I am a former Radioshack employee who is no longer bound by a social media agreement. AMA.

What are some things that they don't want their customers to know?

Protection plans are a huge profit for us. We offer them because the company gets 98% of the profit, but in the long run, it's also better for the consumer, in a sense.

Cell phones are our main drive. In fact, some stores, often called a "Flywheel" store, have a person dedicated to just talking about phones. This person will literally stand there and do nothing but sit on their phone, until a customer walks in. You could be there for a battery, and this person would try to talk you into a phone.

And they get paid more than your basic associate for this.

Otherwise, there's nothing really else hidden from view. At least not that I can think of at the moment.

Oh! We have the right to deny you a cellphone if we think you're a fraud customer. The most common excuse could be "Oh, our system is down" (which is true maybe 2% of the time), or "Oh my store doesn't have this phone, but this other one does!" and then they'll send you off to a nearby store where they say the same exact thing.

whats a fraud customer?

Someone who plans taking the phone off the contract they just signed up for, and selling it to some poor soul over the internet, or overseas. A lot of companies are really cracking down on it, because they're losing gobs of money. That is, until the take the upgrade discounts away, and you have to finance your phone along side your bill...

This is incorrect. I work in sales in the consumer wireless industry as well. A fraud customer is one who uses false identification (new plan) or pretends to be someone else (upgrade on existing plan) to get a phone at subsidized pricing (ie. $50 instead of $500). This is a criminal offence and is a very common problem in this industry. What OP is talking about is just some idiot who takes their once-every-three-years upgrade and sells it off. That's completely legal and the wireless industry does not attempt to stop these customers.

That's one aspect of fraud, yes. Worst fraud case I experience was a single dad with two kids who had no idea his identity was stolen. I ran his credit for service, and found out someone has used his social to open up a Sprint account under a different name. I called them up and made sure they took the account away and that it wouldn't penalize the man who had done nothing wrong at all.

Either way, we have all different types of fraud customers. Verizon is getting hit pretty hard with people signing up for new contracts (not upgrades, literally new accounts), and selling the phones off within a month. Upgrades we don't care about, because it doesn't affect sales.

If you take the phone off the contract, don't you have to pay the full price of the phone or something?

Not really, no. If you're due for an upgrade, and you buy the phone for $50, you technically could take it off the contract and sell it (which is really bad, and I don't recommend doing it), but if you mean buying the phone and shutting off the line, then yes, you'd have to pay an Early Termination Fee, which at its highest is $350 for some carriers.

Wait, if you keep the line then they get their money...why do they care if you keep the phone?

Because it needs to be on the line a certain amount of time to receive the full value of what the phone is worth. Usually it's three months.

I see. Thanks.

Best thing to do if you're in a jam, is to go to Swappa.com. It's where I suggested some of my customers to go to.

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Exactly. I mean, sometimes it can be worth it to get them, like on headphones, but for really cheap stuff that can be easily replaced? Nah, it's nothing to worry about.

Also, Radioshack doesn't offer their warranties on a lot of products now. Otterbox won't have one soon, and the one for Skullcandy headphones are already unavailable.

[deleted]

Yeah, with us, it was a little more flexible. I mean we hardly sell laptops and whatnot, but you get it. It's all the joys of retail when it comes down to it.

[deleted]

My store had a very limited selection as well. Mostly being old HPs.

Are the warranties sold by retailers any different than extended manufacturer warranties? I always buy the extended manufacturer's warranty and it's saved my ass on many occasions.

Some extended warranties from RS cover things like water damage and accidental damage. It's the little things that the manufacturer won't cover on their terms.

Doesn't Otterbox have their own warrant, though? No need to get one from you guys.

They do, but it's a little more difficult to get one from them. For us it was easy. You'd just drop it off and come back in when you got your insurance claim. And you weren't restricted to the same case twice. But now, we've nixed that program, and you're entirely on your own with Otterbox.

Our plans covered a bit more than what your standard OEM included it with.

Former major cellphone carrier sales employee here. We were allowed to do the same thing. I always asked for many types of IDs. If they had them I'd say what you do.

