Techs & Trends
RadioShack's Wireless Business Struggles, As Does Stock
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/16844.php »
The retailer's wireless sales, which account for about one-third of its total sales, were a mixed bag in the fourth quarter. Total wireless sales rose 6% compared with the year-earlier period, but sales of Verizon Wireless products, which were taken out of stores at the close of business Dec. 31, were much lower compared with the fourth quarter of 2004.
In addition, management said in mid-February that the performance of Cingular Wireless products, which replaced Verizon on Jan. 1, was disappointing. RadioShack's management said the matter would be addressed by improved training of sales associates in its stores.
RadioShack continues to sell Sprint Nextel products.
The retailer is...
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The retailer's wireless sales, which account for about one-third of its total sales, were a mixed bag in the fourth quarter. Total wireless sales rose 6% compared with the year-earlier period, but sales of Verizon Wireless products, which were taken out of stores at the close of business Dec. 31, were much lower compared with the fourth quarter of 2004.
In addition, management said in mid-February that the performance of Cingular Wireless products, which replaced Verizon on Jan. 1, was disappointing. RadioShack's management said the matter would be addressed by improved training of sales associates in its stores.
RadioShack continues to sell Sprint Nextel products.
The retailer is...
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The problem is this:
Most radio shack sales people have talked down Cingular so much in the past, they are finding it hard to sell (in their mind only). That combined with the fact that everyone was used to RS carring Verizon, isn't drawing traffic into their stores for Cingular products.
Most radio shack sales people have talked down Cingular so much in the past, they are finding it hard to sell (in their mind only). That combined with the fact that everyone was used to RS carring Verizon, isn't drawing traffic into their stores for Cingular products.
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If I hadn't had the opportunity to try one of their phones outside the store, I'd have trouble too - I knew many a customer over the last few years that I converted - including friends who were tired of dropping calls.
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Much of what you say is true. Keep in mind that even with our current decline we are still the leading retailer of wireless phones.
Leaving Verizon is kind of bittersweet. On the one hand there was very little selling involved. We made our living on upgrades and additional lines to family plans. It was too easy. On the other hand we will no longer have to deal with the extreme poor quality of Verizon phones.
Look at the Radioshack ads on this website, they are for an exclusive handset, the L-6. There is an exclusive for Sprint coming soon.
This is indeed a transitionary period for us but we will soon regain our stride. We have too large of a customer base and the Verizon brand is not as formiddable as it was 2 years ago. We feel ...
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Leaving Verizon is kind of bittersweet. On the one hand there was very little selling involved. We made our living on upgrades and additional lines to family plans. It was too easy. On the other hand we will no longer have to deal with the extreme poor quality of Verizon phones.
Look at the Radioshack ads on this website, they are for an exclusive handset, the L-6. There is an exclusive for Sprint coming soon.
This is indeed a transitionary period for us but we will soon regain our stride. We have too large of a customer base and the Verizon brand is not as formiddable as it was 2 years ago. We feel ...
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I think we'll see results sooner than the 2nd qtr.. I'm going to go on a limb here, and say Cingular will add way more customers this qtr than they did this time last year... part of the increase will be because of radioshack, another part being the "enhanced" customer rules, better network quality and overall perception by the public.
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I hope you are right, but I wouldn't count the chickens before they have hatched....
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Well prelim. numbers are promising.. all expect the prepaid aspect anyway..churn continues to be high in that area (imho)
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i cant sleep so i wanted to reply to this post;
radio shack is actually going to be reporting their numbers today (april 21st).
first off i wanted to say, that i have never liked radio shack and wont invest in their stock.
next, even the acting CEO mentioned that the cingular transition has been more difficult for them. in fact sales are down and below their guidance for the first few months of entry. (of 2006) Channel checks suggest that this business has yet to improve in any significant way. while sales of Cingular wireless service at RadioShack stores
appear strong in certain parts of the country, management underestimated Verizon’s stronghold in the large cities and population centers of the Northeast. this will also take mo...
