fry's electronics

Going to a retail store for consumer electronics purchases can be both exciting and frustrating. After working at Best Buy for two years, I have a few opinions to share that you might want to consider before your next shopping trip.

1. We have no formal training in the field of consumer electronics. Upon transferring to the computer department from home theater, I expressed concern to the manager: "Will there be time for someone to train me on laptops/desktops? What do these specifications mean?" His reply was simple: "Just do your best. A good salesperson can just read the labels and compare specs." Ouch.

Salespeople are not necessarily experts in the products sold in their departments, even if they are expert salespeople. Though many express a strong interest in the products they sell, your time spent at a retail store fishing for information about a future TV purchase could be better spent online researching the products yourself (I heard CNET has pretty great reviews).

2. We make little off the big-ticket items, so we smother you with accessories. Remember the story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"? Well, if you tell a salesman you're going to buy a TV, he's going to want to sell you a DVD player to go with it. Once he sells you the DVD player, he's going to want to get you to buy an HDMI cable, too.

Managers at Best Buy (and possibly all retailers) tell employees that the store profits surprisingly little from video game consoles and computers. Cables, accessories, mice, and other components, however, have a huge profit margin-- stores can make about $120 from a $150 Monster HDMI cable. Angry yet? The point is, we're going to work really hard to convince you to purchase that big item, but once you've said "OK" you've opened Pandora's Box.

Here's my advice: Grab the big item, and run. Purchase all accessories online, including memory cards, cables, traveling cases, and so on. Amazon, Monoprice, and Newegg are all reputable discount Web sites. You'll find what you need at a much lower price.… Read more

On today's show, we discuss the Halloween weekend, our escapades into Hasidism, and a few very poor costume choices. The whole time, Wilson just can't stop looking at his self-made portraits, so we concentrate our efforts in welcoming up-and-coming videographer Marvic Paulo to the show. He joins us in discussing our apathy toward Circuit City, defends the heavenly burritos from Chipotle, and we each reveal the shrouded secrets of our tragically bullied childhoods. TOO REAL!

Good friend and dedicated 404 listener Marvic Paulo helps us figure out a few stories on today's show, one of which involves a Web site that gives children the opportunity to report school bullies and other deviants in complete anonymity online. The site, School Tip Line, is designed to give young people a voice to report information about thefts, drugs, and harassment. Wait, what?! I think I've heard of this site, it's made by the founders of narc.com, jabroni.com, and howtogetyourbuttkicked.com, right? Don't get me wrong, I definitely got bullied in middle school, but I did what everyone else did: enrolled in a karate class, watched a bunch of Ninja Turtles episodes, and befriended the biggest kid I could find. What happened to good ol' American ingenuity? You wonder why our nation breeds socially inept hermits, it starts when they can weasel their way out of facing real life scenarios such as these! While you're here, why don't you check out my site, www.stopSNITCHING2009.com.

Don't forget about this week's Video game contest! You have a week to send in your custom LittleBigPlanet or MotorStorm: Pacific Rift box art submissions; the covers must feature The 404 in some capacity and this time, try and keep them PG-13. Need pics of The 404? Try our Flickr or the Facebook Group!