[TriLUG] [more and more OT]: Hobby Parts for Electronics

[Chris Bullock]

I can say that RadioShack always has parts for CB radios, outside
VHF-UHF antennas and the such.  True the larger retailers have stuff
cheaper, and will continue to run the mom & pop stores out of town. 
Point is, get to know your local electronics dealer and find out what
they carry and if they don't have what you need tell them.  I have been
to radio shack looking for a part and they not stock it and they were
more than happy to get it for me, try that with BestBuy, you get some
young college punk, no offense to the college punks on the list, and if
it ain't on the shelf they don't and won't carry it.  A lot of the
pricing that radio shack has comes from packaging, almost everything
radio shack carries has a radio shack package on it.  Example, we buy
patch cables from a web site called KristaMicro, for less than a buck a
piece, same cable at BestBuy at least $10.  BestBuy has the individual
wrapped patch cable and KristaMicro sends it to you in a plastic bag.
Packaging costs do add up.
My $.02
--chris

Stephen Hoffman wrote:

>     The reason RadioShack's selection of small electronics and parts has
>dwindled over the years is actually simple, MONEY.  As a former
>employee (by no means a disgruntled one), I have seen what the markup
>on consumer electronics is there.  From a business standpoint,
>RadioShack would love nothing more then to wipe out all the parts in
>the store taking up valuable shelf space and sell nothing but
>cellphones and satellites (the highest profit margin).  Not that
>parts don't have an extremely high margin, the SPST momentary switch
>someone mentioned retailed for around 2.00 but I assure you it cost
>no more then $.10 and probably even closer to $.05.  Not a bad
>return, the only thing is you have to sell dozens of them to get the
>same return as one cigarette lighter adapter for a cellphone (Retail
>$29.99, warehouse $5).  And cellphones; they had a store cost of
>maybe $30 and retail for say $99, but the kickback from the provider
>(verizon, sprint, alltell) is $200 for every customer they sign, PLUS
>they get a percentage of your monthly bill from the provider until
>you cancel.  So just one cellphone costs $30 to RS, but they
>instantly produce $300 in revenue and a profit of say $250 after you
>pay the bills plus you get a few pennys each month from it.
>     Sadly, I occasionally neglected a parts customer to make the
>cellphone sale (we were commission based), even if I knew right where
>the part was, but you were the "ask too many questions" type.
>     Matt, don't be fooled, you can still get the 6.5536 MHz crystal, but
>no salesman making $5.15/hour is going to drop everything he is doing
>to look it up in the commercial catalog for 4.99 (of which he only
>gets 6% of).  Don't quote me on this, but I believe you can even
>still get mercury switches from said catalog (just raises a bunch of
>eyebrows when you do).
>     So when Jim calls it "Radio Shaft", I have to agree with
>him...somewhere down the line, you're gonna get it from them.
>
>My $.02
>
>Steve
>
>  
>