[Y3a]

Radioshack Lays Off Nearly 400 Employees Via E-Mail
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

FORT WORTH, Te — RadioShack Corp. followed through on its announced plans to cut about 400 jobs, but the electronics retailer has been forced on the defensive about its method of notifying laid-off employees by e-mail.
Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters received an e-mail Tuesday morning telling them they were being dismissed immediately.
"The work force reduction notification is currently in progress," the notice stated. "Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."
Company officials had told employees in a series of meetings that layoff notices would be delivered electronically, spokeswoman Kay Jackson said. She said employees were invited to ask questions before Tuesday's notification on a company intranet site.
Management experts expressed surprise at RadioShack's use of electronic notification instead of face-to-face meetings with supervisors.
Derrick D'Souza, a management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard of such a large number of terminated employees being notified electronically. He said it could be seen as dehumanizing to employees.
"If I put myself in their shoes, I'd say, 'Didn't they have a few minutes to tell me?'" D'Souza said.

Laid-off workers got one to three weeks pay for each year of service, up to 16 weeks for hourly employees and 36 weeks for those with base bay of at least $90,000, the company said.
The company announced Aug. 10 that it would cut 400 to 450 jobs, mostly at headquarters, to cut expenses and "improve its long-term competitive position in the marketplace."
RadioShack has also closed nearly 500 stores, consolidated distribution centers and liquidated slow-moving merchandise in an effort to shake out of a sales slump. Sales of cellular phones, a key item for RadioShack, have been disappointing.
Last month, the company hired a former Kmart executive, Julian Day, as chief executive, replacing an interim leader who stepped in when the previous CEO quit after admitting lying on his resume.
One of Day's first actions was to cancel conference calls with analysts to review RadioShack's financial results, an unusual step for public companies.


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How lame and cowardly are the Sr. Managers? I think it's a Radio Shacks corporate culture to be cowards and weasels. Thats the kind of folks I encounter working at the stores.

[waxcrash]

The last time I step foot in a RadioShack was 15 years ago. The larger stores like Best Buy and Circuit City has killed them. Anyways, getting laid off via e-mail is tactless in my book.

[DeathToWindows]

I'll go to radio shack if I need a component immediately, but otherwise I just call up You Do It (electronics reseller in Needham) and it'll be waiting for me when I come into the lab the next day.

[Landos Mustache]

Well at least they didn't just text message them like that other incident a while back in the UK.

[Scifience]

I will occasionally visit a RadioShack, but only when I need something in a hurry.

It seems to me that they are very overpriced (gold-plated cables or $7 CAT-5e couplers, anyone?), but beyond that, it seems that they have gotten away from their original business of selling electronic components. The RadioShack near me has relegated its components to a back corner, with most being inside some drawers. 90% of the floor space is devoted to cheap PDAs, toys, satellite TV service ads, and cell phone marketing ploys.

[Landos Mustache]

To me radio shack has just a store that sells that one weird electrical something or other you need for your old whatyoumacallit and it costs you about $7 and comes up every 10-15 years.

If that isn't for you they also have a crappy selection of no-name clock radio's and RC toys worthy of a Chinese K-Mart.

The rest of the store just sells cellphones for a bunch of carriers but they manage to make that experience feel crappier than it should.

[Chuckit]

Getting laid off via e-mail is kind of harsh. But I imagine the fact that it means they'll make $61,000 this year for doing nothing probably softens the blow.

[turtle777]

Pfff, it could be worse: text message

-t

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Scifience

I will occasionally visit a RadioShack, but only when I need something in a hurry.

It seems to me that they are very overpriced (gold-plated cables or $7 CAT-5e couplers, anyone?), but beyond that, it seems that they have gotten away from their original business of selling electronic components. The RadioShack near me has relegated its components to a back corner, with most being inside some drawers. 90% of the floor space is devoted to cheap PDAs, toys, satellite TV service ads, and cell phone marketing ploys.

Yeah, Radio Shack these days is basically devoted to selling overpriced equipment to customers who believe they are discriminating not because they actually know what they want, but because they're willing to spend a lot of money.

[Landos Mustache]

"The text message said: "We will not require your services anymore...Thank you for your time with us."

"You're not allowed to text in sick, you have to phone. The fact that they texted me is a bit of double standards."

U r sckd: worker fired by text message - Yahoo! News

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

"The text message said: "We will not require your services anymore...Thank you for your time with us."

Only in America.

Uhm, no, wait

-t

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

"The text message said: "We will not require your services anymore...Thank you for your time with us."

Oh, and the endless possibility of pranks if that became an accepted standard.

-t

[Spliffdaddy]

When your business plan consists of selling 3 year-old Chinese-made technology at twice the price of the better more modern stuff - then, yeh, I'd expect layoffs.

Even their batteries suck.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DeathToWindows

I'll go to radio shack if I need a component immediately, but otherwise I just call up You Do It (electronics reseller in Needham) and it'll be waiting for me when I come into the lab the next day.

They don't sell electronic components anymore at the store.

The only reason I went.

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Pfff, it could be worse: text message

-t

U R Fired. Thx 4 ur srvce.

[Chuckit]

If I ever start a business, I am firing people by smoke signal.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Kevin

They don't sell electronic components anymore at the store.

What ?

The ones I have been to in the recent years still had em. Not a great variety, but the bare necessities.

-t

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

What ?

The ones I have been to in the recent years still had em. Not a great variety, but the bare necessities.

-t

Then it's left-over stock

[Y3a]

the Tandy Corp. used to just sell leather stuff, for crafts n things. Dunno if they still do that either. They may just vanish from the face of the earth with the way they are reducing the items they sell. They will reduce the customer base until they sell the same stuff as 7-11, but for 7 bucks a part.

[ajprice]

I got dumped by email a while back, but losing your job is something else!!

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

What ?

The ones I have been to in the recent years still had em. Not a great variety, but the bare necessities.

-t

Every radio shack I see also still sells them.

[DigitalEl]

Text message... That's funny, but probably not too far from where we'll be soon.

As for Radio Shack, I literally can't remember the last time I was in one of those stores.

[vmarks]

I went in one last week.

I purchased right angle RCA adapters and a right angle 1/8" stereo adapter.

I was adding a Harman Kardon Drive+Play and needed the right angle to make the cables fit in the small space behind the car stereo and the small space where I placed the H-K brain in the glove box.

Anymore if I need EPROMs I order online. They don't stock OP AMPs either, anymore.