[Voodoochile]

I think Rickmonster's wife works at one. Seems they just got those drawers a year or two ago.

 

[roastpuff]

They're phasing them out in Canada, too. Bah. Hard for students without cars to go to real electronics shops in the dinky ends of town....

 

[Nospam]

No big loss for me. I've had absolutely lousy experiences at most RS stores. In fact, I was boycotting them for the past three years because of an incident back in 2002.

However, I broke down and picked up an HDTV tuner from them last month, only because it was the only place to get that particular model ($90 for a pretty decent tuner). Even then, it wasn't a great experience (had me pre-pay and drive to another store, but didn't tell me it was a display model, had to drive back to the 1st store if I wanted a refund, took over 1/2 hour to go find the box and all the pieces, etc).

I'm done with them for good!

 

[JackH]

I can still remember the first time I wandered into a Radio Shack store. It was 1972, I was 12 years old, and I thought I had found the most perfect place in the world... everything that was of interest to me under one roof!

I suppose they have to go with what's most profitable, but it's sad to see how far they've fallen, at least from the perspective of an electronics enthusiast.

 

[Juergen]

I used to work there in High School. That was 20 years ago. I think they still stocked tubes then. After a while the whole 'sales' thing got to me. They had this series of sales training videos we had to watch. I liked helping people out with electronics advice but I wasn't a big fan of trying to sell a $1000 cell phone to the guy that came in for his free "battery of the month". Like Illah mentioned, It's a sign of the times. I still go there every once in a while to browse. Unfortunately there are no other choices for electronics parts in my area except mail order.

 

[thecmoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roastpuff They're phasing them out in Canada, too. Bah. Hard for students without cars to go to real electronics shops in the dinky ends of town....

NOOO. in canada too? i havent built much, but it was nice to get a few parts from a close place, only about 5 mins away, to get some parts. all i really bought there were my tools, a couple bajillion 7805 regualtors for all my friends who wanted USB batteries (which i still think are inefficient, even with the +5v regualtor, but thats a whole different topic), and a few parts for my (almost finished) cmoy.

i still dont think that may happen where i live (edmonton ab.) because i cant find a radioshack. now all i can find is "The Source by Circuit City" which replaced all the radioshacks i can find in edmonton. Unless "the source" is also owned by radioshack......???

 

[fewtch]

On the brighter side... maybe some of the mail order places will reduce their shipping costs for small parts orders. Probably just a fantasy tho...

 

[thrawn86]

its about time anyway. 4$ for a pack of resistors and 5$ for a protoboard is too much.

I make a point to order 2x the components I need for everything now from digikey, beecause their shipping hurts so much. got one of Norm's box'o'resistors too.

 

[diredesire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thrawn86 its about time anyway. 4$ for a pack of resistors and 5$ for a protoboard is too much. I make a point to order 2x the components I need for everything now from digikey, beecause their shipping hurts so much. got one of Norm's box'o'resistors too.

Around here the protoboards (at least for a simple CMoy or something) are onlt $1.80?

I just asked the desk guy at rat shack about half an hour ago about this, and he said he hadn't heard anything about it. Darn. I was hoping to nab stuff up on clearance ;D

 

[chaostic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecmoy NOOO. in canada too? i havent built much, but it was nice to get a few parts from a close place, only about 5 mins away, to get some parts. all i really bought there were my tools, a couple bajillion 7805 regualtors for all my friends who wanted USB batteries (which i still think are inefficient, even with the +5v regualtor, but thats a whole different topic), and a few parts for my (almost finished) cmoy. i still dont think that may happen where i live (edmonton ab.) because i cant find a radioshack. now all i can find is "The Source by Circuit City" which replaced all the radioshacks i can find in edmonton. Unless "the source" is also owned by radioshack......???

Someone on headwize said that The Source by Circuit City IS Radioshack.

 

[thecmoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaostic Someone on headwize said that The Source by Circuit City IS Radioshack.

if i understand this rite, i oppose that theroey:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Source_by_Circuit_City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterTAN

but then again, even if the source isnt owned by radioshack, they may follow wat they do

 

[Porksoda]

Heh, whaddaya know one of my fraternity brothers who is a sales rep at RS told me about this just the other day...

As far as I know, Radio Shack is the only game in town in SE Michigan :-/. There's a small shop on campus run by some old radio guys, but it is all old salvaged stuff, and the guys running the place are a bit "odd". Seems like every time I go there looking for a 100 pF ceramic cap, I leave with a pack of 10 500 pF caps rated at 5kV ripped out of an old radio transmitter and pay like 8 bucks for 'em

As poor as radio shack is, it is the last line between me having to place a digikey order every time I need a 1 kOhm resistor... sob

 

[johnnyb]

The one great thing about RS is that you can get one piece, try it out, and if that doesn't work get the next size the next day. Besides, who else will sell you hookup wire in something less than a 25' spool?

Well, at least I won't have to endure those blank stares by the sales associates anymore. (Followed by "are you sure you don't want any cell phones???")

 

[bryman79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch On the brighter side... maybe some of the mail order places will reduce their shipping costs for small parts orders. Probably just a fantasy tho...

Digikey ships USPS... less than $2 for small orders. For larger orders, don't expect them to take a loss.

Bryan

 

[bjackson]

Yeah but the small order fee sucks.

I hate paying a 5 dollar fee on 3 bucks of parts.