I was in my local Radio Shack store today with money in my pocket. Nothing was on sale. In answer to a salesman's inquiry, I replied that I had seen on the internet that things were on sale but nothing was on sale in this store. His reply was to check prices online. "We may not have put up the tags." My money is still in my pocket. I guess the key to success is to idly wait in an empty store (I was the only customer) for someone to buy a cell phone.
I was shopping yesterday (Target, Hi-Health, and The Shack.)
Many blue-tagged (Clearance) items throughout the store, but only a couple of things in the drawers.
Other than the Arduino motor boards and wireless SD boards, the only DIY item tagged was a PMB-648 for $20. So, I grabbed that and a $5 24ft. 1/4-in extension cable (for my Nova-40 headphones.)
There's a "24-in" Toshiba 1080p for $100, the merits of which I mulled for a bit, deciding that I need more.
Not sure what I'll do with a PMB-648 GPS but I went back to RS and got one - half price ain't bad...
John,
Go into your radio shack with your smart phone and do a search on radioshack .com for ths skus you are interested in. use the 7 digits of the sku in the search if the sku has a - in it put a 0 before the dash, remove the dash and put 0's after the dash to fill out to a four digit number. i.e. 23-193 becomes 2300193. After you have found the prices you want, request the phone number of the District Manager and tell him about the stores non-complience on clearence tags. I spent almost a whole day putting up those clearence tags! Parallax gps modules on sale, LCD sticks, compus altimeter, I can't remember them all. Better yet take all of the parallax products to the counter that you are interested in and request a price check. Then report it to the DM.
Jim
I was in my local Radio Shack store today with money in my pocket. Nothing was on sale. In answer to a salesman's inquiry, I replied that I had seen on the internet that things were on sale but nothing was on sale in this store. His reply was to check prices online. "We may not have put up the tags." My money is still in my pocket. I guess the key to success is to idly wait in an empty store (I was the only customer) for someone to buy a cell phone.
It was already five or ten years ago that RS got a new CEO and he said "I have no idea how this company makes money". I guess nobody has figured it out since then. Sadly I can't find a link to that classic statement.
You would think withe the rise of the "maker movement" in recent years RS had a wave to ride like back in the old days of building your own radios and such. They just don't seem to be in tune like Adafruit and sparkfun and so on.
Well I placed the LCD in a project box, modified the GPS example program for the BS2P and drove to a Geodetic Control Map site where a buried survey brass/iron survey marker is stuck in the ground. The coordinates displayed from the PMB-648 matched those from the survey marker so everything is looking good!
The numbers on the right hand side are the Altitude and number of satellites.
How can you hope for a CEO with any more of a positive attitude?
Just in case anyone here doesn't know this: The Onion is a satirical magazine. I don't think Day actually said any of those things, though he's been "quoted" from The Onion many times. (He's probably thought those things many times, however.)
I checked my own local RS. No deals in Pennsylvania to rave about. In fact, since the last time I was there a month or so ago, it actually looks like they've enhanced their DIY sections. In fact, there's a sign on the door that says they're hiring. So maybe the RS here is so out of phase with the major decision-making going on at HQ?
As far as the Maker movement is concerned, even the local hobby shop owner told me nobody builds anything anymore - people tend to buy ready-to-fly, etc. Computer games are to blame, I'm told. Apparently, computer games are able to push every little button in the brains of young people that once were pushed only by building your own radio, robot, rocket, airplane, boat, etc.
Julian Day has been gone from Radio Shack for a long time. It was under his leadership that we tried to become a cell phone only store and under his leadership that Kmart almost went under! Our new CEO has been with the company since January and is trying to correct the many sins that were comiited by Julian Day and company. Our new CEO was a sucessful CEO from Walgreens and hopefully we are recruiting from other than the ranks of failed companies like Blockbuster, hollywood video and Circuit City.
Jim
Just in case anyone here doesn't know this: The Onion is a satirical magazine. I don't think Day actually said any of those things, though he's been "quoted" from The Onion many times. (He's probably thought those things many times, however.)
As far as the Maker movement is concerned, even the local hobby shop owner told me nobody builds anything anymore - people tend to buy read-to-fly, etc. Computer games are to blame, I'm told. Apparently, computer games are able to push every little button in the brains of young people that once were pushed only by building your own radio, robot, rocket, airplane, boat, etc.
I enjoy building RC Gliders out of Balsa...
Ever tried to buy a 2meter or larger glider that's not 'ARF'?
The few that I've seen online that aren't 'out of stock' are ridiculously overpriced, or so ancient that the wood has probably rotted away.
I'm actually afraid to take out my Gentle Lady glider because I don't know where I can get more balsa wood strips to repair it if I try to land it myself...
This is happening in many other fields, too.
Woodworking?
