Hi, my name is Lee and I'm an Arrow abuser

[Leevibe]

Arrow Electronics is bonkers in the best possible way. They not only fill ridiculously small orders, they ship it for free in the US and they do it in Steve Jobs approved style.

Open cardboard box to find shiny ESD bag. Open ESD bag to find sweet looking fancy cardboard box. What could be inside? An iPod? A Nest thermostat? Nope. a DIP socket. Some caps. Decadent.

How to feel about this? On the one hand I feel like I should be sharing about this here so that other people patronize them and take advantage of the amazing service and selection. You know, drive business their way. On the other hand, I'm afraid they will get ticked off and the golden era will end. When I was in high school on a band trip I remember we were all at this bowling alley and someone figured out the change machine was broken. You put in a buck and got 5 quarters out. Some of my friends made some quick bucks. Then there was a crowd. Then it was all over. This feels like that.

The achilles heel of Arrow is their crap search engine. The workaround is to find the part you want on Mouser, grab the manufacturer (not Mouser) part number, paste it into the search box on Arrow. I've been able to locate a surprising number of very specific parts this way. I'm working on populating boards for a JMK looper. I just used Jacob's BOM to grab part numbers from Mouser and Bob's your uncle. Lots of shiny bags and fancy boxes.

[Leevibe]

These boxes are a seriously smart way to store ICs. I'm going to save a few for that.

[Stomptown]

I've got a bunch of those boxes for storing ICs.  Like you, I copy/paste part numbers from Mouser whenever possible.  The search engine is just terrible.  They sent me a survey a while back asking me if I ever placed large orders or just used them for small order/hobbyist projects.  I suspect you are right that the party will end at some point.  I definitely don't like all the wasted packaging but I reuse the majority of it to ship or store things. I ordered three transformers for an amp build and I joked that a refrigerator sized box would show up on my door step. While it wasn't quite that big, my wife though I purchased an amp cabinet.  The box was that big! Haha.

[Willybomb]

Oh, the packaging is well and truely over the top.  The missus sees the mail come and gives me a stern look, but I just have to say "it's just, like, $5 of components from that company" and she walks off, as I've shown her what's actually IN those 5 boxes...

[cooder]

Insane and in my opinion not good.
I think the packaging industry is just plain nuts. The supermarkets are an avalanche of plastic packaging.
How many of those boxes with the plastic foam that will be much longer around than you and me are they sending out every day?
You can only store so many back home for re use.
Worldwide only 7 to 8 % of plastic gets really recycled. The rest goes into landfill or the environment. And every piece of plastic ever produced is apparently still around, maybe broken down into smaller particles, but still plastic around.

Sorry for the rant.

[somnif]

My guess is the only way their shipping works is contracting with shipping companies to use "unused space" on their trucks for cheap.

Because, seriously, Its Amazing, but I have no idea HOW it can turn a profit.

[pickdropper]

Insane and in my opinion not good.
I think the packaging industry is just plain nuts. The supermarkets are an avalanche of plastic packaging.
How many of those boxes with the plastic foam that will be much longer around than you and me are they sending out every day?
You can only store so many back home for re use.
Worldwide only 7 to 8 % of plastic gets really recycled. The rest goes into landfill or the environment. And every piece of plastic ever produced is apparently still around, maybe broken down into smaller particles, but still plastic around.

Sorry for the rant.

This.  Arrow's free shipping policy as well as their ridiculous over-packing is great for consumers, terrible for their own bottom line and, ultimately, the environment.

I'd actually like them to change their policies because I think it will increase the chances of them being able to sustain a functional free shipping policy in the long-term.

Free overnight saver shipping from the Netherlands to the US in a 8x6x5 box for $7 worth of opamps is beyond stupid, it's absurd.

[pickdropper]

My guess is the only way their shipping works is contracting with shipping companies to use "unused space" on their trucks for cheap.

Because, seriously, Its Amazing, but I have no idea HOW it can turn a profit.

But that still wouldn't explain why I get four boxes of parts that could easily fit in one.

Edit: unless they are coming from different distribution centers.  AFAIK, that isn't usually what's going on.

[cooder]

This.  Arrow's free shipping policy as well as their ridiculous over-packing is great for consumers, terrible for their own bottom line and, ultimately, the environment.

I'd actually like them to change their policies because I think it will increase the chances of them being able to sustain a functional free shipping policy in the long-term.

Free overnight saver shipping from the Netherlands to the US in a 8x6x5 box for $7 worth of opamps is beyond stupid, it's absurd.

I recently ordered first time from element 14 (formerly Farnell) and received the few bits in 4 seperate courier packages delivered over the course of seven days to my door. Lots of plastic static bags and bubble wrap for a good handful of parts. Those things came from different warehouses each shipped individually, 4 seperate courier trips to my doorstep. Stupidity wrapped in plastic.

Next time I ordered I made sure I pressed the 'consolidate shipment' box so that everything came in one parcel. Meant that I had to wait a little longer but it all came in one.

[alanp]

I have a mental image of the warehouse guy at Arrow being pissed at the office guy, now, and being very passive-aggressive about it.

[Willybomb]

My order arrived today, two boxes for some 1054, 7600, 1044, and 2 mosfet things.  Came from Reno, NV.  Still waiting on some stuff from the Netherlands.

[TGP39]

I have the same exact dilemma that Lee has.  Is it wrong of me to order $5 worth of parts I need for a build?  Am I taking advantage of a company?  I can't get myself to throw away any of their packaging.  Will the party soon end? I think it must.
Steve.

[pickdropper]

I have the same exact dilemma that Lee has.  Is it wrong of me to order $5 worth of parts I need for a build?  Am I taking advantage of a company?  I can't get myself to throw away any of their packaging.  Will the party soon end? I think it must.
Steve.

I'm curious when the party will end as well.

Arrow seems to be trying hard to go after the hobbyist market and pull some of that market share from Mouser and Digikey.  This year at CES they were even handing out free Arduino boards to folks that came to the booth (I still haven't done anything with mine).

Between free shipping and fairly regular discounts, they are definitely making a push.  I can't imagine that lasting forever, but we'll see.

[trailer]

Not to ape on this thread but does anyone have a saved ARROW or MOUSER parts list? Like a cheat sheet for placing orders with part numbers and descriptions?

[lars]

This appears to be a case of "inability to change established process".
It's an epidemic affecting all parts of the world in all industries because everything is so automated that it's actually way more expensive and difficult to change something than just leave it as it is.
If they were to suddenly add some new box sizes....disaster...complete and utter chaos. Employee's would be glitching out, unable to figure out what parts fit in what boxes. Orders would get messed up. Then the countless hours of board meetings discussing when the next board meeting is to discuss when they will actually discuss discussing the box change issue.
It's not that a problem isn't recognized, or that nobody wants to fix it...it's that they simply are unable. The machine is running and nobody knows how to turn it off. Plus, that department that handles box ordering was "restructured" 5 years ago and nobody quite knows who's responsibility it is to implement change.
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