[BC] Radio Shack Hangs In There

[Dana Puopolo]

A good friend of mine worked for radio Shack for 29 years. He retired in
12/2005.

He is still VERY well connected there, knowing many of the local and district
managers. He says that Radio Shack is one of the WORST run companies he's ever
seen. Some of their screw ups could be considered MONUMENTAL, including:

All staff (including managers) are now on salary, eliminating the incentive to
sell.

When they cut their cellphone deals with Verizon and Sprint, they forgot about
exclusivity, which resulted in Verizon opening many phone kiosks in the same
mall that Radio Shacks were in. In many cases they were located right in front
of the Radio Shack store.

When they walked away from Verizon, they did it in such a way that their  
quarterly revenue check from them (Verizon) didn't have to be paid. Just this
one faux pas cost them something like 80-100 million dollars.

When they cut their deal with Cingular, they AGAIN forgot about
exclusivity-and you probably know what happened (again!).
How a company could be so purely stupid to make the same mistake twice shows
how out of touch corporate is from the local stores (who were SCREAMING for
exclusivity).

They sold their service organization-all service is now contracted out
locally, resulting in delays (because the contractors don't have ready access
to RS specific parts) and repair quality that varies all over the place.

The eliminated their catalog-the best Christmas sale maker you could ever do
(why do you think it came out in October?). This one thing cost them  big time
Christmas sales.

They cut the number of branded products by 75%.  Radio Shack used to own the
scanner market-now their share is down to under 15% (from over 45% before).
Their share of the CB market is down from 60 percent to 10%. Their stereo
receiver/speaker/CD player sales sit at under 10%.
They sold all their manufacturing lines in China, Taiwan and elsewhere- now
all their branded stuff is contract manufactured, cutting margins
significantly.

Believe me, there's plenty more reasons to bas them-they should be used as a
Wharton School example of how NOT to run a busin ess!

-D   

------ Original Message ------
Received: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:10:19 AM EDT
From: "Blake Bowers" <bbowers at mozarks.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Subject: Re: [BC] Radio Shack Hangs In There

Gosh, enough Shack bashing.

Radio Shack has done nothing more than pursue
the course of profit, as is their responsiblity to their
shareholders.

Yeah, it used to be nice having them around, but
of course back then everyone griped about them
still.  Quality used to be a big gripe.

If the profit was there in parts, then Radio Shack 
would still be seling parts.  If you have not noticed, 
the local parts stores have all but disappeared too!  

There is no money in 19 cent cards of 5 carbon
resistors, not even at 99 cents.  Why bother with
a salesperson who knows what a Triac is, when
there is no profit there?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Glaenzer" <gglaenzer at hqradio.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 7:00 AM
Subject: Re: [BC] Radio Shack Hangs In There


> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Robert Reymont" <robert at reymont.com>
> To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 6:38 PM
> Subject: Re: [BC] Radio Shack Hangs In There
> 
> 
>> Go to radio shack and ask for a triac.  Talk about blank a stare and 
>> a stupid look.  You do get both with that question...
>> Robert
> 
> 
> 'Radio Shack:  If it doesn't have a keyboard, we've got dumb looks!'
> 
> 
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