Kids doesn't LEARN to DO stuff like that any more.
Fixing a car?
sure, modern injection systems have made cars more dificult to work on, but not impossible. but fewer and fewer even attempt.
Most doesn't even change the oil themselves any more, but instead let Jiffy Lube or other half@ssed shops do it for them.
And let the shop walk all over them. 'When we changed the oil we noticed that your ... looked worn, so we changed it for you'. Most wouldn't even notice that they didn't swap the part, either, and that they just wiped the dirt off...
(Some shops even use a pump to suck the oil up through the tube for the dipstick, leaving the worst sludge still in the sump)
Me, I've recently ripped the top off the engine in mine, and are just waiting on a special gasket(on the cooling side) before I put it all back together...
(1.4i straight 4, aluminium alloy+press-fit steel sleeves for cylinder walls. )
There's people who can't change a flat tire, or a burnt-out bulb on their car, but has to call a service...
(Sad part is that this is part of Drivers ed here, but people seems to forget it as soon as they get their license)
For this and many other reasons, I support as many projects on Kickstarter as I can.
And if I ever find enough people and some place to work, I'd start a makerspace.
Maybe most young'n's are lazy buggers but I'm guessing that has always been true. At least judging by the school I attended back in the early 1970's.
What about the makerspaces, the sparkfuns, the adafruits, the 3D printer movement, the huge number of Arduinos out there, the nearly two million Rasperry Pis? The burning man, even Parallax? The internet is alive with hackadays and people making weird stuff. I was at the "Model Expo" in Helsinki this summer, an amazing lot of youngsters doing a of of different things.
I believe RS's problem here is more to do with the fact that its more economical to buy this stuff on line than it is for brick and morter stores to carry an inventory of everthing anyone might want.
How many of those Pies are used for actually developing something, or teaching kids to program?
I think you'll find that a lot of them ended up running pre-compiled packages such as media center programs.
Most Arduinos, too. Running SW someone else wrote, to control some doodad someone else sells ready made.
Scored at Serial LCD for $9.97, but the racks were pretty much bare of other DIY. Sad.
When I took two of the LCDs to the counter, the RS salesman said "You're the first person I've seen buying these." They were on the lowest level of the wall, in the corner. I had to squat down to search for them.
When I took two of the LCDs to the counter, the RS salesman said "You're the first person I've seen buying these." They were on the lowest level of the wall, in the corner. I had to squat down to search for them.
Person, yes. But a steady stream of three-apple-high blue Smurfs had seen and bought them all day.
Guess what the twins and I have been watching today? I'm all smurfed up! Time to take a break and go crawling around Radio Shack...
How many of those Pies are used for actually developing something, or teaching kids to program?
I think you'll find that a lot of them ended up running pre-compiled packages such as media center programs.
Who cares? If one out of 100 makes something cool, that's still one more thing that's cool. And one of them might have the vision software we need for our whatever bot.
Not everybody can be as rich as Bill Gates, and not every garage project truns into Apple Computer. Bu tone once in a while is kind of cool.
Dropped in to my fifth store today looking for two male DB15 HD (VGA Vid) connectors. Lots of empty parts hooks, quite a few obsolete parts, but no DB connectors of any kind.
Lots of TV's, camera's, cell phones, etc., so I guess they think they'll do better competing against all the big retailers and cellular booths.
Comments
More like helping them along their chosen path. If trimming their inventory will help them survive then this thread is helping them along.
John Abshier
Not sure what I'll do with a PMB-648 GPS but I went back to RS and got one - half price ain't bad...
Just play with it! :-)
@
Go into your radio shack with your smart phone and do a search on radioshack .com for ths skus you are interested in. use the 7 digits of the sku in the search if the sku has a - in it put a 0 before the dash, remove the dash and put 0's after the dash to fill out to a four digit number. i.e. 23-193 becomes 2300193. After you have found the prices you want, request the phone number of the District Manager and tell him about the stores non-complience on clearence tags. I spent almost a whole day putting up those clearence tags! Parallax gps modules on sale, LCD sticks, compus altimeter, I can't remember them all. Better yet take all of the parallax products to the counter that you are interested in and request a price check. Then report it to the DM.
Jim
Jim
You would think withe the rise of the "maker movement" in recent years RS had a wave to ride like back in the old days of building your own radios and such. They just don't seem to be in tune like Adafruit and sparkfun and so on.
Boy! That didn't take long. Nice Ron!
How can you hope for a CEO with any more of a positive attitude?
I don't know if the franchise stores have to adhear to the clearence pricing policy or not.
Jim
Just in case anyone here doesn't know this: The Onion is a satirical magazine. I don't think Day actually said any of those things, though he's been "quoted" from The Onion many times. (He's probably thought those things many times, however.)
