Does this only happen to me???

[thesmokingman]

I bought a resistor assortment back when I started out that I use for those moments .... when a particular value runs out it gets added to the next parts order in the quantity to refill the kit. sure, I've got an assortment sitting around unused but it beats shipping costs.

[EBRAddict]

I know purists will scoff at them but I bought several E96 1/4W resistor kits from eBay, almost every value imaginable, dirt cheap, from China. When I don't have a "proper" resistor I'll use one. I also bought the same kits for 1206 and 0805 SMD resistors. Yes the leads are thin and they don't all look the same but I got tired of playing the revolving order game.

I have a tub of op amps that were a "good deal" I bought to round out resistor orders.