3v0

Neither mean squat if they are that slow. The only reason I have to make a small (less then min) order is if I wanted the parts yesterday.

For that I use Mouse and eat the few extra bucks for UPS shipping. I think in the US can ship USPS through them for about $5. But that makes no sense if you are in a rush.

For some small orders glitchbusters was good but he has all but closed up shop. In Canada you could look into using DIP Micro, the people who sell Bill's Inchworm kit. Not sure just thinking.

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justDIY

I always forget about jameco, when I do remember them, I either can't find what I'm looking for or their website is down.

That is a good price on the crimp terminals. I'm down to my last roll of 250, so I'll keep them in mind when it comes time to restock.

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Optikon

Believe it or not $300 is nothing to these guys. The Janitor makes $300 by the time they fill an order. Their apparent threshold of who is an important customer doesn't seem to start until 10's of k-bucks.

TekNoir

Jameco has no minimum order price on purchases when made online. (Catalog orders have a 5$ processing fee on orders below 25$.) Also, if you subscribe to their catalog, it isn't unusual to always have a promotional code allowing free shipping for orders over 99$ or 50$. Normal shipping by UPS is around 6.50$-7.50$ for a residential US destination. Postal Service is around 6.00$-7.50$ average. I rarely pay shipping charges when making orders through Jameco. The two other distributors that I most often use, Mouser (no minimum) and Newark (25$ to avoid 5$ service fee), are more than reasonable on their item and shipping prices. Of the discount stores that I use most often, All Electronics (no minimum) has a flat 7$ shipping fee and Electronic Goldmine (10$ minimum) has been reasonable in the past on their UPS shipping fees.

Having said that, I cannot think of the last time I would have needed a "no minimum" order size. Most companies, which have a minimum order size and with whom I have delt, have order requirements of 15$, 25$, 35$, or at most 50$ worth of purchased parts/equipment in order to avoid a service fee. I always wait until I have enough parts that I need before I order and always order at least in those amounts. Shipping is always negligible (less than 10$, sometimes even expedited, or even free, according to where I'm ordering from).

Quite frankly, unless you're behind on a schedule or something similar, it is silly to order parts piecemeal. And if you're behind on a schedule, Futurlec and their month+ shipping times are worthless, no matter how cheap the shipping costs. (That is, unless you spend enough with them that you could have got free or severely discounted shipping from other viable, more reputable places.)

Note: All observations are from orders placed to companies based in the US or Canada and shipped to a US residential address. The rules always change for international orders.

Bryan76

I placed an order on April 4 2007. After approx 9 days of seeing my Order Status as enterd i sent an email to see what the delay was. 2 days later they told me that they where out of stock on one of the parts and it would take 3 days to get it and shipped it out. 4 days after that i sent another email asking for an update and they said they still didnt have the part and could mail me what they do have and send the missing part later. I told them to replace the missing part with another similar part. 2 days after that they said they where missing another part in my order and it would be 3 months untill they would have it in stock. I told them to forget all the missing parts and send me the ones that are in stock. They finally shipped it yesterday. If I would of not sent emails they wouldnt of contacted me in my opinion. It took several email aswell just to get a responce. I will not be using them ever again.

HarveyH42

I guess I've been lucky with my Futurlec orders, usually delivered in about 2 weeks from day placed. Not really too much different then most any place else. I'm waiting for my 11th order, and expect it by the end of the week. I've never had to call or E-mail, and everything has been as advertised, usually exceeding my expectations. Haven't ordered anything exotic or custom-made (boards), just regular parts, sockets, and connectors. I bought my first batch of microcontrollers from them, got them almost a month before Digikey deliveried the programmer (okay, so the AVR Dragon was a new device, and demand was greater then the supply).
My orders or generally under $50, so doubt that has anything to do with it. I do have a fair amount of patience, it's a big world outside my front door, don't expect everybody to just drop everything and tend to my requests.

Bryan76

Oh I forgot to add that this was my second order with them. My first order was a couple of months ago. That order was delivered to me with 3 missing parts. They where cheap parts but I still needed them and payed for them. I sent 4 emails and never got a responce.

3v0

Newark delivers in 2 days at UPS ground rates.

Mouser gets your order on the UPS truck the same day you place it.
If parts are out of stock you know it when you place the order and how long it will take to get it in stock. Orders are not held if parts are not in stock. The out of stock items are shipped UPS with no additional shipping charges when they arrive.

After reading this thread I would not use them for parts needed for an active project.

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gramo

Futurlec shipping costs;

$4.00 shipping for orders < $50
$7.00 shipping for orders < $100

Thats from the aussie futurlec site

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gramo

http://www.allelectronics.com is not particularly international ordering friendly, take a look here;

http://www.allelectronics.com/shipping.html

You wouldn't want to be out by a dollar with that in mind

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BeeBop

Yea, Futurlec's supplier is in Thailand. My orders always arrived with some strange, yet sweet, mysterious odor in them. Perhaps this is some kind of magic to make you order again?

When I looked, I bookmarked the sight, so if my memory serves me, their prices were good, for Canadians. Most Canadian outfits seem like criminals, though, in their pricing. They are fond of putting 10 1/4 watt resistors in a bubble pack and charging $2.50 or more. grrrr Even on ebay, I bought 10 copper clad boards from a Canadian, and he charged me $20 US, shipping, where the post mark was less than $10 Canadian. Ended up the same price I'd pay in a local shop, and I wouldn't have had the wait.

I have ordered from All Electronics Corp and their prices were good, indeed.

The cheapest place I've ever seen for PIC micros, though, is on Microchip's website. Anyone ever ordered from them? I think you can buy small quantity.

TheVictim

I've had good experiences with Futurlec, but I'm still waiting on my last order to finish up my last project. Been waiting a couple weeks now.

I'm going to have to go to Bellevue to buy parts for the "book" project that I've already started since I don't want to wait a month for them to get here.
There are no decent electronic suppliers N. of Seattle, you have to go to the eastside to find them.

Optikon

Oh that smell?... dont mind that it's just opium.

gramo

I just had another Futurlec order come in today, it took 1 week to Australia

My large order should be ready in 1-2days by their confirmation email I got today... I'll let you know how it goes

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3v0

Location Location ...

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