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Message |
    
Bc910
Intermediate Member
Username: Bc910
Post Number: 467
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 2:24 am: | 
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At RS the other day and an employee, when asked about a "Motorola plug" (you know a car antenna plug?) The employee said "what for, a charger or a head set?"
Customer "no, a MOTOROLA PLUG, for a car!"
Employee "What are you trying to do hook it up to your car some how?"
Customer "NO, (sigh) I need the Motorola plug for the FM stereo in MY CAR"
(I should mention now I work there (sadly) I thought I would enjoy it but the fact that RS is not what it used to be is even more evident when you work there!!!!)
This is when I stepped in and walked him to the parts droor and pulled open the correct droor on the first try, reached in and got him both a male and female plug and said "which one would you like?"
As the customer was being checked out I apologized about the employee and explained that he was new and that he still wasn't very knowledgeable.
He then told me he had been to both other RS's in town and both had told him that RS didn't carry them any more, he then said that he will be coming to my store from now on!!! Of course I didn't tell him I was leaving...
I am totally, 100% self taught in everything I know, I know I don't know everything, no one does, but I know a lot for how I have been taught. The sad thing is here that the employee that the customer talked to heard Motorola and assumed it had to be a cell phone. When I talked to him later he was amazed when I told him that Motorola has been around practically for ever and made many other products like TV's, Radios, CB's, business radios, etc. HE HAD NO IDEA!!! I'm not trying to knock any one here, but it's a sad world we live in when RS knows nothing but cell phones and the general public only knows that Motorola makes 'em, nothing else! Most people don't even know that! Most people when walking in to my store about a cell phone issue, this is the general conversation 80% of the time:
Customer: I need a battery for my cell phone
Me: OK what brand cell phone is it?
Customer: Sprint!
Me: No, what BRAND is it?
Customer: YEAH! Sprint!
ME: OK let me see it please.
ARRRRGH I know people can be ignorant about anything but why is it seem that know one knows how any thing works or even who made it any more! Heath kit no longer exists! I NEVER GOT TO DO THAT, TO YOUNG 
No one seems to know any thing, I try to learn how everything works and because of that I can repair my car, CB, TV, computer, and anything else! If I don't know how to fix it I normally can figure it out. Most of the time that I can't fix it, it’s because I don't have the correct tools or time. I really DO NOT like ignorance! I think god gave us these amazing devices in our head that are capable of more than we even know for a reason and to go about your life and not even excursive that amazing muscle in your head is ridiculous! I have tons of hobbies, I have two RC cars, CB's, Computers, my truck, and tons more. Why? To exercise my brain! I only hope that my body fails long before my head!!! I have done every thing I can to not use the word "stupid" in this post and I think I made it (other than that one  ) which was not easy!
I apologize for ranting, but I'm sure you all have experience these things before.
BC
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Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 2359
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 5:05 am: |
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BC.......
Maby you should ask them for a GRID LEAK PAN ( WITH STOPPER ) after all there has to be a place for all the leaks to go or soon your radios would over flow.
Gosh how do you think they would react if i ask for a glana crystal with cats wisker or instructions for building a foxhole radio?
Now that realy brings up the question ..... do they EVER HAVE ANSWERS? |
Bluegrass
Intermediate Member
Username: Bluegrass
Post Number: 230
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 6:38 am: |
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Yeah i know what you mean. The quailty of RS's CB equipment has really gone down the toilet sence the 80's not that i know a lot about there equipment personily because i wasn't born until 1987 but i've used both RS and Realistic brand equipment and the Realistic stuff from the 70's and 80's is much better then the radios they've made in recent years and i also know what you're talking about with the staff at RS if i'm looking for something there i'll do it on my own because the people there are grade A morons most of them are still in high school and don't care weather or not they give the customer what they are looking for they just want there paycheck which they really don't earn or desurve.Just my 2 cents. |
Radiodude
Intermediate Member
Username: Radiodude
Post Number: 471
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 8:26 am: |
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Look at this.!!!!!! I went to RS yesterday to find some small parts. I gave a list to the guy
. This is what I wanted
1000uf35 volt
10uf16 volt
22uf16volt
220uf50 volt
He looked at the list sorta puzzled and then said "Im sorry we dont carry batteries like that"
I told him they were capacitors.. to which he said " What are capacitors"
Well so I went home and ordered them from parts expess |
Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 2360
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 12:12 pm: |
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Radio Dude .....
