n5lp

n5lp

fugio ergo sum
I live in a small town so when I need electronic parts it is Radio Shack or order on the internet. The drill goes something like this. I walk in the door and the 19 year old dropout greets me. They ask what I need. I say "I need a 100k 1/2 watt 5% carbon film resistor." They say, and this is just about every time "What do you need it for." I mentally scream and wonder what the point of the question is. Maybe it is to make me think they have the slightest clue what a resistor is or what it is for.

Presently I am in need of a short piece of 1/4 inch aircraft hose with straight flared fittings; pretty simple right? I built all the hoses on my airplane but don't have a mandrel for this size so I try the internet. I search on this site and find a highly recommended vendor, with a website. I like this, it lets me research and get it just right and allows me to order carefully on the site. I picked all the options, the exact hose I wanted and the exact fittings and the exact length, but they have that deal where someone is going to get back to you with an estimate.

I got an e-mail tonight, and I quote "What is the planned application for this line?" Arrrgh!

I actually replied that it was for the fuel pressure transducer on my experimental airplane. I got a reply that I needed to talk to their "resident pilot/plane guy."

I was very clear as to what I wanted and I got this runaround. No thanks, I'll vulcanize tree sap before I go through this unneeded rigmarole.:mad:
 
kbelue said:
...I bought my hoses from Precision Hose. These guys were great. I talked to Ashley; told him what I wanted and got it - no messing around.
Click to expand...

I was about to post this same recommendation but you beat me to it! Great customer service and the price isn't bad either.

mcb
 
I was looking for the tiny jack (1/8" I think) used for music input to my audio panel at Radio Shack. When I asked the lady behind the counter where I might find one, she gave me the "what's it for question." When I said an airplane, she immediately said they didn't have one. Would not even bother getting out from behind the counter to look. I eventually found one at a different Radio Shack.

I'm not sure how they stay in business.
 
Hey, I resemble that remark.

Ok,

When I was in high school I worked at Radio Shack from 1976-79. Before I was hired I was given an oral exam from the store manager and asked to recite and explain the color code for resistors, explain how a capacitor worked, do a simple ohms law math problem, and asked how music was stored on an 8 track tape. I had just finished an electronics course so I passed and got the job that funded my flying at the local FBO.

Back then minimum wage was 2 something an hour but as a salesman on commission you could make quite a bit more. Lots more during the holiday season. Store managers made anywhere between 30-100K in 1976 dollars! One manager I worked for drove a brand new Porsche.

In hindsight, Tandy Corp made several awful mistakes over the years and missed many big opportunities in consumer electronics.

Today I have been told a manager makes 30 something+ and sales people make basically minimum wage. An interesting note, on a good day I could make enough that 3 hours on the floor would pay for 1 hour of dual in a C-150. Today, not even close. I don't think a full 10 hours on the sales floor would pay for 1 hour of dual in the very same long ago paid for worn out C-150.

What's the point? Get to the point?

The point is you get what you pay for. What do you really expect of the help at Radio Shack today? If you expect them to be able to make correct change for your purchase you need to lower your expectations.
 
Well....I try to look on things just a tad more positive...the "kid" was working, wasn't stealing your car. I'd bet he wasn't a dropout either, by asking a question and getting an answer he may have been able to learn something. But heck I wasn't there to read his attitude. But if he said "bad boys rape our young girls but veronica goes willingly, get some now" That might offend someone who really didn't know what a resistor was. I hate it that I still rememember that silly phrase for resistor color codes...but I remember it...I was 18 and in a USAF tech school for basic electronics.

I think I know the vendor for the hoses, I bought mine there, was on my front door the next day, a very polite person said I had to speak with **** about the airplane hoses...which I did when he called me 15 minutes later, took my dimensions emailed me a quote and then I gave them my Visa number. I don't recall that being very aggravating though. But I have switched to decaf and I did stay at a Holiday Inn express in July...
 
Off Road Vehicle

Off road vehicle or industrial equip (custom, prototype), is what I'd tell'em or none of your business.
 