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radio shack is actually going to be reporting their numbers today (april 21st).
first off i wanted to say, that i have never liked radio shack and wont invest in their stock.
next, even the acting CEO mentioned that the cingular transition has been more difficult for them. in fact sales are down and below their guidance for the first few months of entry. (of 2006) Channel checks suggest that this business has yet to improve in any significant way. while sales of Cingular wireless service at RadioShack stores
appear strong in certain parts of the country, management underestimated Verizon’s stronghold in the large cities and population centers of the Northeast. this will also take mo...
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"Struggling home electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. on Friday posted a steep 85% decline in first-quarter profits, hurt by weakness in wireless sales."
""While we knew first quarter would be weak, the results are worse than we anticipated," Claire Babrowski, president and acting CEO said in a statement. "We clearly have a lot more work to do to get this company back to levels of profitability which we all expect. The first quarter results do nothing to change our belief in the turnaround plan announced early this year"
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as i thought; they didnt do well again this quarter and i think becuase of that transition to cingular from verizon will pay heavily.
""While we knew first quarter would be weak, the results are worse than we anticipated," Claire Babrowski, president and acting CEO said in a statement. "We clearly have a lot more work to do to get this company back to levels of profitability which we all expect. The first quarter results do nothing to change our belief in the turnaround plan announced early this year"
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as i thought; they didnt do well again this quarter and i think becuase of that transition to cingular from verizon will pay heavily.
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The decline in VZW sales is a surprise to whom?
The entire staff knew of the change by 4th Q. That didn't exactly encourage us to sell more.
Our reps dissappeared in early November, and didn't answer their phones after that.
What did they expect?
The entire staff knew of the change by 4th Q. That didn't exactly encourage us to sell more.
Our reps dissappeared in early November, and didn't answer their phones after that.
What did they expect?
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Since we would no longer have access to VZW my people were pushing Sprint more so we could continue to help our customers after the first of the year.
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Dropping stock or not, the only reason they switched over to Cingular to begin with is that Radio Shack is trying to become an international company. They didn't want to carry a provider that didn't work internationally. With Cingular being on the GSM network, it was a smart move for the company to expand to other countries.
I worked for the company for two and a half years, and that was in just about every company report they released after the Cingular announcement.
I worked for the company for two and a half years, and that was in just about every company report they released after the Cingular announcement.
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they can barely stay in business in the states why would they expand globally
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Let's differentiate between barely staying in business and having lower than expected profits. The company's issues revolve around the fact that an earnings guidance was issued and not met. Mostly because of the writedown of Verizon handsets. The company is very strong financially. We are profitable and very well run. We had comp store sales increases all last year. (check the financial reports)
So yes expanding to Mexico and Canada are important to us. As is growing our other businesses.
Since switching to Cingular we have had startup issues. Remember Cingular was the competition for many years. But we are seeing more success in switching our customers from Verizon to Cingular every day. Our wireless business with Verizon was mostly u...
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So yes expanding to Mexico and Canada are important to us. As is growing our other businesses.
Since switching to Cingular we have had startup issues. Remember Cingular was the competition for many years. But we are seeing more success in switching our customers from Verizon to Cingular every day. Our wireless business with Verizon was mostly u...
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just so we are clear is having to close 700 stores and 2 dc's an indicator of being financially strong and the recent ceo scandall means you guys are well run you guys at the shack need to run for cover cause it will all end soon
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We don't have to close any stores. We are closing stores that are in bad locations or no longer make sense because of other of our stores nearby. There are places where there are stores within a few blocks of each other or small cities with 2 stores where there should only be one. So what? It is an example of a bood business decision. We have more stores in some areas than the market can support.
I must admit that Mr. Edmundson's integrity breach is bad. But on the good side he is gone and the company is still moving forward. One man is not the company and we are much better off with our acting CEO (I hope they make her permanent)
Maybe if you actually read financial information you would see that we are not going to run for cover. Whe...