Radio shacks new policy......
If its not a cell phone then we don't have answers. |
Bc910
Intermediate Member
Username: Bc910
Post Number: 473
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 3:50 pm: |
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That is NOT radio shacks policy by any means!
This is the problem though:
example:
Sprint gives RS a "kickback" of sorts for the sale of a cell phone, Sprint also gives rs a portion of the monthly bill from said customer. So to encouredge sales RS gives the employee extra money for each phone sold, the amount depends on plan duration, accessories, etc. The amount given to an employee for a single phone sale ranges normally between $20.00 and $60.00 for a cingle cell phone sale, some times as high as $80.00! Uderstaibly this couses the employees to push nothing but cell phones! RS knows this and DOES see that their core customer base is slipping, and they ARE trying to do something about it. The problem is, the employees majority of pay comes from those cell phone sales and if RS were to get rid of the insentives to sell them every one would lose out. I believe RS is trying to re-structure their pay rates, etc. so that the RS employee can as they put it "sell the whole store" not just cell phones! The parts and batteries are the most profitable items in the entire store, I can't immagine them walking away from that but the unfortunate truth is that RS will probably never be the same as it once was, and probably will profit from it. I can only hope that some one out there (maybe Copper?) is trying to start an electronics chain that will be more reminisant of RS in the old days.
BC |
Keithinatlanta
Advanced Member
Username: Keithinatlanta
Post Number: 510
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 4:51 pm: |
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Bc910, I would rather see the likes of the old Allied Radio Corporation and Lafayette Radio Electronics. No disrespect to RS. Bought a lot of stuff from them for many many years! But like you say, they will never be the same. The RS management went the route of $$ for cell phone sales. If they would have done that throughout whole store, they would still have their market share. Just my thoughts. I do realize that demographics have changed, and young people only see the value of a Cell Phone, not the whole picture of electronics.
Keith in Atlanta
CEF 150 |
Racer_x
Intermediate Member
Username: Racer_x
Post Number: 174
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 5:12 pm: |
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The problem with RS is the direction the store took away from radio and computers to just another place to buy average electronics. When I was a kid the store was about radios, stereos, and computers. And it was THE place to go for inexpensive but high quality speakers. It's not much more than a big cell phone kiosk now. They are still the #1 retailer for CBs in the USA. If they bothered to sell decent stuff they could own the market although they took a step in the right direction when they started selling name brand stuff. |
Sodapop
Intermediate Member
Username: Sodapop
Post Number: 260
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 7:01 pm: |
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As a SHACK worker myself, all I can say is that they don't let you sell much. They push cellphones, and that is sad. At my store the manager still tries to carry parts, but sometimes we can't get them. But we get cellphones like you read about. I love working there, I just wish we could sell more then phones! |
Road_warrior
Intermediate Member
Username: Road_warrior
Post Number: 382
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Friday, March 18, 2005 - 11:26 pm: |
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RS employees around here do not know much
about Cb products either. You get blank
stares from them if you ask for coax seal
or a guy ring collar ect. ect./ But, i
guess it is the cell phone age & the
newer things are all they know about./
JIM/PA/CEF 375 |
2600
Intermediate Member
Username: 2600
Post Number: 499
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 12:17 am: |
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Hmmmm. Heard a suggestion they should change the name to "Phone Shack".
73
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Bluegrass
Intermediate Member
Username: Bluegrass
Post Number: 234
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 4:58 am: |
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Yeah RadioShack is really not a fitting name anymore.I've got a few names for them but i can't say them here. |
Hotwire
Intermediate Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 200
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 9:50 am: |
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Hey Bruce your right. I went to radio shack about 2 years ago for foxhole radio instuctions and the guy there insisted there is no such thing and was trying to make me look ridiculous. OK then I said how about the crystal earphone? Needless to say I left pullin my hair out.