Exactly. It came to a point where it got so bad, that if your address on your ID wouldn't match where you said you lived, we wouldn't take you.

How did you leave out batteries??

I'm not sure considering it's the number one thing I sold.

Please explain how Radioshack has stayed in business all these years. What the fuck do people buy from there.

Batteries. I'm not even joking, but batteries are one of our main products that fly off the shelves. Button cells are popular, but you know what really sells? House phone batteries. At least $18 per battery too, when that person could go to Amazon and get it for $2 (which I would normally suggest if they could actually do it).

Also, the cell phones. The way we have our deals set up meant that more people would come to us instead of going to competitors like Best Buy, Walmart, etc.

Don't worry, Radioshack right now probably has more to worry about. Like the turnover rate of their employees.

Sits at about 140% right now.

This makes the most sense. TY

Anytime. :)

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You know, I never asked. We're a C3 store if that makes a difference. I want to say we're a company store.

As a former employee 4-4-10 was a pain in the ass.

And inventory is soon from what I heard. So glad I'm not there for that.

You just brought pain to my memory. Inventory was TORTURE till 2am with a list of items that NEEDED to match the inventory list. It also sucked since it was also a way of reorganizing the store to make sure everything was on the right pegs. I remember we used to sell candy and on inventory day someone had eaten 24 fucking snickers bars. No one ever found out who did muahahahah.

You sold candy?! Somewhat jealous at that! But yeah, I don't have to suffer through inventory now. Which is a plus for me, thankfully.

i remember i bought an apple outlet adapter and 2 charging cords for $35, when i could buy them all online for under $3

Doesn't surprise me at all!

Don't really see RadioShack anymore like I did when I was a kid. I'd totally run off down the mall to RadioShack to check out the gadgets. Is this a dying business by any chance? I've noticed it's decline in locations around the state.

Very much so. They're bleeding money because their focus is flawed. They told us "Every customer that walks through that door could be a wireless sale!", but I didn't care. I wasn't in it for the money, I was there because I enjoyed tech, I enjoyed learning, and I just like helping people in general. I'm sure corporate is trying to fix things, but I feel like it's too little too late.

When I was growing up the Radio Shack near my house had an entire room full of drawers w/ electronics components. Every capacitor, breadboard, transformer, diode, solder, motor, solenoid, what have you was for sale. My buddies and I would go there and buy up all that shit for DIY kits and stuff we read about online. They always had a few guys there who knew their shit, too.

Now you're lucky to find a store with even one drawer of components and an employee who knows the difference between current and voltage... Sigh...

I'm not even that old this was in like 2003.

My store had an entire aisle dedicated to those items!

I managed 3 RadioShacks in the past, and I joined for the same reason back in 2003.

They were my gadget place and over a couple years company policy turned to screw the parts and gadgets, sell them a cellphone!

I don't see them as "RadioShack" anymore.

Edit: spelling

A lot of people called it CellphoneShack.

Always thought that was weird. Do they offer more competitive sale prices on phones than just going directly to a carrier store?

They do. At times we were $100 cheaper than going to a carrier store. Carrier stores either have no rebates, or mail in rebates where you have to wait 6-8 weeks to even see the refund of what you saved. With us, it was instant and in store.

Im a current radioshack employee with the same state of mind. I wont try that hard to sell a pbone now, since the comission changed from spiffs to 2% flat rate. I just enjoy helping people with their tech stuff. And the phone discount. Thats probable the NUMBER ONE reason i havent quit yet...

Yet you'll be penalized for "not trying hard enough". I don't get it. I focused more on customer service, and yet we're supposed to, but they don't make it seem like it should be your priority.

I worked for RadioShack back in '07 and even then the sale drive was cell phones and it just drove me crazy.

It does get pretty tiring after awhile.

a current employee here everything you is 100% correct. Corporate is gonna run it into the ground. I personally feel the sales and stuff are there but the focus is not where it needs to be

They are trying to improve customers relations, but their new sales path is somewhat contradictory to that. We shouldn't push cell phones, because in this day and age, people do research products and different stores before they buy things. We should be there on a supportive level, not one where we feel like we're forcing someone into a situation because we have to.

why do they always want you to buy extended warranties on every little piece of electronic? for example my friend bought a $20 usb flash drive and they begged him to buy a $5 warranty on something that was 20 dollars.

