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Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
This "vendor" should be boycotted.
Well, are any of the kind any good anyway? Those I have encountered mining for hard to find parts either want me to pay them to tell me where to try to buy (if someone pays them it won't be me...) or cheat the search engines so you locate them while searching for just about any part, while having really very little if anything of what they list. If you have had some good experience with some of them, please advise. My only successfull experience was 5-6 years ago with Magnitude Electronics ( www.magnitude-electronics.com ), they listed a SCSI chip which I could not find and really delivered (small quantity, they had large stock), somewhat pricy, perhaps a bit more than somewhat, I don't remember, but I got the chips. Dimiter ------------------------------------------------------ Dimiter Popoff Transgalactic Instruments http://www.tgi-sci.com ------------------------------------------------------ larwe wrote: I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
On 29 Sep 2006 16:07:55 -0700, "larwe" wrote:
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. After their low bait-'n-switch trick a year or two ago when they stopped making data available for free, I made a mental note not to ever consider them if I was looking for a rare component. Earlier this year, I tried to find a source of Allegro UGN3235K hall effect sensors. I contacted dozens of companies, many of whom had it listed as "available" on their websites. A few answered my e-mails, most didn't. Not one of them was able to supply this part. It's probably the same with most other obselete components. Big promises but no results. If anyone's looking for UGN3235K devices, you can replace them with a pair of Infineon TLE4906L chips facing each other. Bob |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Didi wrote:
This "vendor" should be boycotted. Well, are any of the kind any good anyway? Those I have encountered mining for hard to find parts either want me to pay them to tell me where to try to buy (if someone pays them it won't be me...) or cheat the search engines so you locate them while searching for just about any part, while having really very little if anything of what they list. If you have had some good experience with some of them, please advise. My only successfull experience was 5-6 years ago with Magnitude Electronics ( www.magnitude-electronics.com ), they listed a SCSI chip which I could not find and really delivered (small quantity, they had large stock), somewhat pricy, perhaps a bit more than somewhat, I don't remember, but I got the chips. Dimiter ------------------------------------------------------ Dimiter Popoff Transgalactic Instruments http://www.tgi-sci.com ------------------------------------------------------ larwe wrote: I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. I got so tired of the Partminer links coming up that I used Customize Google to block all hits. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:56:09 +1000, the renowned Bob Parker
wrote: On 29 Sep 2006 16:07:55 -0700, "larwe" wrote: I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. After their low bait-'n-switch trick a year or two ago Believe it or not, it was almost 5 years ago (late 2001). when they stopped making data available for free, I made a mental note not to ever consider them if I was looking for a rare component. Earlier this year, I tried to find a source of Allegro UGN3235K hall effect sensors. I contacted dozens of companies, many of whom had it listed as "available" on their websites. A few answered my e-mails, most didn't. Not one of them was able to supply this part. It's probably the same with most other obselete components. Big promises but no results. If anyone's looking for UGN3235K devices, you can replace them with a pair of Infineon TLE4906L chips facing each other. Bob Best regards, Spehro Pefhany -- "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 01:41:26 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
wrote: After their low bait-'n-switch trick a year or two ago Believe it or not, it was almost 5 years ago (late 2001). Best regards, Spehro Pefhany Wow, where does the time go? Thanks for getting me more or less back into sync. :-) Cheers Bob |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"larwe" wrote in message
ups.com... I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to pay for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further cock-ups, such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to me. The catalogues went in the bin. Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get to you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother. This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in
: "larwe" wrote in message ups.com... I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to pay for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further cock-ups, such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to me. The catalogues went in the bin. Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get to you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother. This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure. RS stingy? Overpriced in many things, yes, but not stingy. Those paper catalogs cost so much that it's amazing they can give them away at all. If you paid actual cost for them, you'd pay £70 per set. You can always get the DC ones. Also, you can use their site and you can set up any handle you like on their site to get access to PDF's for free, with no need to have an account with them. If you think that's stingy, you have forgotten the meaning of generosity. And no, I don't work for them, nor get any benefit other than what I described, same as you can have. Maplin's catalog is less than impressive now, but if they'd start putting those tech notes back like they used to add to it, it would be worth the money for those alone. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs. It's what