The salesfolk at my local RS never ask me what I buy electronic parts for... and it seems like there's always different set of sales staff there each time I go, so it's not like they ever get to know me and learn that I tinker with electronics and experimental airplanes.
 
The times they are a'changing...

Radio Shack has changed - but it's just following events...

In the 70's when you worked there, they used to have racks and racks of small electronic components... and folks used to actually assemble stuff from their parts.

Then cheap Japanese/Taiwanese/Chinese electronics came along... and now very few people even need a resistor...:) - it's cheaper to buy a whole radio.

Electronics also shrunk, and you can hardly see a modern surface mount resistor, never mind soldering it yourself with an iron.

Radio Shack shrunk their parts selection down to almost zero - it's just one rotating set of drawers in our local store - but I can't really blame them. In Tucson (1 million population) one of the two electronic parts places closed, and there is now only one parts place in town....:( The demand for individual parts just isn't there.

I guess it's called progress....:)

gil A

Glad to have ridden the Integrated Circuit revolution in my engineering career...


asav8tor said:
Ok,

When I was in high school I worked at Radio Shack from 1976-79. Before I was hired I was given an oral exam from the store manager and asked to recite and explain the color code for resistors, explain how a capacitor worked, do a simple ohms law math problem, and asked how music was stored on an 8 track tape. I had just finished an electronics course so I passed and got the job that funded my flying at the local FBO.

Back then minimum wage was 2 something an hour but as a salesman on commission you could make quite a bit more. Lots more during the holiday season. Store managers made anywhere between 30-100K in 1976 dollars! One manager I worked for drove a brand new Porsche.

In hindsight, Tandy Corp made several awful mistakes over the years and missed many big opportunities in consumer electronics.

Today I have been told a manager makes 30 something+ and sales people make basically minimum wage. An interesting note, on a good day I could make enough that 3 hours on the floor would pay for 1 hour of dual in a C-150. Today, not even close. I don't think a full 10 hours on the sales floor would pay for 1 hour of dual in the very same long ago paid for worn out C-150.

What's the point? Get to the point?

The point is you get what you pay for. What do you really expect of the help at Radio Shack today? If you expect them to be able to make correct change for your purchase you need to lower your expectations.
Click to expand...
 
I get Larry's point.....

[rant on]

The same thing is true when you walk into most "chain" auto parts stores - the folks working there have been brainwashed (trained) that there is only one way to find and sell parts - Make, Model, Year of vehicle, what system, "Ah, here's the list of available parts in our computer!"

So you walk in looking for an oil pressure switch. I just want an oil pressure switch with a 3/8" male pipe thread. Blank stares. Which means I have to go on th Internet first, find a car or truck (usually from the 60's) that has what i want, cross-reference the part, make sure it's what I want, and then go in armed with that info. At autozone, on their computer, I have an interesting variety of vehicle that come up when they check my profile....;)

Now every once in awhile, you run into a kid that really knows his stuff. Local, high school, maybe just graduated. Probably has a couple of cars in his Dad's garage (beautifully restored), was brought up to do his own work, and can recite all the tech specs of every engine GM or Ford has ever built. You can tell just by looking at him that you can use him as a co-conspirator. Tell him what you're looking for (and what you're doing - he'll be cool with it!), and he goes right to the shelf - no computer for him! Yeah....they're few and far between - the automotive equivalent of, well - most of us!

When the sales person ignores the direct request you make for exactly what you want, and starts up with the "can you tell me what the Make, Model, and Year is" patter, they are essentially telling you that they are smarter than you. With me at least, that's a bad way to try and keep my business....

[rant off]

I'm glad I have a REAL electronic parts place here in town!

Paul
 
At least the guys at Radio Shack didn't try to get you to switch your phone service like they do here. I walk in looking for a "gizmo" and they say; "We don't have that, but would you like to try Horizon Cell phone service?"

:cool:
 
Dumbness has a price

Rantage:

We pay a heavy price in many ways for becoming less savvy consumers, who look only at price. It is hard to think of many industries where price hasn't become the main selection criteria for consumers. It amazes me - oh, wait, not really. A lot of the trucks carrying this junk to stores might as well stop first at the landfill.

