. You don't have anything anyone else doesn't have. How do they make money, with a business model like that?
 
Gad, how bad does it get?

As a past RS manager, I feel your pain. When I hit the store in Omaha that I frequent, I know their stock better than the store staff does.

For what you are looking for, you'd want to look in the 276 and 273 prefix codes. 276 was all the integrated circuit and transistor stuff, 273 was capacitors and some cables, connectors, and miscellaneous stuff.

At least knowing where to look will save you. All you have to do is around 6 inventories (before I bailed) to have a pretty good idea of where to look.
 
And by the way, I looked at Radio Shack's "Professional" soldering setup.

My Hakko gear leaves it in the dust. Don't bother paying $50 for the setup - just spend the $300 and get a Hakko FX-888 and FX-808, and you'll be good for a while.
 
Can't believe there's noone around here that has any transistor insulators, mica or silicone.
Actually had to place a large order for some on ebay. Now I have to wait for shipping in this season for 3 lousy insulators.
I wish Radio Shack would just plain go out of business already so I'm not taunted at every lack of some obscure electronics item and the vane hope Ratshack would possibly have it. Which, they never do.
Rant
I drive all the way across town because the other went out of business on this side. It's about 8pm, cold and blustery. They are talking at the counter for long lengths of time with customers about cellphones. Then another customer enters and immediately he gets talked to because he's looking at cell phones.
Finally I get a teen clerk (I came prepared with a transistor in pocket to show him) that doesn't know what a transistor insulator is. Says he doesn't think they have it but he'll look it up online.
Well, I can buy it myself anywhere online, that's the reason I was there, in the store.
Who are these people that go to radio shack to buy a cell-phone? Please Ratshack, just die already. You no longer have anything to do with Radios or a Radio Shack. You cater to no particular audience or customer. You threw your base completely under the bus. You no longer have a niche market. Your not a big box. You don't have anything anyone else doesn't have. How do they make money, with a business model like that?

What base? The reason theres no parts, is because the base disappeared. Once you get past 74LS logic and onto PLCs and custom chips, you cant really stock that stuff. Besides, most electronics are for the most part too expensive to repair. Hate to say it, were a rare breed these days!
 
Ratshack was cool back in the day... when they sold real electronics and real electronic kits... back in the day of robots and other cool sh1t.
Now; they are really just a waste of space. They'll die soon enough... the Internet's gonna kill everything but food and clothing.
 
Ha. I've been in a RS about 15 times since I started this hobby. Never once have I been in a store, when other customers are there, that they weren't looking at or troubleshooting cellphones. The only other thing I've ever seen a RS employee do is go in the back and come out, rarely with anything. Most employee's have been pretty friendly though. But friendly doesn't put that needed item in store.
 
I went into RS a while back and unless I need a stupid RC toy or a phone the place is worthless. I'm 41 and back in the day they carried so much stuff, I did high school electronics projects using stuff they had in stock and the staff was helpful. Today its either some kid or some person who has NO clue what you need. Last time in I went to the audio isle looking for connectors to adapt my Xbox 360 to a speaker set. The employee came over and started "helping" me by pulling the $18 gold plated titanium super THX George Lucas signature series connectors instead of the $2 ones that "aren't very good". They must get commission because they were trying to push $90 worth of parts on me over the $13 of parts I had in my hand. I see the same thing at Fry's sometimes, the guy pushing the $140 3ft Monster THX HDMI cable saying its so much better than the $8 6ft cable. I actually go out of my way to grab those people and tell them they can save 90% by getting the other one without loosing any quality. I guess the sad thing is the world is steering away from actually building or fixing things and are just making so you replace everything, unfortunately I can't just replace my 1983 Star Wars machine with a new one that costs 70% less.
 
Franky... I am not sure how Radio Shack stays in business. There has NEVER been more than 2 or 3 other customers in the store when I arrive... NEVER... as in over the last 32 years that I've been going there. They sell absolute shit and have always sold absolute shit (IE: Realistic brand audio equipment). I really... honestly... truly... have no idea how that shitty company keeps it's doors open.
 
TO-3? I only have a couple hundred of them sitting here... and at least 100 of the TO-220 ones too.

