RadioShack Sucks! (Warning: Gripe Inside)

[chrishopkins]

I use Maplins sometimes but generally use Rapid.  I'm also going to start getting stuff from Smallbear

[Melanhead]

Hmmmm ... yup! Radioshack is okay in a pinch but expensive and don't usually carry what I want at any given time ... Even though I'm in Canada I've been getting all from SmallBear and Digikey ... About a weeks delivery time. Haven't tried mouser yet but I'm pretty stocked up at the moment

[petemoore]

One dude at RS would say "Hey Guy, what are you building "Today?"
 I liked that. Sure beats the vacant minded 'can I help you find something today?'...I have to avoid being totally honest/insulting, no would be the truthful answer, as I would have to find whatever the heck it is myself anyway, and I have no interest in Another Cell phone, or re-evaluating my unlimited long distance phone rates.
 Then they either get so busy fixing a phone that is purportedly broken,  or just follow me around like a dog counting where all the 'bones' are, like I'm going to maybe try to steal one.
 The perfboard is of good, consistant quality, and is the most accessible for me around here, I buy it at RS mostly.
 The 3 or 4 to 1 pricing ratio [ordering parts online you get LOTS more per bukk] pretty much keeps me out of the RS parts drawers...

[R.G.]

The mistake everyone makes is in thinking that they sell electronics components to build stuff out of. They don't.

They retail consumer electonics junk. Parts is a sideline they abandoned as unprofitable a long time ago. They keep some stuff around purely to hook a few techies into revisiting the store.

It should come as no surprise that Radio Shack is NOT the same business as it was when it started. One does not make a lot of money selling electronic parts at retail outlets in strip malls.

The problem is that there is a perception that Radio Shack is in the parts retailing business. They are not.

I suspect that Maplin is in a similar niche.

"Of course I bit you. You knew I was a snake."

[The Tone God]

Even though I'm in Canada I've been getting all from SmallBear and Digikey ... About a weeks delivery time. Haven't tried mouser yet but I'm pretty stocked up at the moment

Don't try Mouser unless you like to pay twice the price for everything after duty and taxes. Makes you wonder what happen to that free trade thing.

Stick with Digikey and Small Bear.

Andrew

[Doug_H]

The problem is that there is a perception that Radio Shack is in the parts retailing business. They are not.

They are closer to being in the leather tooling business. At least that's what Tandy did when I was a kid.

Except for occasionally picking up a roll of 63/37 solder, I gave up on Radio Shack a long time ago.

Doug

[Doug_H]

With the internet available, they are making less and less from these parts.  

Too bad RS f!@#ed up the TechAmerica web site when they bought them out a few yrs ago. TA had a decent selection of parts, was one of the few places you could get j201's for a while, etc. RS bought them out and the RS site actually had a decent selection of parts, for a few months anyway. Not sure why they even wanted a web parts house like TA if they were just going to sell off the parts stock and not maintain that part of the business. I'd guess TA had something else RS wanted, but anyway... It didn't take RS long to get back to business as usual, lowest common denominator and less.

I honestly don't see how they have stayed in business all these years. You can get a cell phone or satellite tv hookup anywhere. I don't see where RS offers anything unique at all- just bland middle of the road garbage. And basically that's what they've always been about, for at least 30yrs anyway. They seem to be kind of a business anomaly IMO.

Doug

[Melanhead]

Even though I'm in Canada I've been getting all from SmallBear and Digikey ... About a weeks delivery time. Haven't tried mouser yet but I'm pretty stocked up at the moment

Don't try Mouser unless you like to pay twice the price for everything after duty and taxes. Makes you wonder what happen to that free trade thing.

Stick with Digikey and Small Bear.

Andrew

Thanks! ... I haven't found anything yet that I couldn't get from these 2 suppliers ... I do however buy my hammond boxes locally ... They usually stock 2 of the 1590b and 1590bb at all times so I buy 'em when I'm in the area ...