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I must admit that Mr. Edmundson's integrity breach is bad. But on the good side he is gone and the company is still moving forward. One man is not the company and we are much better off with our acting CEO (I hope they make her permanent)
Maybe if you actually read financial information you would see that we are not going to run for cover. Whe...
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Agreed. I know the two stores they're closing in my district, and they make perfect sense. Even the manager in one of those stores, who's worked for this company for thirty years, thinks its a great call.
I still see RS making too many mistakes though.
I still see RS making too many mistakes though.
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"Maybe if you actually read financial information you would see that we are not going to run for cover. When we run year over year sales increases and operating cash flow is good then we are not in crisis."
you might want to check it again;
"radio shack used $310 million in cash in the 1st quarter of 2006" free cash flow is negative $309 Million for the first quarter 2006.
you might want to check it again;
"radio shack used $310 million in cash in the 1st quarter of 2006" free cash flow is negative $309 Million for the first quarter 2006.
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FYI A CEO of any company can make or break a company!
Len Roberts made Radio Shack a much better company when he became CEO and apparently he may have broken the company too.
Think about that.
P.S. If Radio Shack wants to become the company it once was or possibly a better one they need to train and treat there employees alot better, and maybe even consider being somewhat competitive price wise.
Len Roberts made Radio Shack a much better company when he became CEO and apparently he may have broken the company too.
Think about that.
P.S. If Radio Shack wants to become the company it once was or possibly a better one they need to train and treat there employees alot better, and maybe even consider being somewhat competitive price wise.
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You want to talk crap phones? Cingular's phones may be pretty on the outside, but they were the vast majority of the phones I worked on at my last job as a phone tech.
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The Radioshack people have been selling Verizon Wireless phones for years. Now the Radioshack people talk bad about the product they used to sell? That's a sign of bad business, or bad employees. The decline of sales is only a point of view. No one can really say whether or not RadioShack is doing well, unless they go around to all the stores and gather numbers. One store might be doing terrible, and a different one might be going crazy with sales! Most of it probably depends on location.
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Who Makes Cingular Phones?
last time i checked cingular carries alot of the same brand phones as verizon wireless does so to say one carrier has better made phones than another carrier is a bunch of BS, i know for a fact that cingular phones have alot of technical problems just like anyone else.
last time i checked cingular carries alot of the same brand phones as verizon wireless does so to say one carrier has better made phones than another carrier is a bunch of BS, i know for a fact that cingular phones have alot of technical problems just like anyone else.
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you actually believe that Radio Shack will get out of this slump? come on.. didnt you check out the first quarter's numbers? how awful.
that is the problem if someone either 1. works for the company or 2. is too close to it becuase if it is doing bad they still think there would be hope...
that is the problem if someone either 1. works for the company or 2. is too close to it becuase if it is doing bad they still think there would be hope...
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spum said:
Dropping stock or not, the only reason they switched over to Cingular to begin with is that Radio Shack is trying to become an international company. They didn't want to carry a provider that didn't work internationally. With Cingular being on the GSM network, it was a smart move for the company to expand to other countries.
I worked for the company for two and a half years, and that was in just about every company report they released after the Cingular announcement.
I really have to doubt RS's commitment to providing cellular service to people traveling abroad. What this has to do with is the almighty dollar. They've openly said that Cingular pays more in commission per phone.
To be ...
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First, I sure wouldn't bet against you, even though it is kind of cynical.
However, I can say this: VZW kept lowering their commission structure. They dropped it so low that we were paid LESS for selling almost TWO TIMES as many phones - that does not encourage growth. That encourages exactly what happened.
In all honesty, at first I was very much against switching. I thought that it finally would be the end for RS. After going through and living with their product a while, it will take some other stupidity to kill this company.
However, I can say this: VZW kept lowering their commission structure. They dropped it so low that we were paid LESS for selling almost TWO TIMES as many phones - that does not encourage growth. That encourages exactly what happened.
