Radio Shack, for whatever reason, did and still has the trust of helpless uncles and grandmas. People really do ask them for advice. This was probably the most valuable of all the resources they squandered. They really did have a good reputation, and they worked like hell to ruin it.
In 80s they wanted your name and address because they wanted to mail you junk.
In the 90s the Post Office decided that bulk mail was the only way to survive so they made it really easy to just carpet bomb entire zip code areas with ads. RadioShack had no use for your info anymore, but then they came up with a new reason to have it, they wanted to sell you satellite TV crap. They pushed it really hard.
Then, in the 2000s, they switched to pestering you about cell phone plans, still need that info, see.
So they really never stopped asking for your address! If someone came in and spent $200, that was never good enough for hem. They don't care about revenue in itself.. They want their tentacles in your life. It never worked for them. They are now going out of business, and I'm sure the people running the company have all sorts of explanation as to how it's nobody's fault, but it's pretty obvious now that constantly making your customers uncomfortable is not a way to run a business.
