I just saw Jim Rowe's name on 2023 Practical Electronics projects (and John Clarke) so the electrons are still flowing
![Smiley :)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
I get mixed feelings about the video. Dick Smith kits did not make it to Canada that I know of despite us having our version of ETI International magazine up here. Might be the 15,500km trip.
On the one hand, a huge legacy and amazing DIY electronics in Australia, so many stores and products. Truly a legendary achievement that shapes a nation in a good way.
On the other hand, you see financial sharks, short sellers targeting big box retailers and sinking the ship in order to make huge profit. Maplin Electronics is another story of that.
The plan short sellers do - scoop up stock, borrow as much money as possible, then ruin the ship by fabricating doomsday press articles, opening new stores en mass, squandering cash etc.
Blame it all on the economy, weather, management failure, didn't adjust to changing market conditions blah blah when it was really the point all along- sabotage. I can't help wonder it's intentional on a larger scale.
We are left with ordering little pre-assembled boards from china that are too cheap for their own good, no documentation/instructions, unreliable poor designs.
What is the point of DIY electronics descending to that level? Nobody is learning much other than to post "whaaaa why doesn't it work?"
The only Dick Smith items I've seen were bushels of alkaline batteries, from the
order of a 12 year supply yeah that wasn't intentionally steering towards an iceburg.
Did anything come of the Australian Senate Inquiry into the downfall?