Radio Shack Sales Staff Unfazed By 2,400% Markup
No one goes to Radio Shack to take advantage of low prices. They go because they need an electronic component on short notice, and Radio Shack is pretty ubiquitous. That's how Chris and his fiancée found themselves at a Wisconsin Radio Shack in search of a mini USB cable, but they encountered such high prices and high-pressure sales lies that they walked out and found what they needed...at the dollar store.
As a loyal reader I must inform you of a recent incident I had at "The Shack of Price Gouging" (formerly Radio Shack). Last week my fiancé lost her mini USB cord for her digital voice recorder which she uses to record her nursing lectures. She realized that the critical piece of equipment was missing when she went to download the lectures to her computer. We quickly went to the nearest Radio Shack to find a new cable where the salesman attempted to pressure us to buy a $24 digital camera replacement cord. The horrible part is how the salesman tried to pressure us into buying the cable telling us that we won't find a better deal elsewhere.
Irony!! Desperate and running out of time, we went to the Dollar Tree right next door and found a 2 foot cable that worked well for a single Dollar! The best part of the experience was going back into "The Shack" minutes later to confront the salesman with our new cable and receipt for $1.05. His reaction was priceless: "You mean to tell me that you came back here just to show me this?" I will admit that the salesman was just trying to do his job; however, I used to go to radio shack to get affordable wires and cables. What are they doing? Honestly, I would have never looked at the dollar tree if a simple $10 or less option was available in their store. But, with prices so outrageous I will not be shopping there.
Maybe the high pressure sales tactics are in order to prevent customers from wandering out of the store and going next door.
(Photo: Mike Hepp/Penn Can Mall fan site)
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I think that Dollar General may carry HDMI cables from time to time. I know that I've seen them at Big Lots for $10-$15 for a 6 foot philips branded cable.
@taking_this_easy: Harbor Freight sells HDMI cables: [www.harborfreightusa.com]
As for USB, I bought a variety of adapter ends I keep in my "repair" case which will convert a A to B cable into almost anything: [www.monoprice.com]
Obviously all part of Radio Shack's new plan to steal the niche of Monster Cable. I'm still impressed by finding a USB cable for a dollar, I'd have expected two or three, even for the cheapest Chinese no-brand stuff.
@taking_this_easy: Even these days you can find more reasonably priced HDMI cables at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, et al.
But, Monoprice is still the best bet.
I needed a USB/PS2 adapter...$3 on Newegg, but I needed it immediately. $20 at The Shack. Grr. The salesman looked at me blithely when I mentioned that any geek worth his or her stuff knows to go with Newegg, etc. unless it's an immediate need.
I went into a Gamestop once and the guy there tried ridiculously hard to convince me that the only HDMI cable that would work on an Xbox 360 was the Microsoft branded first party version.
I kept telling him he was wrong, but he only said that I didn't know what I was talking about and if I tried to use any other kind of HDMI cable it would NOT work.
This is when knowing technical jargon would come in handy...anytime I get the "sales talk" I just spit out some jargon and it usually will leave the seller a bit dumbfounded.
At least...dumbfounded enough for me to make a hasty exit.
I've never seen USB cables sold at a dollar store.
I would like to see Consumer Reports to test that USB cord Chris bought at the dollar store and compare it to other USB cords.
You never know, though. Kirkland (Costco's brand) sells batteries that ranked really well in CR's testing.
Any time you need a cable same day you're going to get screwed like this. Dollar stores carrying a 5-pin mini usb to usb-A is new to me though.
@katstermonster: Radio Shack has a liberal return policy. Wait for the $3 cord to be delivered, then return the $20 one.
I am happy to pay a premium for the convenience of going to a store that is just a few blocks from me. But it has to be a reasonable premium, like $14.95 vs $12.95, not $20 vs $3.
Sales-speak to English translator:
"You mean to tell me that you came back here just to show me this?"
"You mean to tell me that you're actually calling me on my bullsh*t?!"
...Would it be that someone followed Joe Lieberman around to call him on all of his bullsh*t.
