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"Americans are too busy to tinker" is not a very plausible premise for Radio Shack's demise. Others in this tread have pointed out Radio Shack's longstanding pr

by Thrymr 12y ago

"Americans are too busy to tinker" is not a very plausible premise for Radio Shack's demise. Others in this tread have pointed out Radio Shack's longstanding problems and failure to find a niche in the modern retail world. I'll just add that if it's really the lack of leisure time that's driving the decline, other leisure-based businesses (travel, entertainment, etc.) would be failing as well, and they're not. According to the Economist [0], "American men toil for pay nearly 12 hours less per week, on average, than they did 40 years ago—a fall that includes all work-related activities, such as commuting and water-cooler breaks". The big caveat to that is that people with more education are working more, and those with less education are working less. That may have some part in it, but the truth is that if Radio Shack was selling products that enough people wanted, they would find the time for them. Lack of time didn't kill them. [0] http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636612-time-poverty-problem-partly-perception-and-partly-distribution-why http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636612-ti... [edit: s/nice/niche]

delecti 12y ago
> failure to find a nice in the modern retail world I believe you meant "niche", not "nice", and I agree with that, though I don't think it's entirely their fault. The tinkering community has become much more technical, and has also moved online, all while consumer electronics became less user-serviceable.
- bduerst 12y ago
  Same thing happened with automobiles - the products became more complex under the hood and user serviceability is much more difficult.
shillster 12y ago
So you're saying unemployment is higher?
- Thrymr 12y ago
  > So you're saying unemployment is higher? Also underemployment: there are a lot of people working part time who would like to be working full time. My main point, though, is that there is no shortage of leisure time, and that can't be a reason for Radio Shack's decline. How could there not be enough leisure time when the average American over 18 still watches 5 hours of TV a day? [0] Maybe unemployed people can't afford to shop at Radio Shack, but that's not the argument being made in the article. [0] http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watches-5-hours-tv-day-article-1.1711954 http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watch...
s_q_b 12y ago
Radioshack's demise was precipitated by a number of factors. In no particular order the proximate causes were: 1. A drop in retail sales of electronics from in-person stores as the average consumer purchases more and more online, benefitting from the cost savings due to economies of scale and lack of overhead provided by online retailers such as Amazon. 2. A rapid fall in demand for the consumer products Radioshack offered: camcorders, cassette players, digital cameras, and prior to that CB radios. That trend accelerated as the functions of various devices were taken over by smartphones. 3. A failure to recapture the resurgent maker movement, despite a rather valiant last minute effort. Radioshack used to be a vital resource for makers. Mostly they stocked breadboards, transistors, capacitors, etc. in at least one third of their retail space. When I was a child, and my father first introduced me to electronics in the mid '90s, I loved Radioshack and visited at least once a week. The staff at Radioshack could give advice that my dad (a chemical engineer and MBA by education, civil engineer by profession, who built a simple computer out of transistors in the 1970s from scavenged parts from pinball machines when he was 13, so no novice) didn't know. A few months ago a local maker space opened and I enthusiastically signed up for classes on their machines. Ready to jump in, I figured I would build out some software while I waited to be safety certified on the Tormach CNC and various 3D printers, but their inexpensive Raspberry Pi and Pi competitors were sold out. Out of curiosity, I stopped into Radioshack, since there was one in the same mall. Lo and behold, most of the space formerly occupied by those parts was now filled with modern maker components: Arduinos, Beaglebones, shields to add capabilities, elegant project cases, various add-ons. I picked up everything I needed to get my project up and running on a Beaglebone Black. It was so much more convenient than waiting for Amazon to deliver that over the next couple days I went back for more components. Radioshack, for the first time in years, seemed like a place I wanted to frequent, a stopgap between my local maker space and Amazon. But there was one essential element missing: expertise. The staff was mostly clueless about the differences between the products they stocked. Radioshack failed because it failed to pivot to a more successful business model in time. They tried a scatter-shot approach, pinning their hopes on various experimental focal points: cellphones for a time, high end stereos, video games, etc. Hours worked is simply an unlikely cause of the company's decline. Americans are still tinkering, and the mythos of the lone inventor is alive and well in American psychology.
