Hi!
It is my cousin, I am unemployed at the moment 🙁
That first set he got, with half a year working, was nothing special. I think any micro system will beat it, and these can be had quite cheap. Also the way of listening to music changes: at the moment I am happy with my PC as player, a portable DAC and a simple headphone, which is about a week working on my previous job.
I agree, I also do DIY more for the learning and relaxing experience than for saving money.
Erik
Boy, talk about a walk down memory lane! I too remember the good ol' days when you could walk into RS and buy just about anything you needed for diy. But those days are long gone, along with 45 cents a gallon gas.
I can't begrudge the poor bastard working there for minimum wage who knows almost nothing about anything but cellular plans. It's not his/her fault the company has been mismanaged to the point it's now on life support. The company has gone through 5 CEOs in the past 7 years, one of whom was named as one of the "worst CEOs of 2012" by BusinessWeek magazine. Another was named as one of the "10 Crappiest CEOs" of 2009.
It's sad, but true. Unless you need something as simple as a "Y" adaptor or a cell phone, you just need to let it go and move on...
I can't begrudge the poor bastard working there for minimum wage who knows almost nothing about anything but cellular plans. It's not his/her fault the company has been mismanaged to the point it's now on life support. The company has gone through 5 CEOs in the past 7 years, one of whom was named as one of the "worst CEOs of 2012" by BusinessWeek magazine. Another was named as one of the "10 Crappiest CEOs" of 2009.
It's sad, but true. Unless you need something as simple as a "Y" adaptor or a cell phone, you just need to let it go and move on...
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Find me at any hamfest at closing time and I will give you lots of free stuff too. After 2 years of my "stuff reduction plan" there isn't too much good stuff left though.
That's funny...I'm using a doorbell transformer (Hammond BD2E) to power the fan in my 833C amps!
every now and then ....
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and a section to listen to some tunes (w/caffeine) ...
the manger of the rs nearest where i lived in the 70's,
lived 4 houses away.
because of McGee radio, i felt rs to be overpriced.
didn't go to rs much.
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did buy a led zeppelin tribute band 8-track @rs.
79 cents.
a reggae zep tribute band, Dread Zeppelin !
couldn't leave without that ...
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Burstein-Applebee bought alot from McGee radio.
wholesale of course.
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In 81, one of my tasks was to determine if customer returns on diodes were justified or not. Typically, the answer was yet. Low breakdown voltages, high leakage, high vf, bad leads...POLARITY MARKING BAND BACKWARDS!!!😱
When I found that one particular lot of product was returned again to me, but from a different customer, I went to sales to ask why something that was previously a valid reject made it to another customer.
The answer was that customer requirements varied from very strict, to very loose. After 3 tries and 3 customer rejections, the offending product would be dropped into a 50 gallon drum. When the drum was full, where did it go?
RS. Purchased by the pound.
That was back in the early 80's. I cannot vouch for what is being done this century..
jn
On the subject of what happens with returned items... Several years ago, I purchased a soldering iron at Fry's. It appeared "new in the box", but when I got it home and opened, it was broken into three pieces. Yes, I returned it. I wonder who bought it next... Apparently, it's SOP to re-package anything returned at least once or twice.
Doesn't surprise me that the barrel was then sold to RS by the pound.... Let's see. The last batch of rechargeable batteries purchased at RS worked for about 5 charges, then refused to take a charge. Not so good. LEDs are grossly overpriced. $1.95 each. Got 'em at $.16 each elsewhere.... Yeah, I needed 3000 of them.
Doesn't surprise me that the barrel was then sold to RS by the pound.... Let's see. The last batch of rechargeable batteries purchased at RS worked for about 5 charges, then refused to take a charge. Not so good. LEDs are grossly overpriced. $1.95 each. Got 'em at $.16 each elsewhere.... Yeah, I needed 3000 of them.
I returned a faulty transformer to rshack. Later went to get another and they had one previously opened on the shelf. he assured me it must be good. Took it home, plugged it in and it heated up and buzzed... just like the one I had returned 2 months ago......
Same thing happened to me at lowes and home depot which typically causes me to waste time returning the item that shouldn't have been on the shelf in the first place. Now when I return something that was defective I mark "DEFECTIVE" on the box in huge letters with a permanent marker so it cannot be placed back on the shelf and sold to some other guy (or me again) who will then need to make a second trip to the store for a remedy.
Hah! The same thing happened to me yesterday when I went in to buy some probes for my DVM. The associate pointed me to the package, then opened it up so I could take a closer look. He apologized when he saw that it was the same package he'd given to his manager to write off the day before since it contained broken leads. I could tell from his reaction that he was very frustrated and embarrassed.
This disgusting behavior is obviously intended to boost profits. They knowingly place defective product on shelves hoping that the consumer will not bother to return it. one more reason that when I have a choice to not shop at these stores, I exercise it.
I had the most absurd experience at radio shack a couple days ago. I went to buy a replacement 6amp slow-blow fuse. I went to grab a couple. But after I look at them closer all the glass was broken on them. I pointed this out, but the salesman just shrugged at me and looked confused. He then mentioned that they had plenty of other fuses. But none of them were slow blow nor 6 amp. He didn't see why that was a problem. I left very frustrated.
I ran the service department at the largest Olson Electronics store in the USA in 1971 and 1972. I personally checked most of the returned stuff. If it was truly working with the original packaging it went back in stock. If it was defective, but useful, and not returnable (the Olson branded stuff) it went on the "as is" shelf which was heavily discounted. If it was a common brand it was returned to the vendor. Utah and Jensen speakers that made sound, but buzzed or rattled, wound up being repackaged and sent back to us. I fixed that by plugging any defective speaker into the wall outlet before returning it.
The EM40WOOF speaker shown in the McGEE ad looks exactly like the one we sold that carried the Olson brand. It was made by Eminence and could eat a lot of power. My brother and I made a lot of disco thumpers with those.
The EM40WOOF speaker shown in the McGEE ad looks exactly like the one we sold that carried the Olson brand. It was made by Eminence and could eat a lot of power. My brother and I made a lot of disco thumpers with those.
Just saw news a couple of days ago. Radio Shack is closing 500 stores. Seems like the end is near for RS as we knew it. I work in NYC lower MH. For years there was an RS store. I used to go there during lunch sometimes to pickup a thing or two. This store closed recently only to be reborn few blocks away. Wehen I went in that newly opened store there was nothing but "junk". That was my first and probably last visit there. Sigh !
they upped the ante to 1100 stores this morning. that and I heard their stock was down 19% before trading opened this morning. I'd say their poor customer service and failure to understand and keep up with the needs/wants of their customers is finally catching up with them.
From an article on nbcnews.com: "Under Magnacca, who took over in February 2013 after a string of CEO departures, the store has changed its logo, streamlined inventory and improved in-store displays."
definitions...
Changed its logo: polishing a turd
Streamlined inventory: discontinued anything of use
improved in store displays: see changed its logo
definitions...
Changed its logo: polishing a turd
Streamlined inventory: discontinued anything of use
improved in store displays: see changed its logo