HP Forum Archive 07

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HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #1 Posted by Daniel Kekez on 16 Feb 2002, 9:24 a.m. Hi, I tried ordering an HP-32SII from Oxycom.com. After waiting four weeks for it to arrive, I e-mailed them for an update, and I was told the following by Oxycom: "Unfortunately, the product you ordered was discontinued and the manufacturer never advised us." I was under the impression that although HP isn't developing new calcs, the existing models had not yet been discontinued. In any case, my search for a 32 resumes... -Daniel

Re: HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #2 Posted by Tony Copley on 16 Feb 2002, 10:36 a.m., in response to message #1 by Daniel Kekez Daniel, Two weeks ago, I purchased two calculators from Buy.com for $45.95 each. They arrived in three day using standard shipping. The newer style is shipping, with the green and purple shift keys. http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10304375&loc= Tony

Re: HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #3 Posted by Yani on 16 Feb 2002, 4:21 p.m., in response to message #2 by Tony Copley Our supplier has dropped the HP-32SII from their price list in the last few months. I believe that they are no longer available in Australia.

Re: HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #4 Posted by doug on 16 Feb 2002, 4:44 p.m., in response to message #1 by Daniel Kekez Currently they have all the calculators at 10% off. HP-32SII - $53.99 http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shopping/scripts/home/store_access.jsp?template_type=storefronts&category=calculators&aoid=6786&script_name=site_entrance.cgi

Re: HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #5 Posted by Yani on 17 Feb 2002, 4:06 a.m., in response to message #4 by doug Closing down sale?

Re: HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #6 Posted by Matthias Wehrli on 19 Feb 2002, 10:31 a.m., in response to message #1 by Daniel Kekez Have a look at this: http://www.exrom.com/news.htm

Re: HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #7 Posted by Ellis Easley on 19 Feb 2002, 2:21 p.m., in response to message #6 by Matthias Wehrli A snip from the earlier story, about ACO closing: "... HP has said that it is not exiting the calculator business all-together, and that they expect the calculator line to continue as good business for HP for some time." This made me think of how Radio Shack used to carry a big range of parts, like a good portion of the 74 series TTL - at least a few dozen part numbers. Last time I looked they had narrowed it down to about 4-6 parts (I mean stocked in the store - they have a bunch in the new mail order catalog). Also they used to have the "FlavoRadios" - cheap AM radios in a variety of colors (BTW I thought they should have done that with the Color Computer, now Apple has done it with the IMac), a while back the Flavors had been pared down to "Blackberry" (black) and "Raspberry" (sort of a coral). Radio Shack puts great stock in statistics and I guess they are just trying to concentrate on the biggest sellers in a business that adds new product lines at an increasing rate. When I worked for Tandy Corp. the buzz was about the need to change the name of Radio Shack because it connoted something cheap. Once in a speech to employees, John Roach (does anyone remember "the Chairman's thoughts" in the Radio Shack flyers? Am I the only one who thought of Chairman Mao?) explained for the benefit of newer employees the origin of the term "radio shack" - I knew ham operators used the term but I didn't know this - he explained that the first place where radio made a massive impact was on ships. And on a ship there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. So they had to build a shack on the deck for the radio. Therefore the term is indicative of an emerging technology. The new chairman of the company - who I swear used to act in Woody Allen movies - agreed, I guess, since he changed the name of the corporation to Radio Shack. In that speech, Roach made reference to the fact that Radio Shack carried some things that might be thought obsolete. He turned to the president of Radio Shack and asked, "How many tubes did we sell last year, Bernie?" At that time (mid 80's) they still had a small selection of TV and radio tubes in the catalog. Ten years before, when I was in high school, every store had a tube tester and a large number of types were stocked and they came with a lifetime guarantee. I think they still have a kit of five tubes that should let you get a lot of the old table radios working. Speaking of which, there is a guy on Ebay selling lots of parts including tubes and at the top of his "boilerplate" text he says, "Don't hit the Back button when you see my location, Lithuania!" He's got a lot of Russian military surplus and he says he can ship things to the US for $3 - $5 airmail. I'm going to get some 100 kHz crystals mounted in an evacuated glass tube. I want to see if I can detect the motion of the surface when it is oscillating.

Re: HP-32SII may be discontinued Message #8 Posted by Frank on 19 Feb 2002, 3:25 p.m., in response to message #7 by Ellis Easley Yes, Radio Shack has gone down hill quite a bit (and they stopped their own line of very interesting calculators bought from various suppliers prior to branding numerous mainstream versions while jacking up the price), along with other electronics supply houses from a hobbiest sense. Radio Shack is probably making alot more money leasing Cell Phones with seems to be the major focus at the counter following TV Sat systems being now free. Is there still a market there one wonders? I guess disposable products and quick technological change has brought it on. Is everyone a Best Buy/Circuit City/Name your big box electronics product retailer instead of Radio Shack?

Radio Shack Message #9 Posted by Ren on 20 Feb 2002, 9:43 a.m., in response to message #8 by Frank Back in '88 I was looking for work. I am an electronic technician by profession. I applied at a Radio Shack to help with the Christmas rush. The manager said he would accept my application, but that he preferred someone who was a good salesman over someone who knew electronics. I guess that pretty much shows the "heart" of Radio Shack. They'd rather sell you something off the shelf than the solution to your problem. In this town of 100,000 there is only 1 Radio Shack and there are not any wholesalers who will sell to the public. As the Shack is on the opposite side of town, I only go there occasionally and disregard the salesdroids offering "advice".

Re: Radio Shack Message #10 Posted by Frank on 20 Feb 2002, 10:29 a.m., in response to message #9 by Ren As an EET student in 75-76 and an EE student from 76-79, I spent quite a bit of any spare time in Radio Shack and one other Hobbiest electronics and products chain that was in a local mall (name escapes me). I had similar feelings about Radio Shack sales personnel amongst the several stores I frequented at the time, and Radio Shack was much better for a hobbiest at that time, and great for interesting calculators, but still not up to the other chain that was at the mall for electronics parts components and assemblies. The Allied Catalog (Tandy?) had a much better assortment than what was in the Radio Shack stores.

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