T&L Publications

Hello again,

A short while ago there was some talk about
RS not selling parts anymore, so after a brand
new Radio Shack opened up in my home town i
decided to stroll in after lunch today and
check it out.
Well, they still have parts! In those funny
parts drawers, but they just opened and they
have them so i guess they will always carry at
least some small parts like caps, resistors, and
a small assort of ic's, some LED's, etc.

Take care,
Al

Components are kept in drawers now, but the employees are still clueless about electronics. They're always quick to ask me if they can help me find what I'm looking for. It has become cheap entertainment to come right out and tell them what I need, then watch how fast their expressions go blank.

I love the part when they need to make change and have to ask / look at the register to find the answer.

Reminds me of McDonald’s.

What a world we live in, what a world we invite.

The Chinese and Indians don’t have this problem, ahh,...but then they do have our jobs.

Thanks politicians, sell us cheap to the highest bidder, or was that the lowest bidder?

Oh well, condos in Bejing are cheap, lets all move there?

What I hate about RS purchases is when they are printing up the bill, they want my life history to put in their computer. They do this every time and for what--they dont even mail out flyers anymore.

Hi there guys,

Well, if this is going to become a 'Put down RS'
thread believe me i could note five things without
even thinking about it starting with a
crappy NiMH charger i ended up with, but, after
all, they have some things we all want or we
wouldnt go there at all

Granted, it used to be much better too, but at
least they still carry *some* parts, which is
better than *no* parts.


Take care,
Al

lol, Al. good point. It's like the old joke - bad sex is way ahead of no sex...

By the way, the local RS's I've been in lately (<6 months) don't bother asking for address, phone number or shoe size. I think they finally realized how annoying that is.

I haven't been on the BB for a while, & cheers to the creator of the new format.
As far as RS, & others who ask info on a cash sale, I just alter the last 4 of my ph#, so Santa Claus gets the mail. Parts for me lately are better on Ebay. 1,000 1% resistors for <$5.00?? can't beat it, not even with a hot soldering iron!

I still say they don't care about parts as the bins at the ones I go to (five or so) are mostly empty. Even asking for simple things like "SINGLE RCA FEMALE PANEL JACKS" is a chore. I was told they don't carry these anymore. So I showed the guy where they belong in the drawers so he could remove the tag. OOPS! There is such an item.

As anyone tried their new fancy batteries? Apparently they have some rechargable batteries that can be charged in 15 minutes instead of 15 hours. Can't say I'd trust such an item.

Parts from Radio Shack? Hilarious!

Go to their "new" web site, type in "thermistor" in the search box and see what you get for results.

Apparently RS supplys parts which nobody else can provide. A thermistor pot. Maybe their potentiometers have such terrible temperature coeficients, they decided to list them under thermistors

I was just there tonight (it's my 4 year old son's favorite store). I noticed that they have some really nice electronics tools at the larger one near me. Kronos is the brand I think; they look and feel very well built.

Interestingly, they sell white LEDs, 1100mcd for ~$5.50 each, or you can buy the LED keychain flashlight with a white LED that seems brighter than 1,100mcd and comes with a battery and a keychain for $4.50. (contrast that to 50 11,000mcd for $8.78 though)

Here in my town, radio shack is the only way I can get a part if I need it today or tomorrow. I guess I could make a drive to visit Enzo since he apparently keeps a decent stock on hand.

An interesting observation I made today... at Walmart I can often find many toys for sale whose combined part value for the parts I can scavange is far greater than the cost of the toy. At Radio Shack, it seems that the part value is about equal to the purchase price.

Having a four-year old makes scavenging parts from toys tricky. I mentioned that I bought one of those zipzaps on clearance at RS but unfortunately he spotted it before I could destroy the evidence. Oh well.

(Robert)

Apparently RS supplys parts which nobody else can provide. A thermistor pot. Maybe their potentiometers have such terrible temperature coeficients, they decided to list them under thermistors

Yes, it's a new part type aka "thermistiometer".

There are no more "Radio Shacks" in Canada as far as I know. They are all called "The Source by Circuit City" now.

Same stuff, changed name.

In Canada or where I've been in Washington or San Jose, never did see a Radshack selling parts out of drawers, only blisterpacks hanging on walls.

Radshack has been one of those companies like Heath and Ampex, bought and sold by many other companies over the last 30 years. When I was growing up it was "United Radio Shack" and actually sold lots of parts and kits. Then it was owned by Tandy who apparently took away Radshack's Archerkits, Micronta test equipment, and any real variety of TTL or CMOS or analog ICs. The resistor and capacitor value selection was a joke.

Bob