Mouser Electronics

[pf...@aol.com]

All:

Just got an e-mail from Mouser that some parts I had ordered in the past were about to be discontinued (as obsolete) by the manufacturer.

Few suppliers bother with this level of service.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

[rickman]

pf...@aol.com wrote on 6/22/2017 10:55 AM:
> All:
>
> Just got an e-mail from Mouser that some parts I had ordered in the past were about to be discontinued (as obsolete) by the manufacturer.
>
> Few suppliers bother with this level of service.

Actually nearly all the top tier distributors do that. I get notices when
they change the way that install the chip in packages and all manner of
similar notices from Digikey, Arrow and Avnet.

--

Rick C

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 22 Jun 2017 07:55:33 -0700 (PDT), "pf...@aol.com"
<pf...@aol.com> wrote:

>All:
>
>Just got an e-mail from Mouser that some parts I had ordered
>in the past were about to be discontinued (as obsolete)
>by the manufacturer.
>
>Few suppliers bother with this level of service.

It's fairly common practice among the various distributors. They
expect you to panic at the thought of having to redesign your product
for a different part. You then purchase a huge number of the soon to
be obsolete parts, so that you're not stuck dealing with the greedy
obsolete parts jobbers. In other words, the notice that the part is
about to become discontinued is a very effective sales pitch.

--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

[pf...@aol.com]

On Thursday, June 22, 2017 at 2:19:43 PM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

In other words, the notice that the part is
> about to become discontinued is a very effective sales pitch.

Rick & Jeff:

By any standard, I am a onsie-twosie buyer, so this sort of notice is of interest to me as indicative of a level-of-service. I might buy 200 capacitors of a common value, or diodes (1-3 year supply, but sure to be used) so as to reach price-points, but other than those few things, I usually purchase in 10-or-less amounts, and then most purchases are task-specific. Put another way, what I repair is personal, not-for-money, and not time-critical.

[Andy Burns]

pf...@aol.com wrote:

> what I repair is personal, not-for-money, and not time-critical.

Mouser's computer doesn't know that ...

[rickman]

Jeff Liebermann wrote on 6/22/2017 2:19 PM:
> On Thu, 22 Jun 2017 07:55:33 -0700 (PDT), "pf...@aol.com"
> <pf...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> All:
>>
>> Just got an e-mail from Mouser that some parts I had ordered
>> in the past were about to be discontinued (as obsolete)
>> by the manufacturer.
>>
>> Few suppliers bother with this level of service.
>
> It's fairly common practice among the various distributors. They
> expect you to panic at the thought of having to redesign your product
> for a different part. You then purchase a huge number of the soon to
> be obsolete parts, so that you're not stuck dealing with the greedy
> obsolete parts jobbers. In other words, the notice that the part is
> about to become discontinued is a very effective sales pitch.

That is a bit of a cynical attitude. Would it be better for them to *not*
tell you in advance so that you end up placing an order only to be told the
parts are discontinued?

Lattice did a rather unusual thing in that they set a last order data some 3
years before the last delivery date, so you could schedule deliveries well
in advance. Arrow bought some 80,000 that I know of. I was still shipping
units but on a very erratic, completely unpredictable schedule so I waited
and monitored the inventory. By the time I needed parts the count had
dropped to 78,000, so clearly they were not flying off the shelf. My orders
ramped up so I called for a quote. I had so much money coming in I
considered buying a significant supply of 5,000. They still would not give
me a decent price in spite of the fact that these parts just were not
selling. Good thing I waited. I found out the products that my designs
were going in were being EOL'd at the end of the year. I would have been
stuck with 5,000 pieces.

Arrow still has 72,000 pieces so unlike last year, I am not the only one
buying them. But they will be a decade selling them at the double and
triple prices they are listed for now.

--

Rick C

[Chuck]

On Thu, 22 Jun 2017 07:55:33 -0700 (PDT), "pf...@aol.com"
<pf...@aol.com> wrote:

Great company. I've ordered regularly from them for 28 years without
them making one mistake.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Michael Black]

I would think they'd know from his order history. They know he orders
such things, but they also know the quantity.

It's a just a variation of what all the companies do. Since they can keep
track electronically, it costs virtually nothing to try to lure people
into actually buying things.

So Amazon will send me email listing some things I've looked at recently,
as if email will make me actually buy them. One other company will note
when I put something in my shopping cart, and send me email pointing the
item out and "why not fill your order now?". Some companies send a
constant stream of email, yet really not offering me anything. I like the
ones from companies offering "free shipping, no minimum" from time to
time, and every so often there are really good deals, but generally the
flow of email is just to keep them in your mind. They wouldn't do it if
it required a phone call or paper mail, they do it because it's automated
and cost pretty much nothing.

The odd thing is the companies that I've bothered to sign up with is in
case the good deals come along, yet the constant badgering of email
doesn't help one bit. I'll order when I order, generic email isn't going
to help one bit.

Michael

[gghe...@gmail.com]

I've had better luck with digikey and EOL warnings.
But I order more stuff from DK too.
(Newark never.)

George H.