Dick Smith Electronics In Trouble?

[VK2VHF]

And the share price is now at 90% of issue price!

[VK4GHZ]

Dick Smith to axe 80 jobs as part of more cost-cutting

Less than 18 months after its $350 million float, consumer electronics retailer Dick Smith has embarked on another round of cost cutting, unveiling plans to trim 80 jobs in head office, supply chain and IT...

http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/d ... m3bcp.html

[VK3XL]

If they expect DSE to start making money then they need to start training their staff to at least understand something about what they sell.

Adrian

I once went to another large retailer looking for a SD memory card for my digital camera when I asked the pimpled sales boy what was the difference between brand X and brand Y SD cards were, his response was that the higher priced one would give me better picture quality than the cheaper one.....

[VK3MJC]

If they expect DSE to start making money then they need to start training their staff to at least understand something about what they sell.

..and look at the ridiculous pricing on some items!

I needed a 5 metre HDMI cable for a customer. Limited choice of retailers in Rosebud, so I dropped in at DSE to start with. Cheapest is the DSE branded one at $35. (Which they didn't have, and they also didn't have the twin pack ). Wandered next door to Big-W and bought a 5m AND a 10m for $25.

[VK2DCT]

Worked for many DSE stores for 8 years 1999-2007. Running the ham shack at Powerhouse Bankstown.

Very different business today.

[ZL3MF]

I am in the electronic service industry and we are a Uniden and Panasonic service centre and this is one of the most classic comments. A customer went into one of the DSE stores here in Christchurch wanting to buy a cordless phone and was told by one of the sales attendants the 1.8GHz phone go 1.8km, 2.4GHz goes 2.4Km and the 5.8GHz go 5.8Km....so the customer brought their 5.8Ghz phone into us under warranty very upset their phone would not do 5.8Km only 100m!! When they told us the story (after we wiped the tears from our eyes from laughter) we advised them to take it back to DSE and have them on about it. The phone was a Panasonic. We contacted Panasonic NZ and they where not happy and contacted the offending store and rip the s**t out of them....

[VK6SIX]

I remember "Gary crapp" was the national yaesu sales? manager at trickies in the 80s/90s.

I never forget poor old Garys name!

Nowdays trickies is a conglomerate of individual franchises with no idea how the system works.

When ur in a shop next hang around the mobile phone area and listen to the 100% pure bulls**it thats spews forth!.


e&oe

[VK6OX]

Who remembers Dick's 1st shop on Pacific Hwy St. Leonards. Spent many an idle hour there in the late 60s while doing my E&C Certificate at NSTC (now North Sydney TAFE I believe... ).

[VK2ZIM]

Dickie's first electronics shop shop was in Atchison St St Leonards next door to the Wireless Institute premises long before he moved up the road to Gore Hill.
Before that he had a car radio install business in Neutral bay

[VK6OX]

Dickie's first electronics shop shop was in Atchison St St Leonards next door to the Wireless Institute premises long before he moved up the road to Gore Hill.
Before that he had a car radio install business in Neutral bay

Whatever! Who remembers his shop on Pacific Hwy?

[ZL3MF]

From memory the first DSE electronics store here in Christchurch was at the corner of Bealey and Victora street and was in direct competition to Tricity House and Kit Set LTD (who remembers going into Tricity House on a Friday night the place was packed!!! )

Mike ZL3MF

[VK2MUS]

Whatever! Who remembers his shop on Pacific Hwy?

Dick brought out an interface to enable an IBM selectic typewriter to be connected to the computer as a printer - the problem was they would jam -when I was running the computer business we had many of his clients come in to see if we could get their selectic IBM 'printer' to work we found the problem and made an appointment to see him at his headquarters at Ryde - when you walk into his office he had a big sign on the wall behind his desk - "If you can't say it in 10 minutes I am not interested" it took a lot of work just to get to see him - my tech looked at the sign and say Sorry Dick it will take a lot more then 10 minutes to explain to you how to fix the IBM selective problem and walked out. We ended up getting all his Sydney business installing and fixing the IBM selectic interface until he dropped them

[VK4WDM]

Tricity House

That name brings back very fond memories. My first radio receiver was brought from them on a very generous installment plan.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK5ZT]

Hi all,

Seems to be a nostalgic thread here....

I worked for a small electronics workshop north of Adelaide that was the first DSE agent in SA before he opened his own shops here. I remember, as a young tech we were excited when Dick came to visit us. I later visited the Sydney warehouse and kitting department along with Dick's famously signposted office.

There's plenty of stories about that time. It was the start of the CB craze, of which we had mixed impressions as my boss, a workmate and I were all hams before CB arrived. 27 Mhz was still a ham-band. I recall a couple of guys turning up to have CBs installed in their cars. They were relatively technically illiterate and I explained the need for SWR adjustment to them and the advantages of SSB.

Some time later, we heard they had opened their own shop catering to CB and eventually amateur, marine, RFDS and car audio gear. Very entrepreneurial guys who I believe are still in business!!

I don't visit DS shops any more as they have long ago become irrelevant to amateur radio. At least the local Jaycar employs a ham. Having said that, my son-in-law got a job with Jaycar under unusual circumstances. He applied for a job with them not knowing what they sold! He must have impressed at interview because he got the job but he did have extensive retail experience with a large supermarket chain. He got the hang of it pretty quickly and is still there after quite a few years.

Ahhh the good old days........well not really!! As low paid techs early on we had junky old ex-commercial gear and some homebrew, mostly valve stuff. We have it so much better today as far as AR is concerned especially for those who play above 2 metres.

Cheers

Tim VK5ZT

[VK4GHZ]

2 months ago there was a Dick Smith in this corner shop front location:

click for full-size

Jaycar who were right next door, (but further off the street) have moved into this space.
Aside from a more visible frontage, It's also much bigger store.

According to the chap behind the Jaycar counter, DSE are going to be closing a lot of their "isolated" stores, tending to only have stores in shopping centers.

[VK3ZAZ]

When they cut the components here three years back and sold off ten cents in dollar was the first nail in the coffin

[VK3IH]

Working at Dick Smith when it was a proper electronics store paid my way through High School and Uni, their sales training through Umatic video tapes and sessions was great and my staff (who don't know about the Tricky Dickies background) reckon I can sell them anything !!

Good memories of working in a lot of the VK3 stores and at 10 day home show marathons......

PS is this the Dick Smith emoticon?

[VK3ZAZ]

Went into DSE Hamilton for something
Its a glorified wi fi store and Digital TV
Just like Hardly Normal
I guess they are responding to the demands of a wired public
Also saw the 1st orange box on top of a Telstra phone box here some crap about AIR?
all these people walking along with their heads up their asses watching their ipad screen.
don't you just love technology

George A ex DSE Richmond manager called in other day, he is now a JAYCAR REP

[VK4GHZ]

The SP chart says it all.
One could be excused for thinking Dick Smith is an Iron Ore miner.

However, if you had balls of steel last week, you could have doubled your money on the third trading day with the 'dead cat bounce'.

[VK4CZ]

And so much for the huge upto 70% off DSE sale!

Visited DSE last Sat to purchase the new Samsung Tab S2 9.7" for work (BYOD). DSE list price $598. Although a 10% off Samsung devices sign was displayed, was told no reduction for sale as it is a 'new' item (needed to read the fine print). Store manager offered a max. discount of 5%. That was $40 dearer than Hardly Normal's list price, but could gain any further advantage as this was the limit of the managers discretion on this device.

Went to Hardly... they then discounted their list price a further $50, beating DSE list price by $115 (~20% saving) and their 'best' offer by $90.