Just picked up three more Quickstarts at two stores. I made the go to the back room to get them.
The online RadioShack inventory is fairly accurate. The first sore I went to had none on the hang tag. While I was waiting to check out, the associate was in the back looking for a cell phone, (of all things), and said, "look what I found in the back". Pays to just say look for it.
The second store still had two on a hanger, although a month ago they were not to be found.
All three $7.47 a piece. It cost $7.99 for a Prop chip. !
Well I went into the local RS today to get some alligator clips, and there were two QuickStarts for $7.47. I snapped them up on general principles. What's really nice is they come with the USB-A to mini-B cable for programming, which is a couple of bucks all on its own locally.
I went to radio shack to get cables with bannana plugs. I found some plugs, so I figured I could use my own wire.
While waiting in line I heard a customer tell the clerk he "wanted a cable to connect the hard disk to the monitor".
The clerk said "DVI cables are hard to find, because they are being phased out. Everything is going wireless."
I've heard similar nonsense spouted by clerks in other stores to either explain a high price or why they don't stock a certain type of goods.
If I know of a store that does sell the product(in case they don't have it) I will not hesitate to tell the customer.
I also won't hesitate to correct the clerk if I hear him spout nonsense.
I'm doubly dangerous as I read the instruction manuals and sales blurbs...
This week I returned a $250 'trolling motor' that I had bought a week earlier.
It had failed after 2 minutes of use.
The clerk who accepted it began to ask if it didn't take a charge (WTF?) so I had to point to the thick wires ending in rather solid clips...
(The thing draws around 40A at 12V.)
I had to spell out to him that it uses normal car batteries, or preferably a 'deep cycle' battery.
(He had no idea what a 'deep cycle' battery was, either)
Then he asked me if I checked that the battery was charged...
Yeah, right... I always set off to sea with a 2minute charge on my battery...
I pointed out the battery-charge indicator on the motor and said that it was indicating a full charge.
He took the motor in the back for testing, and came back half an hour later saying he couldn't find a battery to test it with!
I offered to let him use my 12V deep cycle battery which I had in the back of my car. He wasn't interested in that.
(Probably because he didn't want to show that he had no clue as to what he was doing.)
Needless to say I insisted on my money back instead of a new unit.
Went to a competing store and bought a slightly smaller trolling motor for the same price.
At least theirs is advertised with 'salt water capable'...
(There was nothing in the manual or blurb of the first about salt water... A quick visual inspection of the non-functional one showed a slightly damaged o-ring on the motor pod.)
My local Radio Shack just put out a clearance table, and I picked up a Parallax standard servo for $1. Meanwhile they're selling their house brand for $15. That doesn't make any kind of sense at all.
Yep, I got two previously for 97 cents each. A curious business model for sure.
If you read the financial news today, you'd know they have no business model, other than the Going-Out-Of-Business model.
These guys should just put a fork in it. File Chapter 7 and liquidate while the existing inventory still has some value. Wait too long and it'll all just be outdated junk going for a few pennies on the dollar. Their core market is merchandise that has a very short shelf life.
I believe they are on a mission to perpetuate their own brand at the moment, replacing our servos with their own. Do you see any resemblance in this photo?
I believe they are on a mission to perpetuate their own brand at the moment, replacing our servos with their own. Do you see any resemblance in this photo?
Their ultrasonic sensor cost $29.99, is missing the indicator LED, and has the front mounted crystal. I also looked the back and it looks like a cheap eBay sensor reworked to use three instead of four pins. My guess is it also has the delay issues of the cheap sensors too.
Basically it's cheapie sensor quality at premium sensor prices.
Maybe we should make it our job to pick up all the cheap Parallax products and restore balance to the (force) market - at least that way the Parallax products would end up in the hands of people who will continue to buy the "real" thing.
I believe they are on a mission to perpetuate their own brand at the moment, replacing our servos with their own. Do you see any resemblance in this photo?
Ken Gracey
Correct...a Marketing 101 move to increase their profit margin.
In all fairness, we are seeing many American retailers doing the same thing...replacing more expensive quality products with cheaper lesser quality products while charging the same retail prices.
It works because the average consumer is ignorant of how to determine a product's level of quality and is buying on the basis of brand name.
If society would produce better educated consumers, this marketing ploy would not consistently produce the economic results it does.
