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Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

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mnementh:

--- Quote from: Specmaster on May 01, 2018, 02:20:37 pm ---Yes, over here RS refers to RS Components Ltd, years ago they used to be called Radio Spares and hence where the RS comes from.

Interestingly, over this side of the pond, Radio Shack used to be called Tandy.

--- End quote ---

Oh, they were known the same over here as well; Tandy was a leather goods manufacturer (Those horrible leather wallet kits you laced together in summer camp? That was them) that for some reason decided to bail out Radio Shack when they bought out Red Ten and bit off more than they could chew. It was either sheer brilliance or amazing dumb luck; they brought their inventorying system to Tandy-Radio Shack and at the same time hooked up with Sinclair and a few other computer visionaries and started producing toy PCs of the Vic20/Commodore64 ilk; this was the source of the TRS in the TRS-80 and its descendants.

For a while they were effin' 'uge; even became an industrial supplier which I bought from a few times. But the China-direct invasion hit them hard; their management kept removing more and more hobbyist product, and giving more and more real estate to other brands inside the store until it turned into a slightly different version of Brand Central. Once the core "Hobby Electronics" stuff vaporised, nobody cared for an overpriced electronics retailer with a tiny inventory when they could go to Best Butt or Fry's and shop oodles more makes & models even still get SOME hobbyist stuff. When Amazon started selling household electronics with 2-day delivery, that was the death knell for them (and I suspect Fry's & Best Buy may not be far behind).

Radidio Shack is like Toys 'R Us in that respect; they've been going out of business for over a decade. It's like death by millimeters with both of them.


mnem
"Even the great dragon can be bled dry by mere paper cuts, if there are enough of them."

tggzzz:

--- Quote from: Specmaster on May 01, 2018, 02:30:48 pm --- Always had a soft spot for RS and always used them for parts be they electronic, electrical, mechanical or tools where ever I've worked over the years.

--- End quote ---

In my formative years RS used to buy up the almost-bad components from major manufacturers, and rebadge them. Hence their opamps' Vos was bimodal, with peaks near +- the components Vosmax.

Specmaster:

--- Quote from: mnementh on May 01, 2018, 07:42:21 pm ---Oh, they were known the same over here as well; Tandy was a leather goods manufacturer (Those horrible leather wallet kits you laced together in summer camp? That was them) that for some reason decided to bail out Radio Shack when they bought out Red Ten and bit off more than they could chew. It was either sheer brilliance or amazing dumb luck; they brought their inventorying system to Tandy-Radio Shack and at the same time hooked up with Sinclair and a few other computer visionaries and started producing toy PCs of the Vic20/Commodore64 ilk; this was the source of the TRS in the TRS-80 and its descendants.

For a while they were effin' 'uge; even became an industrial supplier which I bought from a few times. But the China-direct invasion hit them hard; their management kept removing more and more hobbyist product, and giving more and more real estate to other brands inside the store until it turned into a slightly different version of Brand Central. Once the core "Hobby Electronics" stuff vaporised, nobody cared for an overpriced electronics retailer with a tiny inventory when they could go to Best Butt or Fry's and shop oodles more makes & models even still get SOME hobbyist stuff. When Amazon started selling household electronics with 2-day delivery, that was the death knell for them (and I suspect Fry's & Best Buy may not be far behind).

Radidio Shack is like Toys 'R Us in that respect; they've been going out of business for over a decade. It's like death by millimeters with both of them.


mnem
"Even the great dragon can be bled dry by mere paper cuts, if there are enough of them."

--- End quote ---
I can't help but think that they made the fatal decision to dump the hobbyist stuff instead of being different to the Frys and the Best Buys and over here, Dixons and Currys. Had they ditched the other stuff, then at least they would removed 2 other large competitors and may have survived or at least delayed their demise for a few more years by practically becoming almost the defacto standard hobbyiest supplier in the high street of electronic parts and diy kits.

bd139:

--- Quote from: tggzzz on May 01, 2018, 07:43:39 pm ---
--- Quote from: Specmaster on May 01, 2018, 02:30:48 pm --- Always had a soft spot for RS and always used them for parts be they electronic, electrical, mechanical or tools where ever I've worked over the years.

--- End quote ---

In my formative years RS used to buy up the almost-bad components from major manufacturers, and rebadge them. Hence their opamps' Vos was bimodal, with peaks near +- the components Vosmax.

--- End quote ---

Ah yes. That was when they sold databooks and you had to play “guess which OEM part this is” 

Edit: anyone remember bi-pak bargain UMUT parts? That was the worst.

Specmaster:
I remember that there was a electronics shop in Ware called Bi-Pak

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