So, here is my story....
I am working on a project and I need to make a cable/set of connectors to a device. The connections need 1.25mm pitch plugs. In an ill-advised move, I decided to buy these when I bought the component.

I don't have a crimping tool for anything that small and, what's more, I hate crimping tools and have only ever used them for much larger connectors and even then it was a PITA (fine, I don't now how to use crimping tools - and if you do, well aren't you special ). My thinking was - N/P I have a needle-nose pliers and a soldering iron - I don't need no stinking crimp tool. I was wrong and I proved it!

Fed up with my inabilities, I bite the bullet and set out to order some pre-crimped leads and a couple of connectors, including one with bare leads on the other side and a few other items. The order is less than $20. I hate that because I know that I am going to be hit with $9-$10 in shipping.

So, I ordered from Digi-Key a week or so ago....still no package. Tracking stopped at last Thursday...about 60 miles away. I am getting absolutely nowhere with the shipping company - it seemed to me that the data I had is no different than the data used by the online scripts and voice menus.

Where the freak is my package?!

I decide to contact Digi-key - maybe they can help? Below is a [scrubbed] portion of the chat.


Me: hi, I am trying to located order #XXXXXXXX
Me: tracking shows nothing after last Thursday - do you know what happened?
Lynnell_ext_1780:
I will need to have our tracing department contact XXX XX to try and locate your package.
Me: can you do that please?
Lynnell_ext_1780:
One moment

Lynnell_ext_1780:
I am going to reship a new order. One moment while I redo this.

Me: understood
Lynnell_ext_1780:
The new Sales order # is XXXXXXXX. I will reship today via 2 day service on our dime.
Me: thank you!
Lynnell_ext_1780:
If you receive the missing package you may keep it. We will not want it back.

Sometimes things work out as well as they can and I love it when that happens.

 

So, here is my story....
I am working on a project and I need to make a cable/set of connectors to a device. The connections need 1.25mm pitch plugs. In an ill-advised move, I decided to buy these when I bought the component.

I don't have a crimping tool for anything that small and, what's more, I hate crimping tools and have only ever used them for much larger connectors and even then it was a PITA (fine, I don't now how to use crimping tools - and if you do, well aren't you special ). My thinking was - N/P I have a needle-nose pliers and a soldering iron - I don't need no stinking crimp tool. I was wrong and I proved it!

Fed up with my inabilities, I bite the bullet and set out to order some pre-crimped leads and a couple of connectors, including one with bare leads on the other side and a few other items. The order is less than $20. I hate that because I know that I am going to be hit with $9-$10 in shipping.

So, I ordered from Digi-Key a week or so ago....still no package. Tracking stopped at last Thursday...about 60 miles away. I am getting absolutely nowhere with the shipping company - it seemed to me that the data I had is no different than the data used by the online scripts and voice menus.

Where the freak is my package?!

I decide to contact Digi-key - maybe they can help? Below is a [scrubbed] portion of the chat.


Me: hi, I am trying to located order #XXXXXXXX
Me: tracking shows nothing after last Thursday - do you know what happened?
Lynnell_ext_1780:
I will need to have our tracing department contact XXX XX to try and locate your package.
Me: can you do that please?
Lynnell_ext_1780:
One moment

Lynnell_ext_1780:
I am going to reship a new order. One moment while I redo this.

Me: understood
Lynnell_ext_1780:
The new Sales order # is XXXXXXXX. I will reship today via 2 day service on our dime.
Me: thank you!
Lynnell_ext_1780:
If you receive the missing package you may keep it. We will not want it back.

Sometimes things work out as well as they can and I love it when that happens.

It seems like you are counting your chickens already. I hope the second package doesn't get lost in Neverland with its mate.

 

It seems like you are counting your chickens already. I hope the second package doesn't get lost in Neverland with its mate.

I've never had a problem with Digikey, and I LIVE in the land of lost packages.
Eric

 

I've never had a problem with Digikey, and I LIVE in the land of lost packages.
Eric

I hope not! I'm expecting something really nice coming from your location soon!

 

Both Mouser and Digikey packages seem to find any location.

 

If there is one thing that DigiKey knows, it is how to do customer service right. They just flat out have their act together.

I've haven't dealt too much with Mouser in recent years, but back when I did I didn't have problems with them, but they weren't DigiKey. I've heard from others that they took a page from Digikey's playbook and now also provide outstanding customer service.

 

If there is one thing that DigiKey knows, it is how to do customer service right. They just flat out have their act together.

I've haven't dealt too much with Mouser in recent years, but back when I did I didn't have problems with them, but they weren't DigiKey. I've heard from others that they took a page from Digikey's playbook and now also provide outstanding customer service.