I really need to update my site with all this stuff I have here. No time though :(
 
I used to work at Radio Shack when I was in college (on and off from 93-96) we used to carry everything back then. Half the store was components. I hated inventory. We even sold radios back then... :rolleyes:
 
I forecasted their demise some 5 years ago and I still have no idea why they are still in business. Apparently their CEO didn't even know how either. It's a mystery.
Didn't the sad story begin about 10 years ago when we all got relegated to the back of the store in less than 1/4 the size of the store, stuck in some cubbyhole corner? They held their mass sell off of components they are no longer going to stock. We got shoved back into the stereo connector area.
The last to be helped or approached. They'd approach those nearest the cell phone area first especially those that enter the store after we had and hold long conversations with them. If you did get someone there it was because they felt you were stealing from them and the help we actually did get was "everything you see is there" and the "what does it come off of?"

Our mistake was in thinking 'they must have it, I'm just not seeing it'.
 
I used to work at Radio Shack when I was in college (on and off from 93-96) we used to carry everything back then. Half the store was components. I hated inventory. We even sold radios back then... :rolleyes:

Lol I've been a shack employee for 2 years now, we still got radios: a whole 4 different kinds!

Lol joking aside Radioshack's got 2 main problems: 1)the people, 2)the management

1)I've said it before and I'll say it again, noone wants to fix anything anymore and noone wants to build electronics anymore (barring custom PCs). My store has the largest parts bin in the district, its lacking yes but I was able to build night vision goggles using an old camcorder a customer left us and parts from the parts bin during my down time at work. We may be lacking but its not as bad as it seems (but it still could be much, MUCH better).

2)Everyone from District Manager level and up aren't very bright. And it seems that its a requirement that in order to be anything higher on than the chain than a manager you have to have worked never worked for Radioshack before. Combined with a "push cellphones and upsell or your fired" and zero parts training, it makes it kinda tough to do anything parts bin related

Think of it this way, if it pisses you off that we attack you at the door for cellphones and service plans when all you need is a capacitor, imagine how we feel having to do that same song and dance to every single customer that walks through the door
 
I used to empathize, but not any longer. I recognized a long time ago I was second class to the cell-phone business model and I hope they fall on their sword for it. Sad but true.
It'd been nice had I a second place to go for components. I only dream of a place like Mendelsons out of Dayton around here. Basically a 'Real' Radio Shack.
 
I wish Radio Shack would just plain go out of business already
Give it another week or two...

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Lol joking aside Radioshack's got 2 main problems: 1)the people, 2)the management

3) the pay

I applied for a job at Radio Shack and go all the way up to that big presentation they do about the job, the pay, etc... when they got to the pay I was like "... I'm unemployed, have been for years, and even I couldn't work for that..."

Sell a TV, no commission. Sell a remote for that TV, no commission. Sell a pack of batteries for the remote for the TV... partial commission. All that and part time only? Oh, please... where do I sign up?

Add on to that the only RS around me is about a 30 minute drive... I'd almost make gas money for getting there and back.

Then when you work your way up to management you get a minimal pay increase and 40X the work.

God bless those who work there and actually have an understanding of the parts and the job. But around here, they're just hiring teens that live 2mins away from the store and are only interested in working there for a discount on a cellphone.

Anytime I go to RadioShack and find someone that knows what I'm asking for AND actually find it in stock... I feel like coming home, lighting a candle and, marking the damn calendar. The closest time that's happened is when I went in looking for a bridge for my IceColdBeer's power supply... they, of course, didn't have it, but I was able to find something that more or less worked with flying wires. Even with TTL ICs, I don't even bother with the drive anymore. But if I ever need a couple 555's or 556's in a hurry, they'll probably have 1.

As I don't upgrade my cellphone but once every 4 years or so, at most I have 1 reason every 4 years to bother looking in that store. But as I usually upgrade my phone directly through my service provider, even that's not going to happen.

There's a Chinese buffet next to the Radio Shack here, and they do very well. Every time I drive by that place and the buffet hasn't expanded into the Radio Shack store, I'm f'ng shocked. I really wish they would because they could use a couple more selections on their Mongolian Grill.

I grew up looking through the Radio Shack catalog EVERY year at Christmas and looking at their electronics kits and labs... It's a shame to see what they've become over the years, it's time to finally pull the plug on that place and try to hang on to the good memories.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b,2190/
*And JROK beat me to it while I was typing.
 
When I worked at Rat Shack I got a commission on everything. I made great money as a college student. The week before X-mas I got $2700 (1994) it was incredible as I only worked 20 hours that week.
 
When I worked at Rat Shack I got a commission on everything. I made great money as a college student. The week before X-mas I got $2700 (1994) it was incredible as I only worked 20 hours that week.

Apparently it's a new scale they're working with. You can Google it and you'll see that it's pretty pathetic now.
 
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