Poor old Radio Shack. (they reported 2nd quarter earnings) Cingular can't save them.
"RadioShack said wireless sales rose 2%, but the company pledged to change its approach to that business, saying it's different from the traditional consumer electronics retailing racket and calls for different strategies. RadioShack noted that consumer awareness of its status as a dealer for Cingular, the leading U.S. wireless provider, is low. The company said other trends are working against it as well and said all the gains in its wireless business came at its kiosks.
"RadioShack's wireless tactics did not sufficiently deliver results in the face of changing competitive dynamics and maturing consumer demand," the company said. "To exploit its unique position in the marketplace of wireless retailing, the company is evolving its approa...
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"RadioShack's wireless tactics did not sufficiently deliver results in the face of changing competitive dynamics and maturing consumer demand," the company said. "To exploit its unique position in the marketplace of wireless retailing, the company is evolving its approa...
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Amen, they don't listen to their agents (the only profitable part of RSH right now) as to what is selling, and how to market. I don't know if the drain is in sight, but the rotation of the water is starting to make a swirl.
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Thank god. I hope radioshack goes under. There is one right next to our store and we always deal with people coming here first going over there and coming back for price matches. f*CK radio shack!
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Wow, we feel the same sentiment. The carriers’ stores are doing better, I think Cingular and Sprint should take out their phones/products from RSH. Lol. That would hurt RSH even more.
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I agree. Perhaps they can turn this around, however, I don't want them too. 🤣
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haha why do u all hate rsh so much? never had any problems in my area with them but less comp would be better for us of course!
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Not sure why I dont like RSH but oh well. I just think that they should do better and think better with their strategies and execution. In addition, why would you want to give up Verizon Wireless and go with Cingular? I mean come on.
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cingular may have gave them a better commission payout than vw did, there had to def be some reason they chose to go with cingy than vw
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It was still a bad idea to switch because look at the same store sales for wireless; its horrible.
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hey nextel, how did sprint do this past quarter????????????????????? anything to brag about? 🤣
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Anybody who works for Radioshack this is directed towards you.
What has the general reaction been from customers regarding the change from VZW to Cingular, do more people want VZW? Have you had more Cingular sales then you use to have VZW?
Overall is it easier to sell Cingular or VZW's service?
What has the general reaction been from customers regarding the change from VZW to Cingular, do more people want VZW? Have you had more Cingular sales then you use to have VZW?
Overall is it easier to sell Cingular or VZW's service?
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I'm pretty sure that in our store, Cingular sales were a few units per month more than Verizon. Not that that's a big deal, since we would rarely sell more than 15 cellular units a month. Most of the customers we deal with in our area are older folks who just want a basic phone and are very concerned with price, and don't care for text messaging or data. Around our area, Verizon and Cingular have similar coverage, and their plans are almost identical, so really to most of our customers its just a different logo on the phone.
But we still get a lot of customers who walk right past the giant cingular signs and don't know we sell wireless until we try to engage them about it. I think the advertising needs to be much more prominent. Th...
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But we still get a lot of customers who walk right past the giant cingular signs and don't know we sell wireless until we try to engage them about it. I think the advertising needs to be much more prominent. Th...
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Wow, that low? Our RS district manager keeps trying to get us to give up USCC for Cingular and Sprint (neither of which are licenced to sell here remember the 50% rule). We sell on average 30-50 new activations and anywhere from 50-over 100 renewals every month. They want us to give up our commissions and other benefits to sell 15 phones @ around $25 each commission? That is wrong! No wonder he wouldn't give me any numbers. Where are you, anyway, rural, or metro?
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It really depends on the market. Here in the Northwest the consensus among consumers is that Verizon is the only company with any coverage so it has been tougher. Cingular's coverage is better in our market so we are beginning to port more and more Verizon customers to Cingular and Sprint, especially since Verizon's coverage has become more fragile.
In other markets We are showing great wireless increases.
Verizon is easier to sell because of their brilliant marketing- can you hear me now campaign.
The Verizon phone lineup is more limited and problematic than Cingular's so there are a lot more time consuming customer phone issues to deal with.
Customer service with either Cingular or Verizon is about the same, we just don't have to ...
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In other markets We are showing great wireless increases.