I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year figure, three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make, and they're trying to use CD's to save costs. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Lostgallifreyan wrote in message
... Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs. It's what I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year figure, three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make, and they're trying to use CD's to save costs. I know where you're coming from. My issue was more that RS insist on using a courier, and from the onset with RS it was just one big hassle. But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in message ... Lostgallifreyan wrote in message ... Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs. It's what I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year figure, three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make, and they're trying to use CD's to save costs. I know where you're coming from. My issue was more that RS insist on using a courier, and from the onset with RS it was just one big hassle. But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... Is that the Maplin cats you have back issues? I'm trying to find the original manufacturers (Hung Chang) model number of the MF100 multifunction counter so I can search it online, if you have a cat that list that instrument the info might be on the page - it is for the currently stocked MF1000 counter/function generator. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in
: But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... That pegged Maplin neatly. It's a stupid move. Tandy failed in the high street in the UK because of it, and Maplin succeeded so well that Tandy mostly went back to the US where they operate more like Maplin did here. So why Maplin now start to do what made Tandy fail I do not know. It's painful to watch, so most of the time I don't watch. Your point about RS and couriers I also recognise, I wish they'd reduce costs by using the standard mail. The kind of logic that says that to get a decent service you must use an expensive private courier is wasteful, and the neglect reduces the quality of the main service, making a self- fulfilling prophecy. Same logic that's currently making a crisis in UK dentistry. That scandal is making street long queues now, it's too big to hide, as will be the pollution of lots of tiny vans doing what a single train used to do. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"ian field" wrote in message
... Is that the Maplin cats you have back issues? I'm trying to find the original manufacturers (Hung Chang) model number of the MF100 multifunction counter so I can search it online, if you have a cat that list that instrument the info might be on the page - it is for the currently stocked MF1000 counter/function generator. Give me until mid next week. I will check for you when I'm back home. Actually mail me if you really want it done :) |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Paul Carpenter"
Hi Paul :-) That kind of sounds like my conversation with PayPal at the moment. They did a system upgrade about a month ago which messed up the reporting of some Verified accounts to eBay. This is slowly trickling back onto the forums. PayPal say it's eBay. eBay say it's PayPal. Well, through my own determination (and access to multiple accounts) it's definitely PayPal. I've now told them to stuff it (in polite terms) and STILL they keep on bloody contacting me. I've finally resorted to totally blowing my top earlier, and STILL they thank me for telling their useless staff to F-off! I do have limits. It's usually about a month before I go crackers! |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message ... "Aly" wrote in : But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... That pegged Maplin neatly. It's a stupid move. Tandy failed in the high street in the UK because of it, and Maplin succeeded so well that Tandy mostly went back to the US where they operate more like Maplin did here. So why Maplin now start to do what made Tandy fail I do not know. It's painful to watch, so most of the time I don't watch. Your point about RS and couriers I also recognise, I wish they'd reduce costs by using the standard mail. The kind of logic that says that to get a decent service you must use an expensive private courier is wasteful, and the neglect reduces the quality of the main service, making a self- fulfilling prophecy. Same logic that's currently making a crisis in UK dentistry. That scandal is making street long queues now, it's too big to hide, as will be the pollution of lots of tiny vans doing what a single train used to do. Totally acknowledged. Maplin. Well. I don't go there unless I'm in deep *stuff*. RS. Yes, why they can't use RM I have no idea. But I'm not paying £30 for a little edge connector anyway (in my thread on the sci.electronics groups). As for dentistry, you can't even get one if you're willing to give them REAL money now. :-( Look, reaaaaal money, lotsza money. Nope, they'd rather treat 7-bus loads of smelly whining children a day. (yes, I hate kids. And I hate companies. Is there a link?) |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Aly wrote:
