Gotta love rippin off free samples!

[Robot builder 101]

We are surrounded by free samples! Here are some good sites for free samples in order of greatness:

TI:You can order 8 different devices, and you can get up to 10 per device! Total of 80 free chips!

Microchip: You can get the latest and greatest PICs. 8 per month!

Sams club: You can **** chat for a sec and just stand there and get tons of samples!

Post your fav free sample sites below!

 

[3v0]

We are surrounded by free samples! Here are some good sites for free samples in order of greatness:

TI:You can order 8 different devices, and you can get up to 10 per device! Total of 80 free chips!

Microchip: You can get the latest and greatest PICs. 8 per month!

Sams club: You can **** chat for a sec and just stand there and get tons of samples!

Post your fav free sample sites below!

If enough people abuse free samples for any given company they will stop. So postings that encourage others to do so is not such a good idea....

 

[ericgibbs]

If enough people abuse free samples for any given company they will stop. So postings that encourage others to do so is not such a good idea....

I agree with 3v0, you should only ask for free samples when you have a specific project in mind.

 

[Optikon]

We are surrounded by free samples! Here are some good sites for free samples in order of greatness:

TI:You can order 8 different devices, and you can get up to 10 per device! Total of 80 free chips!

Microchip: You can get the latest and greatest PICs. 8 per month!

Sams club: You can **** chat for a sec and just stand there and get tons of samples!

Post your fav free sample sites below!

Try SEARCHING the forum. This thread already exists.

 

[Robot builder 101]

Maybe I worded it wrong. I diddnt mean to say rip off, but to get free samples for a project, to where you dont have much time or money to order parts. Maybe as a last chance effort for that one part you dont have?

 

[Hero999]

It's still ripping them off, if you never had any intenrion of buying the components.

 

[Robot builder 101]

Not from the company, but from its vendors. Aka the 7805.

 

[Papabravo]

So everybody in the supply chain loses a little bit to support your habit. You probably dont use more than a few of the samples that you do get. Whata waste to satisfy your ego.

 

[Robot builder 101]

These samples I ordered I use like candy! I awlays throw a 7805 (example) into a circuit if it needs it! I awlays use these.

 

[Robot builder 101]

Then again, why do they offer such fast shipping and such large sample orders? They have major money, and I dont think that they are going bankrupt for a chip that cost 2 pennies to make. Think about it

Also, people like free stuff! if you have 0 money, you want anything free. These people were thankful for it, so why must I be criticized for it?

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/list-of-companies-providing-free-samples.17220/

Look how long those lists are! I have ordered stuff from 2 companies. 2! How many do you think they have ordered.

 

[mneary]

As with most things, moderation is the key.

I'll order a sample for a quick experiment and the next year we need 100K. with that kind of business, an application engineer sometimes hand carries it.

 

[Robot builder 101]

Thats exactly what Im doing. I only order what I need if im in a pinch. I dont order their entire stock just to have it look pretty!

About the TI, that was a example, you could order up to 80 ICs. Thats how willing they are to support EE and other electronic hobbists.

 

[Misterbenn]

Come on people, what a petty thing to argue over!

Its hardly a drug habbit is it! its not destroying the economy...

we all kno the ICs talked about are produced in masive numbers for a few pence!

And as has been said already they wont offer such large samples unless they can within their profit margin!

Any way its promotional for the company, they know that by giving free samples out engineers will be use to their format of IC and are more likely to use it for big orders. They wouldnt offer free samples unless there was a lot of marketing saying it helps sales!

 

[Optikon]

Come on people, what a petty thing to argue over!

Its hardly a drug habbit is it! its not destroying the economy...

we all kno the ICs talked about are produced in masive numbers for a few pence!

And as has been said already they wont offer such large samples unless they can within their profit margin!

Any way its promotional for the company, they know that by giving free samples out engineers will be use to their format of IC and are more likely to use it for big orders. They wouldnt offer free samples unless there was a lot of marketing saying it helps sales!

Well it costs alot more than a pence to ship something over night. We all should be VERY thankful Texas Instruments is willing to do this even knowing some people do it for free parts with no intention of ever buying.

And what you say is true, the companies do it so that you will become familiar (and like/love) their parts so that you can design them into products one day that will require placing large orders. This process works for me. I prototype with free stuff all the time. If the parts are any good then I design them into products to be sold in mass quantity. TI gets *ALOT* of my business this way.

It is no different than free food samples you get in a grocery store! Try it out for free with no obligation. If you like it, you can then buy some more of it.

 

[justDIY]

sampling cheeses at a Whole Foods encouraged me to buy almost $50 worth (which was a very small quantity), that very day even

 

[dknguyen]

I Know what you mean. THe biggest thing that bugs me about samples is how fast they ship them! So I almost never get samples. Usually when it's when I need one last IC that I missed and can't stick it in with a big order for all the other parts I need...or if it's some really weird IC that Digikey doesn't seem to carry.

 

[Robot builder 101]

Thats what I do. If I like it (7805) alot and it works awesome, i buy a bunch of em. I like to sample a wide selection of parts, that I will still use along the way. If they are awesome, I will buy them. Dont jump the gun and start verbally attacking me when You dont know what Im going to do with them.

*at sams club, I tried the maple bacon, and I bought like 5 lbs

 

[justDIY]

My feeling is: Sampling common as dirt components is ripping off the supplier. Suppliers like Fairchild and National do not sample many of their commodity parts. I feel if it's something you can buy, god forbid, at radio shack then there is no need to sample it.

As for people jumping the gun and attacking you, the title of your thread and your first post pretty clearly stated your intentions. Whether you've changed them or not we can only guess.

 

[Hero999]

I think they should have a small orders department that could work at near break even, that way they don't loose any money from people ordering parts they never intend to buy large quantities of.

Another thing is, I wonder how long it would take for them to kick you out of your local food store if you stood at the samples conter stuffing your face?

 

[dknguyen]

to buy large quantities of.

Another thing is, I wonder how long it would take for them to kick you out of your local food store if you stood at the samples conter stuffing your face?

It depends on who's watching you, and how good they think you look.