Verizon is easier to sell because of their brilliant marketing- can you hear me now campaign.
The Verizon phone lineup is more limited and problematic than Cingular's so there are a lot more time consuming customer phone issues to deal with.
Customer service with either Cingular or Verizon is about the same, we just don't have to ...
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I find it easier to sell Cingular over VZW simply over the fact that VZW's coverage here is, and always has been moderate at best.
Here in the NW, T-Mo/Sprint/Cingular just work better.
The "Best Network" is also seems to be losing coverage. At least according to the PRL data that they plant on thier phones during the MANUAL update.
We are offering a better value...and the service is also getting much better. Unlike the previous partner, who seems to be going downhill as well...at least coverage wise.
(Can say that since I'm a VZW customer now, and everytime I run that PRL update, my reception gets worse. I used to get 2-3 bars of service in the area I live..now I get 0-1 bar..or "No Service" and my phones been dropping calls...
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Here in the NW, T-Mo/Sprint/Cingular just work better.
The "Best Network" is also seems to be losing coverage. At least according to the PRL data that they plant on thier phones during the MANUAL update.
We are offering a better value...and the service is also getting much better. Unlike the previous partner, who seems to be going downhill as well...at least coverage wise.
(Can say that since I'm a VZW customer now, and everytime I run that PRL update, my reception gets worse. I used to get 2-3 bars of service in the area I live..now I get 0-1 bar..or "No Service" and my phones been dropping calls...
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What has the general reaction been from customers regarding the change from VZW to Cingular,
First off i must let be known that i work in a urban market type radio shack, meaning that Verizion barley got sold, ****ty phone selection, (we had access to sell) High Deposits for b and C class customers (sprint always kills because of this reason) and the high ass plans. Cingular for the customer offers better quality phones for lower prices and cheaper plans with more add ons and to top it off, lower deposits, (They get high fast but they adverage around 150-250)
do more people want VZW? Have you had more Cingular sales then you use to have VZW?
People who have verizion preapaid are hard to filp due to the unlimited nights and weekends...
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First off i must let be known that i work in a urban market type radio shack, meaning that Verizion barley got sold, ****ty phone selection, (we had access to sell) High Deposits for b and C class customers (sprint always kills because of this reason) and the high ass plans. Cingular for the customer offers better quality phones for lower prices and cheaper plans with more add ons and to top it off, lower deposits, (They get high fast but they adverage around 150-250)
do more people want VZW? Have you had more Cingular sales then you use to have VZW?
People who have verizion preapaid are hard to filp due to the unlimited nights and weekends...
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We don't have a foot in the grave as many have said. Yes it is true that we are in the midst of a turnaround plan and that is always painful. The stores we closed were stores in locations that were oversaturated or were not profitable.
The losses were from store closing costs, inventory writedowns of non productive skus and other turnaround costs.
The switch to Cingular was never anticipated to turn around wireless business quickly. We are showing increases in Sprint business across the board.
The main thing we are doing is changing our product offering to be more relavent and our sales process to be more engaging.
We are the number one rated electronics retailer in customer service according to Corporate Research International. P...
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The losses were from store closing costs, inventory writedowns of non productive skus and other turnaround costs.
The switch to Cingular was never anticipated to turn around wireless business quickly. We are showing increases in Sprint business across the board.
The main thing we are doing is changing our product offering to be more relavent and our sales process to be more engaging.
We are the number one rated electronics retailer in customer service according to Corporate Research International. P...
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As I said in another post to you that, you should stop being attached to the company because it is very true that you guys are struggling and it is evident in that with the first half of 2006. Cash balance continues to diminish and stores continue to close due to many factors including not profitable and competition problems.
Actually, the 2nd quarter earnings problems had to deal with; “Fort Worth-based RadioShack recorded pre-tax charges of $21 million for restructuring activities including lease terminations, store liquidations and other actions, and $8.5 million to settle wage-and-hour class action lawsuits.” You have to read and look at the reports because something is not clicking right, please look; “The company's turnaround eff...
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Actually, the 2nd quarter earnings problems had to deal with; “Fort Worth-based RadioShack recorded pre-tax charges of $21 million for restructuring activities including lease terminations, store liquidations and other actions, and $8.5 million to settle wage-and-hour class action lawsuits.” You have to read and look at the reports because something is not clicking right, please look; “The company's turnaround eff...