[supplier woes] But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... I've got the "Spring/Summer 2006" Maplin catalogue. I'd never bother to buy it, but the sales bod said there were vouchers in there which would save me more than the catalogue cost on what I was buying anyway (which they did) so it cost me about minus one pound. They have the 7400 series, 4000 series and transistor packages in there again (with a note saying it's a result of feedback). I completely agree about their change in direction though. It's awful. I just don't know what they are trying to be - they're now crap for components, crap for consumer electronics, crap for toys and crap for computers. Their sole redeeming feature is that you can check stock at your local store on-line so you can be disappointed without having to leave the house :) I've pretty much given up on Maplin for anything but "I need a 50k trimpot to finish this off and I want it this afternoon" type 'emergencies'. Rapid and Farnell are my current favourites. Rapid's catalogue (which I was sent gratis, without asking) is good. Tim |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in message ... "ian field" wrote in message ... Is that the Maplin cats you have back issues? I'm trying to find the original manufacturers (Hung Chang) model number of the MF100 multifunction counter so I can search it online, if you have a cat that list that instrument the info might be on the page - it is for the currently stocked MF1000 counter/function generator. Give me until mid next week. I will check for you when I'm back home. Actually mail me if you really want it done :) Real email = dl0504DOTfieldATntlworldDOTcom Many thanks. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in message ... "Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message ... "Aly" wrote in : But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... That pegged Maplin neatly. It's a stupid move. Tandy failed in the high street in the UK because of it, and Maplin succeeded so well that Tandy mostly went back to the US where they operate more like Maplin did here. So why Maplin now start to do what made Tandy fail I do not know. It's painful to watch, so most of the time I don't watch. Your point about RS and couriers I also recognise, I wish they'd reduce costs by using the standard mail. The kind of logic that says that to get a decent service you must use an expensive private courier is wasteful, and the neglect reduces the quality of the main service, making a self- fulfilling prophecy. Same logic that's currently making a crisis in UK dentistry. That scandal is making street long queues now, it's too big to hide, as will be the pollution of lots of tiny vans doing what a single train used to do. Totally acknowledged. Maplin. Well. I don't go there unless I'm in deep *stuff*. RS. Yes, why they can't use RM I have no idea. But I'm not paying £30 for a little edge connector anyway (in my thread on the sci.electronics groups). As for dentistry, you can't even get one if you're willing to give them REAL money now. :-( Look, reaaaaal money, lotsza money. Nope, they'd rather treat 7-bus loads of smelly whining children a day. (yes, I hate kids. And I hate companies. Is there a link?) RS told me "no minimum order" and no P&P unless requested express delivery - maybe they've changed their terms since you last looked? |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
ian field wrote in message
... RS told me "no minimum order" and no P&P unless requested express delivery - maybe they've changed their terms since you last looked? The problem with RS is if you're not in a major city or town. Courier delivery drivers simply don't even bother to deliver the packages, they just say 'attempted-delivery' when clearly they haven't. 3-weeks it took to deliver the catalogues in the end, before someone eventually rang to say they were in the village. Even if you give couriers your telephone number, they just don't bother. This is the gripe with RS, in that their delivery method is fine if you're in big easy to find business premesis. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Lostgallifreyan wrote:
"Aly" wrote in : But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... That pegged Maplin neatly. It's a stupid move. Tandy failed in the high street in the UK because of it, and Maplin succeeded so well that Tandy mostly went back to the US where they operate more like Maplin did here. So why Maplin now start to do what made Tandy fail I do not know. It's painful to watch, so most of the time I don't watch. Your point about RS and couriers I also recognise, I wish they'd reduce costs by using the standard mail. The kind of logic that says that to get a decent service you must use an expensive private courier is wasteful, and the neglect reduces the quality of the main service, making a self- fulfilling prophecy. Same logic that's currently making a crisis in UK dentistry. That scandal is making street long queues now, it's too big to hide, as will be the pollution of lots of tiny vans doing what a single train used to do. Can't speak for other countries, but here in Australia, RS ship free if your order is more than $100. That doesn't make a huge order, these days... |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in
