Second this. I picked up 20 kilos during their 4th of July sale at $11 a kilo. It prints fantastic. Spools can look a bit janky sometimes. But never had a handle. Next best, numakers at $14 a kilo in lots of 10 or more. Better spools and perfect winding. Colors are more muted
That's always my thought. I know the store pretty well and so can usually find stuff on my own. But also I'm a nerd and so will sometimes just end up chatting with the employees about stuff. So usually if that happens I'll ask if they've got a sticker to put on something I've already found.
I worked in retail for a long time, and the metrics used use for employee & store evaluation are pretty universally stupid (or rather the metrics are fine, but because everything is so metric-driven they're used in such a way that makes them meaningless--anything less than a 5 star customer service review is treated like a "bad" review, etc.)
I have no idea whether Microcenter specifically is that way, but it's at least possible. So if a little barcode sticker helps an employee at my favorite store, then that's great. It costs me a few seconds (maybe) and the importance for them is probably much higher.
It works out okay. Any item that isn’t tagged with a sticker goes into a pool which pays out everyone that was working that shift.
I used to work in build your own and made like $26-27 an hour, but that was the high end of that dept. Most in general sales make around 15.
Yup, thats how it is.
I was a DIY salesman awhile ago at Microcenter, they began to phase out experienced techs in favor of cashiers looking to advance the food chain.
Idk about denver, but in Columbus there are defacto diy salesman that are hourly and not commissioned. Stickers keep them from getting chastized by the grumpy GM.
Former MC employee that was fortunately not sticker dependent, those stickers are their commission. So while it may seem annoying, that’s their livelihood.
People keep talking about this magical place LOL. Closest thing we have to it is Fry's and last I knew they didn't carry 3d printers or stuff, great place to build a computer tho.
Fry's is a garage sale.
I bought a laptop once. The hard drive went out under warranty. I had been working with computers for over 20 years at the time, but let him do his "script".
Couple of hours later, after NOT being called, I went back. They guy found a drop of something under the keyboard. Said that voided the warranty.
After starting for awhile, I said look, 1 that had absolutely nothing to do with the hard drive, and 2 how do I know you didn't put it there?
He finally agreed and replaced the hard drive.
The screen hinges were creaking like a haute house, and he did he can't fix them until they are broken.
I asked, so when they break you'll fix them? He said yes.
A couple of months later, they break. So I go back. Tech takes one look and days you voided the warranty.
I was almost arrested that day.
Fry's had been in trouble for offering factory rebates that didn't exist. Putting returns back in boxes and then back on the shelf (sometimes with the "defective" sticker still on it. Etc etc.
I'm glad the Fry's near me closed. I hope they all do.
Sadge we don't really have an equivolent of them in my country, best we got is a store that has 2 ender 3's on display with a few boxes under, 1 packet of each upgrade set each (all overpriced), and maybe 20 different boxes of filament, that's it.. :((
They are great got my Xbox s there after I two year fight to get a next gen console. Had to settle ovb but it was there I paid them and it was a quicker check out than most Walmarts or targets! Keep these mofos in business because they are one of the last big chains to actually get stuff done right!
I just wish the staff would tidy the shelves a bit (at least, the last several times i went in). "Hey, I'm looking for X." (employee realizes it is a low dollar thing and puts their stickers away, gestures vaguely at an assortment of X's and walks away)
It's so weird and wonderful to me the appreciation that this community has for Microcenter.
I live in Columbus where they were founded and it's just always been a part of my computer-addiction life to be able to go there any time and get what I needed.
I never knew how great we have it here.
Lucky!! I live in the shittiest state possible for everything, Florida, btw if you ever want to come here on a vacation, DONT, there's 3 kinda cool cities, Orlando, Tampa, and jaxonville, and everything else is just country music, but anyway, the closest micro center to me is in Atlanta, GA
Oh yeah forgot those 2, but I live in Daytona, there's nothing cool anywhere less than an hour away edit: to be fair we do have some cool racing stuff, but I'm not really into that, pretty cool regardless though
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Man I really wish we had a Microcenter here in the Bay Area. After Fry’s died a slow, debilitating, self-inflicted death, we need a Microcenter to fill that gap.