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Wireless is not entirely why RadioShack is in trouble. They very slowly changed their focus from marketing those little things that you NEED (rarely, but when you need them, you really need them) like adapters, connectors, such and soforth to marketing things that they have to spend a lot of time marketing for people to learn to WANT them, like Ipod, navigational systems, and we don't even want to talk about Sirius Radio.... There is a place in RadioShack for those kind of things, but they knocked most of their legs out from under themselves, when they tried to base their entire sales on things that they had to spend money to convince customers that they should want. In the meantime, I turn away customers every day that have spent hundreds...
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In part I agree with you and in part I do not. There are many product categories of which we used to own the majority of the market share.
Then the money in wireless got really good so we hyper-focused on it. To some degree we let very good product lines dwindle, like home speakers. Some products that we have people just don't buy anymore. Most of our parts and pieces are very poor sellers because peoples' habits have changed. People don't buy c.b. radios, cassette players or corded phones like they used to.
Your district rep is insane, it takes a very knowledgable and competent sales associate to sell wireless phones.
The company knows where it wants to go. Upper management is very well informed about the market and the industry in gen...
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Then the money in wireless got really good so we hyper-focused on it. To some degree we let very good product lines dwindle, like home speakers. Some products that we have people just don't buy anymore. Most of our parts and pieces are very poor sellers because peoples' habits have changed. People don't buy c.b. radios, cassette players or corded phones like they used to.
Your district rep is insane, it takes a very knowledgable and competent sales associate to sell wireless phones.
The company knows where it wants to go. Upper management is very well informed about the market and the industry in gen...
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In my store, in a rural area, we still sell lots of CBs, Radios, Cassette players, and corded phones. In fact, we sell way more of that stuff and have a higher profit margin on those things than we have when we sell a TV or Sirius Radio. And I agree, my rep is insane, but also typical. He's the third one we have had in 3 years, and he talks the same as all the rest.
And Heavy Handed is not the word for it. We use the words Blackmail and Intimidation around here.
And Heavy Handed is not the word for it. We use the words Blackmail and Intimidation around here.
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I didn't mean to sound like I was trying to stir up an argument. It's just as a dealer, I feel very unappreciated in the RadioShack Heirarchy. They don't listen to us, and try to tell us to do the dumbest things to make them look better.
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Do not worry, because you are not really starting an argument, but rather starting a dialogue. I simply feel bad for everyone who is involved with Radio Shack from its employees to shareholders, which I am not either because I hate the company, because they, the management team, have been dragging this company downhill especially after the move from VZW to Cingular. First quarter of 2006 and 2nd quarter of 2006 have been a dismal smart for RSH and its stakeholders, which in my view, I don’t think will improve on the 2nd half of 2006 or perhaps into 07 and into the future. I just think that this company seems to be having many problems with same store sales, cash and balances, and its products, and more importantly, their decision-making is h...
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The problems started happening well before they lost Verizon. This decline has taken them 5 years to finally see the results. They are bleeding cash like crazy, so they cut the incentive trip and sponsor the Rolling Stones? Like that will save them, or is a better investment than their employees and dealers. I don't get them. Whether they carry Cingular/Sprint or whatever, shouldn't determine their success as a technology store. But who am I to talk, I'm just a dealer who's head is well above water, succedding in an industry where her company is failing. Why should they listen to me?
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there have been several quirks about our wireless business that have bugged me ever since the transition to cingular.
there are still so many customers that are clueless to the change despite tv, radio, and of course word of mouth. i still get people who walk right up to my counter with their old verizon phone, brochures, folders, whatever...they dont look at anything around the store they just head straight for the counter with full intentions of upgrading their phone and many are devestated especially the older crowd when I have to inform them that we are no longer the place for verizon.
the company is very hard on its employees to try and port verizon customers to cingular and its not exactly an easy thing to do. I get verizon cus...
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there are still so many customers that are clueless to the change despite tv, radio, and of course word of mouth. i still get people who walk right up to my counter with their old verizon phone, brochures, folders, whatever...they dont look at anything around the store they just head straight for the counter with full intentions of upgrading their phone and many are devestated especially the older crowd when I have to inform them that we are no longer the place for verizon.
the company is very hard on its employees to try and port verizon customers to cingular and its not exactly an easy thing to do. I get verizon cus...