: The problem with RS is if you're not in a major city or town. Courier delivery drivers simply don't even bother to deliver the packages, they just say 'attempted-delivery' when clearly they haven't. 3-weeks it took to deliver the catalogues in the end, before someone eventually rang to say they were in the village. Even if you give couriers your telephone number, they just don't bother. This is the gripe with RS, in that their delivery method is fine if you're in big easy to find business premesis. That definitely sucks.. if anyone working in RS is reading this, consider the Royal Mail. Not only does it work well with most recorded deliveries, at least as well if not better than most couriers (and cheaper), there's a special advantage: a parcel can be sent to a local post office for collection. Try doing that with a courier. I did once, it's impossible, even impossible to get a direct phone line to a local office. Instead of neglecting the postal service so that we all have nothing to do but moan as it shrinks, use it. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Tim Auton wrote in message
... Rapid and Farnell are my current favourites. Rapid's catalogue (which I was sent gratis, without asking) is good. Tim Yes Rapid are excellent. They're a 10-minute drive down the road from here and the trade counter is ideal, you just walk in with a load of numbers and you're out in 20-minutes. Only issue with Rapid at the moment is this ROHS compliance, it's messing up their stock levels all over the place. But, some non-ROHS stock is ridiculously cheap. 30VA 15v-0v-15v toroidals for £3!!!!!! |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
David R Brooks wrote in
: Can't speak for other countries, but here in Australia, RS ship free if your order is more than $100. That doesn't make a huge order, these days... RS will ship for free for any order I place. Wasting money is wasting money, even if it's not mine. :) The point is that the waste is particularly stupid. Originally the courier idea was a fast track service. Now that everyone wants it the efficient service has become neglected and the 'fast' service isn't anymore. There's no sense in a special service if the general one is not an option. All it does is ruin both, eventually. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
ian field wrote in message ... Many thanks. Email sent containing scanned image of 1993 catalogue :-) (i don't even know what I have here, found the catalogue while looking for a cable) |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Lostgallifreyan wrote in message
... That definitely sucks.. if anyone working in RS is reading this, consider the Royal Mail. Oh, RS apologise repeatedly in a perfectly worded scripted message............. One of the bits of work I've done is prototyping for the automotive industry, ABS braking sub components and alike. I just said to RS, "if I don't have it then I can't spec it." Like I'm going to cock up a project and put RS on the list of suppliers. Mostly I just go direct to suppliers, Microchip, SGT, Maxim etc. etc. The stuff always arrives by Royal Mail about a week later, some of it comes from Asia!!! It always arrives though, funny that init! Stuff from Hong Kong gets here faster than using DHL. :-( |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in message ... "larwe" wrote in message ups.com... I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to pay for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further cock-ups, such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to me. The catalogues went in the bin. Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get to you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother. This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure. To be fair to Maplin, they do give you vouchers whereby you can recover the cost of the catalogue with your first purchase, unless you are just buying a couple of tupp'ny resistors. RS are predominantly a trade supplier, and in general run an excellent service, and have done for probably more years than you've been alive. Their prices are no higher or lower than anyone else in the trade component supply business. Their catalogue package is offered free of charge to their trade customers, and in my experience always arrives next day. Any of us who are in business have to cover our costs, and that includes the costs of advertising and catalogue producing. It's a fundamental tenet of business practice, and if not observed, would soon lead to a company's rapid demise in the market place. The cost of producing a catalogue package such as RS or Farnell do, is huge, and I think that it is perfectly reasonable for them to want to recover that cost. With trade purchasers who buy many hundreds of pounds worth of stuff from them a year, then they do. With Joe Punters who buy that one elusive component that they can't find anywhere else, they don't. PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services, which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way. They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big boys who need it. Arfa |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Arfa Daily wrote:
