I am not sure if this is the forum for this topic, but it is reasonably electronics related and I didn't want to shove it into Bar Sport which is mostly off-topic stuff.
So I asked for a sample from ON. I've gotten a few of their parts as samples in the past. They charge you $11 handling but the part is free and I actually like this arrangement, partially paying your own freight so you aren't putting them out of money. But the amount of packaging they sent was obscene. And from Asia on a two-day ticket as well. They have done this before, I ordered a part that is usually delivered on a tray and they sent an entire tray with like 5 parts on it (and 100 or so blank spots), strapped, in a anti-static baggie with two big humidity eaters.
This is what I ordered. I had no idea they would send an entire reel. Why would they do that? Do they think I need it to set up a pick-and-place machine? Isn't it safe to assume on the first order that the person is an engineer that is simply prototyping?
So, what you are seeing here is 5 parts, on a reel which has like 10' of tape on it, the rest of the reel has strips of bubble wrap to protect the tape, in an anti-static baggie with humidity eaters, in a reel-box, in another box for shipping.
vasquo:
You basically paid them to ship their trash to you. And as a thank you, they sent you 5 chips.
I could live with that. But 2-day international is not cheap so I am not sure at all that my $11 covered it in total. And as far as trash goes, this reel is pristine. The trays I have gotten have been pristine. Just sayin'...
i ordered a freescale board from farnell and it came in a box 2 feet by 1 feet by 9 inches full of rubbish .
i expcted a small jiffy bag about 6-9 inches
When I order chips from Mouser (100pcs), they'll send them in tubes of 50 chips each. They'll pack it in a long big box, and then fill the empty space with pink anti-static bubble wrap. I look forward to these as I use it as packing materials when I ship products to customers. Same with Digikey. They'll fill the empty space with their tissue/kraft paper.
Ordering samples is a great show in waste. They'll ship the samples to me Fedex Next Day Air! And I didn't have to even pay for any of it.
I get samples from TI. Three 10-pin WSOP chips (tiny DFN chips, 3mm² each) in a box about 1 foot square by 2 inches deep stuffed with brown paper. And that comes by courier from the USA to the UK in 2 days flat. At no charge! Insane!
And another great one - I ordered some assorted bits from Farnell a while back, including a flux pen. Everything arrived by normal post (they were only small items) except the flux pen, which they sent by UPS because it's classed as hazardous materials. That came hand delivered by the nice UPS guy in a (roughly) 6l cardboard box! A single pen!!!
It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd sent it all by UPS, but to split the shipment like that was just shear stupidity!
Yes this always happens. We used to have competitions amongst the engineeres to see who could get the most packaging for the least size of chip.
Your example woudn't even get into the top ten.
Got one ATmega328 TQFN44 chip in a waffle tray in a humidity-sealed bag in a box about 2 foot by 1 by 9 inches
with lots of plastic balloon style packing.
MarkT:
Got one ATmega328 TQFN44 chip in a waffle tray in a humidity-sealed bag in a box about 2 foot by 1 by 9 inches
with lots of plastic balloon style packing.
They are punishing you for only ordering one. Buy ten!