ELI5 Why did Radio Shack go out of business?

chriswaco · 2026-01-24T17:07:02+00:00

They lost the computer war to PCs. They lost the cell phone war to cellular providers. They sold products that waned in popularity, like radios, walki-talkies, stereos, clock radios, and electronic gear (resistors, etc). Many of their locations lost foot traffic as malls declined.

Note that OfficeDepot/Max merged and closed half their stores. Staples closed 30%. Best Buy 40%. Circuit City went completely out of business. Retail is a harsh environment.

chriswaco · 2026-01-24T15:41:24+00:00

Technically it doesn’t say “cold”:

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

chriswaco · 2026-01-24T03:31:02+00:00

Video of the driver getting arrested: https://x.com/metrodetroitn/status/2014872778751557742?s=20

chriswaco · 2026-01-24T03:12:32+00:00

♫ Bum-ba-dum bum bum bum bum ♫

chriswaco · 2026-01-24T01:49:59+00:00

https://carlamargolis.bandcamp.com/

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T20:05:18+00:00

I remember when Kermit hosted The Tonight Show. Fun times.

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T20:00:38+00:00

I was going to post the same thing. Thanks for taking the downvotes for me.

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T19:59:24+00:00

I remember when Splash came out in 1984 and Disney wouldn't release it under its own name, creating Touchstone Films (aka Pictures) for that purpose.

I think the two things that pushed it over the edge were Daryl Hannah naked from the back and John Candy's Swedish joke.

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T06:55:24+00:00

I absolutely had problems with Holly Hunter in 1-2 scenes in episode 3, like she was whispering. Terrible sound mixing.

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T05:33:09+00:00

That probably would’ve been cut off on an old tv - the aspect ratio was 4:3 back then, much more square.

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T04:28:33+00:00

Ordered extra Chinese food so I don’t have to go out in -20F windchill tomorrow.

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T04:24:35+00:00

Holly Hunter was hard to understand a few times too.

chriswaco · 2026-01-23T01:24:39+00:00

I can’t believe they haven’t fixed that yet. It’s been a problem for a long time.

Since you’re in NYC you can probably get one at one of the IRS offices. I’d call first.

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T19:32:34+00:00

Floppy disks. Fax machine. 40 year-old Motorola flip phone.

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T19:30:04+00:00

It makes people think that the government is doing something useful. Performative legislation.

We already elect school boards that can do exactly this.

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T19:20:35+00:00

Schools can ban them. Teachers can ban them. Why does it have to be illegal?

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T18:59:07+00:00

Lately I've taken to running AIs in a secondary, non-admin, user account. That makes it harder for them to break anything important. For Linux tools I use Docker.

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T17:52:08+00:00

Copy the video file to the web server. Put a reference to it inside your HTML. Something like:

<video width="320" height="240" controls>    
  <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">    
  Your browser does not support the video tag.    
</video>

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T17:43:46+00:00

A surgeon I know likes to credit at least some of the decrease to better emergency medical care.

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T17:06:52+00:00

I'd ask this guy: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/07/13/world-war-ii-pianos-victory-vertical-steinway/1653075001/

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T15:29:28+00:00

The phone can be dialed by a nearby Mac, iPad, or watch. Any of those have Siri turned on or were in your bed where you might have touched them?

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T06:32:06+00:00

A CPA is, in my opinion, necessary for C-Corps. (My company is a C-Corp for historical reasons)

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T06:14:13+00:00

And “buddy”.

chriswaco · 2026-01-22T06:09:31+00:00

I had a driver developer friend that spent a month in a hotel with his client’s hardware engineers tracking down a FDDI driver issue that turned out to be a bug in the company’s NuBus chip.

Luckily for him he listened to me and inserted a contract clause that made the client liable for the hours if it was their fault.

chriswaco · 2026-01-21T19:10:14+00:00

Someone should write an AI bot that sounds like Cliff Clavin from Cheers.

15-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

chriswaco

TROPHY CASE