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Meanwhile, in my town (pop 1.4 million in South America) nobody can fix anything anymore and the electronics shops are turning into lighting or computer stores.

Meanwhile, in my town (pop 1.4 million in South America) nobody can fix anything anymore and the electronics shops are turning into lighting or computer stores. I couldn't get a ribbon cable last month from what used to be the best electronics shop in town!

52-6F-62 7y ago
The same thing happened to Radioshack[0] in North America. Then it became The Source[1] in Canada. You can still get some parts at The Source these days, but not all of them, and not nearly as expansive a selection. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack [1] https://www.thesource.ca/ https://www.thesource.ca/
- bobthepanda 7y ago
  To be clear, Radioshack and Circuit City were two distinct companies in the US. From a cursory look at Wikipedia, Circuit City was liquidated in 2009 (and later revived), and Radioshack is still operating stores.
  - kup0 7y ago
    Radioshack is still around, but has scaled back extremely. From thousands of operating stores to 500. Had a few in our area all close, so instead of 2-3 miles, now requires 20 miles to get to one. Effectively to some towns/cities it feels like Radioshack is no more because of such a drastic hit to their footprint.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    Yeah—that Wikipedia link goes into the more complex history. I just remember the RadioShack near my hometown that was full of walls of components. Now you're lucky to find a blank F-connector at The Source in the largest city in the country. Sentimentality got to me. That said—for other Torontonians, or visitors, there's an awesome (edit: AWESOME) shop on College St between Spadina and Bathurst called Creatron: https://www.creatroninc.com/ https://www.creatroninc.com/ (and surprisingly don't discount Long and McQuade [repair shop, Bloor St] for good quality pots and switches, albeit at a markup).
- spectramax 7y ago
  If you can wait for 2 days, then you can use Digikey. It is the best thing we have in America for parts. That and Mouser.
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    Yes! Well acquainted! They were the go-to wholesalers when I was in film/tv. It’s just not the same as wandering into the shop and getting to know people there. Especially for personal interest/development or hobby projects.
barbecue_sauce 7y ago
Is this brain drain or the result of some sort of legislation?
- AWildC182 7y ago
  More likely liability and labor with those skills moving to better paying jobs. Doing BGA rework with the right tools is pretty trivial. You can teach the average high school kid to do this stuff but it's not worth it when they could just go to college and learn circuit design or programming to create a design for a less educated technician to build. If they'd rather learn the rework, there are plenty of places that will hire them for more than what someone would pay to have their phone potentially destroyed.
- forinti 7y ago
  I think it's a combination of factors. Vocational education has never been valued (people want college degrees), and also electronics have become cheap (and harder to fix). The country has also been slowly deindustrializing in the last decades.
- pkaye 7y ago
  I think what is happening it that it much cheaper to make something in China than to repair it locally. If you spend half the cost of a new thing to repair it, you may just buy a new thing.
  - StillBored 7y ago
    Yes, but its also because just about every business in the US adhears to the "what the market will bear" rather than "quality product at a fair price" idea. That and regulatory capture (think plumbers/ac repair/etc) mean that while the part may cost $25 retail, and it only takes 5 minutes to replace they can get away with charging $400 for it (happened to me recently) because they know its going to cost you more to replace it. Appliance repair is going the same way, as is automobile repair at a lot of dealers/name brand chains. The smaller guys will replace an alternator for $40+parts, but your going to be looking at 250+marked up parts at a lot of places. I had the dealer quote me $800 for a door lock, that I ended up fixing mysel for $2 in ebay parts and an hour in labor last year.

52-6F-62 7y ago

The same thing happened to Radioshack[0] in North America. Then it became The Source[1] in Canada. You can still get some parts at The Source these days, but not all of them, and not nearly as expansive a selection. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack [1] https://www.thesource.ca/ https://www.thesource.ca/

bobthepanda 7y ago
To be clear, Radioshack and Circuit City were two distinct companies in the US. From a cursory look at Wikipedia, Circuit City was liquidated in 2009 (and later revived), and Radioshack is still operating stores.
- kup0 7y ago
  Radioshack is still around, but has scaled back extremely. From thousands of operating stores to 500. Had a few in our area all close, so instead of 2-3 miles, now requires 20 miles to get to one. Effectively to some towns/cities it feels like Radioshack is no more because of such a drastic hit to their footprint.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  Yeah—that Wikipedia link goes into the more complex history. I just remember the RadioShack near my hometown that was full of walls of components. Now you're lucky to find a blank F-connector at The Source in the largest city in the country. Sentimentality got to me. That said—for other Torontonians, or visitors, there's an awesome (edit: AWESOME) shop on College St between Spadina and Bathurst called Creatron: https://www.creatroninc.com/ https://www.creatroninc.com/ (and surprisingly don't discount Long and McQuade [repair shop, Bloor St] for good quality pots and switches, albeit at a markup).
spectramax 7y ago
If you can wait for 2 days, then you can use Digikey. It is the best thing we have in America for parts. That and Mouser.
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  Yes! Well acquainted! They were the go-to wholesalers when I was in film/tv. It’s just not the same as wandering into the shop and getting to know people there. Especially for personal interest/development or hobby projects.

barbecue_sauce 7y ago

Is this brain drain or the result of some sort of legislation?

AWildC182 7y ago
More likely liability and labor with those skills moving to better paying jobs. Doing BGA rework with the right tools is pretty trivial. You can teach the average high school kid to do this stuff but it's not worth it when they could just go to college and learn circuit design or programming to create a design for a less educated technician to build. If they'd rather learn the rework, there are plenty of places that will hire them for more than what someone would pay to have their phone potentially destroyed.
forinti 7y ago
I think it's a combination of factors. Vocational education has never been valued (people want college degrees), and also electronics have become cheap (and harder to fix). The country has also been slowly deindustrializing in the last decades.
pkaye 7y ago
I think what is happening it that it much cheaper to make something in China than to repair it locally. If you spend half the cost of a new thing to repair it, you may just buy a new thing.
- StillBored 7y ago
  Yes, but its also because just about every business in the US adhears to the "what the market will bear" rather than "quality product at a fair price" idea. That and regulatory capture (think plumbers/ac repair/etc) mean that while the part may cost $25 retail, and it only takes 5 minutes to replace they can get away with charging $400 for it (happened to me recently) because they know its going to cost you more to replace it. Appliance repair is going the same way, as is automobile repair at a lot of dealers/name brand chains. The smaller guys will replace an alternator for $40+parts, but your going to be looking at 250+marked up parts at a lot of places. I had the dealer quote me $800 for a door lock, that I ended up fixing mysel for $2 in ebay parts and an hour in labor last year.