- 12y ago
drzaiusapelord 12y ago
> failure to find a niche in the modern retail world. When I was a kid, we'd go the RS pretty much monthly. It was the go to place for things like floppy disks, batteries, cables, stereos, etc. Sure, it wasn't pro-quality but it was good enough. Then pretty much all those items because obsolete or commoditized. Big box stores had all these things, and more, and usually cheaper with better brands than RS's in house and underwhelming 'Realistic' brand. Walgreens started stocking disks, CD's, cables, etc, which became easy as everyone pretty much standardize on the iPod and iPhone ten years ago. Hard to find stuff was easily gotten on the web and Amazon's big push to take on 3rd party sellers into their system meant you could find pretty much anything right there. I see all this hand-wringing about how RS had a golden age where it was staffed with nothing but EE's and had everything you can imagine, but that seems an overly pleasant interpretation of their product and services. Even during the "golden age" there was never anyone who knew anything about the components I was buying and I was happy to be left alone. The stock there was largely unimpressive as well. I'm afraid nostalgia has taken over here for some people. Not to mention, the margins on components was pretty much non-existent. The idea that it could have trivially turned itself into a "Maker Supply" depot is questionable as well. The prices it would need to get by would chase off makers who knew they could get it for 1/10th the price on Amazon and with things like Prime shipping, it became a no brainer. Brick and mortar retail is a cruel mistress. You have limited space and each shelf needs to bring in x amount of revenue if you want to stay open. How much space do you need to provide a decent experience to makers? How much would each one of those shelves bring in net everyday? Ten bucks maybe? Turning RS into a Akihabara-like component dumping ground just is financially unfeasible. Heck, the fabled Akihabara doesn't even exist anymore, its all video arcades and game and model shops as I learned during my trip there last year. RS is probably a cautionary tale of over-specialization without the "boutique" level of added value, but even that is questionable. I have no idea what could have saved it and am highly skeptical that anything would have worked. It just doesn't seem like a business that makes sense in the modern world. A lot of the projection I see seems to be people with a hobby horse they're trying to insert into the argument. Sometimes businesses need to die. There's really nothing wrong with that. We don't get our shoes recobbled anymore or need someone to help us when ours cars get vapor lock. Things change, and usually for the better.
- 12y ago
beefman 12y ago
I recently gathered data for what I think is the best measurement of this: hours worked per year per working-age (15-64) person. It has risen modestly, from 1,046 in 1964 to 1,156 in 2013. Maxima were: 1964-1970 1,137 1971-1980 1,122 1981-1990 1,205 1991-2000 1,290 2001-2013 1,254
- s_q_b 12y ago
  OECD Data puts the number at 1,790 currently vs. an OECD average of 1,765.[0] Differing underlying populations (i.e. the way you cleaned up your dataset per your definition) probably explain the discrepancy. Out of friendly curiosity, what're your data sources and methods? The OECD data seems suspect, especially since it has Japan at 1,745 hours/year, less than the US. [Ibid.] That just seems unlikely. [0] http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
  - beefman 12y ago
    I used BLS data for hours worked and OECD data (supplied via FRED) for population. Presumably your link is using a narrower demographic, since the numbers are so much higher. Edit: Yeah, that looks like hours worked per person employed http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USAAHWEP http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USAAHWEP It's blind to changes in the workforce (like women entering en masse) and isn't appropriate for measuring leisure time in society at large.