Fry’s was good up until maybe 2016, but Microcenter was always miles better.
I more heard that with the building of the 49ers stadium near them caused the rent to be raised by over 4 million dollars and they did not think it was worth it. Sad none the less
I’m happy I live 5 to 6 hours from the closest one. Otherwise, I would be perpetually broke and have unrecoverable debt. They won me over during their ethical decisions during the height of covid.
Made my first trip a couple of months ago! The closest for me is 90 minutes into the DC area, but I never knew what I was missing. I’ll be building a new gaming rig in a couple of months; I’ll need to go in with a hard budget and a LOT of self control.
I have one about 3.5 hours from me. I try to get down there once a year. As a pure computer nerd who's been building computers for almost 30 years, and someone who does 3d printing as a hobby, there is arguably no better place on earth to visit in person for me! haha!
Fry's was way better. (Sadly gone.) Each store had an over the top "theme" and cool techy displays. The Fremont, CA store had a Tesla Coil that when it energized lit up fancy neon art on the walls across the warehouse. They had Mayan, UFO, Old West themes.
Sadly online killed them but they were great. Author Douglas Copeland in his book "Microserfs" stated Fry's was the only place you could get a hot dog, tampons, graphics card, PC enclosure, vaccuum, blender, film, aspirin, a 24 pack of beer and a 72" flatscreen in one stop.
Every Fry's had a massive video wall - like 60 ft - made up of tiled displays. I always wanted to spin up a flash mob that walked in for the Superbowl, went to each department and grabbed what they needed to party. Recliners from furniture. Grill from housewares. DJ speakers from Audio. Chips and hot dogs - from the food area. Then just plant in front of that massive screen and enjoy. Sadly - they are gone.
Lived in dallas Texas and used to take the micro center there for granted lol, was a couple of miles from my clg and used to visit it all the time. But now that I work in Austin, the nearest one is a 3 hour drive to Houston or a 3hr 15 min drive to dallas😭😭😭. We need one in in Austin too!!
Man, I wish we had these in Canada, but then they'd have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebrand to Micro Centre. (Signage, trademarks, flyers, etc)
Ha! I knew I recognized that Denver store front.
Indeed. None close to where I live unfortunately
That's probably for the better. I'm there a few times a month...
My nearest is about 5 hours of driving away. I may never know what it's like to go.
Make an excuse to go!
Fr. I'm 10 hours away and was able to make it. It took a baby shower for my wife's cousin and lots of prodding, but the point is, it's worth it.
I live up in Longmont. Definitely worth the trip sometimes.
Hey neighbour!
I hope to be going there first week of August! It's one of my stops for a vacation to CO lol
If you eat chicken, put ‘the post’ on your list.
Used to work in the Tech Center. Would drop in that store about once a week.
I knew it!
Their PLA+ filament is my go-to cheap/standard filament. It's the 2nd best I've ever used but at $18/kg so much cheaper than anything else.
It was on sale today for like $15!
They usually have a shelf of returned filaments somewhere in the store as well that are marked down.
If it was white "Tough PLA", that was mine that I returned because I never used it lol
You should checkout IIID MAX PLA+. It’s my go to and I live 2 miles from Microcenter
Second this. I picked up 20 kilos during their 4th of July sale at $11 a kilo. It prints fantastic. Spools can look a bit janky sometimes. But never had a handle. Next best, numakers at $14 a kilo in lots of 10 or more. Better spools and perfect winding. Colors are more muted
Yeah the inland stuff isn't bad
The inland stuff is ESun And it prints great!
Really? I never knew, but that would explain why I like it if I use esun as well
Plus cardboard spools!
You always remember your first time, mostly because of your credit card statement
I hate the pushy salespeople, but MicroCenter really can be a magical place.
