*batteries not included
-
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Why did Radio Shack fail?
- Thread starter pastafarian
- Start date
I drove past my Radio Shack today... it was packed. A very typical Saturday for the establishment.
I don't know how much money changed hands but there is a potential with that kind of traffic.
The store is on the old main street of my city and large lettering still reads Radio Shack on his store front. I have no idea if he is associated with the defunct company in any fashion. I've not shopped the place for anything beyond radio gear in years. None of it is Tandy equipment.
I don't know how much money changed hands but there is a potential with that kind of traffic.
The store is on the old main street of my city and large lettering still reads Radio Shack on his store front. I have no idea if he is associated with the defunct company in any fashion. I've not shopped the place for anything beyond radio gear in years. None of it is Tandy equipment.
Not enough electronic toys?
They had 'em, you could just get them cheaper elsewhere. Even their final 'fire sale' prices were too hugh.
Wait a minute: are you saying there's still hope that I can use my Radio Shack gift card? Woo hoo!
Eh, probably need to file that next to your free battery card.
Now I just need to find my nearest Tandy store.
puppykickr
Android Expert
TL;DR
Cellphones killed off Radio Shack.
I don't know if I ever answered this qustion here or not yet:
Why did Radio Shack fail?
Well, I have some knowlege of this, as I worked there in 2001, was a dedicated customer for 10 years before that, and for the remaining years after that as well.
The cellphone killed Radio Shack.
Not directly, but in the way that they went about selling it, and how the carriers screwed them over.
See, back then there were few places to buy a cellphone from the carriers- such as AT&T and Verizon and the others at the time.
Radio Shack used to put their name on other manufacturers products, as mentioned in various parts of this thread.
That was fine, as most of these products, although seemingly identical to the name brands, were made to Radio Shack's specifications.
Usually, this resulted in a superior product, for less money than a namebrand of the same quality- if purchased on sale.
I have built multiple sound systems from Radio Shack parts, from a home recording studio to car stereos, PA system, console stereos, and multiple customer instalations, rehabs, etc.
The customers that went in for that sort of thing loved to learn.
And my assistant manager, although a bit younger than me, had been a radio tech in the Marines.
With my skills in music, amps, speakers, etc., we were quite the team.
(We are still great friends.)
As a musician, I found that no one else carried a better guitar cord- at any price.
The vast majority of this equipment still functions just fine, some of it is 20 and 25 years old.
Back to the cellphones.
The large carriers were reluctant to build brick and mortar stores in fringe coverage areas.
So, they made Radio Shack deals on devices, some of which were cutting edge at the time.
The problem was that the coverage was not good in many (most) areas, and the customers would come back to Radio Shack to complain, blaming Radio Shack instead of the carriers.
We had to act as a go between the customer and the carrier.
The carriers would simply wash their hands of the deal once the contracts were signed.
They rarely, if ever, helped us at all when a customer had an issue.
Verizon was the worst.
They would literally hang up on us.
At the very same time, the CEO of Radio Shack at the time, Len Roberts, thought it would be a good idea to get every customer on a mailing list- so we were required to ask name, address, and phone number from every customer for each purchase- even if it was just for a battery.
The customers that came in for resistors, wires, cables, antennas, etc. often had to wait in long lines while we were stuck running credit checks on cellphone sales, as we had to also sign the customer up for a plan and then try to sell them accessories as well.
Often this took longer than 30 minutes, and quite often a customer wouldn't pass the credit check anyway- so there were hours of each day wasted on nothing except pissing off non- cellular customers.
Then we started weeding out most anything that was not cellphone oriented.
TVs, radios, computers, speakers, etc.
Eventually the customer base that Radio Shack was founded to serve was completely alienated altogether in the very store that had served them so well for so long.
Customers also severely resented being asked for personal info for inconsequential purchases.
The nail in the coffin came about when the carriers had finally made enough money off of Radio Shack to put towers in the poor coverage spots, and then they also put in their own brick and mortar shops.
So, they caused Radio Shack to turn their backs on and aggrevate their customer base, and then took away the cellphone customers- which Radio Shack had revamped itself to sell- and now instead of a business partner became the competition.
What really sucks is that I saw first hand what was happening, and I told them.
Either they didn't believe me, didn't care, or whatever.
I know that it got me in trouble a few times.
They really hated it when I found simple solutions to problems.
I was the one that figured out how to make it possible for a DTV customer to have two different things playing in two different rooms at the same time- with only one satelite dish.
Simple.
Sell the customer two receivers and a dual LNB dish.
That one almost got me fired.
The customer could not have two separate dishes, so I sold him a system that could do the same thing, but with only one dish.
The customer was happy, the store made a large sale, and I sold more than what would have been if a single system was purchased- which is what would have happened otherwise.
But thinking outside of the box was frowned upon.
I was questioned, talked to, and my job was threatened.
The next month what I had done became the company policy for customers in the same situation.
Of course, no thanks or apology ever came my way.
Sorry for rambling on like this, but it still eats at me years later.
It really hurt my personal business when they changed and then wound up closing down.
None of it was necessary.
What did I learn?
Don't cut your hair to get a job if it will take longer to grow the hair back than the job will last.
