Farnell Trade Counter closed?

[arjoll]

Originally Posted by MrBungle

I wouldn't blame that on CPC. That's completely normal practice for all distributors.

I agree - I don't expect a business to hold a credit account open for possible future orders of unknown volume. I've had rarely-used distributors switch me to a cash account - it isn't a major problem, it just goes on the business Visa and I still pay around the 20th of the following month, and they get to pay 2% to the provider for their troubles (I'll always argue a credit card surcharge!).

[Red to black]

Oh I know it was part of their terms and conditions, I have various trade accounts with other wholesalers and the like, but none have ever treated me as snotty as CPC did, and yes I do blame them for that.

[McMurdo]

Re - JIT. Unlike farnell and RS who both charge extra carriage for 'extended items' (why not put it all in 1 box??) at least Rapid dont charge extra. If you order an extended part, it just turns up when it comes into stock.

[evingar]

Originally Posted by McMurdo

Re - JIT. Unlike farnell and RS who both charge extra carriage for 'extended items' (why not put it all in 1 box??) at least Rapid dont charge extra. If you order an extended part, it just turns up when it comes into stock.

That's an excellent point. the likes of RS / Farnell must be getting things sent over from the US all the time - No way should it cost £15 for individual orders.

I just bought a breaker from Mouser and it was sent from the US at zero postage (I don't hold a Mouser trade account). The reason I used them was the similar item on RS was on back order. Clients sometimes simply won't wait x weeks for a back order item for a repair. I thought shipping from stock was the whole point of being for a Stocking Distributor and why we were willing to pay more for the items ?

[Radio Wrangler]

Another point is that the vast, vast majority of all the stuff stocked by these distributors is imported anyway.

David

[McMurdo]

The uk vs overseas distributors thing is sometimes mildly bizarre. Sometimes I order large electrolytics, in the order of 10,000uf 450V for example. One particular range is the ALS series from uk company BHC Aerovox. Farnell & RS carry them, but it's vastly cheaper for me for Mouser to import them to the USA then export them back to the UK with import duty both ways. Tell me how that one works!!

[Radio Wrangler]

Americans are simply not prepared to pay inflated prices for consumer goods and components. The market has to serve this requirement or it sells nothing. Funnily enough they still seem to make a profit... certainly, firms are dead keen to break into the US market and I wouldn't expect them to be so keen if they thought the profit level was unsatisfactory.

American prices don't mystify me. Ours do.

David

[stevehertz]

It's all to do with quantities sold. America is a mass market and an operation is able to support lower prices on the basis that overall an acceptable, if not healthy profit is returned. Sell something to one in a thousand people in the UK and it may not be profitable vs overheads. Sell something to one in a thousand people in the US and you're talking volume and hence, profit.

[emeritus]

Reminds me that, when I was at Plessey, the cost of a new complete Shure cartridge for a Garrard deck from the staff sales shop was considerably cheaper than buying just a replacement stylus from a dealer.

[arjoll]

Originally Posted by McMurdo

Unlike farnell and RS who both charge extra carriage for 'extended items' (why not put it all in 1 box??) at least Rapid dont charge extra. If you order an extended part, it just turns up when it comes into stock.

Originally Posted by stevehertz

Sell something to one in a thousand people in the UK and it may not be profitable vs overheads.

That probably doesn't explain why element14 (i.e. Farnell) NZ don't charge any extra for parts that aren't in the Sydney warehouse. As long as your order is at least NZD45 there's no freight charge; I've had orders arrive in four shipments, the Sydney stuff in two days, Singapore a few days after that, and stuff from the UK and US warehouses between 1-2 weeks after the original order - and often these are tiny shipments (a couple of bags of caps worth a dollar or two in total).

NZ is 4.5 million people in total, so the market for element14 isn't particularly huge!