I checked my own local RS. No deals in Pennsylvania to rave about. In fact, since the last time I was there a month or so ago, it actually looks like they've enhanced their DIY sections. In fact, there's a sign on the door that says they're hiring. So maybe the RS here is so out of phase with the major decision-making going on at HQ?
As far as the Maker movement is concerned, even the local hobby shop owner told me nobody builds anything anymore - people tend to buy ready-to-fly, etc. Computer games are to blame, I'm told. Apparently, computer games are able to push every little button in the brains of young people that once were pushed only by building your own radio, robot, rocket, airplane, boat, etc.
Jim
I should have said tongue in cheek instead of
I enjoy building RC Gliders out of Balsa...
Ever tried to buy a 2meter or larger glider that's not 'ARF'?
The few that I've seen online that aren't 'out of stock' are ridiculously overpriced, or so ancient that the wood has probably rotted away.
I'm actually afraid to take out my Gentle Lady glider because I don't know where I can get more balsa wood strips to repair it if I try to land it myself...
This is happening in many other fields, too.
Woodworking?
Kids doesn't LEARN to DO stuff like that any more.
Fixing a car?
sure, modern injection systems have made cars more dificult to work on, but not impossible. but fewer and fewer even attempt.
Most doesn't even change the oil themselves any more, but instead let Jiffy Lube or other half@ssed shops do it for them.
And let the shop walk all over them. 'When we changed the oil we noticed that your ... looked worn, so we changed it for you'. Most wouldn't even notice that they didn't swap the part, either, and that they just wiped the dirt off...
(Some shops even use a pump to suck the oil up through the tube for the dipstick, leaving the worst sludge still in the sump)
Me, I've recently ripped the top off the engine in mine, and are just waiting on a special gasket(on the cooling side) before I put it all back together...
(1.4i straight 4, aluminium alloy+press-fit steel sleeves for cylinder walls. )
There's people who can't change a flat tire, or a burnt-out bulb on their car, but has to call a service...
(Sad part is that this is part of Drivers ed here, but people seems to forget it as soon as they get their license)
For this and many other reasons, I support as many projects on Kickstarter as I can.
And if I ever find enough people and some place to work, I'd start a makerspace.
Maybe most young'n's are lazy buggers but I'm guessing that has always been true. At least judging by the school I attended back in the early 1970's.
What about the makerspaces, the sparkfuns, the adafruits, the 3D printer movement, the huge number of Arduinos out there, the nearly two million Rasperry Pis? The burning man, even Parallax? The internet is alive with hackadays and people making weird stuff. I was at the "Model Expo" in Helsinki this summer, an amazing lot of youngsters doing a of of different things.
I believe RS's problem here is more to do with the fact that its more economical to buy this stuff on line than it is for brick and morter stores to carry an inventory of everthing anyone might want.
I think you'll find that a lot of them ended up running pre-compiled packages such as media center programs.
Most Arduinos, too. Running SW someone else wrote, to control some doodad someone else sells ready made.
When I took two of the LCDs to the counter, the RS salesman said "You're the first person I've seen buying these."
They were on the lowest level of the wall, in the corner. I had to squat down to search for them.
Person, yes. But a steady stream of three-apple-high blue Smurfs had seen and bought them all day.
Guess what the twins and I have been watching today? I'm all smurfed up! Time to take a break and go crawling around Radio Shack...
Who cares? If one out of 100 makes something cool, that's still one more thing that's cool. And one of them might have the vision software we need for our whatever bot.
Not everybody can be as rich as Bill Gates, and not every garage project truns into Apple Computer. Bu tone once in a while is kind of cool.
Oh man, you're bearking my heart.
BS2 activity kit $30
Backlit serial LCD $10
Hexbug $5
Velleman classic videogame kit (Pong) $5
Tankbot $10
Most if not all will be gifts for school kids. I just got suckered into mentoring a FRC robotics team with all of my "spare" time.
Amanda likes tracked bots, she would dig that Tankbot. Smartphone control plus free roam & obstacle avoidance modes.
Lots of TV's, camera's, cell phones, etc., so I guess they think they'll do better competing against all the big retailers and cellular booths.
Oh, no deals either.
The Bad News: It's new stock and not on closeout... yet .
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=23160006&retainProdsInSession=1&znt_campaign=3D_Printing&znt_source=HMPG&znt_medium=RSCOM&znt_content=HMPGB1
Tell me you mean $20, surely not $10! The website lists it at $20: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12302298
Bought PMB-648 GPS at the Shack today for 19.97 US...
2 Serial 2X16 LCDs for 9.97 US apiece as well!
And, a 1W 9 Volt Solar panel for about 4 bucks...
dgately
Good point about the Raspi. Same as the fate of all those C64s and Sinclair Spectrums back in the day.