Shout out to DigiKey

[VK5RC]

In South Australia, I have never had a Digikey order arrive shorter than 3-4 business days, I believe they ship from Hong Kong. They have great range.
Here,  RS Components,  is next business day and I find their search system a bit easier.

[TheSteve]

My main concern is why Digikey offers free shipping to Canada , but not the US.   Is it planning to move there?

I have changed my allegiance, as Mouser gives just as good service and doesn't discriminate against Americans.

I'd take the US pricing and no free shipping any day. We might get "free" shipping on orders over 100 CAD but the typical Digikey price is the US price + posted exchange rate + 10% extra. So no matter how you slice it we are typically paying more.

[Red Squirrel]

I like how people are annoyed that they "discriminate" against Americans.  99% of the time it's Canada that is discriminated against.  It's nice to get a break once in a while.

I'm always quite impressed with Digikey as well and just how fast they can ship stuff.  My only complaint is that you can't pick the courier, Fedex here is awkward if you are not home when the package gets delivered. You need to call them to schedule a pickup between very specific hours.  So if you're at work you're kinda screwed.  But not a huge deal for me since I work shifts, so I make sure to place an order and time it for a day I will be home.   

I have a bad habit of only needing a few small items but I don't want to pay the shipping so I end up pushing my order to the $200 mark with stuff "I might need one day".  All that to "save" $8. 

[Cubdriver]

I like how people are annoyed that they "discriminate" against Americans.  99% of the time it's Canada that is discriminated against.  It's nice to get a break once in a while.

I'm always quite impressed with Digikey as well and just how fast they can ship stuff.  My only complaint is that you can't pick the courier, Fedex here is awkward if you are not home when the package gets delivered. You need to call them to schedule a pickup between very specific hours.  So if you're at work you're kinda screwed.  But not a huge deal for me since I work shifts, so I make sure to place an order and time it for a day I will be home.   

I have a bad habit of only needing a few small items but I don't want to pay the shipping so I end up pushing my order to the $200 mark with stuff "I might need one day".  All that to "save" $8. 

Glad I'm not the only one who does that...  My issue is that by the time 'one day' comes around, the stuff has had enough time to have gone missing somewhere in the house.   

-Pat

[schmitt trigger]

@schmitt trigger: Makes as much sense as anything you have posted her or elsewhere.

Sarcasm aside, I'm taking this comment as a compliment.

[boffin]

Americans also pay a premium, namely sales taxes.   

I think you mis-understand sales taxes, and how they work. They're not the government trying to suck every last penny from you, they pay for things like support for the elderly, national defence, etc etc.

I am afraid it is you who does not understand that tax issue in the US.   Mouser does not collect sales taxes (often called sales and use taxes) for sales to any state.   Way back when, DigiKey didn't either, except for Minnesota.   Then it was sued (by Minnesota?) and consented to collect sales taxes for every state that has such taxes, even though it did not have a physical presence in those states.  That was done to avoid a very expensive battle. 

I fully understand the sales tax issue in the United States, and I'll offer up Ohio (which I think another poster said they were located in) as an example.

12. Is sales or use tax due on purchases over the Internet?
If the seller is located in Ohio or the out-of-state seller has substantial nexus with Ohio, sales or use tax is due on all sales of tangible personal property and selected services to purchasers in Ohio, unless the purchaser has a statutory basis for claiming exception or exemption. Note: Many out-of-state sellers are registered with Ohio to collect and remit Ohio use tax on taxable sales made to Ohio consumers. Consumers may also remit use taxes due on their personal income tax return (Form IT-1040).

If the seller is not located in Ohio and does not have substantial nexus with Ohio, the seller cannot be required to collect and remit Ohio use tax. However, the purchaser will still owe Ohio use tax on the purchase of goods or services, unless the purchaser has a statutory basis for claiming exception or exemption.
http://www.tax.ohio.gov/sales_and_use/faqs/sales_basics.aspx


What that means is if you're in Ohio, and you buy from Mouser (and they didn't charge you sales tax), you're legally obliged to remit OHIO sales tax that would have been paid had that been an Ohio based reseller.  This is very common in US jurisdictions, and in Canadian jurisdictions that haven't adopted HST. I know, because a good friend of my was a sales tax auditor, and would routinely catch businesses buying out of jurisdiction and have sales tax audits resulting in bills of tens of thousands of dollars.

Go back and re-read my original post.  I suspect that in the US, they'll start adopting a national method of dealing with state/county/municipal sales taxes, as too many states are losing too much tax revenue to untaxed out of state sales to end users.