In all honesty, at first I was very much against switching. I thought that it finally would be the end for RS. After going through and living with their product a while, it will take some other stupidity to kill this company.
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companies don't just start cutting cash from peoples pockets like that for no reason.
every single time i have ever lost comission in a sales job it was because of a screw up on my behalf. which i would say is a big ditto for the shack.
every single time i have ever lost comission in a sales job it was because of a screw up on my behalf. which i would say is a big ditto for the shack.
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The only place I have ever had my commissions cut in half would be at Sears when they merged with K-Mart. Now Sears hates their full-timers, just like K-Mart... And they keep cutting everyone's commission. Good thing I got out of that mess.
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I have great respect for Robert Faletra, who is a a CRN report who writes about "IT CHANNEL ISSUES" and his April 28 article blasts Verizon - excellent reading on the issue of Verizon and Verizon partners in general.
My personal take, after experiencing the V710 / Bluetooth disaster, is that I am actively looking to leave VZW end of aug w/ my five phones and $350/mo billing and will either go back to Alltel or try Cingular. I now distrust VZW enough to not give them my future business. This Faletra article pretty much sums up my opinion of VZA last year or so after the V710 rollout (arrogance and little concern for business customers' needs) -
http:// » www.
crn.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0T1RSODD DPDXCQSNDBOCKICCJUMEKJVN?articleI...
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My personal take, after experiencing the V710 / Bluetooth disaster, is that I am actively looking to leave VZW end of aug w/ my five phones and $350/mo billing and will either go back to Alltel or try Cingular. I now distrust VZW enough to not give them my future business. This Faletra article pretty much sums up my opinion of VZA last year or so after the V710 rollout (arrogance and little concern for business customers' needs) -
http:// » www.
crn.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0T1RSODD DPDXCQSNDBOCKICCJUMEKJVN?articleI...
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Did VZW really keep lowering their payout to radio shack or did radio shack keep lowering their payout to employees?
not to mention that sprint forks out a crap load of dough to radio shack to carry their products.
When Sprint first started selling their service at radio shack they were pretty much buying radio shack and their employees loyalty to sell their phones by having so called meetings where sprint rented out sports parks, theaters, laser tag, etc, for their meetings along with millions a month just for RS to carry sprint products.
which would be a better combination for radio shack: Sprint & Cingular or VZW & Cingular?
atleast when radio shack was selling VZW products and services they had a product that has and is r...
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not to mention that sprint forks out a crap load of dough to radio shack to carry their products.
When Sprint first started selling their service at radio shack they were pretty much buying radio shack and their employees loyalty to sell their phones by having so called meetings where sprint rented out sports parks, theaters, laser tag, etc, for their meetings along with millions a month just for RS to carry sprint products.
which would be a better combination for radio shack: Sprint & Cingular or VZW & Cingular?
atleast when radio shack was selling VZW products and services they had a product that has and is r...
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What are you talking about? Verizon does "works internationally" as you put it. I think we work in more places than you can think of. I think the problem starts with ignorant RS reps not explaining our international plans/dialing policy to new and existing customers. We have had customers walk away thinking we did not provide service when traveling outside the U.S. bullsh*t.
It would be a smart move for RS to stay right where they are, learn their ****, and try and sell quality products for once.
It would be a smart move for RS to stay right where they are, learn their ****, and try and sell quality products for once.
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Yes, we know about the limited roaming where there is CDMA in Asia and Latin America. But for Europe where the EU has made CDMA illegal the only choice a VZW customer has is to either buy a CDMA/GSM phone or to rent a GSM phone while traveling abroad. Not at all the same as owning your own quad band phone.
As for learning our lesson and selling quality products we did and now we are selling Sprint and Cingular.
As for learning our lesson and selling quality products we did and now we are selling Sprint and Cingular.