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Getting enough inventory in smaller volume stores is a bit of a challenge. I ran a small volume (under $400,000) store for about 5 years so I feel your pain. I now run a million dollar plus store which did more Verizon phones than many Verizon stores. Our initial shipment of Cingular phones was huge, we got hundreds of Razr's, X497's, 6102's and SE 520's.
We helped the other stores out a lot. The good thing is that with Sprint and Cingular we get to carry high end phones like the Blackberry, XV6700, 8125, Palms and the like. We never could get enough quantity of these for Verizon to even have a credible presence with better handsets.
Keep in mind we are in that stage right now where most of the handsets are end of life and new handsets...
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We helped the other stores out a lot. The good thing is that with Sprint and Cingular we get to carry high end phones like the Blackberry, XV6700, 8125, Palms and the like. We never could get enough quantity of these for Verizon to even have a credible presence with better handsets.
Keep in mind we are in that stage right now where most of the handsets are end of life and new handsets...
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The problem is, RSH does horribly against the carriers’ stores that will probably continue and I think that they should perhaps focus on one main carrier or what not and to put that portfolio in a few stores that are very profitable and where carriers’ stores are not there. The problem is, that is a problem to do because even if there are no carriers’ stores there, there are still other channels in which consumers to receive and return the goods. I think that RSH should perhaps abandon the wireless business because it isn’t doing well for them the first half of this year and I think they didn’t do that well last year blaming the wireless industry although the wireless industry recorded great revenue and total net adds. As I said to the other...
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There are a few problems with your post.
1) You are only operating off of a press release of quarterly earnings and have no clue about the rest of this business.
2) You think that people on the inside are brainwashed, daft or ignorant if they don't agree with you. There are many factors that cause me to post as I do. I cannot state them all because they have not yet been released to the general public and they pay me to manage a store, not be a spokesperson.
3) You are not at all willing to consider other factors or information. You are typically smart and well informed but there is no way you can know this stuff any more than I can know the financials of any company other than the press releases.
4) You are also very biased wh...
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1) You are only operating off of a press release of quarterly earnings and have no clue about the rest of this business.
2) You think that people on the inside are brainwashed, daft or ignorant if they don't agree with you. There are many factors that cause me to post as I do. I cannot state them all because they have not yet been released to the general public and they pay me to manage a store, not be a spokesperson.
3) You are not at all willing to consider other factors or information. You are typically smart and well informed but there is no way you can know this stuff any more than I can know the financials of any company other than the press releases.
4) You are also very biased wh...
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1. no, I am not. I am using my inside information about talking about this company. If I wanted to reveal more secrets, I could but I don’t want to do to a lot of insider situation and conflicts. So please don’t say things you do not know.
2. yes they are. I never said if they don’t agree with me they are ignorant. I am just saying they don’t see the light of my information since they are so in love with their company. Don’t worry it is the same with me and I bet same with others with their beloved companies.
3. oh, I am because I look at everything from gross profits to net ads to same store sales. Again, I read much more than the press releases. I have other sources I look at including channel checks and other indicators.
4. unfortun...
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2. yes they are. I never said if they don’t agree with me they are ignorant. I am just saying they don’t see the light of my information since they are so in love with their company. Don’t worry it is the same with me and I bet same with others with their beloved companies.
3. oh, I am because I look at everything from gross profits to net ads to same store sales. Again, I read much more than the press releases. I have other sources I look at including channel checks and other indicators.
4. unfortun...
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Two companies seemed to have the most trouble with wireless sales, this year. RadioShack did not do well, and Sprint didn't do well, is it co-incidence that they are connected.
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However, Sprint actually had good metrics in the prepaid segment and did not do well at all but still gained in the postpaid segment. If you noticed total wireless sales for the 2nd quarter for 2006 for Radio Shack was only up 2%, but at their core stores it was down double-digit percentage. Sprint is struggling in some sectors, but is doing well in others, while Radio Shack is not doing well at all.
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I also forgot to add that Sprint did well up until this 2nd quarter, while Radio Shack has been struggling all along. (I think since last year)
Most important question to ask is why Radio Shack is struggling when Cingular is doing quite well? (Remember, Radio Shack's other wireless channel than Sprint is Cingular.) Shouldn't the not so good numbers with Sprint be offset by the gains in Cingular?
