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Yeah, they are getting rid of of the middleman, and selling direct on Ebay...
Actually, I'd suspect that most companies are going to be cutting back on the perks for a while, until the financial 'crisis' gets resolved. Probably soon after the election.
The freebies program worked better when customers had to call up and ask over the phone. Over the internet, it to open to abuse. Remember a couple of months back, some kid asking how to program his free Pics? Didn't know a language, no programmer, not even a project idea, just because they were free...
I knew it was over, when all the 'How to get free parts' post started a few years ago. It was a nice trade secret, but it's not a secret anymore.
It is not the same if we talk professionals or amateurs.
But I think that giving them away for free has the same effect of the so many millions of people using pirate copies of Microsoft's products: more people was stuck to using them later paying for their own legal copies.
Maybe not a desired effect but a lucky positive one...
Remember a couple of months back, some kid asking how to program his free Pics? Didn't know a language, no programmer, not even a project idea, just because they were free...
I knew it was over, when all the 'How to get free parts' post started a few years ago. It was a nice trade secret, but it's not a secret anymore.
But their aim worked in getting people interested. That's the point.
Microchip know in advance how many free chips they are willing to give away.
It doesn't matter how many people know they are free.
In the US Microchip controlers can be purchased from Newark for about the same price as Microchip Direct. The advantage is that you can order other parts in the same order and not pay shipping twice.
It does say "Temporarily Unavailable". When I ordered my samples a month ago I noticed that samples were unavailable for Asia and Europe but North America was still OK. They are probably revamping the sample sites to reduce abuse, just like when they banned ordering via hotmail and other free email services. I think it'll be back.
Microchip are providing Pickit2 debug express to EPE readers @ UKP10 shipped.
And circuit-cellar readers (that qualify) the USB Chip kit ( 5 Different PIC's ), and some other readers PIC18, PIC24 & PIC32 starter kits.
Now that is some commitment, esp as EPE is a hobby magazine.
TI better not cut back. They halve my parts cost. Of course if I ever make anything profitable, they'll make it back a hundred fold, because all of my stuff is pretty much TI exclusive for the important stuff.
But their aim worked in getting people interested. That's the point.
Microchip know in advance how many free chips they are willing to give away.
It doesn't matter how many people know they are free.
And circuit-cellar readers (that qualify) the USB Chip kit ( 5 Different PIC's ), and some other readers PIC18, PIC24 & PIC32 starter kits.
Now that is some commitment, esp as EPE is a hobby magazine.
There was a full page article/ad in the August issue. September followed up with Jeff B.'s article about each chip and the hardware - they gave select readers a PIC18/PIC24 or PIC32 starter kits - nice, some had OLED displays etc. I think first choice of the starter kits went to subscribers who previously entered the contests or were published, and gave suitable motivations.
**broken link removed**
1 year subscription - $15.00 U.S - This is $1.25 a month.
I just found this, not an official statement from Microchip, but good news nonetheless.
**broken link removed**
altough a little bit of bad news - "New regulations for ordering chips will be there .No longer will the chips be shipped for free .There will be shipping charges on samples that is the only thing will be changed.This is due to the economic recession in the US."
It's obvious that the shipping costs killed the program. I always wondered why they shipped the samples from overseas, and used the shipping methods they did. I always received samples in 2-3 days via Fed-EX. Funny how small the world is, that a package can go from Asia to New York in 2 days! But why couldn't they use a cheaper, slower method of shipping to keep the program going as-is?
And if the program continues with free samples, but having to pay for shipping, it may be cheaper to just order and pay for the chips on my next order to Mouser.
I am a big fan of Mouser but try Newark for Microchip products. They are very near the price of Microchip Direct which is about 1/2 or less the Mouser.
If you look at the company's financials, you'll understand:
stock price at the lowest level in over 5 years, and has recently dropped about a third of its value. Income was flat 2007 to 2008, after showing steady climb in previous years. Yet their R+D expenses grew by 30 million. Investors are feeling that their R+D is not generating new sales, and are punishing the company.
When stock prices fall like that, it causes hundreds of millions of dollars of stock value losses to the top tier executives, who usually own A LOT of stock, so OBVIOUSLY, every department in the company is asked to review their operations.
First instinct in the sampling department is to put all sampling on hold until the top guys can have a meetng, figure out what to do, decide what's their next move, have another meeting, figure out how to sugar-coat the overall picture to the shareholders, etc, etc.
Keep in mind that the cost of 500 students ordering samples is about $50,000, including the FexEx shipping, while Microchip's yearly losses from sales of capital equipment and other small mistakes they made is 2-3 million dollars, which is , in turn, the smallest loss number on their financial statements, amidst revenues of $1.1 billion, and overall expenses of $240 million.
Whether they sample or not, that cost is below the noise floor in their annual reports.
The guy(s) in charge of sample administration is in a precarious position.
If he comes to an operations meeting armed with documentation that shows the sample program is being misused -- that's the end of the sample program. AND ... that's the END OF HIS JOB
In good economic times, when companies are generally hiring, that employee could be confident that, if his department closes, he will be re-staffed in another department.
BUT TIMES ARE BAD currently. Companies are NOT hiring, but starting to shrink staff.
IF his department closes, there will most likely NOT be another position waiting for him elsewhere in the company.
That guy needs to be smart, to look after his own interests too.
funberry... Nice post... I doubt samples will stop completely. Remember there samples were limited anyway. Not like MAXIM-IC. With microchip you had to be a student or something like a university to get samples. Its not like anyone could get sample for free it was limited so i doubt they suffered a huge lost from samples.
With microchip you had to be a student or something like a university to get samples. Its not like anyone could get sample for free it was limited so i doubt they suffered a huge lost from samples.
I'm not sure about that.... I got samples several times from microchip and I am not a student at a university. I never abused the system, but i did sample PICs 3 or 4 times in the last year and a half. I was honest when I filled out the sample form, and they sent them.
you cant even sign up for samples unless you have some special email. Like university email or some bussiness email. At least thats what i read on the page and when i tried to sign up it told me sorry because of my email address.
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