It is easy to "blame industry", but it is we, the consumers, who are to blame. In the end, we have choices.
 
That's funny! Here at our airpark, anytime you hear "RV" in the conversation, we always assume it's the winged variety...but "outsiders" in a conversation sometimes think it's the kind that has a license plate bracket and toilet...and they tell their stories about driving to Arizona in the winter or running into a service station awning...and that's when we realize there's a a parallel universe!
 
True story...

I was working the booth at Oshkosh one year, talking to customers about my company's new products. An older gentleman stepped up to the display to peer at a fancy piece of avionics. He buttonholed me and asked, "Will this work in my RV?" "Sure thing!" I said, and proceeded to tell him about all of the product's great new features. As I kept talking, he seemed a little lost, so I asked him, one EAA'er to another, "Sir, what kind of RV did you say you have?"

Proudly, the guy says: "Oh, it's a Holiday Rambler".

mcb
 
What if you were buying Aluminum Sheet?

This thread reminds me of a converstation with Alex Sloan (he won the Tony Bingelis Award in 2004 just before Mel in 2005!).

Alex was one of the early RV-3 builders and he said when he went to Birmingham to buy some aluminum sheet and was asked what it was for, he learned NOT to tell them it was going into a homebuilt airplane. :eek:

Don
 
apatti said:
I was looking for the tiny jack (1/8" I think) used for music input to my audio panel at Radio Shack. When I asked the lady behind the counter where I might find one, she gave me the "what's it for question." When I said an airplane, she immediately said they didn't have one. Would not even bother getting out from behind the counter to look. I eventually found one at a different Radio Shack.

I'm not sure how they stay in business.
Click to expand...

simple, they pay minimum wage and the managers make a dollar more an hour.
 
Bob Brown said:
That's funny! Here at our airpark, anytime you hear "RV" in the conversation, we always assume it's the winged variety...but "outsiders" in a conversation sometimes think it's the kind that has a license plate bracket and toilet...and they tell their stories about driving to Arizona in the winter or running into a service station awning...and that's when we realize there's a a parallel universe!
Click to expand...

Yup, the other day I saw a sign off the road, RV parking. I thought really now.
 
I learned early on in the build not to tell anybody that a part is for an airplane. I went to buy a hose one time and they wouldn't sell it to me because I was putting it in an airplane. Luckily I have a car engine and I can tell them whatever part I need is for a 2007 corvette with an LS2 engine.
 
Since "national security" is the rage these days, I suggest some humor in dealing with the situation:

"And what kind of project is that for sir?"

"That's classified."

:D

TODR
 
Counter help

Ironflight said:
I get Larry's point.....

[rant on]

The same thing is true when you walk into most "chain" auto parts stores - the folks working there have been brainwashed (trained) that there is only one way to find and sell parts - Make, Model, Year of vehicle, what system, "Ah, here's the list of available parts in our computer!"

So you walk in looking for an oil pressure switch. I just want an oil pressure switch with a 3/8" male pipe thread. Blank stares. Which means I have to go on th Internet first, find a car or truck (usually from the 60's) that has what i want, cross-reference the part, make sure it's what I want, and then go in armed with that info. At autozone, on their computer, I have an interesting variety of vehicle that come up when they check my profile....;)

Now every once in awhile, you run into a kid that really knows his stuff. Local, high school, maybe just graduated. Probably has a couple of cars in his Dad's garage (beautifully restored), was brought up to do his own work, and can recite all the tech specs of every engine GM or Ford has ever built. You can tell just by looking at him that you can use him as a co-conspirator. Tell him what you're looking for (and what you're doing - he'll be cool with it!), and he goes right to the shelf - no computer for him! Yeah....they're few and far between - the automotive equivalent of, well - most of us!

When the sales person ignores the direct request you make for exactly what you want, and starts up with the "can you tell me what the Make, Model, and Year is" patter, they are essentially telling you that they are smarter than you. With me at least, that's a bad way to try and keep my business....

[rant off]

I'm glad I have a REAL electronic parts place here in town!

Paul
Click to expand...