@MooseOfReason: I picked up a USB cable for my printer and one for my digital camera at the Dollar Store. Both cables have worked flawlessly for almost a year.
Circuit City... gone.
CompUSA... gone.
Radio Shack... still exists?!?
@dragonfire81: when the 360's first came out they didn't have hdmi ports and you had to buy the microsoft brand hdmi cable because it came with an adapter. he might not have been informed yet if this was around the time that the port was added...
or he could have been an idiot.
@MooseOfReason: I suspent for the most part, a USB cable works or doesn't work. I really doubt you'll see any different in data transfer rates between a $1 cable and a $25 cable.
You could test this with a stopwatch by transferring some music to your MP3 player using one cable, erasing it all, and repeat using the other.
A cable needs to be functional, and ideally it should be reasonably durable. For $1 he got a cable that was apparently functional, and would at very least last long enough to buy a better cable online for another $1 + shipping - and still come out way ahead of spending $24. But there's no reason to believe that $1 cable won't last for years - it doesn't cost much at all to actually make a USB cable.
I don't think any real geek would ever work at Radio Shack. Perhaps as a summer job when they are 16, but the people I encounter at the shack are just plain useless sales staff who happened to pick Radio Shack over the used car lot next door.
These people know nothing about technology, and they exist purely to squeeze cash out of people who are in urgent need of a cable, and the elderly.
They have tried to extend their life support by selling mobile phones, but even that will come to an end when people realize the "deals" at Radio Shack are pathetic.
Like the previous poster said, I suspect Radio Shack won't last beyond some time in 2010.
Some of us HAVE to buy at RadioShack. I wanted to buy an Ipod Touch 32gb, and none of the stores I went to had it (we don't have an Apple store so that's totally out of the question). I ended up buying it at RadioShack, paying $50 than what it cost me on Amazon.com (who refuses to ship electronics where I live).
The worse wasn't the prices, it was how bad the employees were at answering basic questions about items.
@inadequatewife: Agreed, I grabbed a bunch of them at a local dollar tree when I was building my home office. I don't use the really cheap ones on the important connections (externals drives, etc) but they are great for putting on a giant usb hub inside the wall and making little charging/connection points for random camera's, MP3 players and other odd ball USB powered crap, like humping dogs.
@taking_this_easy: people make all kinds of assumptions about what salespeople actually know. I remember arguing with a floor monkey at best buy about HDMI splitters, which he said they didn't sell because they were "too expensive", citing the ones that they used cost $300. I later that day bought two for $50.
@Megalomania: I understand that sometimes sales clerks can be frustrating and a little too intent on the upsell, but a lot of these people are just working to pay their rent and feed their family. It really degrades any point you're trying to make to refer to them as a "floor monkey."
@MooseOfReason: Dollar Trees here in Ga often have a rack of different USB cables. They're ok, nothing great, but they work
@lmarconi: You can get HDMI cables for under 6 bucks at monoprice.com and that cable in the story looks like it's available on their site for $0.97
radio shack is nothing but fail. all over fail. I used to go in there as a child, and even then I thought their stuff was overpriced, and they rarely had what I wanted. But now it's gotten ten times worse. Please, everyone, tell your grandparents, and parents not to shop there.
Once in a while, you might be surprised by rat shack. Back in April or so, I went to Staples and balked at paying $40 for a SATA/USB enclosure ($30 at Newegg), went into rat shack, and found them on clearance for $10.
Also got a Roku M500 in there when it was on clearance, for about $40.
But I would agree, they have gotten away from their roots (switches, connectors, cables, resistors, and such) and what they do have is usually overpriced.
@doctor_cos: The reason that kind of stuff goes on clearance is because it is too complicated for their sales staff to sell, and at the normal retail price, it is twice what it costs online.
@lmarconi: He earned his Floor Monkey status when he snickered when the original writer came back into his store to correct the Floor Monkey's lies.
Where do you live BabyFirefly that Amazon refuses to ship?
Not to bust any idealistic bubbles here - but I do suspect they'll be here for quite some time.
