CPC, components out of stock - packaging overkill.

[Diabolical Artificer]

Ordered some resistors and caps and other bits recently from CPC to try and save a few bob at Farnell. They could only post part of the order. I remember they did this last time with the bits arriving a month later. I asked when the heatsinks will arrive, May apparently.

Another thing that's driving me a bit nuts is that each 2w resistor is packaged separately. so you get each R in a separate bag, inside a zip lock bag, inside another plastic bag.

This seems a bit daft to me; I've written to them, but I would think most folk don't care about the excess plastic but may do when they get only 1/3 of ordered parts.

Cancelled some of the order, reordered from Farnell, here this morning no bother.

Anyhoo, worth bearing in mind when ordering next.

Andy.

[MrBungle]

This is quite normal for CPC. I have seen an order for 500 1n4002 diodes from them once and each came in it's own bag...

Simply the best packaging I've seen anything come in is Tayda electronics. All neatly labelled and larger items wrapped individually in bubble wrap. Comes all the way from Thailand in better nick than any local seller can manage! Try 'em 8-10 days delivery usually and you can track it across the world

['LIVEWIRE?']

I've often wondered why CPC packs small items in ones or twos, and in two bags at that!

[Dai Corner]

I ordered 3m of 16mm x 16mm plastic trunking from CPC along with some smaller items.

The trunking was despatched by overnight courier, separately from the rest of the order, wrapped in polythene with a padded bag over each end.

I doubt the £3.90 I paid covered even the delivery cost, let alone the packaging or the trunking itself! I see it has now gone up to £4.90.

[dominicbeesley]

Farnell occasionally do crazy packaging too, also RS. The poor folks in the packing departments are probably under a lot of pressure to just shift orders not spend ages messing around looking for the best tailored solution. Years ago I used to package books and other documents, when it came to the end of a shift and I'd run out of the correct size of jiffy bag some of my solutions to the problem were unconventional.

[MrBungle]

RS are fun. Order a roll of Chemtronics soder-wick. It's about £2.70 a roll. Comes in a big cardboard box full of packaging and about 25 pages of printed hazardous materials information stapled together in book form.

Cheaper than the boxes from the post office over the road from me as well

[vidjoman]

If you look at the CPC product it shows how many are in stock, assuming you are ordering online. It will also tell you when further supplies are available. The packaging on single items is to protect and identify the product. You'd complain if they sent you some parts all mixed up and not easily identifiable. They are a fairly large company and as such do not employ people with a vast knowledge of each individual item. Have you seen their printed catalogue? It runs to 4000 pages and I use mine to increase the height of my monitor by some 3 inches.

[MrBungle]

I'd like to add that they don't always have the items in stock their ERP system says they do. I've had many items suddenly turn into back orders.

[recordplayer]

I remember C.P.C. years ago in Preston with only 2 staff ! Yes that's before they became a huge outfit and the trade counter only had two staff members and one of those was the M.D . - showing my age now but those where the days when we used to buy valves from C.P.C. - the original buiding in Preston is still there . Those where the days when we all used to buy single components and get down to proper fault finding instead of Mickey Mouse panel swapping that you could teach a monkey to do now !

[ionburn]

I usually use Rapid. Most things are packed sensibly and usually no delivery problems within a day or so, but I have noticed of late that they are moving more towards wanting to sell multiples of things rather than individual. Perhaps Ok the other day when I ordered metal oxide resistors of 1k and 10k etc as I know I am likely to use 100 but it will take me a while to use less commonly used components. Prices don't seem too bad for quantity though.

['LIVEWIRE?']

Haven't used Rapid for a while, but I've always found them to supply good quality components at reasonable prices. The reason I mainly use CPC is that I've had an account with them for well over 20 years now.

[dseymo1]

Interesting that CPC had to back-order when Farnell had stock; I thought they were the same business.
I've had a single back-ordered zener diode delivered from CPC in a large carton before now.

[Biggles]

Years ago I received a parcel at work consisting of a rather unfortunate combination of a 63AHC lead acid gel cell with a squashed flat 14 pin IC taped to it. Somewhere in transit the weight of the battery must have born down on the helpless chip. It actually worked once I had carefully straightened the pins out. Ten out of ten for the packaging department...not.

[evingar]

Originally Posted by dseymo1

Interesting that CPC had to back-order when Farnell had stock; I thought they were the same business.
I've had a single back-ordered zener diode delivered from CPC in a large carton before now.

At the "day job", we have a thing called Onecall, which is a unified account for Farnell and CPC. The search brings up a mixture of CPC and Farnell returns. What I have found though is that although the same company, delivery is distinctly tardy for the CPC stock coded items than the Farnell ones.

[Philips210]

Hi.

I've experienced odd packaging with CPC orders over the years. On one occasion a few 1W carbon resistors short on the original order arrived in a largish box with the polythene air bag packing. The whole box was as light as a feather! A small Jiffy bag would have sufficed.
Other times, heavy items have been placed in an inadequate box which arrived burst open with part of the order missing. They are very good however in dealing with incomplete or damaged goods with their orders.

I must say though that CPC are a very useful company to deal with and I for one would be very disappointed if they were to close. I like to give them my support where possible and pay my bills on time. There really aren't that many companies like CPC supplying components these days.

Regards
Symon.

[emeritus]

In the days before Screwfix opened their network of local stores, I used to get their stuff mail order. While most parcels were properly packed with plenty of bubble wrap, one consignment included a set of twist drills, a heavy duty metal stapler, a 2.5 Litre tin of paint, and several cartons of GLS lamp bulbs. Everything was sent in a large box with no packing whatsoever. As you might expect about half of the bulbs did not survive. They did send replacements promptly and didn't want the damaged cartons returned, so I got an extra 50% free.

[peter_sol]

I think CPC and Farnell are the same company

[Diabolical Artificer]

"I'd like to add that they don't always have the items in stock their ERP system says they do. I've had many items suddenly turn into back orders." That's true. I always use the filter and click the "in stock" box which seems to be not based on reality.

I thought CPC and Farnell are the same company. The CPC filter is the same as Farnells but their search engine is dire. If you put 1u 250v capacitor in Farnell it will come up with a result. Over on CPC it will come up with "No results found"

I use Rapid, they are quick, though you pay for postage on smallish orders. If your over a fiver at CPC it's free, hence why I've used em.

I'm getting more results at Farnell coming up with "£15 delivery fee - stock over in France" or increasingly "see more results at Avnet" In some ways it's easier to order from Mouser or Digikey, but as Symon says, it's good to be loyal.

"Have you seen their printed catalogue? It runs to 4000 pages" Digikey stocks millions of components, no worries there. Still think it's daft packaging individual resistors, a label on one bag is sufficiant; these are good for sticking on your draws or jars/tins.

Andy.

[MrBungle]

Farnell search engine is awful. It's the same software as CPC. There's loads of metadata attached to each item and it uses that to search on. RS are far better even though the site is clunky.

Does anyone know the import duty/VAT situation for Mouser/Digikey? Occasionally they are the only places that have stock I want.

If you want Europe, TME (tme.eu) are VERY good. Next day reliable delivery from Poland.

[Biggles]

Ah yes, the airbags used for packaging. We used to have a wonderful fun-filled five minutes jumping on them at work and making them explode when a parcel arrived with them inside.