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Here's my anecdote about the decline of Radio Shack: I went there to get a USB cable the other day. The only normal male-male USB cable they were stocking had
by Bud 15y ago
Here's my anecdote about the decline of Radio Shack:
I went there to get a USB cable the other day. The only normal male-male USB cable they were stocking had gold-plated ends (for reasons unknown), a big non-standard bulge in the connector at one end, and a ludicrously grandiose package, festooned with details about how this was a USB "transfer" cable, specially designed to transfer data between Windows computers.
For this reason, apparently, it was necessary to price it at $40. That's forty dollars. For a USB cable.
I laughed in the clerk's face while he was explaining to me about the "transfer cable" nonsense, told him he just lost a customer forever, and left.
- davidjade 15y agoCould it be that you picked up one of these? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Transfer_Cable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Transfer_Cable Maybe overpriced but it was likely not just a USB cable if it was called a "transfer" cable.
- Bud 15y agoTo me, that's no excuse. I have a better idea: sell a regular USB cable for $2, which is what they should cost, and design your OS so computers can talk to each other without having to build gold-plated $40 SuperWindowsTransfer versions of commodity cables. It's outrageous to me that such a product even exists, outrageous that it was $40, and outrageous that Radio Shack, of all places, could not carry a reasonably-priced USB cable. I would have even been ok with a certain price premium; I don't expect a retailer to match Monoprice. But $40 for the only USB cable in the shop? Please.
- georgieporgie 15y agoUh. That weird USB cable makes possible things which aren't designed into the USB hardware spec. It's the USB equivalent of a null-modem cable on RS232, something which cost quite a lot when purchased over the counter.
- marshray 15y agoIt may be not even be correct to call it a cable. Doesn't it need a CPU in it?
- CamperBob 15y agoCorrect. It makes for an interesting product-design case study -- the manufacturer probably thought they were being clever by making an intelligent peripheral look and behave like a 'cable', but the work went unappreciated ("This is just a stupid USB cable. Why are they charging $40 for it?")
- CamperBob 15y agoI'm sure the R&D department at Radio Shack will get right on that.
- follower 15y agoWas it something like this: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3366581 http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=336658... A standard USB cable is a type A plug to type B plug--is that what you mean by "male-male"? Did the RS cable have type A to type B or type A to Type A connectors? Edit: Actually, I'm guessing it's this one: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10795171 http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=107951... (My curiosity is now satisfied. :) I'm guessing my search failed earlier because the cable doesn't actually have "USB" in the name.)
- DanI-S 15y agoAll else aside, being rude to service staff because you dislike the business they work for is utterly inexcusable.
- marshray 15y agoTelling a business why they've lost your business isn't rude. But getting pressured to sign long multi-year contracts for thousands of dollars when you go into a store to buy a connector is. That's why I'll probably never go back to Radio Shack, even if they did stock capacitors again.