Like I told someone else earlier, it's almost 90% profit for the company. You have to remember that they company buys that USB drive at warehouse cost, which for them, is dirt cheap.

The way the warranties work are like this: The USB breaks and you bring it into any Radioshack store. We make a claim on it, ship it out for you, and you get a gift card back for what you payed plus the tax for it. You aren't restricted to the same item either.

Another reason we ask: Our jobs depend on it. We literally put our jobs into the customer's hands on a daily basis. Every time someone says no to RSSP (Radioshack Protection Plan), it negatively impacts that person. And if they don't have a good enough percentage, then get fired. That's it. No questions asked, no feelings cared about. I stopped caring about the company when they stopped caring about us.

we had some employees put the warranty on it without telling us? what do you think of employees like that?

I despise those types. I never did that to a customer. Not even once.

Those types of employees do that for job security. They pad their numbers so they don't get terminated. And honestly, even if you report it, chances are the manager won't even bat an eye at it if that employees numbers are good. As long as the store is in the green and nothing is below average, then they'll keep that "exceptional" employee at whatever cost.

Happens more often than you think.

its also bad at gamestop they have a quota to fill as well. Pats back

I heard! I'm friends with a manager at the Gamestop right next door to us. A lot of micromanager from what I heard.

Same thing are Blarnes&Ignoble (name changed so you don't know who I'm talking about). Don't sell enough memberships? Fired.

See, I feel like that's unfair, because the common customer isn't going to know that you're tracked on those types of metrics. Like I said, I put my job in the hands of every customer that walked through that door.

Why did Radioshack go from selling cool little gadgets and hard to find electrical components to selling wireless phones and gps unites? Also I would assume that most people want to buy their wireless phone from their cellphone carrier, would this be a correct assumption? How did it affect the companies decision to start selling wireless phones?

Because the ring out credit is higher. The ring out credit is how much the company gets per unit sold, plus the total dollar amount as well. The higher the ring out credit, the better. Let me put it this way. Let's say you're on Sprint, like me, and you buy that shiny new Galaxy S3 for $50. Sounds great, right? Except that unit just really sold for about $700. Sure we didn't make a ton of money off it, but it's enough to where it'll show the investors we're doing business.

People rather buy the phone from where it's cheapest. They want to save as much money as possible, no matter what. So for us having the instant rebates and such made us a prime choice to customers, and when the company found this out, all their focus went into wireless sales.

The only time we get cool gadgets anymore is when the holiday shopping season arrives. :/

I miss all the cool gadgets I used to spend all my birthday and christmas money on as a kid, now I just go to radio shack for that hard to find D/C charger.

So you are telling me that is is cheaper to buy a telly from radioshack and then take it to my carrier and have them put it on my account?

Well what we do is you buy the phone from us, and we can add it right then and there. You would walk out of the store with a working phone in hand.

And DC chargers are ridiculously overpriced there as well.

So how much longer do you think radioshack will stay in business for?

If they're lucky, maybe, maybe, two years.

In your opinion what made radioshack go from being such a great company to complete shit, without the cell phone bit being involved?

Sorry for all the questions I just find it all fascinating, also I appreciate your prompt response time.

I think it was the transitional period when we brought in all the upper management guys from Blockbuster, honestly. The issue is that the cell phone bit will always be involved, because that's what changed the company. It's like they put so much emphasis into getting contracts with all the wireless carriers that they forgot who they truly are and what they started with. Have you gone into Radioshack trying to find a radio these days? You're lucky if you can find one in the store past all the cellphone accessories.

If it were more laid back and a bit less stressful, then it wouldn't be a terrible place to work, but as of now, I would never look back at this company ever again, and neither will anyone else I know, for that matter. They need to redo a lot of things to gain the credibility back they once had.

Speaking of which, you mentioned that job termination was a constant threat. How so?