I recall these knockoffs came up in one of Erco's eBay finds, though I can't find any now -- most on eBay are 4-pin, which most Arduino users would want to use anyway. So RS selling the 3-pin version absolutely shows they have no clue of what their customers are looking for. I'm guessing they opted for it out of the plethora (as in pinatas) of examples for the Ping. 4-pin boards of a similar design are modeled after Gerry Coe's SRF series of transducers, and these now are selling about $2-3 each with shipping included.
RS spent time creating their own documentation (scant as it is), packaging, and support Web site. Sounds like a lot of effort for an unbranded and therefore unknown product that other sites are selling for far less. Forget making people buy these on eBay -- I could buy a bunch of these at $2 each doing nothing more than clicking a PayPal Buy Now button, quadruple my cost, and still sell them at my little lemonade stand for under $10 each -- a third less than their price. What were they thinking? You don't charge a premium price for the non-branded knockoff that's available everywhere else for a lot less.
What were they thinking? You don't charge a premium price for the non-branded knockoff that's available everywhere else for a lot less.
Wel lI guess they got nuthin' else. It's really tempting to the bean counters when you can make 1000% profit, and it's hard for them to hear your protests that their cool plan has a flaw. Hey, it's an ultrasonic sensor that returns distance via pulse width, and we can get forty bucks for it. Why should we pay Parallax fifteen of those bucks if we can pay the guy in China two?
First the analysts says the stock price will go to zero, then someone says it will go to $1, and now they says it's going back to zero again. Anyone with any brains knows this company is in a death spiral and there is a minute chance that someone will come and buy out the company. More likely others are waiting for the company to be liquidated so they can buy what's left for pennies on the dollar.
I have to hand it to RS that they haven't filed for bankruptcy already. That would (mostly) solve their lease breaking issues. But there's a risk of the trustee turning their voluntary Chapter 11 filing into an involuntary Chapter 7, and I suspect this is why management hasn't taken this very obvious leap.
I'm not sure what a buyer would get. RS has virtually no real estate. Their brand name is an outdated moniker that's counter to the market they want to pursue. Their main inventory of mobile devices is outdated practically the minute it arrives in the stores. That leaves their Web site, which is not even responsive (is this 2014 or what?), store fixtures that never sell for more than maybe 20-30 cents on the dollar in liquidation, and an unknown stockpile of orange shag carpeting.
"Instead, it would push for an acceleration of the renovations sought by Mr. Magnacca, a former Walgreen Co. executive brought in last year to turn the company around by updating its image, strengthening its financial profile and stocking new generic products that it can sell more profitably."
I stopped by my local Radio Shack yesterday. I was the only customer in the store. No Parallax items. Not a lot of Arduino items. I doubt that the sales clerk gets paid much, but it looks like his main task is to watch college football.
I stopped by my local Radio Shack yesterday. ... the sales clerk gets paid ... to watch college football.
Pretty good gig!
I visit two Shacks near me occasionally, both "manned" by bubbly young girls. Not technically gifted, but sweet, chatty and upbeat. I've stopped asking them questions about the Shack's future, it's too awkward for me. I may know more about it than they do. Of course they keep asking me if I need a new cell phone.
Comments
The online RadioShack inventory is fairly accurate. The first sore I went to had none on the hang tag. While I was waiting to check out, the associate was in the back looking for a cell phone, (of all things), and said, "look what I found in the back". Pays to just say look for it.
The second store still had two on a hanger, although a month ago they were not to be found.
All three $7.47 a piece. It cost $7.99 for a Prop chip. !
.
While waiting in line I heard a customer tell the clerk he "wanted a cable to connect the hard disk to the monitor".
The clerk said "DVI cables are hard to find, because they are being phased out. Everything is going wireless."
I ended up not buying anything.
I've heard similar nonsense spouted by clerks in other stores to either explain a high price or why they don't stock a certain type of goods.
If I know of a store that does sell the product(in case they don't have it) I will not hesitate to tell the customer.
I also won't hesitate to correct the clerk if I hear him spout nonsense.
I'm doubly dangerous as I read the instruction manuals and sales blurbs...
This week I returned a $250 'trolling motor' that I had bought a week earlier.
It had failed after 2 minutes of use.
