Dick Smith RIP

Went down to the big smoke for the first time since moving to the mid north coast 11 months ago. Went into the DS Powerhouse opposite the office where I used to work. Gone was all the hobbyist stuff replaced by toasters and vacuum cleaners and the only computer accessories that they sell now are Logitech..

Went into the ordinary Dick Smith in Hornsby, it could have been JB HiFi except that the range was much worse, it could have been Bing Lee except they didn't have any appliances, it could have been Harvey Norman except that there was no furniture for sale.

Whats the point of the place when all they do is what others do better? At least our local DS (Coffs Harbour) is old skool, but for how much longer?

Keith

Reply to
keithr
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That's isn't news to anyone. It's been that way for a long long time now.

DSE stopped being a serious hobby chain more than a decade ago, some say more than two decades ago. Some stores still had/have parts, but bugger all stock compared to the likes of Jaycar and Altronics.

Also, buying parts at DSE is often a nighmare experience, with staff not being able to figure our what anything was because it didn't have bar codes. You had to "serve yourself" and write down all the stock numbers on a sheet to hand in at the register.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

It began many years ago when Woolworths bought them out, and suffered a slow and gradual demise till about late last year when they finally phased out the last of the enthusiast bits.

Sadly, they have nothing to offer above JB HiFi, Bing Lee and Hardly Normals, because their prices are now (and in some cases, still were) just plain obscene.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622
Reply to
John Tserkezis

" David L. Jerkoff "

** Like - that is supposed to be difficult ??

IME -

that simple courtesy gets you major brownie points, particularly with female staff members.

..... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

No, it wasn't that hard, but there have been stories on here of the system simply not working. Part numbers not working or not being available, prices being wrong, inventory not working etc. DSE lost all idea how to sell parts, but that's not surprising, it has not been their business for a very long time.

Far easier to go to a Jaycar or Altronics where they stock vast amounts more and you can just take stuff to the counter. But not everyone has a Jaycar or Altonics nearby though, that was DSE's only advantage.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

But the brownie points don't even buy a cheek kiss from the female staffers. And they object if you try, anyway.

I only got mine because I used to work with her. It was a special case though, not a standard customer offering. The fact that I bought two bucks worth of parts had nothing to do with it.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622
Reply to
John Tserkezis

When DSE's bean counter managers killed off the Kits Department about last year, it was obvious that they'd soon finish the process of getting right out of nuts and bolts electronics which started a long time ago. So now Dick Smith Electronics is nothing to do with either Dick Smith or real electronics. I've been getting almost everything from Rockby Electronics (who are occupying the old Rod Irving Electronics premises in Renver Rd Clayton in Melbourne) for years ... but I still go to Jaycar for my novelty ashtrays and other electronic toys. :-)

Bob

Reply to
Bob Parker

It is an hour's drive to the nearest DSE so I usually order things from Jaycar and wait the day or two that it takes to arrive. For the occasional resistor I sometimes drive the distance to DSE, and much as I would like to scorn them, I can't. The noise is deafening, much of the stock is rubbish, and some of the staff have obviously been listening to the noise for too long. But. There are two guys there who know what they have in stock and where it is and what it can be used for. And get this- if the computer system says they have three resistors of the value I want, then in the drawer (adequately marked with the value and colourcode ) there will be three of the little buggers. I don't presume to expect someone to pick out ninety cents of components for me, but in this shop they would. Without heavy sighs. And last, a lot of the semi-consumer stuff is of surprisingly good quality and surprisingly cheap.

DSE has changed, no doubt. Remember when Dick would weep emotional tears over the Australian flag and import not-quite-compliant CB stuff, and

300baud modems that lasted a few weeks, and a hundred other products like them?
Reply to
L.A.T.

Yep,, they still have the small filling cabinet with all the draws at the end of the middle isle, even if the sales kids don't have a clue, about what's what. And just as well too, there's bugger all else in Coffs, if you want bits in a hurry.

But DSE went commercial the day Woolworth's bought them out, and really if they only sold electronic components, like the little shop on the Hume Highway at Bass Hill did, how many years ago, they would go broke in no time, And it's the crappy speakers and computers that keep the doors open.

Didn't know you where in Coff's Keith, I,m out of town,, Turn left as you go through Coramba, and head up the mountian road for about 18k's drop me a line on snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com and we'll catch up.

bassett

Reply to
bassett

lol!! Phil talking about courtesy!

Dan

Reply to
Dan N

And females! LOL.

Reply to
=?UTF-8?B?SmXDn3Vz?=

It's all to do with $margin.

If DSE make $10 from a $100 camera - selling one item - then that's $10 in DSE's bank

If DSE make 10c from $1 resistor then that's 10c in DSE bank.

As the owner of a DSE store which would you prefer in the bank 10c or $10 from one transaction sale? (less inventory, part No's etc)

Joe

Reply to
Joe G (Home)

But that is a no brainer, I'll take resistor sales because people only buy one $100 camera and a good proportion boing, but will buy 100 or 1,000 resistors and they don't boing.

Reply to
terryc

DSE don't make 10 percent on parts, they make 90+ percent easy. There have always been huge margins in the kit and component business, but it's a limited and messy market to be in.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

Well, I'll disagree about huge mark ups. The real cost of kits are assembly, marketing and customer interface. I'm sure there are plenty of us that have done the numbers on "a nice little earner" and decided that there are easier ways to gain a few spare $$$$.

Reply to
terryc

I know all about that, I used to sell kits and have just recently taken it up again for a pet project. You sure have to do it for the love of it. But it's easy to at least double your money on the parts and assembly cost. Marketing costs nothing these days with the Internet, and has always been free if you got your project published as well (in fact you get paid for it). "Customer interface" is now nothing more than a quick email and PayPal, much easier than years ago when everything was done by phone, snail mail and cheque.

I know the approximate mark-ups that used to go into the kits at DSE, having had some of my projects go through them. It was a very lucrative business for them from a margin point of view.

Raw components have even greater margins, an order of magnitude better. DSE get them at ridiculously low prices from the best surplus shops in Asia. Take a simple PIC16F628 chip for example - $10 retail, they'd be paying a dollar or so. And that ain't even a good example. Take a guess how much they were getting a $2 electrolytic caps for?! Some parts are so cheap they are almost free.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

I learned about the local markups when I first went to Japan in 1980. The retail price for parts in Akihabara was roughly 1/3rd of the price that Dirty Dick et al were charging, so there was probably a 150% - 200% markup at least after freight and customs.

Reply to
keithr

This is the old buy in bulk and as close to the source as you can. Been operating in many areas for decades.

The practical problem is how much you can use. For me 1,000 of any resistor is stacks. No idea wat I'd do with 1,000,000.

Reply to
terryc

In the case of DSE (and others over the years) it's often how *far* you can buy from the original source that matters - i.e the gray market. Hence the fake semis DSE have sold over the years. Direct from the manufactuer isn't always the cheapest source for DSE because their volumes for many components are not that high in the scheme of things, and their are tempting "bargains" to be had on the gray market.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

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