Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

Again, is this speculation or is there something you can point to that states the line is being discontinued? If you don't know, then label it speculation please.

I agree with Andy A., there can be many reasons for the sale, but discontinued doesn't appear to be one of them.

The manager at my local RS stated he'd be receiving new stock next week, and the sale was extended to April 1. I specifically asked him if it was being discontinued and he said no, he believed the sale was to get a larger group out there equipped with Vex kits to drive future sales, and that the past year's sales volume has resulted in significant efficiencies of scale, the 'regular' price in the future would be about $199 for the starter kit.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

Hey no worries, call the radioshack directly, i did, and u are able to buy anything you want straight from them, no shipping, and no tax!!!

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

They still do, just not in-store. My local guy can get you anything - almost - in 2-3 days. Even a DB-15 connector for the OI.

Don

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

From reading a newspaper article a few weeks ago, Radio Shack wasn't doing well because they can't sell large TV sets because of its small stores. Why can't Radio Shack go back to its original business - selling electronic parts, power adapters, batteries, cables, etc?

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

My local store is supposed to ship all vex stock not sold by April 2nd back to Texas. The regional manager (he works out of the store next door to my work) for RI and southern Mass said that they would no longer carry the Kits or accessories at any of his stores but they would still be available atleast for a while online at radioshack.com.


The reason they switched to selling what they do now is that they were not making a profit. Very few people outside the engineering (including FIRST) community buy electrical components. They still sell batteries and some power adapters. The biggest problem with this market is the majority of people buy batteries and cables when they buy something that needs them. If radio shack sold more TV's they would sell more cables. Also very few people stop a Radio shack just to buy batteries it is much easier to get them at another store and avoid the extra stop.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

'cause there's no money in 10 cent resistors.

Amateur Radio has seen this issue for quite some time, in that the only place to get most components is mail order (online). Sure, some folks have a store that sells most anything near by - here in metro NYC (a big market by anyone's standards) I know of only one decent electronics store, an hour from here out in the sticks. (well, sticks for NYC).

Radio Shack needs to sell things that they can sell in volume AND have a decent profit margin. TVs are one choice, but RS should know they can't complete with the likes of Fye and Best Buy. Instead they need to focus on the smaller stuff that still costs a lot, like - ugh - cell phones. sigh.

On another post, someone stated their RS manager said they were discontinuing the line, so perhaps Jeff you are correct. I can't resolve that with what I heard, but time will tell.

Don

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

I know this thread is trying to get attention, but can we replace "MAD at" with "disappointed with" in the title?

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

I went into Radioshack the other day looking to buy a small portable FM radio (as I don't believe in paying $300 to listen to music -cough- iPod -cough-). They looked at me funny and led me over to a corner of the store where they had a whole three types to choose from.

I was quite disappointed.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

HSC manages to survive quite well selling electronic components. They even sponsor Team 1351 (Archbishop Mitty HS), and apparently donated something like 1.6 MILLION resistors to them.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

I thought FIRST had a three year agreement from RS for Vex Challenge Sponsorship. Can anyone verify this?

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

It might be that RS is still be sponsoring the VEX Challenge, but will no longer sell them in the stores for the general public.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

Heheheh.... I had one clerk saying that they were just trying to move the product and that's why it was on sale. He said that the product wasn't going anywhere. I had another clerk say that the sale wasn't even in all the stores. Then my mother had one clerk said that they were ending the line. Also, vex labs said they were talking to Radio Shack about selling all the parts in the basic kit of parts. It would be really strange for them to say that when the line is discontinued. Though I find it odd too about the date which is also when the sale is going to end. So the answer is yes. As to what question it answers. I don't know. The good news is that I told the one clerk about the Boston regional because he was interested in it for his nephew and the new Lego robotics system is coming out soon.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

At 3 of 4 stores I visited, the people there told me that Radioshack was not going to be selling vex in the future. (Note, I've visited another store since my last post in case anyone is wondering about the numbers in my posts)

The guy at the last store said he didn't know anything about it being discontinued but expressed his delight in the 50% off sale in combination with his employee discount.


Now, I find it hard to believe that VEX is being completely discontinued from all stores considering how big a hit it is with FVC and FRC teams alone.

By the way, http://www.vexlabs.com is selling a lot of vex components, but at full price.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

I can find nothing anywhere beside this website that indicates that Radio Shack may be discontinuing its sale of Vex products. Employees, more often than not, don't really know what they're talking about.

That said, the FIRST Vex Challenge alone will not support the retail sale of the Vex product just as the FIRST LEGO League competition (and its far greater number of participating teams) did not make the Mindstorms kits a success.

Re: Very MAD at Radio Shack
 

I have to buy anything I want from online stores because walk-in stores don't have anything I want. I am afraid to buy and use non-VEX parts that plug into the VEX micro controller because I don't want to murder the expensive VEX micro controller. I lost interest in the Lego Mindstorms Robot Invention Set because of limited number of I/O ports but I can build anything I want using the Lego parts. I found out that Lego will release a new version of Lego Mindstorms set but I'm afraid of buying it.