Well when you pay that much for shipping you can almost replace most orders, without question. It's how I see the new iPhones 1k for a phone, tells me how much they believe someone will destroy the phone and then have it replaced under warranty. Heck once you tac on the Warranty cost now you almost can replace it 3 times over.

kv

 

I don't know that they are making all that much on their shipping. I just looked at their rates and compared them to what I paid to send a couple of letters via FedEx 2nd Day and the cost to have DigiKey ship a full pound of stuff to me was actually less. I'm sure DigiKey is getting a good discount from most of the shippers they use, but the shippers are still making a profit.

Yes, you pay a premium for ordering from DigiKey or Mouser. Back when I was a poor undergrad and grad student I typically used the DigiKey catalog to find what I wanted and then would spend hours and sometimes days finding an alternate source for it, often driving all over the Denver metro area going to the dozen or so decent surplus stores that existed back then (late '80s and early '90s). But back then my time was cheap and my money was almost nonexistent.

Once I got a real job I kept using that same practice for about a month before I sat down and ran the numbers on the cost to the project of doing things that way. I immediately realized that having a source that almost always had what I needed, would sell them to me in single quantities, almost never had me on hold for more than a minute or two, was very easy to work with, and would ship them out that same day was worth more than the premium price I was paying for most parts. So after that they became my primary source (with Mouser being my source for other types of stuff -- Digikey and Mouser didn't have a whole lot of overlap in their product lines that was relevant to us back then) and if they had it I bought it from them. Only if the parts were very expensive did I look elsewhere.

For my personal and sideline work I also largely adopted that position. My time now had value and even at $20/hr it took almost no amount of effort finding another source to make DigiKey the cheaper alternative.

 

Well when you pay that much for shipping you can almost replace most orders, without question.

What is the "right" price for shipping in your opinion?

I think Digikey's rates perfectly reasonable.
A cardboard box, packaging materials, labor, investment in the order processing software and on top of that, USPS, FedEx or UPS need their cut to walk to your door. It doesn't come for free.

 

What is the "right" price for shipping in your opinion?

I think Digikey's rates perfectly reasonable.
A cardboard box, packaging materials, labor, investment in the order processing software and on top of that, USPS, FedEx or UPS need their cut to walk to your door. It doesn't come for free.

I'm thinking the size of my order was puny Mouser charged $7.99 for the cost of a stamp. My order came to $5.18 even 2 stamps at that price to mail should have been the cost regardless.

kv

Edit: Of course I still remember gas at .10cents a gal.

 

I'm thinking the size of my order was puny Mouser charged $7.99 for the cost of a stamp. My order came to $5.18 even 2 stamps at that price to mail should have been the cost regardless.

kv

Edit: Of course I still remember gas at .10cents a gal.

Unfortunately, picking, packing, packaging and labeling are fixed costs and independent of the price of the few parts you bought. Plan ahead and buy parts for your next project when you do this project.

Or, give $10 each time you pass a bell ringer this Christmas and, next time you order, the $7 shipping won't feel so expensive

 

I'm thinking the size of my order was puny Mouser charged $7.99 for the cost of a stamp. My order came to $5.18 even 2 stamps at that price to mail should have been the cost regardless.

kv

Edit: Of course I still remember gas at .10cents a gal.

They only charge $4.99 for economy USPS mail.

$7.99 is for Priority Mail with delivery confirmation. I just checked the USPS site and for 3-Day Priority Mail they charge $6.65 (from the east cost to Colorado) and that only gets you a delivery estimate of 3 to 10 days. For 2 day scheduled delivery the cost is north of $23. So another $1.34 for packaging and handling doesn't see too outrageous.

What would YOU charge for packaging and handling an order? Let's say that it took you just six minutes (1/10 of an hour) from beginning to end.

 

Unfortunately, picking, packing, packaging and labeling are fixed costs and independent of the price of the few parts you bought. Plan ahead and buy parts for your next project when you do this project.

Or, give $10 each time you pass a bell ringer this Christmas and, next time you order, the $7 shipping won't feel so expensive

Actually that is a good call, I'm just nit picker like when they took my Suicide lane in front of my house and put down double yellow stripe, with a bike lane. I went to the city planners to see who was the fool that thought it was a good idea. A rather large man standing in front of said "I am" I said that is so dumb, you know I have to go around the block to obey the law in order to pull in to my drive and it's going to be really difficult to get out of the driveway when the students are let out of the University.

