Arrow

[reddesert]

All electronics component suppliers mystify me, at some level - how anyone is expected to keep track of such inventory either as seller or customer, and how they deal with customers ranging from industry to us pipsqueaks. (And I remember looking at paper catalogs from Digi-Key, what a nightmare.) But Arrow is a whole order of magnitude bigger than Mouser. They claim $23 billion in revenue yearly. I'm amazed they even take orders from us - they probably don't charge shipping because it's not worth it to them to enter a few shipping costs into their order database.

[EBK]

Clearly, Arrow is just a fake business front for a Bond-movie supervillian. 


By the way, they stock the Hammond 1590K430, which is a zinc-alloy 1590B (and more than twice as heavy as aluminum!)  I'm buying one so I can check it out.   

[pickdropper]

Free overnight sounds great.  Shame it's another one of those serious supplier sites that I can't seem to find what I want easily on.

I agree.  Their site navigation isn't as smooth as Mouser or Digikey.

[culturejam]

Free overnight sounds great.  Shame it's another one of those serious supplier sites that I can't seem to find what I want easily on.

I agree.  Their site navigation isn't as smooth as Mouser or Digikey.

I actually think it's on par with Mouser or Newark. I ordered some caps last night. It was my first time ordering from them. It seemed very intuitive to me. I was able to select film caps with 5mm pitch and 63V rating with 5% or 10% tolerance made by EPCOS and filter down in just a few seconds. Same way I would do it at Mouser.

[dan.schumaker]

I've used Arrow a few times and have always been happy.  Ordering on Arrow is like anything else, it just takes getting used to.  I'm sure we all remember our first time navigating through Mouser or Digikey.  What I do find hilarious is the packaging.  Getting a 2 ft tube for one IC.  Seems like there is a little waste in their process, but prices are good, and I like free shipping

[BrianS]

Free overnight sounds great.  Shame it's another one of those serious supplier sites that I can't seem to find what I want easily on.

I know this is going to sound like a hassle but you can copy a manufacturer part number off Mouser and search that way.

And yes their site is not so user friendly. It is getting better from my experience.  One thing that you can totally disregard, or at least for me, is using an iPad.  The pull down search menu doesn't work for me at all.  But since I'm a miser and can get one or two parts, if needed, shipped free I can deal with the website.

[BrianS]

I've used Arrow a few times and have always been happy.  Ordering on Arrow is like anything else, it just takes getting used to.  I'm sure we all remember our first time navigating through Mouser or Digikey.  What I do find hilarious is the packaging.  Getting a 2 ft tube for one IC.  Seems like there is a little waste in their process, but prices are good, and I like free shipping

+1 on this.  I got one resistor (same order but I guess they couldn't get it in the box LOL and I know it was shipped from another location) in a box that could have held probably 5000 to 10000. They are certainly keeping my recycling contractor in business. 

[culturejam]

So I got shipment 1 of 3 (insane) yesterday from my first Arrow order. This included a bag of 200 100n box caps. It looked to me like there couldn't possibly be 200 caps, and I noticed a sticker on the bag that said something to the effect of, "This item counted electronically by weight". Turns out I got 180 caps instead of 200.

These were 4.2 cents each, so we're not talking big bucks, and I don't *need* 200 for a specific project. Would you guys email support and let them know? I definitely don't want them to ship me the 20 caps, as it would be a huge waste of carbon. And even a store credit wouldn't be all that compelling, as we're talking <$1.

What do you guys think?

[EBK]

10% seems like a significant error.  They may appreciate a heads up that their weights are off.

[flanagan0718]

So I got shipment 1 of 3 (insane) yesterday from my first Arrow order. This included a bag of 200 100n box caps. It looked to me like there couldn't possibly be 200 caps, and I noticed a sticker on the bag that said something to the effect of, "This item counted electronically by weight". Turns out I got 180 caps instead of 200.

These were 4.2 cents each, so we're not talking big bucks, and I don't *need* 200 for a specific project. Would you guys email support and let them know? I definitely don't want them to ship me the 20 caps, as it would be a huge waste of carbon. And even a store credit wouldn't be all that compelling, as we're talking <$1.

What do you guys think?

Strange I got my order the other day and it had a bag of 100 x 100nf caps with the same sticker. But it actually had 112 in there. Lol

I would maybe call them and just give them a heads up. The will probably give you a credit or something. Did the pack slip say the other 20 were in another box or something?

[culturejam]

I would maybe call them and just give them a heads up. The will probably give you a credit or something. Did the pack slip say the other 20 were in another box or something?

No, the slip says 200 in that shipment.

If you got 112 from 100, and I got 180 from 200, seems like +/- 10% is not that uncommon. That's pretty sloppy.

[flanagan0718]

I would maybe call them and just give them a heads up. The will probably give you a credit or something. Did the pack slip say the other 20 were in another box or something?

No, the slip says 200 in that shipment.

If you got 112 from 100, and I got 180 from 200, seems like +/- 10% is not that uncommon. That's pretty sloppy.

Yeah, That is a pretty big variance. I wonder if they just need to re calibrate their scales or something. were your caps loose or cut tape? mine were loose.

[culturejam]

were your caps loose or cut tape? mine were loose.

Loose. I think the only way you can do the by-weight thing is with loosies. The tape/reel parts can be counted by the foot (or cm, as the case may be).

[pickdropper]

That's mega sloppy if they are going by weight.
Accurate counting scales are cheap.  I wouldn't have expected them to be off by more than a piece, MAYBE two.

But everything about them seems a bit inefficient.  The packaging and shipping is goofy.

[culturejam]

Okay, so three packages in total to send me about 400 box caps. That's dumb. And two of them are coming from Netherlands. Double dumb.

And now, the two international packages require a signature, which of course I am not around to provide during weekdays at 10am. And of course, they do not allow for digital signatures, so now I have to sign the door tag and wait. Lame.

So the pricing is pretty good on some things, but overall Arrow seems kind of disjointed and sloppy.