[boffin]

What that means is if you're in Ohio, and you buy from Mouser (and they didn't charge you sales tax), you're legally obliged to remit OHIO sales tax that would have been paid had that been an Ohio based reseller.

IRS will have a hard time hunting down individual buyers.

The IRS doesn't hunt down people who fail to pay state sales tax, the state (or province here in Canada) does. Yes, a small private buyer is unlikely to be found, but large corporate buyers are on the hook.

It's quite profitable for the states (provinces). A good friend who did this for a living easily exceeded his expected yearly find in unpaid sales tax ($600k) every year, often before the middle of the summer.  One time he found more than twice that in one audit and asked his boss if he could take the next 18 months off...

[mikeselectricstuff]

A side note, TI store (or at least part of it) is physically located in DK's facility, as you can see a lot of TI parts purchased on TI webstore ships from DK's address, even if DK shows factory stock or out of stock. I believe buyAltera is also operated by DK.

There is something a bit wierd about it though - looks like they keep seperate stock. I recently placed an order at TI Store as it was cheaper than DK and Findchips indicated they had stock, only to be told later it was a month leadtime, but the same part was in stock on Digikey's website

[tooki]

A side note, TI store (or at least part of it) is physically located in DK's facility, as you can see a lot of TI parts purchased on TI webstore ships from DK's address, even if DK shows factory stock or out of stock. I believe buyAltera is also operated by DK.

There is something a bit wierd about it though - looks like they keep seperate stock. I recently placed an order at TI Store as it was cheaper than DK and Findchips indicated they had stock, only to be told later it was a month leadtime, but the same part was in stock on Digikey's website

So probably the DK and TI stocks are separate, despite being in the same warehouse. Or the stock is physically mingled, but some belongs to TI and some to DK, and they're not allowed to sell each other's stock.

[Bassman59]

Their parametric tables are getting polluted with dumbness,
"Package/Case" and "Supplier Device Package" are full of oddball naming and JEDEC bastardization:
SOT-23
SOT-23 (TO-236AB)
SOT-23-3
SOT-23-3 (TO-236)

A TO-220 case search is pretty much useless now, I got 25 variants.
Electrolytic capacitors are sized not to standard offerings, instead they add tolerances to size.
Pick-lists have silly spacing: 2.00mm and 2.01mm when it's a "2mm spacing" part.

I suppose that all of these specs are taken from manufacturer data sheets and they make no attempt at reconciling any of it.

[mrjiffy6]

I like how people are annoyed that they "discriminate" against Americans.  99% of the time it's Canada that is discriminated against.  It's nice to get a break once in a while.

I'm always quite impressed with Digikey as well and just how fast they can ship stuff.  My only complaint is that you can't pick the courier, Fedex here is awkward if you are not home when the package gets delivered. You need to call them to schedule a pickup between very specific hours.  So if you're at work you're kinda screwed.  But not a huge deal for me since I work shifts, so I make sure to place an order and time it for a day I will be home.   

I have a bad habit of only needing a few small items but I don't want to pay the shipping so I end up pushing my order to the $200 mark with stuff "I might need one day".  All that to "save" $8. 

I live in Quebec and i've never had such problems with FedEx. You're not home? Most of the time the driver will wrap the package in a plastic bag and held it to your side door's handle. If you want to pick it up yourself because you desperatly want to play with the goods as soon as possible, once you have the tracking number, you call their 1-800 number and request for a local pickup and they update the system so your package won't end up in a delivery truck once it arrived at destination city.

About the choice I carrier, well I am not a logistic expert but I guess they have huge volume shipping discount by not allowing to choose the carrier so the shipping cost for the end user is relatively low compared to others like newark, etc.

[Brumby]

I like how people are annoyed that they "discriminate" against Americans.  99% of the time it's Canada that is discriminated against.  It's nice to get a break once in a while.

I'm always quite impressed with Digikey as well and just how fast they can ship stuff.  My only complaint is that you can't pick the courier, Fedex here is awkward if you are not home when the package gets delivered. You need to call them to schedule a pickup between very specific hours.  So if you're at work you're kinda screwed.  But not a huge deal for me since I work shifts, so I make sure to place an order and time it for a day I will be home.   

I have a bad habit of only needing a few small items but I don't want to pay the shipping so I end up pushing my order to the $200 mark with stuff "I might need one day".  All that to "save" $8. 

Glad I'm not the only one who does that...  My issue is that by the time 'one day' comes around, the stuff has had enough time to have gone missing somewhere in the house.   