You are tracked on a very specific set of store metrics, or numbers, for that matter. The most common types were how many phones, protection plans, batteries, accessories, and key products you sold within a given month. If a couple of numbers were below expectations, they'd threaten by saying "Do this and this better, or you're fired". No real encouragement or anything like that, but they also think it's easy to just go out and offer things to customers that they don't need.

I build a lot of electronics stuff as a hobby and when I was a kid (the 1970s) I would spend most of my money at RS. The local store had an electronics guru who could explain to me how a rectifier worked, or which brand of capacitor was the best buy. Now nobody in the stores knows anything about any of the stuff in the little drawers, and pretty much the only drawers they keep stocked are the ones for RCA plugs. I pretty much stopped going to RS years ago once everything became available on the net. And reading this thread I'll never darken their doorway again. Which is a shame because I spend thousands of dollars a year on electronics crap.

I hope someone from RS is reading this. Radio controlled vehicles and cellphones have turned your stores into shit smears.

Couldn't agree more.

I stopped buying anything there ever when they tried to force me to give a phone number before I could buy anything. They literally would not let me buy a thing until I spit a phone number at them, and as I left I wondered what sort of complete idiot came up with that plan. I also hate feeling responsible for someone's job because I dont want a plan or a store branded credit card or whatever. Thats why I shop online for the most part. What kind of people can't see that policies like that are what is causing their business to fail, or at least causing it to fail faster. Morons.

Corporate honestly thinks it's a legitimate strategy. I'm not sure how, but they do.

Over the last 5-10 years most stores have stopped selling the little electronics components I need at work (physicist/engineer). Is there a magic word or something to get an employee on the phone who knows what I'm talking about when I ask about stock?

And...wanted to make sure you saw this Onion article from '07: (http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b,2190/)[Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business]. Best quote is "Even the name 'RadioShack'—can you imagine two less appealing words placed next to one another? What is that, some kind of World War II terminology?"

Thanks for your AMA, hope you have found more rewarding work that suits your interest in technology!

Edit: link syntax fixed, thanks brobot!

If you manage to find an employee who knows about parts or components, I will be amazed. I knew my way around them enough to where I could assist you, but nowadays, the new hires don't have a clue to what anything does. There's no magic word, you can only hope to have someone who actually knows about tech.

And thank you for the kind words!

[deleted]

I demonstrated the Otterbox Defender cases with my own phone. I wouldn't dream of throwing someone else's phone. Did they replace it for you?

What's the most insane thing a customer has asked for?

A vibration motor, you know, for the misses.

Other funny requests were adapters that didn't even exist, or weren't even feasible to be manufactured.

Had a guy ask me if he could mod a panini maker to Bluetooth link to his iPhone. Not really sure why he wanted that, but he seemed pretty adamant about the project.

And you didn't even hook the poor guy up with Bluetooth-enabled panini maker?

Terrible customer service, I tell you.

I told him if he wanted to wire some type of automation kit to it and hook it up with a Bluetooth adapter that parts like that do exist. I wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do with a Bluetooth enabled panini maker though.

Wake up in the morning, check your email, tap 'new panini' on your iPhone, get shower, retrieve hot and fresh panini.

Better yet, have it as an all in one app, when you can have your panini freshly crafted along side a cup of perfectly brewed coffee.

I smell a future kickstarter here.

Or at least some really good paninis.

The iPanini at least.

Sell the guy an Arduino?

I did. Along with some Tinkerkit attatchments, like the LCD display for showing what he was going to be paired to.

"I need this adapter, its white, and you can use it on an iPad"
Dont you love those questions?

Those are wonderful. I love it when that happens. "I need this thing. This part or cord that makes audio go from my iPhone into my car stereo thing." "Oh, an aux cable?" "I think so. I don't know. Maybe..." "I'll just grab it for you..."

Every. Single. Day.

You have no clue how crazily I am laughing and trying to contain my laughter inside myself (it's 1:56am). Im from Canada BTW. How did you manage to keep a straight face for the vibrator guy?

Honestly, I couldn't. At first I thought he was kidding, till he actually had the motor in hand. I wasn't planning on touching it.

