Honestly? Goes like this..... ring....ring.....hello? me: John? John : yes...what can I do for you today? me: Can you get me a couple of microchip 16F84-10, dip, in plastic? John: Sure...only want two? me: yep..that will do fine. I had asked briefly about the new CAN chip....got back....how many do you want sampled? -----Original Message----- From: Des Bromilow [mailto:Des.Bromilow@CITEC.COM.AU] Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 1999 4:03 PM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: [OT] MAXIM small orders system - asking for samples, etc. So, How do i get a sample f84-10? Des :) >>> Harrison Cooper 8/25/99 1:23:40 am >>> I'm not sure what the big deal is on asking for samples. I throw away more samples than you can shake a stick at. Vendors are always asking.....can we give you a sample of this new whiz bang part...or anything else you want? Oh..this does include Microchip. I've had a couple of F876 parts sitting on my desk for a month or so. Bottom line is, most IC mfg do sample runs....to send out to reps and distributors for exactly that...samples. OK..so these are small parts. For larger things....like computers and monitors and such, I ask for eval units, and they do expect them sent back. And many of the reps have no problem in doing that either.