Radio Shack abandons components

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Tue Nov 20 10:46:23 2001

This is only another sign of the trend. Whereas, some 20+ years back, it was no
problem to go out and buy IC's and passives, which could easily be reworked,
today's ultra dense and surface mounted technology is so difficult to work by
hand that board-level repair is very difficult with tools likely to be in the
hobbyist's kit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what that's
done to the market.

Consequently, there's little sense in having a worldwide components distribution
network, as Radio Shack has had for >25 years. Today's electronic gadgets have
a hundred+ components per square inch of PCB, and most of them are difficult to
remove/replace without damaging them or the board. For me, it's enough of a
problem if I just drop one part. Resistors, capcitors, and inductors are the
size of a pinhead nowadays, and you need not only a microscope to read the
designators on them, but a vast library to interpret the markings. The retail
space is too valuable to use for something that no longer serves the public
interest, or the corporate coffers. What's more, the economy benefits more from
replacement of a PCB than from its repair, though it costs you, the end-user,
more, and generates more rubbish in the landfill.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck McManis" <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: Radio Shack abandons components


> I've seen this coming for a while.
>
> At 06:58 AM 11/20/01 -0500, John wrote:
> > I have seen several posts on other fora bemoaning the fact that our
> >beloved Radio Shack is rapidly phasing out it's sales of carded
> >components, resistors, caps, diodes, etc.
> >
> > I imagine this to be the case... and another blow to Enginerds and
> >parts-level hobbyists not lucky enough to be near a Fry's or other
> >still-functioning small-quantity parts outlet.
> >
> > Experimenters: Time to stock up!
>
>
> If you live in the US (sorry John) then Digikey is pretty good at getting
> many of the parts you need. Between them, Mouser, and a few surplus places
> I can find everything I need for any given project. However, it is true
> that "hobbyist" electronics is quickly going to become a lot more challenging.
>
> --Chuck
>
>
>
Received on Tue Nov 20 2001 - 10:46:23 GMT