[Paul Marossy]

The mistake everyone makes is in thinking that they sell electronics components to build stuff out of. They don't.

They retail consumer electonics junk. Parts is a sideline they abandoned as unprofitable a long time ago. They keep some stuff around purely to hook a few techies into revisiting the store.

It should come as no surprise that Radio Shack is NOT the same business as it was when it started. One does not make a lot of money selling electronic parts at retail outlets in strip malls.

Yeah, I know, it's inevitable that they will stop selling electronic components altogether. You would think they would sell stuff for the younger guys learning about electronics. You can't even build the simplest circuits with the stuff they offer in the stores anymore! Why do they even sell soldering irons anymore?! I guess they figure if you want that sort of stuff, you'll get it online. I ordered stuff from RS.com once, order was all jacked up. Won't do that again, either. Oh well, "old farts" like me don't like change.  :oops:

[Doug_H]

Why do they even sell soldering irons anymore?!

I've wondered that too. Their tools are horrible, the worst junk I've ever seen. And they have always been like that...

Doug

[jmusser]

I go there if I'm out of jacks, 9v snaps, perf board, and switches, but I don't get any components there except maybe a TL082 or CMOS timer. I have spent nights in front of the TV stripping old PC boards and back planes for the "chicklets" I won't have to buy a capacitor, diode, or resistor again for years. One processor board I stripped the other day had 60 .1s on it, with at least 1/2" leads. I have enough coupling caps now to fill a quart Mason jar. I know a lot of people frown on scavaging, but I have yet to have my first problem with a component, and since I'm building them just for me, it works out well. Yes, it's a lot of work, but it's nice to just go through a marked drawer when your done and pick out a fist full of stuff you didn't have to buy. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of that part of the build too. I don't know why exactly.

[Doug_H]

Nothing wrong with scavenging at all, Jeff. I've gotten a lot of silver micas that way. I've also scavenged some nifty little mint condition flat pack transformers that could be used for tube pedals. I find this stuff in old modem boxes and other assorted surplus gear I buy just for the box, to use as an amp chassis.  5-10 bucks for an amp chassis and a bunch of interesting parts. Not bad!

Doug

[Paul Marossy]

I guess I should have mentioned that they do sell 1uF tantalum caps, which I used in my latest DIY project. They sound pretty good, so I guess my last visit wasn't totally in vain.  

[Rodgre]

While I agree that the quality of most of what is available at Radio Shack is pretty poor, and their prices are ridiculous, I have to admit that we must be spoiled here in New England.

Not only does there seem to be a Radio Shack within every five miles of eachother, but they're all exactly the same here. What I mean is that I know that they all carry the same exact stuff, and it's always in the same location of the store... So if it's Sunday afternoon and I'm suddenly out of perfboard or I need a 100K pot on the quick, I know that if the one in my neighborhood is out of them, there's another one ten minutes away that will.

Some of you complain about old components with yellowing cards that have been on the rack for fifteen years. I'm assuming that these are the small franchises that I remember as a kid: an old TV Repair shop that sold some Radio Shack stuff, but it wasn't a real part of the Radio Shack chain. Like I said, where I live, they're all exactly the same. Same stuff, same clueless employees, same family buying cell phones.

I think that if you're into DIY electronics enough to hang out here with any frequency, you already know that you're better off buying components online. By the same token, for me, the convenience of last-minute Etchant purchases on the way home from the grocery store is pretty sweet.

I learned the hard way, however, to avoid Radio Shack Chinese jacks like the plague. Resistors and caps, I have no problem with, other than their price.

Roger

[toneman]

the Shack's got some good deals on knobs.
they look a lot like the ones on my MOTM.

[Paul Marossy]

Oh darn, the knobs. That gives me one reason to keep going there...

[Doug_H]

Oh yeah, I forgot about knobs. I do get those there.

Doug