-Pat

Really?   Who does that? 

[rdl]

It's too bad all suppliers don't offer USPS First Class Package shipping for small orders. For small stuff that's not really delicate they could easily cut way back on their packaging and just stuff it in a bubble pack envelope and mail it for $2.50

[Richard Crowley]

I remember as a child back when DigiKey was a small-time mail-order source of surplus and limited range of new components.  How mighty they have grown to fully eclipse most of those old-line distributors who wouldn't even take your call unless you were meeting their line- and order-minimum totals which were unrealistically high for hobbyists.

[floobydust]

I didn't know Digi-Key started with surplus. Poly-Paks was another story... and if you remember them.

Looked at CEO Mark Larson's 2011 interview
Ron Stordahl, the company's founder and CEO- Digi-Key founded 1972 from selling excess parts from ham radio kit Morse "Digi-Keyer" and excess National Semiconductor digital clock modules. {I bought some! MA1010 and MA1003}

"... we had a hobbyist base but we were starting to see that some of those hobbyists were coming back to us to buy parts that would be sent to their workplaces. It turned out that many of them were product design engineers for manufacturing companies. That’s when I had kind of a “eureka” moment, and I told Ron [Stordahl] that I thought we should get some franchises and become [an authorized distributor] so that we would have assurance of quality product and continuity of supply... "

Small parts order becoming big orders, many companies don't get it.

[Cubdriver]

Yeah - I remember their catalog in the late 70s (when I first got into electronics as a kid) being the size of a thin magazine, and one of their lines being Panasonic electrolytic caps.  If memory serves, the -ND suffix on most of their part numbers came from 'no discount' - some parts had some kind of straight quantity discount IIRC, while others didn't but instead had quantity pricing tiers as they all have now.  The ND was appended to those with tier pricing.  (I may be all wrong on this as I'm relying on 40 year old memories from my early teens here...)

Now they're a major player with a catalog that makes a phone book look small.  I recall Mouser having a similarly small catalog back then as well.  Both have certainly grown!

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

I didn't know Digi-Key started with surplus. Poly-Paks was another story... and if you remember them.

Looked at CEO Mark Larson's 2011 interview
Ron Stordahl, the company's founder and CEO- Digi-Key founded 1972 from selling excess parts from ham radio kit Morse "Digi-Keyer" and excess National Semiconductor digital clock modules. {I bought some! MA1010 and MA1003}

"... we had a hobbyist base but we were starting to see that some of those hobbyists were coming back to us to buy parts that would be sent to their workplaces. It turned out that many of them were product design engineers for manufacturing companies. That’s when I had kind of a “eureka” moment, and I told Ron [Stordahl] that I thought we should get some franchises and become [an authorized distributor] so that we would have assurance of quality product and continuity of supply... "

Small parts order becoming big orders, many companies don't get it.

Yeah, ain't that the truth?  If you can't be bothered selling me the 10 of them I need for the development, I'm not going to be inclined to go to you for the 10,000 I need once it goes into production.

And I vaguely remember Poly-Paks, too.  Blast from the past!

-Pat

[jpanhalt]

It's too bad all suppliers don't offer USPS First Class Package shipping for small orders. For small stuff that's not really delicate they could easily cut way back on their packaging and just stuff it in a bubble pack envelope and mail it for $2.50

Have you ever gotten a bubble pack envelop from DigiKey?

[rdl]

Well, I don't often buy from Digi-key because of the sales tax, so no I haven't.

Do they ship by First Class Mail? That's the thing, because it's very cheap but the weight limit is 16 oz. Sometimes from Mouser I think the packing alone would exceed that limit, even for just a hand full of small parts.

[jpanhalt]

Well, I don't often buy from Digi-key because of the sales tax, so no I haven't.

You mean you cheat the government?  See earlier dialog on that subject. 

Do they ship by First Class Mail? That's the thing, because it's very cheap but the weight limit is 16 oz. Sometimes from Mouser I think the packing alone would exceed that limit, even for just a hand full of small parts.

Yes, but their standard package is 9x9xX.  That might be great in Thief River Falls, MN, but in big cities, it does not fit a mail slot.   In "good" parts of Cleveland, the letter carrier will leave the package on the steps with indemnification.   In most of Cleveland per se, a package left on the steps is not there 30 minutes later.  So, the letter carriers won't do that. Period.

I was fortunate when I lived in Cuyahoga county (which includes Cleveland) to be in a burb for which the carriers would leave the package after receiving indemnification.

