[sdiy] electronic parts stores

[media at mail1.nai.net]

At 8:46 AM -0700 04/20/01, Alex Dickey wrote:
>
>that's not true.  just yesterday, i had to drive 20 miles out of my way to
>go to the "professional" electronics store out here.  all i wanted was damn
>red LEDs and they didn't have em.  red LEDs!!  555's?  no, they've been out
>of those for half a year.  i asked them to order some months ago and so
>far, nothing.  they are consistently out of the things people use the most
>because, well, lots of people use them and everybody goes there.

I don't know where in the world you are, but I had a similar problem here
in Connecticut.  A couple of years ago, I called an electronics parts store
a few towns over, and asked them if they had certain things.  When I got
there they had nothing.  I have no idea why they lied just to get me to
drive out there. They had no 1% resistors, no IC sockets, no TL072's, no
555's.  It was like a bakery that was out of bread.  All of the stock that
they had was in yellowed plastic bags collecting dust.  It looked like they
didn't do any business at all.  A tax write off??  A front for the mob??
Most of these places have simply gone out of business, just like the TV
repairman who were their main customers.

Mailorder seems the only way to go.

>luckily for me, i can go pick up .01uf's at RS.  and if i need something at
>8:49pm, they're open.  sure, they're expensive, but you pay a little more
>for lack of foresight.
>
>i kinda like that RS has this "crap" reputation.  makes the small inventory
>they do have *all mine*.

Some of the things RS carries are less expensive than Digikey (for example
threaded spaces or metal 1/8" plugs), but they have much less selection (RS
only sells one type of threaded spacer -- Digikey sells hundreds).  I do
agree that RS is convenient if you need something in a hurry.