Not even computers... It's all cell phones these days; it has been for about 10 years or so. I worked for RS in 2004 and I got maybe $25 for selling a pro-96 ($499 at the time). I'd then sell a cell phone for free (to the customer) and would get maybe $150 for it in commission and spiffs.
And this is what it is about folks: money.
Scanners and hobbyists pale in comparison to what selling wireless devices with attachments (read: accessories, extended warranties and additional services) bring in for the company and the sales staff.
Let me say this, for those of you who want to dog RS employees: please stop. You sound like a bunch of elitist snobs or crabby old farts. It's really unseemly.
At least the RS sales associates and managers are
working and
contributing to the economy by generating sales taxes and paying income tax themselves. Which is more than I can say for so many in this country (including some on another sub-forum I won't mention) who sit on their butts eating up entitlements, "smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo" and not doing anything productive.
If you don't like being offered cellphones or whatever the flavor of the day there is,
DON'T SHOP THERE! RS of the past 10 years is not what it was when we were kids.
GET OVER IT. They are a for profit company in business to make money. I mean, CVS and Walgreen's don't have soda jerks and sell malts but you all don't complain about them! They have changed with the demands of the marketplace. If RS selling cellphones or widgets is no longer profitable, then they will change with the trends or go out of business. That is far from the case these days and Wall Streeters know wireless is king. Everyone wants a piece of that pie.
It's called business in a capitalist marketplace.
But please stop bashing working people who are doing their jobs. Unlike many in this country who
REFUSE to get off their butts and contribute, at least those RS folks are not sucking up the welfare rolls. They work hard for much less than many others who don't do anything get from our government to sit on their butts and waste our future away.
(and no, I don't work there nor own stock. I just get tired of all the bashing of working people who are at least doing something productive for our country rather than taking the easy way out and leeching off society)
They actually tried this during the 90's and were the first to jump out before the malaise hit the other big box electronic retailers. That you have to give them credit for being visionaries. Remember Icredible Universe?
Let's not forget Tech America. Radio Shack tried to do the whole parts express thing ala retail aimed at not hobbyists but commercial customers. It failed. They had both retail locations (less than Fry's) and a web presence back in 1998/1999. Tech America was trying to do what Fry's is doing but aimed at commercial accounts.
Tech America failed IMO because they did not invest in the right people. They had a tremendously wide inventory that ranged from component parts (way more than Radio Shack retail carried), cleaning supplies (De Oxit!), computer components, two way radios (LMR)- everything under the sun.
If you ever got to visit one of their locations, it was a huge big box store filled with stuff. The one in Doraville, GA (just down the road from HRO Atlanta) carried ham radio gear. But the problem was there was NEVER adequate help on staff. Associates were clearly pulled from RS Retail locations and did not have extensive training needed on the vast inventory.
Tech America died in a couple of years. Like Incredible Universe, it was a grand idea, probably ahead of it's time, but just did not work out for them.
I still have their first catalog which is about 400 pages somewhere around here.
