I TOOK  ON RADIOSHACK CORP., AND WON.

Hi, Guys, yes, it's true. Actually RadioShack Corporation of Ft. Worth, Texas, took me on, and lost. Let me explain.

About 14 years ago, I joined a message board system called "RadioShackSucks dot com." At the time. RadioShack was going after the owner and operator of the "sucks" website. I had worked for RadioShack, knew what was going on in the company and loved the idea of running a sucks website. 

I got the keys to the business; and let the former owner go about his business without the company going after him. I became the target. One of the things that I learned was that not everyone was in love with the United States. Not every country subscribed to United States' laws or its legal system. They thought that the United States was the bully of the sandbox. 

I thought that RadioShack Corporation was the bully of my sandbox. 

What's funny was that I was still running the original website, based in the U S.  I had made arraignments with an off-shore web hosting and domain registration facilities that was outside of U S laws. I received a "cease and desist" letter from an attorney representing the company. I was expecting something like that since taking over the sucks site. I phoned the attorney, and told him to look at the website. He did, and noticed something different about the site. 

It had a new banner, new artwork; but, everything else from the old site was moved to the new site. "Try to shut me down," I said. The attorney, going through Whois, discovered that the website couldn't be touched. In the meantime, I had registered a dot net and dot org domains.

But, there was an accident, and couldn't get the dot com domain re-registered in time, and the system went down. RadioShack took over the dot com domain and made it into a redirect to RadioShack's main site. Meanwhile, a couple of users of the sucks site registered a dot biz domain; and, thinking they were clever, registered the site in the United Kingdom. Oh Oh; bad move. The U K is in bed with the U S.  It took quite a while; but the company had the dot biz site shut down.

But, here I am, still holding the dot net and dot org domains. Since the dot biz site was doing OK from where I was sitting, I kept my two domains silent and still registered with my off-shore "friends," untouchable from U S laws. The story doesn't end there. 

A few years ago, I received some very legal looking paperwork. It appears that RadioShack Corporation wanted my dot net and dot org domains. They weren't going to buy them, they wanted me to give them the domains.  In a letter sent to the attorneys, I said that RadioShack was in business to make money; I would like to make money from something that RadioShack wanted. I mentioned a number which (I knew) the company rejected. Hey, at least we were talking. 

Basically I told the company and the lawyers to go (bleep) themselves. If they didn't like it, I had an email ready to go with close to 1,000 links to legal websites containing cases of big corporation going after the "little" guy, and losing; just like Davids versus Goliaths and watching the big guys fall. 

So, what did I win? Absolutely nothing. I held on to my domains until RadioShack itself failed. 

The moral to the story is: if you're attacked by a bully, find their soft spot and let fly. Big corporations are vulnerable. The hacking group Anonymous knows this. Do your research and find the big guy's soft spot. That's what I did, and came out of a fight untouched. 

I'm making changes to my blog.

Friday morning bowling report (on Tuesday morning). A few league members came up to me, and thanked me. "For what?" I asked. Their reply: "For being instrumental in getting oil back on the lanes." For four weeks previously, the lanes sucked because of a lack of oil. I spoke with the head mechanic (who is a friend) and asked him about lane machine problems. He mentioned that it was due to an internal problem with a part that transfers oil from the wicks to the brush. After the fourth week of shitty lane conditions, I really complained. I spoke with the HM, the ass't manager, desk person and anyone who would listen. The HM told me that, if the complaint came from anyone else, he would have ignored it; however, the complaint came from me, and he listened. I didn't scream, use foul language or be an asshole about the problem; I showed league recap sheets. Scores all over the house were extremely low; and not where they should have been. Even the low average bowlers were having problems. I mentioned that, if conditions didn't improve, the league was threatening to bowl somewhere else. This brings up the question where, if the company wants to make cut-backs in expenses, how much would it cost the company's bottom line? Losing a 22 team league in a 40 lane house would cost the company more than an oil cut-back savings. We were just one league that was threatening to quit the center; there were other leagues ready to walk too. This was in one house of 260 others in the chain. If the company lost two leagues in each house, the savings would have been shadowed by the loss in revenue. Not only would the loss be evident in bowling; but, it would be evident in the loss of revenue in the food and drink departments as well. I was thanked for seeing the "big picture." Now, you're wondering, how did I do? I shot a respectable 620, which is about my usual average. I have to repeat that I'm not a guru; I'm someone that understands the various business aspects. In my 73 years, I have seen businesses come and go. I understand how a business runs successfully and what makes them fail. If your customer service is top notch; but, your product sucks, it will take a little longer to lose the business. There has to be a balance. Top notch customer service coupled with an excellent product is a winner in every book. And that's today's lesson.

RadioShack Sucks

I thought that this was interesting, since I own two RadioShack Sucks domains. RadioShack is going to close 1100 stores, due to poor performance. Their Wall Street stock dropped, which makes for a gloomy outlook. They've a new CEO and a new merchandiser; but, the problem with RadioShack is that they have lost their core products. They don't sell radios, nor stereo stuff, nor home theater. What's left are cellphones. Well, in a way, cellphones are two-way radios. But, a cell phone can't hear shortwave radio stations, unless you buy and install a specialized app. I guess that I was right all along - RadioShack really sucks.

Off the top of my noggin.

RadioShack is planning to close 450 to 550 of its 4,412 stores nationwide. This doesn't surprise me. RadioShack has a one-track mind - cell phones. It's time to diversify or get back to the basics. There are too many cell phone stores across the country. On my block, there are 5 cell phone stores, plus a RadioShack. And, there's another RadioShack a mile down the street.

