Dosbomber wrote:I had to go to a RS last week because nobody else seems to sell AAAA batteries around here. As soon as I walked in they asked me what I was looking for, and neither of them knew what a AAAA battery was. Fortunately (and ironically), they had them on the shelf right next to the counter.
It's a little late but here's a slant on this topic...
Recently one of our specialty distributor with a sales force that cut their teeth in the field was bought out by a larger group. The employees, who really had hands-on smarts that helped customer make product choices were told to dumb down.
Say hi, take the order, pull the stock, do the invoice, say goodby was the new peformance model. The 'new corporate' thinking was that he salesman's advice could be construed as a professional technical recommendation, leaving their company liable for the consequences if there was a problem.
One by one the bodies behind the counter thinned out, then did the bodies in front. The old staff pooled their resources. opened a similar distributorship and are now doing quite well.
We still get flyers from the 'new corporation' and just pitch them.
The corporation you work for is a psychopath.[quote]
Like all psychopaths, the firm is singularly self-interested: its purpose is to create wealth for its shareholders. And, like all psychopaths, the firm is irresponsible, because it puts others at risk to satisfy its profit-maximising goal, harming employees and customers, and damaging the environment. The corporation manipulates everything. It is grandiose, always insisting that it is the best, or number one. It has no empathy, refuses to accept responsibility for its actions and feels no remorse. It relates to others only superficially, via make-believe versions of itself manufactured by public-relations consultants and marketing men. In short, if the metaphor of the firm as person is a valid one, then the corporation is clinically insane.
There is no longer a Radio Shack, it started to die when Charles Tandy passed away many years ago in 1978. I worked for then for 18 years back in the early 70's. Back then there was no circuit city/bestbuys.Today there is no service just take a look how they have down sized the parts. Cell phones and batteries is what they sell and can't get that right. At one time stock holders received 10% off each year during Christmas that has not happen in many years. Every thing is cost cutting along with the catalog.Commissions where changed in the early 90's for the store managers and many left the company. Like other companies Radio Shack is on it way out. This past year with about 700 store closings and work force reductions the company is coming to a end.
What if....
They continued producing kits like there excellent 150, 200, 300 in 1 kits, like the ones that got me started in the early 70,s. These basic kits didnt need to be replaced every year, as they didnt really go out of style, seemed to be cheap to produce, and were immensely popular. They then could have continued selling parts, along with the kits, as people would have continued to dabble in electronics.
Kim..The man with the cute little girls name...and Frankensteins face and body.
I remember when one could buy the Philips electronic kits - they may have made them for Tandy (Radio Shack) , as they were very similar, or the UK ones were anyhow.
At the height of the the Radio Shack success I remember buying huge boxes of returned 'defective' merchandise, for a few dollars a box.
The manager said the warranty repairs cost HIM money and not corporate so he decided to dump them off at whatever he could get. Most of the 'defective' items were simple fixes, like really crappy soldered wires, or board shorts, especially in the telephones.
I remember getting several cases of one of their 'pro'headsets for .50 ea, because they were stereo headsets, but the cordset had the headset elements wired in series because the common lead was cut off in the molded stereo plug! I even got a deal from him for replacement plugs. Those as well as a load of fireman's helmets whose sirens didn't work because of mixed battery connections, went fast!
It sure seems this corporate arrogance and poor control progressed all the way through management until they have became the blank stare electronic gadget version of Toys-R-Us.
BTW: Who ever heard of ''America's Technology Store'' always asking for your complete mailing address when you bought a battery? Seems their servers always crashed and the customer lists were trashed. I was told it was so they could send catalogs and special deals, but, my catalogs said 'resident' or 'current occupent' Go Figure...
If you go to RS today, remember their policy is kinda like the military policy. "Don't bother asking, cause they can't tell".
the few times I've been in to Radio Shack lately, they want me to stand in line for 15 minutes to give them my money, because the sales dork is provisioning a cell phone.