"Aly" wrote in message ... "larwe" wrote in message ups.com... I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to pay for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further cock-ups, such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to me. The catalogues went in the bin. Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get to you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother. This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure. To be fair to Maplin, they do give you vouchers whereby you can recover the cost of the catalogue with your first purchase, unless you are just buying a couple of tupp'ny resistors. RS are predominantly a trade supplier, and in general run an excellent service, and have done for probably more years than you've been alive. Their prices are no higher or lower than anyone else in the trade component supply business. Their catalogue package is offered free of charge to their trade customers, and in my experience always arrives next day. Any of us who are in business have to cover our costs, and that includes the costs of advertising and catalogue producing. It's a fundamental tenet of business practice, and if not observed, would soon lead to a company's rapid demise in the market place. The cost of producing a catalogue package such as RS or Farnell do, is huge, and I think that it is perfectly reasonable for them to want to recover that cost. With trade purchasers who buy many hundreds of pounds worth of stuff from them a year, then they do. With Joe Punters who buy that one elusive component that they can't find anywhere else, they don't. PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services, which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way. They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big boys who need it. Arfa Partminer bought the old CAPS database, and then offered free access for a short while to get you hooked. Before long you needed to pay for a subscription to access their horrible, crooked, low resolution scans of older parts. The place I was working made the mistake of taking out a subscription. The next thing you knew, they were constantly on the phone trying to sell us something else. They got hold of my name during the free period, when I did a search for an old data sheet to repair a damaged test fixture. They called and asked for me about once a week, till management had to tell them to stop. -- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way. They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big boys who need it. The tactic they are now employing _IS_ screwing everyone every which way. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
On Sun, 01 Oct 2006 12:57:41 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote: PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services, which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way. They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big boys who need it. Arfa I got the impression that from day 1 they intended to get people hooked with their free access to data sheets, then start charging for it. Maybe I was mistaken... Bob |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's
where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services, which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way. They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big boys who need it. I consider spammers to be evil. It's perfectly reasonable to require reading ads in order to access their data sheets. They could require joining an email list (for ads) as long as the opt-out works and as long as they are up-front about what the deal is. The magic word is informed consent. They would have to specify something about how many and what type of ads they were going to send. It's not reasonble to sell/trade the email addresses they collect. There is basically no way to opt-out from a system like that. It is reasonable for them to forward ads for other people, again, they have to be up front about how many/often and how big. In theory, it might be reasonable (as in "informed consent") to require an email address that will get sold, but I can't see how to do that in practice. It would require that people sign up with a disposable address. Would the advertisers accept their end of that? -- The suespammers.org mail server is located in California. So are all my other mailboxes. Please do not send unsolicited bulk e-mail or unsolicited commercial e-mail to my suespammers.org address or any of my other addresses. These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Aly" wrote in message
... Lostgallifreyan wrote in message ... Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs. It's what I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year figure, three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make, and they're trying to use CD's to save costs. I know where you're coming from. My issue was more that RS insist on using a courier, and from the onset with RS it was just one big hassle. But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence :-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe.... I worked for Maplin in the Cardiff branch between '98 and 2001 while I was at uni and got to watch the decline from the inside - it all started with an over-eager purchasing manager who got promoted to where he could do some damage. When I first started then the Cardiff branch was one of the "old school" stores with a massive storeroom and a