Most important question to ask is why Radio Shack is struggling when Cingular is doing quite well? (Remember, Radio Shack's other wireless channel than Sprint is Cingular.) Shouldn't the not so good numbers with Sprint be offset by the gains in Cingular?
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You would think that Cingular would have helped them. I think that RadioShack's biggest problem is their approach to most sales. RadioShack wants to be a big box store. They want to sell everything high tech, but they don't want to offer any service or support or even bother to sell things properly, they just want to take money and get stuff out of the store. RadioShack was known for being a place to not only get stuff, but get help and "get answers" such and so forth. The days of selling boxes of stuff to customers and never seeing them again is over. Service and information are what we sell, and the other stuff is just extra. RadioShack won't figure that out until they go under. I just talked to my District Rep. It's just getting ...
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Exactly my point. Although Sprint didn’t do that well, Cingular did so that should help Radio Shack’s numbers, but it didn’t.
They also fired 400 or so more people, closed down more stores, and hired new management. I think that this company will be facing more problems down the road and perhaps go under. Not sure if they are even a good company any more.
They also fired 400 or so more people, closed down more stores, and hired new management. I think that this company will be facing more problems down the road and perhaps go under. Not sure if they are even a good company any more.
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I think that, although wireless is the future to many companies including Best Buy and RSH and others, I think that RSH, with its lack of success, should probably scrap it or focus on one main company selling those services and products because the retail stores set up by the companies are doing better than RSH’s which is not boding well for RSH’s wireless business which is true by their numbers for the 1st half. Indication is that this 2nd half will also be difficult but I wont quantify because certain restrictions and regulations. I will probably mention my estimates closer to the next quarter report. I think the move from Verizon to Cingular was a horrible mistake and they will pay heavily for this and that is evident by showing difficult...
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"They need to change very very quickly or they would be facing further difficulty in the future."
They tried to change from VZW --> Cing any more change is not going to be good for the shack.. They should focus on what they have and how to improve with what they have.. maybe some good marketting strategies.
They should have never dropped VZW.. it was a lucrative business deal for both parties.. but I think VZW is better off w/o shack
They tried to change from VZW --> Cing any more change is not going to be good for the shack.. They should focus on what they have and how to improve with what they have.. maybe some good marketting strategies.
They should have never dropped VZW.. it was a lucrative business deal for both parties.. but I think VZW is better off w/o shack
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Exactly my point! Perhaps they thought that Cingular's data opportunities were better than Verizon's and they would use that to their benefit.
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Not surprised really, the RS in my town slammed Cingular before they sold it, and now they HAVE to sell it- priceless!
Radio Shack- where you have questions, and so do we.
Radio Shack- where you have questions, and so do we.
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They don't HAVE to sell it, that is unless they are a franchise store. Dealers have 100% choice of which carriers to sell.
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i used to sell for radioshack. even when we had CINGY the DMS told us not to sell cingy but sprint and nextel first and only do cingy as a last resort
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I work for a dealer store and we still carry Verizon. Our sales are as high as most of the corporate stores and we sell more phones than a lot of the corporate Verizon locations.
Our sales haven't been hurt but that's because we didn't go with Cingular. Which in this case is a good idea because Cingular doesn't work good out here at all.
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Our sales haven't been hurt but that's because we didn't go with Cingular. Which in this case is a good idea because Cingular doesn't work good out here at all.
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That's how we are, we are a dealer who couldn't carry any of the national brands, none of them were licenced in our county. So we have been USCC since 1999. Our sales have been higher than most coroporate sales since we started, but RS spends so much time and energy telling us we should do sprint, Cingular and USCC, that we are tired of hearing about it. They want us to trade our 30+ activations and 60+ renewals a month for less than 15 total for both of those companies combined. The commission drop would have cost us thousands of dollars a month, and yet they pressure us to change over. I can't wait for the Golden Quarter in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks, that should be fun to mingle with corporate peoples and see what the attitude of...
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Great job!!
What do you think Radio Shack needs to do in order to turn their sales around for wireless?
What do you think Radio Shack needs to do in order to turn their sales around for wireless?
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