What do you mean by "no longer bound by a social media agreement?"

Are you not allowed to use any social media as a Radioshack employee, or just not allowed to talk about work?

Let me put it this way. I could only talk about Radioshack in a positive manner, or when it would earn them a sale. I was, at times, expected to put certain things on Twitter or Facebook, where it would attract my friends or family to purchasing something from us.

If it was negative, well then see ya! They didn't want you anymore.

Apple Store employees are under the same policy. I knew someone who had "a talkin to" after saying Siri sucked.

Sounds about right...

What if an employee doesn't have a twitter or Facebook?

Then you have no need to worry. Reddit wasn't mentioned either.

Thats why i facebook under a pseudonym

I feel like I should have the right to complain (within reason) about my job if we are being treated in an unsatisfactory manner.

Do any Radio Shack employees know what they are actually talking about?

I was one that was hired because of my knowledge with tech. Sure I didn't know every little part in the drawer, but I knew enough about them to be able to assist you and make sure it's what you needed.

Then again, I've seen some employees at my store that are just complete idiots. Some girls are just hired for looks at times. Because some managers feeling that having eye candy around the store will equal sales for their stores.

Sadly, I admit to hiring a team of "cute" women at one of my stores.

I did teach them about every part in the Parts Drawers, and what they were used for.

The greatest partbof my day was watching one of my "pretty girls" school a redneck about his CB radio setup, or the correct use of resistors in a project.

Side-note, I recruited mostly from a nearby diner.

See, at least you trained them to be knowledgeable though. My manager didn't even do that.

What is your favorite color?

It's a very narrow race between blue or a very dark red.

About 20 years ago, RS had this cool DIY alarm system stuff. Where to get that now?

Funnily enough, that's actually making a comeback. One of the new lines of DIY alarms are called S.A.M.s, or Self Activated Monitoring. I think it was around $300 to get the starter kit, but you could add on key fobs and whatnot.

As a former Radioshack employee myself, I must say congratulations on getting out. The place is toxic at best.

As I recall though it's notoriously difficult to be fired unless you're a complete socially inept moron, and while I am by no means suggesting you are one, but why are you being let go?

Less of a question now: Also most non-disclosures are still in effect for at least a year after employment. I don't have mine handy as I got rid of everything from Radioshack (I swear, I even burned my shirt.) so are you sure you're not violating it? or is the language vague enough to not cover social media. To that end it could be, you know as well as I do how little oversight they put into those things. Also, like you said, they have far bigger things to worry about than you divulging any sort of "secrets" Most of corporate is made up of former Blockbuster big wigs, and look what happened there.

Performance issues, and internal issues/conflict with management. I didn't agree to shove phones down people's throats and I didn't follow the traditional sales path, yet I'd hit my sales goal and had not a single customer complaint in my time working there.

As for social media, I'm not sure now. I know YouTube and Facebook are covered, but they said nothing about Reddit! It's not really me divulging secrets either. Just giving more insight to how a store is actually run and what they as a company do.

[deleted]

Oh I won't. They can't do much to me now since I'm already being let go. :) I figured I'd do this as a little eye opener, especially for people who are thinking about applying for the company.

I walked into a Radioshack the other day. They've always been the place to go in my mind for the tiny little components you need for something.

I walked in, and was promptly asked if I needed help. I told them I was looking for a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter. The guy just gave me a blank stare.

"Forget it, I'll find it myself."

I could've told you where those were! I at least know what adapter you're looking for, on top of where it's actually located inside my store.

what's your favorite kind of muffin?

Blueberry sounds pretty good at this hour.

RadioShack employee here. I enjoyed reading this thread. It was very interesting.

I had a question from a customer today. He sincerely asked, "What is the internet?" To be honest, I had no idea how to put the internet into words.

Many people who come in think Ethernet cables are a larger home phone cable. I sort of giggle on the inside when I hear that.

What's the thing you least like about radioshack?

Were you pressured into doing anything you didn't want to do? ex: Make stupid sales pitches? Or sex?

What job are you going to go into next with your profound tech abilities?

