rsound

Former Sales and then Repair employee: All sorts of problems with this (1) Competent repair people and tools are expensive, and electronics are so cheap as to be throwaway. (2) Liability: Any attempt to fix it means you broke it and owe the customer a free replacement. (3) High margin parts is logical, but but Wall Street pins its metrics on gross sales, not net margin, so that's what we would optimize for.

Radio Shack provided me with a career all through college, but it was a nightmare. (1) Free overtime; all end-of-day daily reports and the bi-monthly inventories were done off the clock if you valued your job. And in those days, daily reports took at least an hour, and inventories were a 12-hour marathon. (2) Fraud: many stories here, but the best was being told by the DM to add to customer's income on a Citiline application so they would be approved. That DM was promoted for his great Citiline approval numbers. (3) Commission was cut in half during the Christmas season because it was easier to make sales then. (4) Mangers made minimum wage with the promise of bonus to make up the difference, but something ALWAYS went wrong to cancel the bonus, and the promise was always "you'll get it next year". Managers stayed until they discovered they would never get a bonus. (4) I was an engineering student, and so knew my shit. People would drive to my store to buy things from me. Finally I was told I was being too helpful, and to stop. The mantra was "get them in, get their money, and get them out".

On the other hand, back in those days they made GREAT shit. Ok, to be exact, the had great shit made for them. I'm sitting here at my computer listening to a Realistic STA-2280 receiver I bought in the late 1980's, and it is still running great and is the bee's-knees.

It would be tempting to say "go back to the old days" to save Radio Shack. But things aren't like they used to be. People don't build things or fix things anymore. I got my start in Electronics by building a Science-Fair RK-110 AM radio kit, and wearing the shit out of my 100 in 1 electronics project lab (maybe the wrong name there). I still have that radio; it is playing at the moment.

You may sense both my affection for Radio Shack and sadness for what it has become. I LOVED working there; I was like a boozer swimming in beer. It's sad to see what has become of the old girl. If I had my suggestions (and they are worth what you paid for them; zero) here they are: (1) Quit selling low margin items. You are not going to make it up in volume because Best Buy and Amazon have you beat already (2) And I'm not sure you can do this... Bring back house brands. People would pay extra for Realistic Receivers because they were great quality and you could always get them fixed. But then again, we are a throwaway society and quality don't mean shit anymore. (3) Pay employees the same commission all year. Yes it is easier to make money at Christmas, but we work harder too. (4) Quit finding creative ways to screw managers out of bonus. Your success depends on competent managers in the stores, and you can't keep good people by fucking them, and the "90 day wonders" can't manage their own bowel movements.

Someday I'll write an Ode to Radio Shack, that grand old lady that I remember and was thrilled to work for so many years ago.

EEEK, the Planogram; The ultimate in corporate "I don't understand the customer and don't care".

You have already said that the turbines are stopped when the wind exceeds 25KPH. So, how do they stop them? do they turn the power-head into the wind and feather the blades? Does the turbine have brakes or other means of locking the shaft? When the wind is over-speed, do they feather the blades to lower the RPM, or is it always a hard stop? What is the maximum wind load if the system is in its maximum condition of safety (a.k.a. we have done everything we can in advance of the storm). Finally, your generators are variable speed (variable speed wind). Are they DC generators or alternators? How do you keep the frequency right, or do you use inverters?

I was an engineering student working for the shack, and told by my manger to HIDE the fact I knew anything about electronics. My job was SALES and product knowledge and helping the customer took too much time from selling. Once again, his phrase was "get them in, get their money, and get them OUT".