He said, just back into the parking and bike lane plenty of room and then pull in, he was right

Easier.

kv

 

I'm thinking the size of my order was puny Mouser charged $7.99 for the cost of a stamp. My order came to $5.18 even 2 stamps at that price to mail should have been the cost regardless.

My #1 shipping peeve is tiny items that come in unnecessarily huge shipping packages. Case in point, today two fuel oil furnace nozzles I ordered last week showed up. The two vials they came in are ~3/4" x 1 1/2" long. The package then came in was big enough I propped it open and my one full grown cat crawled inside it to play hide and seek with the others!

 

As a Canadian DigiKey customer, anything under $200 cost Can$8 flat rate, over, P/P free. They have it delivered next day air Fed-Ex express with no customs charge or duty.
I agree their packaging is a little excessive.
Max.

 

They only charge $4.99 for economy USPS mail.

$7.99 is for Priority Mail with delivery confirmation. I just checked the USPS site and for 3-Day Priority Mail they charge $6.65 (from the east cost to Colorado) and that only gets you a delivery estimate of 3 to 10 days. For 2 day scheduled delivery the cost is north of $23. So another $1.34 for packaging and handling doesn't see too outrageous.

What would YOU charge for packaging and handling an order? Let's say that it took you just six minutes (1/10 of an hour) from beginning to end.

I thought that was part of the problem, they didn't give me a choice to just go ground. I really don't need to track it for $5.18, when I order local from SLC thats what I get from the parts dealer there. These are a little more exotic and they don't carry it or I would have.

kv

 

My #1 shipping peeve is tiny items that come in unnecessarily huge shipping packages.

I have similar feelings -- though I am much more incensed when it is retail packaging that is huge and the actual item is way down inside. My wife bought me some cologne a number of years ago and the package made it look like the bottle inside was about three inches tall and an inch or so wide. Wrong. The bottle was tiny. About an inch tall and half and inch wide. I set it up on the dresser as an ornament and a reminder to never buy their products again.

Vendors do have a legitimate reason for having a minimum size box, even if all of the shippers will accept a smaller size. If the box is too small, the risk of it getting lost go up considerably. You want a box that will NOT be treated as a "small" by the shipper.

 

They only charge $4.99 for economy USPS mail.

$7.99 is for Priority Mail with delivery confirmation. I just checked the USPS site and for 3-Day Priority Mail they charge $6.65 (from the east cost to Colorado) and that only gets you a delivery estimate of 3 to 10 days. For 2 day scheduled delivery the cost is north of $23. So another $1.34 for packaging and handling doesn't see too outrageous.

What would YOU charge for packaging and handling an order? Let's say that it took you just six minutes (1/10 of an hour) from beginning to end.

Yeah, I also take the USPS 4.99 option for a small order. It gets to me in a couple of days. What's interesting, when I order from ebay and they use USPS first class, it gets to me in two days, typically. Unfortunately the soft packaging they use sometimes doesn't protect the item.

For me, one stop shopping makes sense. At least for something to complete a project. I'll shop around when stocking up on random parts.

 

Yeah, I also take the USPS 4.99 option for a small order. It gets to me in a couple of days. What's interesting, when I order from ebay and they use USPS first class, it gets to me in two days, typically. Unfortunately the soft packaging they use sometimes doesn't protect the item.

For me, one stop shopping makes sense. At least for something to complete a project. I'll shop around when stocking up on random parts.

I had an interesting purchase only $6us but, I was given a set of cups once and I only had one coffee cup out of a set of six, Norman Rockwell my favorite artist. Anyway, I ordered all the cups from the set and a sweet lady packed them lightly in some news paper.

When I mean lightly I mean 5 cups were smashed when they arrived, guess what cup was saved? oh, yes the cup I already had, so for 3 months I had 2 of the same cups then my wife broke one, guess which one? The one that survived the shipping, with one hitch. It has a chip in the mouth of the cup.

Ebay, you get what you pay for.

kv

 

I had an interesting purchase only $6us but, I was given a set of cups once and I only had one coffee cup out of a set of six, Norman Rockwell my favorite artist. Anyway, I ordered all the cups from the set and a sweet lady packed them lightly in some news paper.

When I mean lightly I mean 5 cups were smashed when they arrived, guess what cup was saved? oh, yes the cup I already had, so for 3 months I had 2 of the same cups then my wife broke one, guess which one? The one that survived the shipping, with one hitch. It has a chip in the mouth of the cup.

Ebay, you get what you pay for.

kv

To be fair most ebay stuff gets to me just fine - yesterday I got 100 WS2812Bs for $8 in the mail - it was perfect. And the retailers are so paranoid about getting bad ratings that they replace without a whimper.