Wow- that would appear to be credible evidence and also brings credibility
to the same types of experience related to this group a couple of weeks ago.
John Navas said that this was not the case.

Gee, John- another case of you having your head in the sand.  But don't
worry- you're bound to get something right eventually.  I hope I live ling
enough to see it.

As a former Radio Shack store manager, in a previous life, I understood well
that the company had a reputation for selling cheap knockoff merchandise
(especially stereo components) at prices that were almost the same as for
the good stuff.

In the 1970s they were selling "illegal" telephone equipment, designed to be
used in violation of then-in-effect prohibitions against connecting "foreign
attachments" to the Bell System network.  Later that decade, they did a big
business in CB Radios ("Breaker, breaker, good buddy!") but their equipment
was not up to the standards of manufacturers like Johnson Radio.  In the
eighties they got into the computer business, with their "TRS-80" computer,
that used a cassette recorder as a precursor to the hard drive.  They even
opened computer stores across America that specialized in selling only
products from their computer line.  The stores failed, and they were closed
when Americans began to buy mainstream brand computer gear, at lower prices,
from retailers such as COMP-USA and Egghead.

In the late 80s, Radio Shack tried to get into the telephone business,
selling key systems to small businesses, right after divestiture.  At the
same time, a large number of smaller retail stores began offering
less-expensive solutions and AT&T was aggressively marketing bigger PBXes to
larger businesses.  Even Sears & Roebuck had a telephone mini-catalog,
featuring AT&T phones!  So, as always, Radio Shack was squeezed on both
ends--they couldn't compete pricewise with the more agile small
dealer-installers on the low end and they did not have the reputation or the
engineering/technical resources to offer larger businesses a viable
alternative to AT&T and GTE, who were marketing aggressively.

When I worked for Radio Shack, they still offered consumers in small towns a
place to go to buy electronic gear.  But then Radio Shack began an exodus
from Main Street to the shopping malls--where they were blasted by
competition from AT&T Phone Stores, Audio dealers like Sam Goody (they sold
some excellent stereo equipment back then), and even software stores like
Babbages.

They are a good source when one needs a roll of telephone wire, or a can of
tuner cleaner (do they still make that?  Are there any tuners that need
contact cleaner any more?), but they really have lost any reputation for
offering state-of-the-art merchandise.  Many of their customers are more
sophisticated than their employees--and customers can get better stuff at
the big-box stores.  Even Wal-Mart has more and better choices these days.

The times have changed.  Radio Shack has become irrelevant.  Competitors
like Lafayette Electronics closed their doors.  Another competitor, Allied
Radio, merged with Radio Shack to become "Allied Radio Shack" circa 1970,
then the name and the famous Allied catalog disappeared.  Radio Shack was,
at one time, the only game in town in many small towns across America, but
today's consumers can get their electronics from all sorts of retailers, not
to mention online.  Radio Shack can't make it selling small electronic
parts, like capacitors and telephone jacks, while paying today's shopping
mall rents.

And just HOW does the new CEO of Radio Shack plan on getting customers to
come in and sign up for all those Cingular phones?  Here is what the article
says:

"He just signed off on a plan to pump up wireless sales, which calls for
people signing up at Radio Shack to receive free AMBER alerts on their
wireless handsets."

Another bright idea!  Sell a million phones, by enticing people to come in
for "free AMBER alerts!"  Oh yeah!  That'll bring 'em in by the truckload!

Someone at Verizon once told me that the Radio Shack accounts were the most
troublesome of all.  Poor payment records, lots of complaints that store
personnel made false sales claims, etc.  The question is, might it have been
that Verizon dumped Radio Shack, and not the other way around?

Cingular and Radio Shack--now THERE'S a combination guaranteed to "raise the
bar!"

Yes, just talk to a Radio Shack franchisee and you'll get an earful of
their decline in sales after Verizon was dropped in favor of Cingular.
Verizon was very popular and drove a lot of sales to Radio Shack, but
Radio Shack was pretty demanding in terms of what they wanted from the
carriers whose products they sold. Verizon was not upset that Radio
Shack switched to Cingular. Verizon has picked up much better resellers
such as Costco and Circuit City.

I don't understand this.  I thought that RS sold Verizon services
through the end of last year.  The Cingular deal didn't pick up until
the first of the year as far as I understood.  So maybe Edmondson is
saying that Cingular impacted their 4Q05 earnings because RS slacked off
promoting Verizon in anticipation of getting Cingular products.  Or is
he commenting on the first 6 weeks of the new year?  Or maybe he is
fishing for a way to excuse his poor results from last year??