1. The pressure with cell phone sales, and being forced into doing them.
2. I was pressured into doing stupid sales pitches (that I ditched, because I rather be a person than someone who is just talking out of their ass), or forced to do wireless sales. That's literally all they care about. Sex, not so much.
3. I honestly have no idea. It's very hard to say. Not a lot of places around here are hiring for tech positions nowadays. Except Activision has a center around here somewhere...

As a former RS employee myself, hello!

Hello there! Why are you a former employee? Were you let go or did you leave on a voluntary basis?

Crickets

chirp chirp

What is the employee discount like? How does it work? How much discount do you receive?

Up to 50% one some items. You get your purchase approved by a manager, put in your ID, and purchase your goods. I bought a lot of cases and stuff like that because they were basically half price, brand new.

If I may add myself to the conversation, I am a current employee of The Source, which use to be Radioshack in Canada. If you guys have any questions on them, you can ask me.

I just wanted to repeat what RadioshacksBitch has been saying. The problem is that most people have been brainwashed into thinking that extended guarantees are by default bad. Some can actually help A LOT. Sure they are designed to profit the stores, and trust me when us salesmen are evaluated we have a quota just for guarantees, but they can also save a customer LOADS of money. The company makes money when the customer forgets that they have purchased an extended guarantee. Just be sure to ask lots of questions before jumping to conclusions.

Also, he is right about cellphones. It's the aspect I despise the most about my job. At The Source, we pride ourselves on giving excellent customer service, but I hate that if I don't meet quote I'll get shit from my superiors, and it sucks that you need to try and work cellphones or home services into every damn conversation. Ex: someone comes in to buy a video game. Well if you have an Xbox, you may have Xbox Live, and you need a great internet connection...

Edit: Spelling + added a bit more info.

Thanks for joining in!

Are Radio Shack store brand batteries any good?

They're basically rebranded Renata, Energizer, and Duracell batteries.

No question. I just want to say that based off of the way that you respond to questions, you seem like a very kind person, with a sincere demeanor.

That's actually part of why I'm being let go. You can't really be that way at the store. They expect you to be in a totally different mindset.

Who the hell still shops at Radio Shack?

On average, middle aged adults and senior citizens are the primary demographic for my store.

Do you think Radioshack will ever put out of its misery in the next 5 or 10 years thanks to Amazon,Newegg,the internet in general?

People already go to Best Buy and check out certain items before ordering it from Amazon or another online retailer.

With Radioshack being the equivalent for tons of cables and electronic parts I often am in need of resistors or "X" amount of "Y" cable in "Z" length.

Do you feel that they will ever do some sort of price match system?

They're going to have to eventually. Only thing we price match? You guessed it! Phones. But not from Amazon or Wirefly.

Amazon is actually Radioshack's number one competitor. Best Buy is having their own issues, and it seems like RS doesn't feel too threatened by them. If they last five or ten years, I'll be amazed.

The brick and mortar stores at having a hard time in general. Radio shack expanded to fill the gaps of little accessories that the big boxes forgot to sell. That's why there were 4000+ stores. Compare that to BBY 1000+ normal stores at their peak. The shift to wireless came about a year after BBY bought a major stake in carphone wearhouse around 2008. Radio shack flat out stole the business model that BBY paid over a billion dollars to get. I remember hearing about an injunction being filed to stop rs from copying their stores SOP. If all the store cares about is numbers and not organic growth from happy customers... It's doomed. How long have you worked there and did you see any of what I described go on?

I was there for about a year, and everyday I saw what you described. We have charts in the back of our stores tracking all our numbers.

They really want us to check customer upgrade dates, and they want us to add you to what they call and "Opportunity Log", where we take down your name, number, and upgrade date, so we can call you in the hopes that you'll buy a phone from us in the future.

Seems desperate, no?

I don't have anything to ask, except if you have seen this Onion Article. http://www.theonion.com/articles/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-b,2190/

I have indeed. I love The Onion!

Okay, so I'm looking at stereos in your store, which is the better brand, the Realistic, the Archer, or the Optimus?

