leo van Loon wrote:

> Microchip does not bargain for 4000 peaces. At 40000 you have a chance

I'm not sure that is entirely true (in fact I know its not).
As with anything, it depends who you talk to. One of the strangest things I
have noticed on this list is that you actually can buy small quantities of PIC's
(lets say 100-10000) CHEAPER outside of the U.S. then within the U.S.

So I guess what I was looking for were names and personal contacts (referrals)
of the distributors that seemed the most willing to wheel and deal. Not that I
am unhappy with my current source, but with any large purchase its good to
get a reality check.  Already, someone quoted me a price in the U.K that is
more then 0.25 USD less then the U.S. digikey price for the same amount.
So clearly it pays to look around.

Thank you

Jeff