little shop at the front mostly frequented by grubby fingered regulars or people looking for something obscure that they couldn't get elsewhere. We were even allowed to smoke in the storeroom - what luxury! In '99 the shop was refitted and a large portion of the storeroom was turned into shop space which meant that the building was full of the stupid toys and trinkets that had become the latest rage and all there was no room for the stuff people actually wanted. We lost nearly all the regulars in a matter of weeks when we ended up continually being forced to order in simple parts that always used to be carried in stock. In fairness, the manager normally tried to get requested items carried as stock but there was a limit to the amount of space available - which was reduced from at least 40'x20' to 20'x10' shared with a sales counter. It is a shame to watch it destroy itself when I used to have such a love for the place. The Chatham branch is still one of the "old school" dingy stores with a big storeroom but it increasingly becoming staffed by muppets and children and they are beginning to discontinue the useful, but obscure, bread and butter lifeblood. I lost count of the times that someone would come in looking for a video drive belt and leave with a bag full of other bits and pieces but, these days, they just leave empty handed. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
On 29 Sep 2006 16:07:55 -0700 "larwe" wrote in
Message id: . com: I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free access to datasheets. Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find who will pay us a nickel": If you would like to receive business or career related offers from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for instructions. This "vendor" should be boycotted. We stopped using them when we started getting forged semiconductors from them. Buyer beware... |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Tom Lucas" k wrote in message ... It is a shame to watch it destroy itself when I used to have such a love for the place. The Chatham branch is still one of the "old school" dingy stores with a big storeroom but it increasingly becoming staffed by muppets and children and they are beginning to discontinue the useful, but obscure, bread and butter lifeblood. I lost count of the times that someone would come in looking for a video drive belt and leave with a bag full of other bits and pieces but, these days, they just leave empty handed. Pretty much what happened to Radio Shack in the US. Perhaps they are the model - certainly their stock is now 1/4 of what it once sold for. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Homer J Simpson wrote:
"Tom Lucas" k wrote: It is a shame to watch it destroy itself when I used to have such a love for the place. The Chatham branch is still one of the "old school" dingy stores with a big storeroom but it increasingly becoming staffed by muppets and children and they are beginning to discontinue the useful, but obscure, bread and butter lifeblood. I lost count of the times that someone would come in looking for a video drive belt and leave with a bag full of other bits and pieces but, these days, they just leave empty handed. Pretty much what happened to Radio Shack in the US. Perhaps they are the model - certainly their stock is now 1/4 of what it once sold for. I think they just laid off about 2000 employees. Virtually no point in visiting their stores anymore. All they do is flog cell phones. -- Some informative links: news:news.announce.newusers http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/ http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/ |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Homer J Simpson" wrote in message
news:L0cUg.7286$N4.2849@clgrps12... Pretty much what happened to Radio Shack in the US. Perhaps they are the model - certainly their stock is now 1/4 of what it once sold for. I think it's almost impossible to keep an electronic "parts" store open these days, but that being said, Radio Shack was doing OK when they had a large mix of consumer electronics and parts some 20 years ago. I think they became greedy, by deciding to concentrate much more on the consumer electronics: Even though the unit prices are higher, they could never compete on price with the Big Box store for price nor selection. Their decision (pushing a decade ago) to really concentrate on cell phones should have been obvious as a temporary strategy -- the large layoffs this year were directly a result of the fact that there's no longer any huge "untapped" market for cell phone users out there -- sales today are 90+% people upgrading their handsets or new consumers (kids!) slowly entering the market. I'm certainly glad that Radio Shacks are still around, but -- like many companies do over time -- the current management seems completely out of touch with what made them so useful decades back; this leads directly to mediocrity at best, at chapter 11 at worst. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Joel Kolstad wrote:
