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)