What's Wrong With Newark?

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Joined 2004
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Folks:

I placed an order with Newark on March 3, 2021. That order included 49 line items, 9 of which were identified as being "UK Stock." According to Newark's website, all of the items in my order show as being in inventory. Newark's website claims that UK Stock-based items will be shipped to Newark's US facility ("Delivery in 2-4 Business Days") to be added to the line items inventoried in the US and then shipped to the buyer. If only.

It's now 2 weeks later and I've just gotten off a call with Newark's customer service department. They claim that one of the UK Stock items I ordered has been shipped to their US warehouse for forwarding to me (presumably with the 40 line items in their US stock). It is unclear why the other 8 line items in Newark's UK Stock have not shipped. Newark's customer service department cannot explain the cause of the delay; they promised to contact the UK warehouse and email me an update, but I've been down this path before and am not holding my breath.

This isn't the first time Newark has screwed up an order for me or shipped far later than promised. Newark often has items I want at prices that are far lower than Mouser or Digikey, but Newark's shipping delays are both horrible and routine. I don't know if Farnell, Newark's UK affiliate, suffers from the same issues.

Are Arrow or Allied better suppliers? Who are people turning to instead of Newark? I have to find a more reliable, reasonably-priced alternative.

Regards,
Scott
 
If Farnell is Newarks UK affiliate it might indeed be part of the problem. I order lots from Farnell and recently Ive been getting multiple deliveries on one order some many days later and some from Belgium. By contrast anything I order from Digikey comes from the US in 3 days.
 
There's a big charge for Newark items shipped from UK, $20 per line item last I recall.

rayma:

I don't know if Newark still imposes that charge if your order consists only of UK Stock being delivered to a US address, but it does not apply if your order includes US stock and you allow Newark to consolidate the order before being shipped to you. My order has a total value of about $102 (US) and they are charging a flat $9.95 to deliver it to me. Orders over $150 ship for free. But will it ever arrive?

Regards,
Scott
 
Big delays on Mouser in the UK a few weeks ago, took over a week for them to even start picking my order and over two weeks for it to arrive. I'm also having issues with board assemblers struggling to get hold of parts that where in stock only a few months ago when I did the designs. Even looking around companies like RS today for trolleys almost everything was out of stock. Any ideas on why there are shortages on so many things at the moment?
 
Mouser is located in Texas, which suffered huge power outages during recent severe inclement weather. I also ordered from them and their shipment was delayed by 3 or 4 days. They bounced back quick. Mouser's service (especially their customer service department) has been terrific as far as I'm concerned, and it's hard to hold their recent delays against them.
 
I had the same experienced with Newark but with a different twist. I ordered the items on 2/5/2021 and one of the item says "205 items In Stock". I received the other items I ordered on 2/10/2021 but noticed that one line item is missing. I waited until I thought it's been weeks.
On 2/25/2021, almost three weeks after receiving the other parts, I called and inquired about the delayed item, pointed out that as of last check that day, the website says "205 In Stock" still. I was told I will receive a call/email soon as the person I was talking to does not have the info on what happened and I did on 2/26/2021.

We apologize for the inconvenience and order delayed , we do not have parts in stock and the ship date is on 07/06/2021[

I was stunned! After waiting for almost three weeks, and if I have not called I will be in the dark, about the delayed part and will be waiting for nothing. I responded that (and will try my very best) I will not order any parts from Newark again! I regret sending that email but I was frustrated at the time.

On 3/1/2021, I received another email

Greetings from Newark!

Our back end team is aware of the issue and they are working diligently on getting it resolved. We have created a bug for it at the moment and will be fixed in our next release/update. However, we are unsure when the next release will take place. We request you to give us a call Sales 866-752-9279 before placing an order to confirm the availability of products. We regret the inconvenience.

Thank you!!

What is the point of doing an online order if I have to call as well to verify if the parts are available (which the website says they were when I was ordering)? I do not understand.
 
If you put "hold order until complete" the whole order will sit until all lines are complete. Meanwhile they will give the items that were in stock the day you ordered, to other customers. So the order will hold until another item gets restocked. Probably forever.
From UK to US, shipment goes through customs. Sometimes this works in 2 days, sometimes it takes a month. I had some TI 74HC*** parts from UK take a month.
If you don't put "hold order until all items complete", they will sometimes ship 2 or 3 boxes at $9 each. Sometimes on the same day. 25% of my order value in shipping charges doesn't suit me.
I have called in and gotten a partial order on hold, shipped, and all other items cancelled. I recommend this. If they don't have an item, they may never have it. Manufacturers only run certain parts once or twice a year. If they had a fill or kill option on items, I'd use it, but they don't. You have to call in.
Inventory shown in stock is "usually" accurate, but like any warehouse, sometimes things are misplaced or stolen. 90% of my orders go straight through, and If I get order in by 10 AM, sometimes it comes next day by UPS for surface rate. I still use newark in part because they discount end of run resistors, in part because they discount capacitors past shelf life. Expired shelf life capacitors can be reformed: I'm not loading them in a pick & place machine. Digikey recently was reported as shipping 8 year old nichicon electrolytics at full price, so I see now why there are never any "past shelf life" discounts at digikey
Mouser, when I looked all their 2-3 watt metal film resistors were ~18 cents, and 100% the brand that has come in made in *****. If I'm flexible on actual value (say 1% tolerance 8% off from a standard value) I can usually get resistors within 10% of value I want for $2 a hundred @ newark. Usually @ newark I can get resistors from countries that don't put millions of funny looking people in prison.
 
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The world is confused/messed up, it takes 2 weeks for a letter to arrive in Minnesota or Illinois from Wisconsin. Six weeks for anything from UK or EU to Wisconsin. Yet, Japan and China shipments arrive in a week or less!

I ordered a power transformer from Mercury Magnetics in California on March 9th. it was sent by US mail, cleared customs into Canada, and I picked it up today (the 17th) I was impressed.
 
Farnell/Element 14 and Newark are all the same arent they?

Farnell in the UK is awful lately, particularly the last 3 years it's really gone downhill.

I use them for things I cannot find at RS components, with which we have discount.

My latest order of 6 items from Farnell took twice as long to ship as RS, came in two deliveries, one in a jiffy bags one with no packaging at all and both with no delivery note.

RS often has backorder issues, which you only realise when your order is confirmed, and often they split deliveries, but still preferable to Farnell!
 
Isn't the UK just coming down from a very restrictive lockdown?

Restrictive on private life, but not on work life, not really.

The UK stock charge is a duty thing, we have the same here in the UK when I want to buy small numbers of specific semis which are US made and held in Farnell US stock, and subject to a £16 charge.

So I end up avoiding the purchase, IF I can find a UK supplier holding stock, even if a higher price per unit.
 
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