nofars.net

It appears that Radio Shack has fallen on some hard times.  With forty three years retail management experience with other retailers I hate to see any company struggle and employees lose their jobs even if it is my competition.

My first experience with Radio Shack goes back to the times when there were three electronic catalogue giants:  Allied Radio, Lafayette, and Radio Shack.  I enjoyed receiving their free catalogues.  

All you had to do was to send in a postcard that was found in all of the monthly magazines such as Popular Electronics, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, etc. It was fun to order something and check the mail every day with great expectation for its arrival.

In approximately 1968 Radio Shack bought Allied Radio and started opening local stores.Radio Shack was an innovator with flyers regularly being mailed out to their customers.  Before the days of wide use of computers, they always wrote down your name and address on their sales tickets so their mailing address was kept current.  

They had the battery of the month club which was a business card size punch card that brought customers back monthly for a free Radio Shack carbon zinc battery.  I admit that sometimes I went in just for the free battery and ended up looking around and buying something else.

Another thing they did that was innovative is that they had private label lifetime guaranteed tubes.  I had a Roberts reel to reel recorder that had a circuit that called for a tube that developed micro phonics or oscillations after twenty hours use. Replacing the tube solved the problem.   I tried Radio Shack’s lifetime tube and continued have the same problems.  They would exchange it as needed no questions asked. 

They were well known for their entry into computers with the TRS80. They had Archer Kits, Science Fair Electronic Lab Kits. I had an analog volt ohm meter that served me well for many years until I dropped it and broke the protective glass that was over the meter.

They used to hang their replacement parts (resistors, capacitors, etc.) on peg hooks but transferred them over to well stocked and organized parts cabinets.   They use “add on” selling that builds sales by offering a featured item as you are checking out.

A big thanks goes to Radio Shack as I studied for my Technician license with well written easy to understand book “From Five Watts to One Thousand Watts."

After studying this, I missed only one question on the FCC license exam.  It was on alpha and beta current.  There was only one sentence in the book on this topic and I went too fast over the material.

Although this next paragraph has nothing to do with radio communications, what I have learned from retail management is to listen to what your customers want even if you don’t stock it consider adding it to your assortment, think out of the box trying to be an innovator with new ideas, watch competition and be one step ahead of competition because it you don’t you can be left behind in the dust.

Radio Shack for several years sold some ham gear: a two meter hand held and a HF transceiver. There was some controversy in that some of the stores were not asking if the purchaser was licensed.

They also sold a line of VHF/UHF scanners under the Patrolman brand as well as aircraft receivers.  Radio Shack was early in the cell phone business with a phone resembling a brick selling for $999.  There are many U-Tube videos on Radio Shack.

I owned a Patrolman portable AM broadcast/VHF high band receiver and while living in the dorm at the University of South Florida I would monitor the campus police to know what was happening on campus.

One thing the students living in the dorm did not like was the required fire drills where we had to leave our dorm rooms in the late night especially if it was cold.

When I heard that a fire drill was going to happen, I would get the word out and we would hide in the closets as they were checking rooms so we did not have to participate. The Resident Assistants assumed that if the lights were out and the room appeared empty that we had gone outside and participated in the drill.

Heard at the Hamcation:  Someone said that some of the Radio Shack items may become collector’s items in the future. Only time will tell.

Personally, I hope Radio Shack will survive and keep at least a mail order and internet presence.

JaxRadio.net