Hey Bc!! I stopped by but you were not in yet. Sorry. Hey man why dont you go for manager, he he. Start your own radio shack? Too bad your leaving. They need more guys like you there! |
Patzerozero
Advanced Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 583
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 10:55 am: |
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actually, radio shack does sell a crystal radio kit, which requires the old earphone. my son wanted to build 1 for his 5th grade science fair 2 years ago. we bought the earphone, but ended up winding his own coil on a papertowel roll since radio shacks kit came with preformed coil. the salesman was clueless as to the whole scenario. it did receive the 2 local AM stations pretty well!
tried to build a foxhole radio back in HS , ( a few years back!). teacher supplied the old double edged razor blade, but we never got it to work. swapped in a diode & it worked fine. just saw an article on 'em in QST mag, will see how energetic my son feels some rainy day... |
Racer_x
Intermediate Member
Username: Racer_x
Post Number: 180
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 12:31 pm: |
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I think we all expect too much from a RS employee. While I must tell you that the training I went through was pretty decent, it's geared toward selling accessories and cables used to connect various pieces of equipment. It didn't have much information at all about radio equipment, so you get what the folks there know on their own.
When I was young there was a manager at my local store and who knew a lot about radio - SHE even told me how to hack my scanner by changing the clock crystal. She was an extra class amateur that I still run into at local hamfests. |
Tech237
Moderator
Username: Tech237
Post Number: 141
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 1:08 pm: |
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RS other big problem is prices. Why buy a 8 pin mic plug from RS for, what $3 now adays, when $1.50 and a two day weight can get one in the post? Those prices aren't exact but the idea is. RS prices are too high on most items the sell compared to most other places, the get away with it because of lack of LOCAL competition.
Heck if I had the money to do so I'd open a a mail order electronic parts store - bet it would work to..
The lack of knowledge isn't restricted to RS either. In the 90's I worked (Saturday only) for an Australian store called Dick Smith Electronics, where most employees were College students doing any course from Philosphy to Medicine. In an 8 hour shift I'd outsell the weeks fulltime staff 9 weeks out of 10. Why?? Because I knew electronics and people would wait until the weekend because they knew that they would get the items they wanted or in somecases what the yactually needed. EDUCATE store staff on ALL products not just the ones they will make money from.
"Picture em now leaving my soapbox) |
Racer_x
Intermediate Member
Username: Racer_x
Post Number: 183
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 2:12 pm: |
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I has a similar experience to yours Tech237. I had nearly lots of amateurs in the area comming to my store for parts and information. Usually it was to do with a project they were working on, but occasionally it was about the actual products too. Unfortunately while I was helping them, the rest of the staff was selling cell phones and computers.
Dick Smith? Ever have any experience with the K-6002 speech processor kit Dick Smith offered? I read a review online about it, but when I wrote them about purchasing one they said it had been out of production for a while. |
Skilletlicker
Intermediate Member
Username: Skilletlicker
Post Number: 188
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 2:16 pm: |
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reminds me of the time when you could order all kinds of kits from allied radio, built a few my self, wish they were still in buisness
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Therealporkchop
Intermediate Member
Username: Therealporkchop
Post Number: 176
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 4:46 pm: |
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Sounds like the Shack here in my town. This one guy owned the franchise and sold it to another guy. I heard angels singing and playing harps that day, thank God. The guy that first owned it had a very messy store, you couldn't find anything and he was more into kicker boxes and pioneer car stereos. The second guy that bought it, kept a clean store, had a pretty nice parts stock. I went in there the other day, a buddy of mine was the manager. I ask for him...oh he doesn't work here anymore. I ask why and I was told that guy #1 bought the store back. Like Buggs Bunny use to say "AG--O---KNEE OH AG--O--KNEE". I would rather have had my head in a vise than heard that sad krap.
But I agree with you guys, they aren't what they use to be. You better know what you are looking for when you go it there and where it's at. Or you'll leave empty handed... |
Allagator
Advanced Member
Username: Allagator
Post Number: 564
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 6:29 pm: |
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RS in my town has nothing but junk!
the radio parts they do have ~~~~~
im not shure if they have any parts for radios !
inless you can swipe parts from a cellphone,GPS,computer or a gps unit ! you cant find anything !
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Bluegrass
Intermediate Member
Username: Bluegrass
Post Number: 238
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, March 20, 2005 - 7:11 am: |
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DOWN WITH RADIOSHACK ! DOWN WITH RADIOSHACK ! YEEAH COPPER !!! |
Hotwire
Intermediate Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 204
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 20, 2005 - 10:56 am: |
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Tech 237, Whatever happened to Dick Smith electronics? There used to be one here in Greenwood Indiana maybe 10 or 15 years ago. |