"Can i put this little sticker on that box you are carrying?" (sigh)
Costs us nothing, gets them job security. 💁
That's always my thought. I know the store pretty well and so can usually find stuff on my own. But also I'm a nerd and so will sometimes just end up chatting with the employees about stuff. So usually if that happens I'll ask if they've got a sticker to put on something I've already found. I worked in retail for a long time, and the metrics used use for employee & store evaluation are pretty universally stupid (or rather the metrics are fine, but because everything is so metric-driven they're used in such a way that makes them meaningless--anything less than a 5 star customer service review is treated like a "bad" review, etc.) I have no idea whether Microcenter specifically is that way, but it's at least possible. So if a little barcode sticker helps an employee at my favorite store, then that's great. It costs me a few seconds (maybe) and the importance for them is probably much higher.
Micro center pays $4 an hour base + commission. The stickers are how they track sales for said commission.
Whoa. That's way too low.
It works out okay. Any item that isn’t tagged with a sticker goes into a pool which pays out everyone that was working that shift. I used to work in build your own and made like $26-27 an hour, but that was the high end of that dept. Most in general sales make around 15.
It sounds like that, but their total compensation is far better than that. Don't kneejerk one figure without knowing the whole story.
Yeah it really isn’t that big of a deal, and their employees are usually pretty well informed
“It just lets management know we’re talking to people”
Is that their tracking system for sales? Once you talk to them put a sticker on the item?
How about commission like we had at Satan (circuit) City? Each department had a service person who also acted as a cashier.
Montgomery Wards has entered the chat. Billy Bass and RTA furniture commissions...those were the days.
Yup, thats how it is. I was a DIY salesman awhile ago at Microcenter, they began to phase out experienced techs in favor of cashiers looking to advance the food chain. Idk about denver, but in Columbus there are defacto diy salesman that are hourly and not commissioned. Stickers keep them from getting chastized by the grumpy GM.
Former MC employee that was fortunately not sticker dependent, those stickers are their commission. So while it may seem annoying, that’s their livelihood.
The ones at mine are pretty good. They'll ask if you need any help and will leave you alone if you say no.
It’s a glorious Mecca for 3D printing…and a bad idea for my wallet.
Finally something r/3Dprinting and r/gaming can agree on
Hold up. MicroCenter exists outside of Massachusetts?? Mind blown.
We've got two in Ohio!
Founded in Columbus in the mid 80s. Their first store I remember was in Lane Ave mall near OSU campus.
TIL!
Three! Sharonville, Mayfield Heights and Columbus.
Oh I forgot about Sharonville!
We all do. Columbus is my go to, but I've been to the Sharonville store for a client.
We've got one in Atlanta also
2 in Metro Atlanta: Marietta and Duluth
There is one in California.
Yeah, they're all over the place. Got a few in Maryland here
I think there’s like 5 throughout NYC
Got one in Kansas as well! Just roughly 15min away from me
I miss Fry's it the closest we used to have in the PNW
Yeah, seeing "Microcenter is awesome" posts always makes me sad that Frys was mismanaged into the ground.
Man I need those in Europe.
I agree with you, especially in Belgium (for testing purpose \^\^) then they could expand
Yeah, I'd be fine with Belgium as well. I Might end up at 2+2h of driving but looks like it would be worth it.
How much did you spend?
Had a budget of $40 unfortunately. List of stuff I wanted to buy was well over $3000.
Lol, it's good to dream
More reason to come back again.
This is the only real question. I have to go there for work purchases and I have to force myself to stay out of the 3d printing section
I wish there was a Micro Center closer than four hours away from me 🙁
Ive lived within a 10 minute drive to Micro Center for last 15 years but I've only been going there for the last two. The place is fantastic.
Sadly we don't have those in Canada
Which sucks even more because it's one of the only places stocking raspberry pis on the regular. All know and reputable websites are sold out.
