5 ms·

One of my favorite writers covered his tenure at RadioShack back in the early/mid augts http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories ht

One of my favorite writers covered his tenure at RadioShack back in the early/mid augts http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy... It's one of the funniest/most heartbreaking articles I have ever read, but also explains a lot about RadioShack's slow spiraling collapse.

danielweber 12y ago
This is a wonderful story. A management clusterfudge all the way. I'm confused by him saying that you don't get commissions until hitting a threshold that he "barely" hit once, and then a paragraph later he talks about someone returning phones that got him a $40 commission (so he now loses that commission).
- HCIdivision17 12y ago
  It is actually likely as bad as you'd imagine. Think about how you could rationalize paying minimum wage, but then docking the pay. Give up? Read the comment by `pud in another thread a couple months back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8665082 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8665082 The shorter seems to be that they were always on commision, with a default of minimum wage. Should a return occur, the commision would be removed, even if that dropped them below minimum wage. EDIT: Note further in the thread that a Canadian worker always got minimum wage. So it's possible the sleaze varied by region.
  - pjc50 12y ago
    In countries with working legal systems, minimum wage means what it says, so removing the commission to drop pay below minimum wage levels would be illegal, and likely to be enforced.
- knd775 12y ago
  I think that they got a sales commission for everything sold after a threshold, but they always got a commission for mobile phones in particular (likely through the carrier).
syntheticnature 12y ago
HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8663729 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8663729
aceperry 12y ago
That's an amazing story. I had no idea how screwed up Radio Shack's management was. I knew they didn't have much business sense, but this is required reading.

danielweber 12y ago

This is a wonderful story. A management clusterfudge all the way. I'm confused by him saying that you don't get commissions until hitting a threshold that he "barely" hit once, and then a paragraph later he talks about someone returning phones that got him a $40 commission (so he now loses that commission).

HCIdivision17 12y ago
It is actually likely as bad as you'd imagine. Think about how you could rationalize paying minimum wage, but then docking the pay. Give up? Read the comment by `pud in another thread a couple months back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8665082 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8665082 The shorter seems to be that they were always on commision, with a default of minimum wage. Should a return occur, the commision would be removed, even if that dropped them below minimum wage. EDIT: Note further in the thread that a Canadian worker always got minimum wage. So it's possible the sleaze varied by region.
- pjc50 12y ago
  In countries with working legal systems, minimum wage means what it says, so removing the commission to drop pay below minimum wage levels would be illegal, and likely to be enforced.
knd775 12y ago
I think that they got a sales commission for everything sold after a threshold, but they always got a commission for mobile phones in particular (likely through the carrier).

syntheticnature 12y ago

HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8663729 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8663729

aceperry 12y ago

That's an amazing story. I had no idea how screwed up Radio Shack's management was. I knew they didn't have much business sense, but this is required reading.