Net income by year:
2006 - $73MM
2007 - $237MM
2009 - $192MM
people vote with their feet.
Not to bust any idealistic bubbles here - but I do suspect they'll be here for quite some time.
Net income by year:
2006 - $73MM
2007 - $237MM
2009 - $192MM
people vote with their feet.
@scoobydoo: Eh, a few people at my local Radio Shack are knowledgeable and helpful. Their cable prices are ripoffs though, and it wouldn't surprise me to see them go under.
@doctor_cos: Even their root products (electronic components) are pricey. I love having access to the Altex and Tanner electronics stores. Altex has some really good cable prices, and Tanner (family owned shop) sells discrete components at bulk prices - you can get resistors/capacitors for pennies apiece.
The electronics I've bought that use USB all came with USB cables. Over the years I've amassed a collection of USB cables that cover my all of my needs and have spares. I don't think I've ever actually purchased a USB cable.
@MooseOfReason: I've seen USB cables in dollar stores. In fact, I own one ... and I'd used it with a digital camera. It worked as well as any other. Heck, I might even have it in my drawer someplace (I don't use that cable much any more since I got another camera that used SD cards and I just stick those in the computer).
Anyway it was about 3 years ago, and I bought it in a Dollar Tree here in CT. (Don't remember which one ... and in fact it might have been the one in Westfield MA.)
@The Dude: I applied to Best Buy when relocating with my wife to an area with a slow job market. Got a job elsewhere, but give some folks a break. One has to earn a living somehow.
Ok, first its not price gouging... the store is free to charge any price that the market will bear... they may well sell fewer cables due to the markup but thanks to the increased margin on each one they sell, this may well be a good strategy for them.
Secondly, you don't know what their cost on the product is so you are in no position to claim its got a 2400% markup. Its not unusual for cables in retail stores to have 800%-1000% markup because they still have to pay the overhead costs... or did you want your only source for the cable to be mail order?
The dollar store is a liquidator. Their cost for the product does not reflect the going rate for the products they carry - they carry tail ends of other retailers' clearance and liquidation so their inventory in erratic both in variety and in quality. You thought that the Radio Shack clerk knew little, try asking questions at the Dollar Store.
Radio Shack sells on convenience. Yes their products have high markup but such is the price for convenience, or did you think that 7-11 charged the going rate for products also?
I'm sorry you were lied to but your descriptions were a bit over the top "the horrible part", "pressured you"? You were "desperate and running out of time" but still took the time out to rub your find in the sales clerk's face? That's class.
This salesperson was simply doing his job. Don't shop at Radio Shack if you don't like their tactics.
@MooseOfReason: They have been selling USB cables for a couple years now. This was more handy a couple years ago when USB cables were a bit more expensive because now I have a large stash of them that came with this and that. They also sell things like led lights and other various small electronics, and I hear they have cassette to MP3/CD adapters but I haven't seen them yet.
@fantomesq: Honestly, I think you're taking it a bit too far, but both parties were DBs here. The salesman was kind of a jerk, but so was the OP.
@TinaBringMeTheAx: I was going to do that, and then promptly lost the receipt and forgot about it anyway...oops! :)
Oddly enough, I think there was actually an article on here about their return policy last week. Some adapter (may have even been USB/PS2) was marked in the system as software, but they alerted the guy before he bought it, so he'd be able to get it somewhere else and return it.
Yes, Radio Shack, and other electronics retailers, overcharge for their products.
What I'd like to know is, what was the length of the cord in radio shack, and the cord in the Dollar Store?
@taking_this_easy: Good HDMI cables can be had for $20 or less at brick and mortar stores. No need to buy Monster even if you can't wait..
Five Below sells HDMI cables.
It's geared mainly to the tweens and teens, but they have some good stuff there, too. And everything is under $5.
well, i doubt he'll be able to a HDMI cable in the dollar store, and will have to buy the $50 premium Monster Cable-branded HDMI cable at radioshack/bestbuy....
i guess the key is that convenience pays a price... either pay the premium, try to find it somewhere else, or wait a few days for it to be shipped from monoprice.com