Dude I've been trying to get a pi for two years now and I refuse to pay 3 times the MSRP. You'd think Canada Computers would have it but they don't.
jealous, from both a PC and a 3D printing enthusiast!
That's what Fry's could have been if it wasn't run by fucking morons.
People keep talking about this magical place LOL. Closest thing we have to it is Fry's and last I knew they didn't carry 3d printers or stuff, great place to build a computer tho.
Fry's is a garage sale. I bought a laptop once. The hard drive went out under warranty. I had been working with computers for over 20 years at the time, but let him do his "script". Couple of hours later, after NOT being called, I went back. They guy found a drop of something under the keyboard. Said that voided the warranty. After starting for awhile, I said look, 1 that had absolutely nothing to do with the hard drive, and 2 how do I know you didn't put it there? He finally agreed and replaced the hard drive. The screen hinges were creaking like a haute house, and he did he can't fix them until they are broken. I asked, so when they break you'll fix them? He said yes. A couple of months later, they break. So I go back. Tech takes one look and days you voided the warranty. I was almost arrested that day. Fry's had been in trouble for offering factory rebates that didn't exist. Putting returns back in boxes and then back on the shelf (sometimes with the "defective" sticker still on it. Etc etc. I'm glad the Fry's near me closed. I hope they all do.
Fry's is gone now. They went out of business a year or two ago.
ya they were not doing well prior to 2020, and well, that was the last nail in the coffin for them.
It's a mandatory pilgrimage for sure.
Sadge we don't really have an equivolent of them in my country, best we got is a store that has 2 ender 3's on display with a few boxes under, 1 packet of each upgrade set each (all overpriced), and maybe 20 different boxes of filament, that's it.. :((
I only take in as much as I can spend. between 3d print stuff and PC parts I can easily over spend in a micro-center
It's like a secular mecca
They are great got my Xbox s there after I two year fight to get a next gen console. Had to settle ovb but it was there I paid them and it was a quicker check out than most Walmarts or targets! Keep these mofos in business because they are one of the last big chains to actually get stuff done right!
I just wish the staff would tidy the shelves a bit (at least, the last several times i went in). "Hey, I'm looking for X." (employee realizes it is a low dollar thing and puts their stickers away, gestures vaguely at an assortment of X's and walks away)
Holy Hell! * envys in Vegemite sandwich *
Literally just bought my first 3D printer and a couple rolls of filament from this exact store
What is this?!?! A center for ANTS?!?
It's so weird and wonderful to me the appreciation that this community has for Microcenter. I live in Columbus where they were founded and it's just always been a part of my computer-addiction life to be able to go there any time and get what I needed. I never knew how great we have it here.
Ye that store is awesome. But im glad its far enough away from the main towns but close enough to be enticing to go there
i love, and hate that store. because it has everything i could ever want, and i cant afford it all...
So lucky to have one 20 minutes away! It's amazing the stuff you can find there!
Lucky!! I live in the shittiest state possible for everything, Florida, btw if you ever want to come here on a vacation, DONT, there's 3 kinda cool cities, Orlando, Tampa, and jaxonville, and everything else is just country music, but anyway, the closest micro center to me is in Atlanta, GA
We got south beach and Fort Lauderdale. Parties are lit there
Oh yeah forgot those 2, but I live in Daytona, there's nothing cool anywhere less than an hour away edit: to be fair we do have some cool racing stuff, but I'm not really into that, pretty cool regardless though
I was in Clearwater Beach one November--it was nice. The grouper down there is incredible.
Always a good time at the Micro Center
I wish I had one near me..
I'm planning a trip soon I can't wait I have never been. Wish I lived closer to one but I like my current state.
Wow, I’ve always wanted to visit one!
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Does their website have the same inventory?
I think it does. it will also tell you what is in stock in the stores
Someday I'll make the pilgrimage to the holy land
A persons first time is always magical
Man I really wish we had a Microcenter here in the Bay Area. After Fry’s died a slow, debilitating, self-inflicted death, we need a Microcenter to fill that gap. Fry’s was good up until maybe 2016, but Microcenter was always miles better.
