Just curious what price premium you all pay at your respective local electronics component shops. I recently purchased a few capacitors, LEDs, voltage regulators, etc. and I ended up paying about 2x to 2.5x what mouser charges for the same components.
I'm not really complaining, because going with mouser would have ended up more expensive after the $20 shipping charge, and I guess I am lucky that I even have a local shop available. I like supporting local businesses, but am I getting robbed here?
Also, I'd be interested to know what you think about local shops in general. What is yours like? The guy that runs the one here in town seems kinda sad and lonely. He comments on how the electronics hobbiests are a dying breed, etc.
I'm not really complaining, because going with mouser would have ended up more expensive after the $20 shipping charge, and I guess I am lucky that I even have a local shop available. I like supporting local businesses, but am I getting robbed here?
Also, I'd be interested to know what you think about local shops in general. What is yours like? The guy that runs the one here in town seems kinda sad and lonely. He comments on how the electronics hobbiests are a dying breed, etc.
I have only one local outlet. I have always known that his new components are much more expensive than online sources but never actually computed the ratio. Off the top of my head it probably starts around 2x and goes up - maybe as much as 5x or even 10x. He has quite a bit of surplus and salvaged components with prices similar, or sometimes cheaper, than their first-rate counterparts from the online distributors . . . . if you can find a part that's suitable for your application.
The bargains are probably found on the shelves of used equipment, especially the test gear. Again, it's unusual to find anything that's exactly what you're looking for. Some of it is obviously one-off or specialized instruments and test fixtures created to support some outdated industrial or manufacturing process, but if you take a peek inside the case you might spot some component or assembly that can be re-purposed.
The staff is friendly and helpful, though it's rare to see anybody under 45 yrs old or so, on EITHER side of the counter.
Dale
The bargains are probably found on the shelves of used equipment, especially the test gear. Again, it's unusual to find anything that's exactly what you're looking for. Some of it is obviously one-off or specialized instruments and test fixtures created to support some outdated industrial or manufacturing process, but if you take a peek inside the case you might spot some component or assembly that can be re-purposed.
The staff is friendly and helpful, though it's rare to see anybody under 45 yrs old or so, on EITHER side of the counter.
Dale
My guy has some used stuff, too. Plenty of old transformers from various eras. Some really impressive looking iron, some of it, but as you noted... never exactly what I am looking for. Although much of it isn't even labelled so I actually don't know what gems might be in there. I could spend half a day in there with my DMM and a power cord. Maybe I will some day.
Whenever I am in there, I feel melancholy. I guess it makes me all too aware of the impermanance of everything. I think I'll make a point of getting to know the old guy better.
Whenever I am in there, I feel melancholy. I guess it makes me all too aware of the impermanance of everything. I think I'll make a point of getting to know the old guy better.
Might I interpret the lack of response to be directly related to the lack of local components shops on this planet?
Are there really so few of them left?
Perhaps I am justified in feeling nostalgic and a bit sad when I visit mine.
Are there really so few of them left?
Perhaps I am justified in feeling nostalgic and a bit sad when I visit mine.
around here we had a dozen places , none left, I blame the www
sure there's a premium for the small stuff, but its more than offset by the deals on the bigger items.
sure there's a premium for the small stuff, but its more than offset by the deals on the bigger items.
On very small stuff (resistors, caps, etc), the premium was about 5 to 10X. On bigger stuff, like enclosures or transformers, prices were better, about 1.5 to 2X. The biggest problem for me that it was difficult to get parts of decent quality: the caps would always be the cheapest Chinese ones, resistors would be a mix of carbon and metal, etc.
I wrote "was" because in the last years, either the electronic shops close down or shifted to a "business customers only" model. So it's always the WWW now, even for small orders.
I wrote "was" because in the last years, either the electronic shops close down or shifted to a "business customers only" model. So it's always the WWW now, even for small orders.
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