One of the things that I did when shopping for a new cell phone. I went to RadioShack, got a great demo, then bought the phone on-line. I got a better deal from the Internet retailer. First, there was sales tax. Had I purchased the phone locally, I would have had to pay state, county and local sales taxes; which is almost 10%. Buying from the Internet retailer, I saved over $20 in taxes. I paid for the phone, plus a $5 shipping charge.

I will have to complement RadioShack for the salesguy's training. He showed me all of the features of the phone and how they worked. But, when he tried to close the sale, I told him that I was going to buy the phone on-line. He asked why. I said, "Sales taxes." He said, "But you can have the phone today." I said that I wasn't in any hurry, because my original phone still worked.

So, why is RadioShack closing its stores?

Earlier this month, RadioShack’s long-term prospects as a viable company took another hit when its partnership with Target ended after neither side could come up with a mutually beneficial deal. The company had operated mobile kiosks at 1,500 Target locations across the country. Shares of the consumer electronics company are down by roughly 68% over the past year. The company recorded an operating loss of nearly $60 million in the third quarter of 2012. Same-store sales in the quarter dropped by 1.6% year-over-year. Revenue in the quarter fell by 3.8% year-over-year. Between 2010 and 2011, the company closed 2.2% of its existing locations — more than 120 locations in all.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eight-retailers-that-will-close-the-most-stores-173320796.html?page=all

Is it any wonder why I still own the domains: radioshacksucks.net & radioshacksucks.org

It's not that I hate RadioShack, I hate the way they do business. It's time that they get back to the basics and provide the items that made them a great retailer in the past. I would like to see high-end audio and video systems at lower prices than the competition. I would like to see patch cords to connect all of the components together. The "gold" type connectors don't mean a thing. Silver is the best conductor of electricity. Then, the high-priced cables will be hidden in the back of all of your goodies, and won't be seen by anyone. (I can buy a $50 cable for $5 down the street from RadioShack, and get the same quality.) 

 It's no wonder why RadioShack is having problems.

LABOR UNIONS SUCK

In the wake of "Frankenstorm" Sandy, residents of New Jersey turned away non-unionized electrical workers. The electrical workers traveled from way out-of-state, and the idiots of New Jersey sent the workers packing.

Don't those New Jersey idiots know that you don't look a gift horse in the mouth?  I'm wondering if those New Jersey union lovers buy their clothing, TV sets, appliances and other items of necessity are usually made by non-union workers in foreign countries. That J C Penney polo shirt was made by a non-union worker in Thailand.

New Jersey is a state loaded with morons; with Governor Chris Christy as the head moron.

Hey, guess what! A non-union worker would have gotten power restored faster than a union worker. A union worker gets paid whether he works or not; while a non-union gets paid by the job. The more jobs, the more the non-union worker makes.

It's simple folks, labor unions suck!  

Union Thugs Are At It Again........

From Fox News..........

"The owner of several Connecticut nursing homes is calling for a criminal probe after union workers staged a mass walkout earlier this month, allegedly vandalizing and sabotaging the health care facilities in the process. Among the allegations is that the workers, supposedly disgruntled over protracted labor talks, switched around the IDs of Alzheimer's patients.

The alleged sabotage, which also purportedly included tampering with medication records and removing patient identification bands, occurred in three of the company’s five Connecticut facilities in the overnight hours before the July 3 strike, according to police reports and the complaint HealthBridge Management filed Thursday with the Chief State's Attorney office."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/21/firm-wants-criminal-probe-on-allegations-seiu-backed-employees-sabotaged/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Faffiliates%2Fktla+%28Affiliate+-+West+-+Los+Angeles+-+CA%29

And we wonder why medical costs keep going up. Then the union thugs really care about patient care. NOPE! They only care about themselves.

Latest RadioShack Sucks News

It has come to my attention that RadioShack Corp. has not replied to my latest email concerning their trademark infringement case against myself. What makes this interesting is that RadioShack doesn't have a legal leg to stand on.

Since RadioShack knew that I have had the domain names for the past ten plus years, and they're now getting around to complain that I have owned the domains, it would appear that the statue of limitations has expired.

But, in my opinion, here's what the beef is about. The domains were up for renewal around the first of April. I tried to renew the domains, but my attempts were being rejected by the host computers. In the mean time, RadioShack had their name in the hat to obtain the domains once they had expired. Since my renewal finally went through, the domains reverted back to me; which made RadioShack angry.

RadioShack sent me a "nasty" email and registered letter (through snail mail), threatening me with all sorts of legal problems. They said that I was doing the company wrong because web surfers would confuse my domains with the company's website. That was an impossibility because my domains were not active. If you tried to enter my addresses into a browser's address bar, it would come back with an "Error 404" message (website not found).

Now, I have very little against RadioShack, even though I was once an employee. I retired from the company in 2003. I did, at one time, operate radioshacksucks dot com; however, I lost that after failing to renew the website following a traffic accident. I was hospitalized when the domain and website expired; however, I was able to renew the dot net and dot org domains in time.

And that brings us around to today. RadioShack is silent, since I have proved them wrong. I showed them the errors of their ways. If they want to press the issue further, I have documented about one thousand case laws where the Big Corporations lost their battles with the Little Guys; and I am prepared to forward those cases to the RadioShack lawyers.

One more item. It appears that RadioShack has spent more money on this case than if they bought the domains from me outright. I agree that my asking price for both domains ($10K) was too high; however, it gave me a starting point for further negotiations. I want to see what they have to offer, and go from there. I'm not going to give them the domains free of any charge; I'd be stupid to do so; however, I am willing to come down in price, as long as it's equitable. If RadioShack wants to reimburse me for the money I have spent keeping the domains (approximately $1K over the ten plus years), I'm willing to sell. I would still like to hear from them for the offer.

Enough for now.