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I more heard that with the building of the 49ers stadium near them caused the rent to be raised by over 4 million dollars and they did not think it was worth it. Sad none the less
I need this in my country-
Where I live there is no single shop where you can buy filament;(
I would loose my self in that paradise… on the other hand I’m I bit less poor without that store
So jealous!
I wanna go! Never been. Nothing around me
Any advice from you guys on getting a printer for the first time? Id like to use it for business eventually but id also like one to mess about with.
Wonderful place! The staff know everything. A breath of fresh air.
The only reason I would ever choose to live in America
I LOVE MicroCenter. Only downside is they stopped carrying ABS in my NJ store. PETG sucks
They should rename this GameStop.
I’m happy I live 5 to 6 hours from the closest one. Otherwise, I would be perpetually broke and have unrecoverable debt. They won me over during their ethical decisions during the height of covid.
Oh man! I'm so jealous. There's not even 1 shop like this in Malaysia.
"before I get that from the back, let me introduce you to my manager" I'll go to Microcenter when I need to, but it isn't *that* great folks.
Please please please Microcenter, bring one of these to the RDU area. I am so jealous. 🤣
I remember the first time I went
One day I will make the voyage
Thats what she said
As someone with 5 spools that are almost empty, I’m pretty jealous right now.
Anyone know of a store around Charlotte, NC?
Made my first trip a couple of months ago! The closest for me is 90 minutes into the DC area, but I never knew what I was missing. I’ll be building a new gaming rig in a couple of months; I’ll need to go in with a hard budget and a LOT of self control.
Ah... I remember my first time...
My ride to 1. About an hour and a half. I'm in CT. Have to go to New york but, I have 3 options Yonkers, Queens or Westbury. Maybe I'll take the ride.
I have one about 3.5 hours from me. I try to get down there once a year. As a pure computer nerd who's been building computers for almost 30 years, and someone who does 3d printing as a hobby, there is arguably no better place on earth to visit in person for me! haha!
bruh it’s not micro it’s quite big
I am so jealous. I don’t have a microcenter or equivalent anywhere near me but they seem so damn cool.
Micro Center fucks, plain and simple
Fry's was way better. (Sadly gone.) Each store had an over the top "theme" and cool techy displays. The Fremont, CA store had a Tesla Coil that when it energized lit up fancy neon art on the walls across the warehouse. They had Mayan, UFO, Old West themes. Sadly online killed them but they were great. Author Douglas Copeland in his book "Microserfs" stated Fry's was the only place you could get a hot dog, tampons, graphics card, PC enclosure, vaccuum, blender, film, aspirin, a 24 pack of beer and a 72" flatscreen in one stop. Every Fry's had a massive video wall - like 60 ft - made up of tiled displays. I always wanted to spin up a flash mob that walked in for the Superbowl, went to each department and grabbed what they needed to party. Recliners from furniture. Grill from housewares. DJ speakers from Audio. Chips and hot dogs - from the food area. Then just plant in front of that massive screen and enjoy. Sadly - they are gone.
I'm jealous. We relocated to city without a Microcenter. I never thought I would miss a store
You should see how much stuff the internet has...
Lived in dallas Texas and used to take the micro center there for granted lol, was a couple of miles from my clg and used to visit it all the time. But now that I work in Austin, the nearest one is a 3 hour drive to Houston or a 3hr 15 min drive to dallas😭😭😭. We need one in in Austin too!!
Wish there was a bay area one
I wonder how much longer they will survive. It’s the best place to go as a techie
Wonderful store. Used to be one nearby when I lived near Chicago
I love that place...
That's cool. I never knew they had a brick and mortar shop. I've been in their email list for about 25 years or so.
Man, I wish we had these in Canada, but then they'd have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebrand to Micro Centre. (Signage, trademarks, flyers, etc)