That's EXACTLY my problem!  At least you have
electronics hobby clubs around there.  I swear I'm the
only one in my entire town who knows what a capacitor
is ... hehehe.

I am forced to order from Digikey, for one, they
almost always have everything I need and, two they
include GST and Duty in their prices so I don't get
any suprises.

That's why I mainly miss the old RadioShack where I
could at least pick up an assortment pack of resistors
 if I need a 10ohm or whatever.  At least at
radioshack I'd pay $4.99 for that one resitor plus a
bunch I don't need.  The same order at digikey would
cost more than $13 (shipping + min. order fee) --- not
that I would do either of these things :)

Cheers

--- Jason S <pic@CANADASPEAKS.COM> wrote: > What if
you only need a few dollars or even a few
> cents worth of parts?
> You're still looking at at least $6 in shipping
> costs.
>
> I'm used to living in Toronto where there seem to be
> more good electronics
> stores than starbucks.  I'm in the habbit of making
> a trip to Active, Daiwa
> or any of a lot of other choices buying everything I
> think I need for a
> project and then going back a few more times for
> what I really need while
> I'm working on it.
>
> I've recently moved cross country, and there isn't
> any sort of electronics
> store besides radio shack within 300 miles.  I've
> checked with the local
> robotics club, even the model train club, and I've
> spent a lot of time
> looking online.
>
> For my current project, I needed about $10 worth of
> parts from All
> Electronics.  They have a flat rate $6 shipping fee.
>  So I decided to get
> double what I needed plus a lot of other stuff I
> might need, just to make
> the shipping worthwhile.  I ended up spending over
> $50, and an hour after I
> placed the order, I realized I forgot some 14 pin IC
> sockets.  I emailed
> them and they were very good about adding it to my
> order.
>
> Now for the same project I realize I forgot about
> connecting the LCD to the
> circuit board; I need a header connect to the board
> (30 cents), and the
> cable ($1.25 with the 14 pin IDC sockets already
> attached).  So for my $1.55
> in parts, it looks like I'll have to pay $7.55
> because of shipping.  Of
> course, to make it worthwhile, I'll end up adding
> lots for stuff I don't
> need but might, so now I'm out a lot more money and
> I need to find some
> place to store it.
>
> I also need a keypad.  I didn't order that from All
> Electronics the first
> time; they have phone keypads "removed from
> equipment" for $5 US.  I used to
> buy identical keypads for $0.35 CDN at active annex.
>  Alltronics has
> membrane keypads for $1, I'd rather get some of
> those than the $5 ones at
> All Electronics, but then there's a $15 minimum
> order and $6 shipping fee.
> Alltronics doesn't seem to have the header
> connectors at all.
>
> I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that without a
> local retail parts
> store, it's simply impossible to do electronics work
> as a hobby.
>
> Jason
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Robert Rolf" <Robert.Rolf@UALBERTA.CA>
> To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 8:57 AM
> Subject: Re: [OT:] RadioShack Canada Sucks
>
>
> > With the likes of Digikey, Mouser, Jameco, Newark,
> etc.
> > why would anyone bother with a retail parts store?
>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must
> start with ONE topic:
> [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other
> [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads
>

=====
MJ Brush
LeftClick.ca Internet Media Services
mbrush@[NOSPAM]leftclick.ca

______________________________________________________________________
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