Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.
Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.
Since freeloaders started posting 'How to get free parts' on various websites. Might as well get all the free stuff you can, because it won't last much longer. It's a business, not a charity. They should just cut out all the middle-men, and sell on Ebay...
I've never used the sample system, even when I once recieved a 'thank for your recent interest in our product, samples are available at... E-mail, practically begging me.
Search this site, there are several posts about free samples. Couple starting out, got my free PIC samples, how do I use them...
I used to work for a certain company that distributes components, and the line that I was in was Microchip. I was the internal tech support slave. On a monthly basis we would get a report from Microchip listing all the people that have requested samples via the sample website.
Our job was to call these customers and do follow ups to churn out business from the samples that they requested, presuming that the samples were intended for a prototype and we could start cashing in on the production runs when the potential customer needed to start ordering larger volumes.
In most cases though when we called, these were hobbyists that just needed a PIC to get them going on a model helicopter, or a repair centre doing replacements or something like that...and you could order up to 5 samples on 4 different products.
So in the current age where costs matters, I guess that added up.
ya $7 is still not bad. I am guilty of cashing in on free samples from microchip.
I wanted to try some of the new dsPICs and 24F series, but that was just to try it out. I have a bunch of 18F lying around that I can use for anything really.
But i can understand that it is a business and they sample for a reason with the prospect of a higher volume of order...
Dunno about Microchip, but OnSemi started charging US$14.99 as a shipping and handling fee ages ago. Still good value if you get a rail of 90amp logic level d-pak mosfets!!!
The US$7 that microchip charge still represents a good deal, as I can browse for the pics I want while I am at work and get them delivered to home!!
As for the whiners out there, sorry guys, the free lunch deal is now over!
Considering that I have received thousands of dollars (retail) worth of samples, I don't see the problem with them charging something for the shipping. I my case, I used them to build a lot of "cutting-edge" circuits for training electronics tech students. Hopefully, in the end, the students remember the circuits, some become engineers and the donating company benefits. At the least, they're contributing to developing a much higher-quality in our technical pool.
The semiconductor companies have been very charitable with their samples. Even though it doesn't cost them a lot in parts, the shipping does get expensive.
It's not just the shipping, they have to pay wages and benefits, training for employees to select, package, and post the samples. Somebody has to answer all the phone calls and E-mails from people that want to know where their freebies are, or why the didn't get everything they were entitled to. Kind of sux, if they already posted the parts on Ebay, and no stock arrives, or some pieces on back order...
It's kind of a shame that so many people think it's okay to abuse such a generous tradition. Sickens me to see people brag or encourage others to do the same.
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