The clerk who accepted it began to ask if it didn't take a charge (WTF?) so I had to point to the thick wires ending in rather solid clips...
(The thing draws around 40A at 12V.)
I had to spell out to him that it uses normal car batteries, or preferably a 'deep cycle' battery.
(He had no idea what a 'deep cycle' battery was, either)
Then he asked me if I checked that the battery was charged...
Yeah, right... I always set off to sea with a 2minute charge on my battery...
I pointed out the battery-charge indicator on the motor and said that it was indicating a full charge.
He took the motor in the back for testing, and came back half an hour later saying he couldn't find a battery to test it with!
I offered to let him use my 12V deep cycle battery which I had in the back of my car. He wasn't interested in that.
(Probably because he didn't want to show that he had no clue as to what he was doing.)
Needless to say I insisted on my money back instead of a new unit.
Went to a competing store and bought a slightly smaller trolling motor for the same price.
At least theirs is advertised with 'salt water capable'...
(There was nothing in the manual or blurb of the first about salt water... A quick visual inspection of the non-functional one showed a slightly damaged o-ring on the motor pod.)
Price scanned at $7.47. 25% off clearance...$5.60. Total with California tax: $6.12.
If you read the financial news today, you'd know they have no business model, other than the Going-Out-Of-Business model.
These guys should just put a fork in it. File Chapter 7 and liquidate while the existing inventory still has some value. Wait too long and it'll all just be outdated junk going for a few pennies on the dollar. Their core market is merchandise that has a very short shelf life.
Ken Gracey
Their ultrasonic sensor cost $29.99, is missing the indicator LED, and has the front mounted crystal. I also looked the back and it looks like a cheap eBay sensor reworked to use three instead of four pins. My guess is it also has the delay issues of the cheap sensors too.
Basically it's cheapie sensor quality at premium sensor prices.
Correct...a Marketing 101 move to increase their profit margin.
In all fairness, we are seeing many American retailers doing the same thing...replacing more expensive quality products with cheaper lesser quality products while charging the same retail prices.
It works because the average consumer is ignorant of how to determine a product's level of quality and is buying on the basis of brand name.
If society would produce better educated consumers, this marketing ploy would not consistently produce the economic results it does.
RS spent time creating their own documentation (scant as it is), packaging, and support Web site. Sounds like a lot of effort for an unbranded and therefore unknown product that other sites are selling for far less. Forget making people buy these on eBay -- I could buy a bunch of these at $2 each doing nothing more than clicking a PayPal Buy Now button, quadruple my cost, and still sell them at my little lemonade stand for under $10 each -- a third less than their price. What were they thinking? You don't charge a premium price for the non-branded knockoff that's available everywhere else for a lot less.
Wel lI guess they got nuthin' else. It's really tempting to the bean counters when you can make 1000% profit, and it's hard for them to hear your protests that their cool plan has a flaw. Hey, it's an ultrasonic sensor that returns distance via pulse width, and we can get forty bucks for it. Why should we pay Parallax fifteen of those bucks if we can pay the guy in China two?
I'm not sure what a buyer would get. RS has virtually no real estate. Their brand name is an outdated moniker that's counter to the market they want to pursue. Their main inventory of mobile devices is outdated practically the minute it arrives in the stores. That leaves their Web site, which is not even responsive (is this 2014 or what?), store fixtures that never sell for more than maybe 20-30 cents on the dollar in liquidation, and an unknown stockpile of orange shag carpeting.
-dan
http://online.wsj.com/articles/radioshack-considering-585-million-financing-package-from-ubs-hedge-fund-1410554365
Note the folowing...
"Instead, it would push for an acceleration of the renovations sought by Mr. Magnacca, a former Walgreen Co. executive brought in last year to turn the company around by updating its image, strengthening its financial profile and stocking new generic products that it can sell more profitably."
My dog could do as much.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101992454#.
I think they will not make it to the end of the year.
Sad thing is if they liquidate the only thing I would want is their parts drawer setup.
John Abshier
Pretty good gig!
I visit two Shacks near me occasionally, both "manned" by bubbly young girls. Not technically gifted, but sweet, chatty and upbeat. I've stopped asking them questions about the Shack's future, it's too awkward for me. I may know more about it than they do. Of course they keep asking me if I need a new cell phone.