On Sat, 1 Dec 2007, COLIN LAMB wrote:

There were Glory days at Radio Shack - back in the 1930's. Radio Shack used
to be big - in fact their name said it all. Even during the 1950's, I
remember a great buy on surplus Harvey Wells TBS-50 power supplies.

They became really popular in the 1960's - not because of what they sold but
because of their marketing. Every item had a price tag on it. I remember
as a poor kid being afraid to go into the local ham radio store and walk up
to the counter with an unpriced chassis or part. I was too embarassed to
ask the price and was afraid I might not have enough money. And, I suspect
the fellow at the counter often guessed at the price and tried to make it
just out of what I had in my pocket. People still have not figured out that
if you do not have a price on it, it means you do not want to sell it - and
I do not ask. I see that at ham swap meets and generally walk right by.

So, the local radio stores went out of business because of poor
merchandising. Hopefully Radio Shack will get back to their basics.

73, Colin K7FM


Its not going to happen. We're in a post-modernist culture, full of
instant gratification expectations, and no one is interested in learning
electronics, doing hobbies, building things, tinkering, or figuring things
out. Buy it and go into debt, use it, if it breaks, buy another one and go
deeper in debt and throw the old one out. You don't need a license to buy
a computer and start surfing the web and hang out on the social websites,
the virtual reality websites, porno websites, whatever. There are a few
stores that sell mail order parts (Newark, Mouser, Digikey, Radio-Daze,
etc) and you're going to have to work with them (and what you can find
at hamfests). I do. If I can't get exactly what I want, then I do a
workaround.

W4PON