Micro Center In-Store Coupon: JLab JBuds Pro Wireless Signature Earbuds (Red) Expired

I wouldn't blame Amazon as much as I blame management. Fry's had an executive that I believe had embezzled 56 million dollars and is in prison for the crime. Who knows how much money walked out the door.
I do remember when Fry's opened in Downers Grove, IL. Huge place with great deals. I was like a kid in a candy store. Bought my first LCD TV there. A couple of years ago I purchased an open box Samsung Tab S3 tablet for $170 out the door and a couple of months later a Denon AVR-X4400 Receiver for $698.xx, both after there "code" word which entitled you to a 20% off coupon. Last time I stopped by I wish I hadn't, the place was depressing. Going to miss that store.

Looks like it was less "top-down corporate management" than it was BAD "top-down corporate management" that was clueless about customers' actual preferences and shopping habits and didn't make sure to stock what they really wanted to buy and came into stores for.

Back when it was still in business, I recall going to them only if I needed something that day and couldn't wait for an online order from Amazon, NewEgg or NECX and such to arrive, or because they were running a nice sale on something I could use. Otherwise, waste of my time and anything I needed and could wait for was cheaper online.

One thing I like about MC is their tinkerer/hobbyist section, sort of a Radio Shack on steroids. It's still way cheaper to buy such things online, especially eBay. But it's nice to know that if I need something that day, they'd probably have it. And their prices on some items are actually very competitive, like house brand Arduino boards and add-ons, or Raspberry Pi's. I'd also rather buy literally hands-on devices like keyboards from them, since they have a bunch on display (or used to before covid).

Indeed corporate was rather epically tone deaf. I mentioned the pallets of jewel cases, though that was but one example. Others that come to mind include MIDI (musical) keyboards that were a new endcap one time (apparently they thought we could sell lots of those). When that flopped we dabbled in selling cell phones. The plan after cell phones was to sell radio controlled cars (and other R/C toys). I think the company was sold to Carlos Slim and company before the R/C toys were ordered; for better or worse it seems they killed off that ambition.

Another thing that a lot of customers might not have known is most (perhaps all?) stores actually had dedicated corporate sales desks. In our store it was most visible as a desk in one corner of the store near the front door - where you would also go for special orders if you were interested in figuring out that maze - but there was a lot more to it than that. In fact we actually had a small cubicle farm completely out of sight of the retail sales floor that was staffed by a few 9-5'ers who were tasked with maintaining corporate accounts. It was a big part of the company's business but not enough to keep us afloat.

There were a lot of things that were done right, though - and could have saved the company if someone had put in the effort from above. We had the most knowledgeable employees in consumer electronics at the time - we actively poached employees from Best Buy, Circuit City, Ultimate Electronics, etc - and we kept them by paying above-market wages. It was not uncommon to have customers come to us from other local stores when the other chains couldn't solve their problems. If we would have used the corporate purchasing system as a building block for online sales (we didn't) we could have been a huge seller in consumer electronics and had a presence there before Amazon was even selling books on the subject. We also had a pretty good inventory system (especially for checking cross-store inventory) and a pretty decent distribution network which could have been leveraged for better product delivery if we had put in the effort (again, we didn't).

Indeed corporate was rather epically tone deaf. I mentioned the pallets of jewel cases, though that was but one example. Others that come to mind include MIDI (musical) keyboards that were a new endcap one time (apparently they thought we could sell lots of those). When that flopped we dabbled in selling cell phones. The plan after cell phones was to sell radio controlled cars (and other R/C toys). I think the company was sold to Carlos Slim and company before the R/C toys were ordered; for better or worse it seems they killed off that ambition.

Another thing that a lot of customers might not have known is most (perhaps all?) stores actually had dedicated corporate sales desks. In our store it was most visible as a desk in one corner of the store near the front door - where you would also go for special orders if you were interested in figuring out that maze - but there was a lot more to it than that. In fact we actually had a small cubicle farm completely out of sight of the retail sales floor that was staffed by a few 9-5'ers who were tasked with maintaining corporate accounts. It was a big part of the company's business but not enough to keep us afloat.

There were a lot of things that were done right, though - and could have saved the company if someone had put in the effort from above. We had the most knowledgeable employees in consumer electronics at the time - we actively poached employees from Best Buy, Circuit City, Ultimate Electronics, etc - and we kept them by paying above-market wages. It was not uncommon to have customers come to us from other local stores when the other chains couldn't solve their problems. If we would have used the corporate purchasing system as a building block for online sales (we didn't) we could have been a huge seller in consumer electronics and had a presence there before Amazon was even selling books on the subject. We also had a pretty good inventory system (especially for checking cross-store inventory) and a pretty decent distribution network which could have been leveraged for better product delivery if we had put in the effort (again, we didn't).

They were all out when I went. Big ole waste of a trip. I have everything else I need and don't wanna deal with slimey sales reps

Repost. Check freebie section before posting please

Probably most of us do not look in the Freebie Section. I'm glad OP posted here.

Then OP should give credit to the original poster.

OP probably doesn't read the Freebies either.

5.0 has nothing to do with audio quality.

Transmission range for audio depends entirely on the strength of the transmitter and quality of the antennas.

Codec quality comparisons with graphs and samples exist, even sbc is beyond most headphones let alone based on the sources they are fed.

Bluetooth doesn't get a default audio quality boost until 5.2.

Low bandwidth aac/sbc will always have longer range than hidef codecs.

This is all irrelevant at $20.