"Homer J Simpson" wrote in message news:L0cUg.7286$N4.2849@clgrps12... Pretty much what happened to Radio Shack in the US. Perhaps they are the model - certainly their stock is now 1/4 of what it once sold for. I think it's almost impossible to keep an electronic "parts" store open these days, but that being said, Radio Shack was doing OK when they had a large mix of consumer electronics and parts some 20 years ago. I think they became greedy, by deciding to concentrate much more on the consumer electronics: Even though the unit prices are higher, they could never compete on price with the Big Box store for price nor selection. Their decision (pushing a decade ago) to really concentrate on cell phones should have been obvious as a temporary strategy -- the large layoffs this year were directly a result of the fact that there's no longer any huge "untapped" market for cell phone users out there -- sales today are 90+% people upgrading their handsets or new consumers (kids!) slowly entering the market. I'm certainly glad that Radio Shacks are still around, but -- like many companies do over time -- the current management seems completely out of touch with what made them so useful decades back; this leads directly to mediocrity at best, at chapter 11 at worst. I remember nipping down to the local Radio Shack in Riyadh about 25 years ago for the parts to make a simple RF field strength detector. It's a shame you can't really do that nowadays. Cheers PeteS |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Joel Kolstad" wrote in message ... I'm certainly glad that Radio Shacks are still around, but -- like many companies do over time -- the current management seems completely out of touch with what made them so useful decades back; this leads directly to mediocrity at best, at chapter 11 at worst. The only decisions the shareholders get to make now are to approve or not (it makes no difference) the latest complicated system for 'compensating' the board members to 'motivate' them to do . . . . whatever. All real decisions are made by them or elsewhere. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
Well I am sad to say all the electronic components stores have left our town and we are left with Radio Shaft. So we are stuck with the giant mail order wharehouse venders with there $25 or more, min order. It's hard to predict what componenets you will need in the futere, so you buy the most common parts to meet the min order and save that $5.00 extra charge. Since companies are only going to make a limited amount of certain models of electronics and discontinue it whithin a year. You should be able to demand a schematic or service manual when you purchase it! This is crap buying a bigscreen TV with a one year warranty and it goes tits up eight months out of warranty and no longer supported. All they are doing is filling our landfills and forcing us to buy their new products on a regular schedule. Won't be long before automobiles will follow! Eighteen years in the electronic industry with nothing to fix. On Mon, 2 Oct 2006 11:39:21 -0700, "Joel Kolstad" wrote: "Homer J Simpson" wrote in message news:L0cUg.7286$N4.2849@clgrps12... Pretty much what happened to Radio Shack in the US. Perhaps they are the model - certainly their stock is now 1/4 of what it once sold for. I think it's almost impossible to keep an electronic "parts" store open these days, but that being said, Radio Shack was doing OK when they had a large mix of consumer electronics and parts some 20 years ago. I think they became greedy, by deciding to concentrate much more on the consumer electronics: Even though the unit prices are higher, they could never compete on price with the Big Box store for price nor selection. Their decision (pushing a decade ago) to really concentrate on cell phones should have been obvious as a temporary strategy -- the large layoffs this year were directly a result of the fact that there's no longer any huge "untapped" market for cell phone users out there -- sales today are 90+% people upgrading their handsets or new consumers (kids!) slowly entering the market. I'm certainly glad that Radio Shacks are still around, but -- like many companies do over time -- the current management seems completely out of touch with what made them so useful decades back; this leads directly to mediocrity at best, at chapter 11 at worst. |
Yet another reason to avoid PartMiner
"Henry" wrote in message ... Well I am sad to say all the electronic components stores have left our town and we are left with Radio Shaft. So we are stuck with the giant mail order wharehouse venders with there $25 or more, min order. It's hard to predict what componenets you will need in the futere, so you buy the most common parts to meet the min order and save that $5.00 extra charge. Since companies are only going to make a limited amount of certain models of electronics and discontinue it whithin a year. You should be able to demand a schematic or service manual when you purchase it! This is crap buying a bigscreen TV with a one year warranty and it goes tits up eight months out of warranty and no longer supported. All they are doing is filling our landfills and forcing us to buy their new products on a regular schedule. Won't be long before automobiles will follow! Eighteen years in the electronic industry with nothing to fix. If everything still used tubes we'd have run out of techs years ago, however the pendulum seems to have shifted viciously in the opposite direction. Even if we ordered the makers to support products for a reasonable lifetime (25 years?) I suspect we would slow down the flood and not cure it. I certainly think there should be some sort of compulsory return of dead things to the vendor for safe disposal. In the meantime I will try to Freecycle where I can. -- http://freecycle.org/ or http://www.craigslist.org/ |
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