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training will not help, in that environment, the product will sell itself
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I am so happy that Radio Shack no longer represents Verizon in any way shape or form. They were the first impression of Verizon for a new customer and they're sad. Their sales reps usually lacked knowledge to properly sell and close a cell contract. I can't begin to tell anyone the amount of calls placed for support to run an application for a phone. The poor customers calling in about their f*cked up bills or they weren't explained features properly, etc. God forbid Radio shack gave out loaner phones for customers who were waiting on an insurance replacement.
When the word was out that we were losing radio shack. I think everyone said Thank God! I have no idea where in the hell they find the people they do and hire them.. the least they ...
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When the word was out that we were losing radio shack. I think everyone said Thank God! I have no idea where in the hell they find the people they do and hire them.. the least they ...
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the employees are idiots I often wonder how they find their way to the store every day
they have no business selling wireless for any company
I constantly have to fix accounts that the RS down the road screw up
they have no business selling wireless for any company
I constantly have to fix accounts that the RS down the road screw up
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Funny that they sell more phones than anyone else out there....even though they are struggling idiots....
And if they are bumbling idiots, leading the industry, what does that make you? 😲
And if they are bumbling idiots, leading the industry, what does that make you? 😲
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Well, when you've got over 5000 stores, it's tough NOT to sell a lot of phones.
For the Shack, it's quantity over quality. 🙄
For the Shack, it's quantity over quality. 🙄
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They actually have one of the best training programs in the nation. The problem is that most of that store does not deal with cell phones. Most of the job is knowing about resistors, computer networks, home theater setups, etc. There's a really broad range of things that need to be learned at Radio Shack, and it doesn't help that the wireless industry changes things so frequently. I think anyone would struggle for a while considering how much information their employees actually have to process.
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Much of what you say is true. On any given day we can be visited by our Qwest rep (DSL), Comcast rep, Dish Network rep, Sprint rep, Cingular rep, Nokia rep, and Sony Ericsson rep. Many days I have spent my entire day with these people.
Big box stores have their associates specialize in a category so it is easier for them. They are not that well thought of, however in customer surveys. Their image is based on selection and price, not necessarily service. RadioShack does quite well in customer surveys.
http://home.rsonline.tandy.com/rsodocuments/RadioSha ... »
Many (not all) who would bash are of the unphilosophic opinion...
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Big box stores have their associates specialize in a category so it is easier for them. They are not that well thought of, however in customer surveys. Their image is based on selection and price, not necessarily service. RadioShack does quite well in customer surveys.
http://home.rsonline.tandy.com/rsodocuments/RadioSha ... »
Many (not all) who would bash are of the unphilosophic opinion...
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Isn't it also interesting, CS2006, that the only ones who respect or have any positive opinion about Radioshack are the ones that work for them, like you?
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I agree with your point, because I think that Radio Shack now is one of the worst companies out there especially when it comes to the wireless industry. Granted they are powerful, and claim to be number one in wireless sales, but they have been indicating that the wireless sales are down and that the Cingular transition is horrible. I think that was a horrible decision to leave Verizon Wireless and go to Cingular.
Check out the last quarterly report that Radio Shack gave.. What a horrible quarter and they also lost money. If they don’t rebound quickly, bad things will happen to this company.
They are even closing stores down. (1,000 or so)
After all the problems at Radio Shack, you would think that CS2006 would also be fed up ...
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Check out the last quarterly report that Radio Shack gave.. What a horrible quarter and they also lost money. If they don’t rebound quickly, bad things will happen to this company.
They are even closing stores down. (1,000 or so)
After all the problems at Radio Shack, you would think that CS2006 would also be fed up ...
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I think a big reason that they lost a lot of money is that they changed the way their sales associates are paid. Instead of straight commission, it's a base hourly plus a much smaller percentage of commission. The guys that used to make a ton of money started making next to nothing and quit. Now they have a bunch of new people with nobody to train them (the Radio Shack here has a manager that's been with the company less than 6 months). I don't think it has much to do with the Cingular switch, personally.