A long-time friend of mine owned a small NAPA store near where I live. After I retired, I would work for him a few days a month. I learned that the computer cataloging system is spectacular, but on the surface "dumbed down" for the employees we are discussing here. My friend was old school in that he had a huge collection of paper catalogs that were the fall back when the computer failed to come up with an answer. NAPA has cataloging that makes finding really obscure parts fairly easy if you are willing to do the research. The result was that the shop had the reputation of being able to get most anything. But human nature being what it is, many people used it as a last resort thinking that they could save a few pennies by going to Auto Zone or the like first. My favorite exchange was the person that would come in (usually in a panic) and ask for a specific part. "do your have an XXX? "Yes we do, it is $50.00" "Oh, it's $45.00 at AutoZone, but they don't have one" "Interesting, when we don't have one it's free."

The sad part of this story is that my pal decided to retire after 40 something years in the business and close the store. Bummer.

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA
 
When they ask what's it for ... Just to see the look

Great thread... I will not relate a problem, just some twisted humor...

I buy my aviation parts at "the Shane Co"
Just to see the look: Every time I need a major component for the project I seem to end up at Shane Co. (diamonds etc). These purchases seem to fall near holidays, birthdays, anniversaries etc <g>

So when they start showing me the bracelet, or necklace or what ever... they will typically ask the "whats it for" question...

It's for the airplane I'm building... pointing to my VAF or VANs T shirt

heads turn all around me... guys seem interested but (cannot ask) women typically look well you've seen the look

Oh yea Mothers day is this weekend... gee I need a transponder and have to pay for the beautiful interior kit and upholstered Oregon Aero Seats I just got back from Abby at Flight Line Interiors

sneaking up on the 90%/90% to go point - under budget NCD (Not Counting Diamonds) :rolleyes:
 
I can relate - my wing kit is shipping next week and it just just cost 3 grand worth of new carpet for the whole house.
 
Or, you can send in the dumb "blonde"

When I lived in the same small town as Larry, I was a partner in a plane with some other folks. Whenever we needed some welding done or an alternator or whatever, they would send me in to get the work done or get the part. The conversation with the salesperson went something like this:

Me: "George asked me to get (whatever was needed) while he's out of town. Do you have one/Can you weld it?"

Him: "What kind of vehicle is this part off of?

Me: "A blue and white one".

Him: "No, no. I mean what make of car?"

Me: "Oh, some sort of thing he put together in the garage. You know, something to mess around in on the weekend." :rolleyes:

Perfectly willing to believe that I shouldn't be expected to know anything more, the fellow would then bend over backwards to help me out. After the first success, getting the local welder to patch up an exhaust pipe that he had previously refused to work on for my partner, I was always the one sent into local, non-aviation shops. I'm not particularly proud of the deceit, but we got the work done and the parts we needed.
 
I was wondering...

pierre smith said:
....happened to he rest of your post, George??:D:D

Havagoodun,
Click to expand...


...the same thing Pierre. It must be the shortest post George has ever done! ;) :D

Just kiddin' George! You're a wealth of information, and I always learn something from your posts.

Best,
 
I recently used McMaster Carr (www.mcmaster.com) a lot for an unrelated design project. If you know what you want, it's a great utility, and there's a lot of information on the site to help you pick what you need if you're not quite sure. Plus they have everything except for the super-duper specialized parts...
 
I guess I'm lucking living in the heart of NASCAR country. The local speed shops can fabricate anything and the more exotic, the better.

There is even a local shop, Muscle Motor Sports, that sells new and used NASCAR parts. The first time I walked in there I spent four hours walking up and down the isles.

Heck, one of my buddies is a body hanger for Hendricks Motor Sports and was begging me to let him make aluminum wing tips for my -9. It was a great offer but when I told him the plane would be painted and his artwork would be hidden he looked disappointed. Oh, and you should see the Cobra replica he is building! OMG!!! Since a 427 isn't "adequite", he had one of his co-workers build him a 460! When I helped him fit the body I almost cried because his work on the chasey was going to be covered. :( I can't wait to get a ride in that thing! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.