I have not cut my hair since.
Cellphones killed off Radio Shack.
I don't know if I ever answered this qustion here or not yet:
Why did Radio Shack fail?
Well, I have some knowlege of this, as I worked there in 2001, was a dedicated customer for 10 years before that, and for the remaining years after that as well.
The cellphone killed Radio Shack.
Not directly, but in the way that they went about selling it, and how the carriers screwed them over.
See, back then there were few places to buy a cellphone from the carriers- such as AT&T and Verizon and the others at the time.
Radio Shack used to put their name on other manufacturers products, as mentioned in various parts of this thread.
That was fine, as most of these products, although seemingly identical to the name brands, were made to Radio Shack's specifications.
Usually, this resulted in a superior product, for less money than a namebrand of the same quality- if purchased on sale.
I have built multiple sound systems from Radio Shack parts, from a home recording studio to car stereos, PA system, console stereos, and multiple customer instalations, rehabs, etc.
The customers that went in for that sort of thing loved to learn.
And my assistant manager, although a bit younger than me, had been a radio tech in the Marines.
With my skills in music, amps, speakers, etc., we were quite the team.
(We are still great friends.)
As a musician, I found that no one else carried a better guitar cord- at any price.
The vast majority of this equipment still functions just fine, some of it is 20 and 25 years old.
Back to the cellphones.
The large carriers were reluctant to build brick and mortar stores in fringe coverage areas.
So, they made Radio Shack deals on devices, some of which were cutting edge at the time.
The problem was that the coverage was not good in many (most) areas, and the customers would come back to Radio Shack to complain, blaming Radio Shack instead of the carriers.
We had to act as a go between the customer and the carrier.
The carriers would simply wash their hands of the deal once the contracts were signed.
They rarely, if ever, helped us at all when a customer had an issue.
Verizon was the worst.
They would literally hang up on us.
At the very same time, the CEO of Radio Shack at the time, Len Roberts, thought it would be a good idea to get every customer on a mailing list- so we were required to ask name, address, and phone number from every customer for each purchase- even if it was just for a battery.
The customers that came in for resistors, wires, cables, antennas, etc. often had to wait in long lines while we were stuck running credit checks on cellphone sales, as we had to also sign the customer up for a plan and then try to sell them accessories as well.
Often this took longer than 30 minutes, and quite often a customer wouldn't pass the credit check anyway- so there were hours of each day wasted on nothing except pissing off non- cellular customers.
Then we started weeding out most anything that was not cellphone oriented.
TVs, radios, computers, speakers, etc.
Eventually the customer base that Radio Shack was founded to serve was completely alienated altogether in the very store that had served them so well for so long.
Customers also severely resented being asked for personal info for inconsequential purchases.
The nail in the coffin came about when the carriers had finally made enough money off of Radio Shack to put towers in the poor coverage spots, and then they also put in their own brick and mortar shops.
So, they caused Radio Shack to turn their backs on and aggrevate their customer base, and then took away the cellphone customers- which Radio Shack had revamped itself to sell- and now instead of a business partner became the competition.
What really sucks is that I saw first hand what was happening, and I told them.
Either they didn't believe me, didn't care, or whatever.
I know that it got me in trouble a few times.
They really hated it when I found simple solutions to problems.
I was the one that figured out how to make it possible for a DTV customer to have two different things playing in two different rooms at the same time- with only one satelite dish.
Simple.
Sell the customer two receivers and a dual LNB dish.
That one almost got me fired.
The customer could not have two separate dishes, so I sold him a system that could do the same thing, but with only one dish.
The customer was happy, the store made a large sale, and I sold more than what would have been if a single system was purchased- which is what would have happened otherwise.
But thinking outside of the box was frowned upon.
I was questioned, talked to, and my job was threatened.
The next month what I had done became the company policy for customers in the same situation.
Of course, no thanks or apology ever came my way.
Sorry for rambling on like this, but it still eats at me years later.
It really hurt my personal business when they changed and then wound up closing down.
None of it was necessary.
What did I learn?
Don't cut your hair to get a job if it will take longer to grow the hair back than the job will last.
I have not cut my hair since.
Last edited:
puppykickr
Android Expert
On a side note, when the store in town closed, an employee climbed up onto the sign- and covered some of the letters with black duct tape.
For years afterwards, the sign read:
adioS
instead of
RadioShack
For years afterwards, the sign read:
adioS
instead of
RadioShack
puppykickr
Android Expert
It was in its death throws before Amazon was popular.
The Big Box stores never had the products that Radio Shack was known for.
That was actually their niche.
A big box store isn't going to have small parts to repair electronics- at least not in stock in the store.
The big box stores could sell you a stereo, while Radio Shack could do that or sell you the parts to rehab and upgrade an old console stereo.
I actually did both, still have both, and the console stereo has been our garage stereo for more than 20 years.
It started life as a 1973 record, 8-track, and AM/FM stereo console unit.
I replaced all four speakers, took out the record player and 8-track, and added a cassette player and a CD player.
Dngrsone
Android Expert
puppykickr
Android Expert
Dngrsone
Android Expert
West Coast