When I moved to another, rural county, the 9X9xX format will not fit a USPS approved mails box.  DigiKey shipments are a real PITA.  After more than 2 years, entreaties to DigiKey have not only failed to be addressed, but no one has deemed them worthy of response.  The fear is that a bubble pack will result in bent leads.   I have never seen a QFN chip with bent leads.  Nor, have I ever received damaged merchandise for Mouser that does use bubble packs.

John

[Corporate666]

Digikey and Mouser, amazing speed. I received an order today ([edit: from Mouser] with FedEx) which I made less than 48 hours ago, and that's across the Atlantic, through Germany, over the Mediterranean and even through the local customs!

I once made an order with Digikey, and, like, ten minutes later contacted their support to change the quantity of one of the components. The representative told me I was lucky it was a Sunday, otherwise the entire package would have been on its way already 

Digikey is my #1 go-to supplier, although Mouser has gotten more $$$ from me this year due to slightly lower prices and parts that Digikey didn't carry or didn't have in stock.  Digikey's search engine is #1 though, I use it as part of my design process.

My only issue with Mouser has been that it seems they semi-regularly miss their shipping deadline, at least with me it seems.  They have outright shipped US Postal orders a day late (like, I ordered Monday evening...  items were in stock, but it shipped out on Wednesday).  Had the same happen several times with UPS/FedEx too, always with ground packages.  Ground is a guaranteed service, and IMO they shouldn't assume "it's ground, no big deal if that one ships the next day".  If the cutoff is 9pm, it should ship if ordered before then - and I am not talking huge orders placed 2 minutes before the deadline.  Often just a couple of reels of resistors ordered during the normal work-day didn't ship until the next day.  I've also had less luck dealing with Mouser by phone compared to Digikey.  When you call, the sales people answer and they seem to be annoyed when I'm calling to make changes to an existing blanket PO, for example, instead of calling to place an order.

[edavid]

My main concern is why Digikey offers free shipping to Canada , but not the US.   Is it planning to move there?

True fact: Digikey offers free shipping on US mail orders which are prepaid by check.

[Corporate666]

There is something a bit wierd about it though - looks like they keep seperate stock. I recently placed an order at TI Store as it was cheaper than DK and Findchips indicated they had stock, only to be told later it was a month leadtime, but the same part was in stock on Digikey's website

They do keep separate stock - often it's the manufacturer who has that restriction in place in case the equation is the other way around, as they do not want the distributor selling the manufacturers own stock out from under them so the manufacturer can ensure they have enough parts available for samples, etc.

Some of the manufacturers must use multiple distributors for this - I've had orders from Cypress' website come from Digikey, Mouser, and IIRC others (TTI perhaps?  I may be misremembering that).  I also had Cypress ship me 20 outstanding (out of a 2,000pcs order) $0.85 microcontrollers in three separate packages, all from different countries, all shipped FedEx International Priority.   

[jpanhalt]

My main concern is why Digikey offers free shipping to Canada , but not the US.   Is it planning to move there?

True fact: Digikey offers free shipping on US mail orders which are prepaid by check.

I verified that.   A little known, but irrelevant practice in fact.   Who sends a paper check to DigiKey, waits for acceptance (up to two weeks for DigiKey to open its mail -- I have an e-mail to verify that) just to get free shipping?

Fact is, for credit cards and identical orders, DigiKey ships to Canadian customers free and charges American customers shipping.  That is also indisputable and seemingly irrational to me.  Mouser does not discriminate against Americans.

[rdl]

My last order from Mouser, I received this email and I have no idea why they did this. I placed the order in the afternoon and it shipped out the next day. I live 400 miles from Dallas and probably would have gotten the package in two days by regular UPS ground, but they did indeed actually send it next day air.

Dear rdl;

Your purchase order number 12345678 is being processed by our warehouse and will ship out on 07/21/2017

We appreciate you placing this order through our website.

You requested your order be shipped by UPS GROUND SERVICE.
To ensure that you receive your order on the day you expected it, Mouser has upgraded your order to ship UPS NEXT DAY AIR at no additional charge to you.

You are a valued customer and we appreciate your business.
If you have any questions, comments, or if we can assist you in any way please let us know.
You can reply directly to this e-mail.


Thank you,

The Mouser Internet Sales Team
orders@mouser.com
Mouser Electronics, Inc.
A TTI Company

www.mouser.com

THIS ORDER IS SUBJECT TO ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS DISPLAYED AT: www.mouser.com/terms