I honestly couldn't tell you, because my store doesn't even have a dedicated stereo section anymore. The sales were poor on receivers (I believe we have one Sherwood receiver left), and stereo and PA equipment, so that part of the store was nixed from us I believe.

What was the coolest thing you ever sold/saw at the store you worked at?

Hmm. Probably the Arduino kits. Not much else is interesting at Radioshack anymore. :/

I feel a lot better about stealing all that stuff from rs now

I remember my store lost about a grand in product in one week.

The most enjoyable theft I bared witness to? Someone stealing an empty Beats box and walking out, when there were Sennheisers sitting right beneath them, fully stocked and ready to go.

why'd you get tanked?

There are many reasons why. I can't really discuss them on here as of yet, but it was factors of me not forcing phones on people (you actually do get criticized for that), not selling as many protection plans they wanted, and some internal relations issues.

I hated counting those stupid part drawers every 3 months, but inventory was worth it for all the stuff you'd find out fell off the books and should have been returned but wasn't and should now be destroyed. So many hilarious gadgets for free.

Do they still have parts drawers? I quit in '07 and haven't been back in one since.

We still have them! They're a necessity in my store.

I was going to go all downvoting ass roman on ya but since there aren't many radioshacks left anyway (who the fuck still goes to one?), I'll let it go.

Understandable!

Are you really hurting for karma or something? Ooooo, the deep dark secrets of Radio Shack. Nothing we haven't heard before.

Considering this is a throwaway account, karma doesn't hold any value to me. And from what I've seen from past AMAs, it was the old ways on how Radioshack used to operate. I'm talking about how employees are treated and the working conditions no one really sees from the consumer prospective.

First, proof?

Also:

How do you feel about Radioshacks transition from a hardware supply store where you would get any electrical components you might need, to a corporate mess that sell complete products?

What proof would you like?

And it's been a very mixed bag. This whole new corporate structure has a very large disconnect between regional directors and store managers. What the associates were told at our last meeting, was that wireless wasn't going to be as pushed as much, and we were going to have the chance to earn a little extra breathing room. Then they told us "You'll get 2% commission on everything!", which roughly equals to this:

When you sell $50 worth of product, it counts as one extra dollar in your paycheck in terms of commission. So really, it's nothing to us, but we're forced to try to sell as much to the customer now, because we're so dependent on that commission.

And my store had quite a few electrical components that we actually got back in stock, as opposed to phasing it out. Arduino kits are very popular at my store (well, former store), so I was pretty much able to help with the technical side of things.

But there are a lot of secrets with Radioshack, that most people don't see. It's a very stressful job, especially when your job is threatened on a weekly basis, all because you didn't sell a phone.

Anything like an old pay stub, I.D. badge. You can message the mods with it to keep your personel info secure.

I remember my dad taking me to Radio Shack to pick up parts for a radio we were building when I was a kid, I miss the slightly musty smell of the isles.

Now all that kind of shopping is done online.

Do you think that kind of store will ever be successful ?

Also, any tech related horror stories?

I'll message a mod soon with some proof. No worries.

Most of the part shopping is done online, yes, but I always told the customer that I could order if from the site and have it shipped to the store free, and more than half the time they were perfectly okay with that. It's hard to say if it will ever be successful or not. Corporate has no logic. None whatsoever. And they operate on the oldest business possible, which is leading to their downfall even more.

Fun fact? Radioshack Corporate hired all the upper management guys from Blockbuster. Which if you know Blockbuster's history, you would see what that's a bad idea.

And horror stories? I've got plenty. Anything from a phone covered in ear wax to a lady who brought a phone in to me that was covered in baking soda. She thought that water would be absorbed out of it faster, as opposed to using rice.

Usually when I open up remotes and stuff is when you see the gross stuff, and all I can do is suck it up and smile, and then wash my hands off as quickly as possible after they leave.

I can't imagine having to deal with gunk in cracks like that.

I can barely handle cleaning out my keyboard.

It's a time where I wish I had gloves. Hand sanitizer became my best friend when I was there.

It wasn't too bad, but there are some that were cringe worthy.