by Thrymr 12y ago

delecti 12y ago

> failure to find a nice in the modern retail world I believe you meant "niche", not "nice", and I agree with that, though I don't think it's entirely their fault. The tinkering community has become much more technical, and has also moved online, all while consumer electronics became less user-serviceable.

bduerst 12y ago
Same thing happened with automobiles - the products became more complex under the hood and user serviceability is much more difficult.

shillster 12y ago

So you're saying unemployment is higher?

Thrymr 12y ago
> So you're saying unemployment is higher? Also underemployment: there are a lot of people working part time who would like to be working full time. My main point, though, is that there is no shortage of leisure time, and that can't be a reason for Radio Shack's decline. How could there not be enough leisure time when the average American over 18 still watches 5 hours of TV a day? [0] Maybe unemployed people can't afford to shop at Radio Shack, but that's not the argument being made in the article. [0] http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watches-5-hours-tv-day-article-1.1711954 http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watch...

s_q_b 12y ago

Radioshack's demise was precipitated by a number of factors. In no particular order the proximate causes were: 1. A drop in retail sales of electronics from in-person stores as the average consumer purchases more and more online, benefitting from the cost savings due to economies of scale and lack of overhead provided by online retailers such as Amazon. 2. A rapid fall in demand for the consumer products Radioshack offered: camcorders, cassette players, digital cameras, and prior to that CB radios. That trend accelerated as the functions of various devices were taken over by smartphones. 3. A failure to recapture the resurgent maker movement, despite a rather valiant last minute effort. Radioshack used to be a vital resource for makers. Mostly they stocked breadboards, transistors, capacitors, etc. in at least one third of their retail space. When I was a child, and my father first introduced me to electronics in the mid '90s, I loved Radioshack and visited at least once a week. The staff at Radioshack could give advice that my dad (a chemical engineer and MBA by education, civil engineer by profession, who built a simple computer out of transistors in the 1970s from scavenged parts from pinball machines when he was 13, so no novice) didn't know. A few months ago a local maker space opened and I enthusiastically signed up for classes on their machines. Ready to jump in, I figured I would build out some software while I waited to be safety certified on the Tormach CNC and various 3D printers, but their inexpensive Raspberry Pi and Pi competitors were sold out. Out of curiosity, I stopped into Radioshack, since there was one in the same mall. Lo and behold, most of the space formerly occupied by those parts was now filled with modern maker components: Arduinos, Beaglebones, shields to add capabilities, elegant project cases, various add-ons. I picked up everything I needed to get my project up and running on a Beaglebone Black. It was so much more convenient than waiting for Amazon to deliver that over the next couple days I went back for more components. Radioshack, for the first time in years, seemed like a place I wanted to frequent, a stopgap between my local maker space and Amazon. But there was one essential element missing: expertise. The staff was mostly clueless about the differences between the products they stocked. Radioshack failed because it failed to pivot to a more successful business model in time. They tried a scatter-shot approach, pinning their hopes on various experimental focal points: cellphones for a time, high end stereos, video games, etc. Hours worked is simply an unlikely cause of the company's decline. Americans are still tinkering, and the mythos of the lone inventor is alive and well in American psychology.

12y ago

drzaiusapelord 12y ago

> failure to find a niche in the modern retail world. When I was a kid, we'd go the RS pretty much monthly. It was the go to place for things like floppy disks, batteries, cables, stereos, etc. Sure, it wasn't pro-quality but it was good enough. Then pretty much all those items because obsolete or commoditized. Big box stores had all these things, and more, and usually cheaper with better brands than RS's in house and underwhelming 'Realistic' brand. Walgreens started stocking disks, CD's, cables, etc, which became easy as everyone pretty much standardize on the iPod and iPhone ten years ago. Hard to find stuff was easily gotten on the web and Amazon's big push to take on 3rd party sellers into their system meant you could find pretty much anything right there. I see all this hand-wringing about how RS had a golden age where it was staffed with nothing but EE's and had everything you can imagine, but that seems an overly pleasant interpretation of their product and services. Even during the "golden age" there was never anyone who knew anything about the components I was buying and I was happy to be left alone. The stock there was largely unimpressive as well. I'm afraid nostalgia has taken over here for some people. Not to mention, the margins on components was pretty much non-existent. The idea that it could have trivially turned itself into a "Maker Supply" depot is questionable as well. The prices it would need to get by would chase off makers who knew they could get it for 1/10th the price on Amazon and with things like Prime shipping, it became a no brainer. Brick and mortar retail is a cruel mistress. You have limited space and each shelf needs to bring in x amount of revenue if you want to stay open. How much space do you need to provide a decent experience to makers? How much would each one of those shelves bring in net everyday? Ten bucks maybe? Turning RS into a Akihabara-like component dumping ground just is financially unfeasible. Heck, the fabled Akihabara doesn't even exist anymore, its all video arcades and game and model shops as I learned during my trip there last year. RS is probably a cautionary tale of over-specialization without the "boutique" level of added value, but even that is questionable. I have no idea what could have saved it and am highly skeptical that anything would have worked. It just doesn't seem like a business that makes sense in the modern world. A lot of the projection I see seems to be people with a hobby horse they're trying to insert into the argument. Sometimes businesses need to die. There's really nothing wrong with that. We don't get our shoes recobbled anymore or need someone to help us when ours cars get vapor lock. Things change, and usually for the better.

12y ago

beefman 12y ago

I recently gathered data for what I think is the best measurement of this: hours worked per year per working-age (15-64) person. It has risen modestly, from 1,046 in 1964 to 1,156 in 2013. Maxima were: 1964-1970 1,137 1971-1980 1,122 1981-1990 1,205 1991-2000 1,290 2001-2013 1,254

s_q_b 12y ago
OECD Data puts the number at 1,790 currently vs. an OECD average of 1,765.[0] Differing underlying populations (i.e. the way you cleaned up your dataset per your definition) probably explain the discrepancy. Out of friendly curiosity, what're your data sources and methods? The OECD data seems suspect, especially since it has Japan at 1,745 hours/year, less than the US. [Ibid.] That just seems unlikely. [0] http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
- beefman 12y ago
  I used BLS data for hours worked and OECD data (supplied via FRED) for population. Presumably your link is using a narrower demographic, since the numbers are so much higher. Edit: Yeah, that looks like hours worked per person employed http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USAAHWEP http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USAAHWEP It's blind to changes in the workforce (like women entering en masse) and isn't appropriate for measuring leisure time in society at large.