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Yea, perhaps the commission changing has something to do with it, but I don’t think that it should matter really, because all they would have to do is work a little bit harder- people are doing that in many businesses when they get base plus commission.
Radio Shack for some reason cannot compete against the wireless channels and I don’t even know why they are focusing on that (wireless business) because even when Verizon Wireless was in their stores, their sales from VZ were declining year over year- so what is going on?
Radio Shack for some reason cannot compete against the wireless channels and I don’t even know why they are focusing on that (wireless business) because even when Verizon Wireless was in their stores, their sales from VZ were declining year over year- so what is going on?
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When the company promises you something for a long time (better pay plan) and doesn't deliver, it doesn't make people want to work harder.
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Yea that is true.. and that shows that Radio Shack struggles with sales on both the actual sales and the associates who do the sales (or lack their of).
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On top of that they are cutting hours and extra employees - which gives the employees the impression the company is dying, even if it isn't.
On top of that, because of the announced store closings, customers come in and ask, "Are you guys closing too?" Does not help morale.
Bottom line is RS has a lot of problems to sort out - nothing that cannot be done; just has to be done right. They are too big to die quickly, and they still do things better than other places I've seen....
On top of that, because of the announced store closings, customers come in and ask, "Are you guys closing too?" Does not help morale.
Bottom line is RS has a lot of problems to sort out - nothing that cannot be done; just has to be done right. They are too big to die quickly, and they still do things better than other places I've seen....
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evilbstrd666 said:
They are too big to die quickly, and they still do things better than other places I've seen....
Just curious, can I have some examples?
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Parts. The only place I can think of that might outdo their parts selection is Fry's Electronics, but Fry's employees usually don't have any idea what's going on.
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RadioShack's biggest problem is that they are trying to get out of the parts business. If they had not tried to compete with the big box electronics stores and become a tv store, they would not be in the trouble they are in now. As a RadioShack Dealer (franchise) it is frustrating to need small parts and be told that we can't get them from RadioShack anymore.
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I worked at one mall where we had customers coming from a different retailer to pay their Sprint deposits. Their average price on a handset was $100 more than what Sprint or RS was selling it for at the time.....
Then when I worked at a store in a smaller community there was another retailer telling customers they didn't have to pay their deposits..... they didn't last too long.
Then there were the reps telling me that a customer couldn't get x feature when I had done it a thousand times before and after they told me I couldn't.
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones..... and no one I have seen or talked to is good enough to throw stones.
Then when I worked at a store in a smaller community there was another retailer telling customers they didn't have to pay their deposits..... they didn't last too long.
Then there were the reps telling me that a customer couldn't get x feature when I had done it a thousand times before and after they told me I couldn't.
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones..... and no one I have seen or talked to is good enough to throw stones.
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they are not too big to die quickly.. if they have a quarter like they did in the previous one they would take that next step of going towards the chapter 11 area..
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When you think about radioshack alone, yeah they sell a lot of phones. But when you relate radioshack out of every place that sells phones... Radioshack sucks.
And for spum...
They may have awesome training!!!!! But what good does training do for people who are a bit daft...
You've heard verizon customer service talk.... And apparently they haven't been doing anything right...
And for spum...
They may have awesome training!!!!! But what good does training do for people who are a bit daft...
You've heard verizon customer service talk.... And apparently they haven't been doing anything right...
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Reread my post because you must have missed the point completely. Radio Shack is not a cell phone store only. If it were, you can bet that their employess would be just as good as any other retailer. It's not only about cell phones, and when your employee turnover rate is pretty high, it's hard to learn everything especially when the rules are changed on you all the time. You can have a perfectly intelligent person working there, but they still need to learn everything in the store...not just cell phones. Cell phones are not a highly requested item in that job.
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Yeah, and you're an idiot if you think VZW is headed in the right direction - their customer service has been in a decline for the past two years. Both myself, my friends and family all have dropped them in the last six months because VZW CS reps are retarded too.
It takes a retard to know a retard.
It takes a retard to know a retard.
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