AUSSIES: DSE components no more!

[dubs]

I was speaking to mate who is  a retailer in the electronics industry who mention that Dick Smith will eventually this year be no longer stocking any form of electronic components in their store as it is not a profitable arm.
Damn! Which I guess explains why Jaycar stores are opening up everywhere!

[brett]

That's bad news.  For example, Jaycar has a lousy range of pots, and crappy sockets.  In the pots, there's no metric, push-on types except for about 3 values in 9mm.  Maybe it's time to stock up??

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

On the bright side for Australian builders, with teh $A at  78cUS (as opposed to 55cUS not long ago) it makes stuff from SmallBear etc a lot cheaper..
of course, it has pretty well finished me as a stompbox exporter!!

[jimmy]

thats a bit gay. they ARE more expensive and painful than jaycar though, as most of the cashiers and stuff have no idea what the hell you have just plonked down on the counter in front of them, and it takes you half an hour to get out of there.

on the other hand, its nice having them around for the odd part.

and on another note, i was in tandy yesterday, and i saw an awful lot of dick smith products. they actually said DSE and had a picture of him haha. do i detect a corporate takeover?

cheers
Jim

[Peter Snowberg]

It was nice when we had DSE "up" here in California for a while. They weren't as good as Jameco or JDR Microdevices (two more locals), but the stock was unique and the prices were good. I was sad to see them go.

Now would be a good time for all of you to write to Jaycar's headquarters. Call up and find out exactly who to address consumer feedback to, post that info, and send them letters with suggestions for shifting their inventory into a line that you would purchase more items from. They'll listen if they have half a brain.

You all might want to discuss things here and make specific supplier suggestions to them. Give them the manufacturer info and part numbers if you can. They want to sell, tell them what you want to buy.

Take care,
-Peter

[Luke]

Thanks a great idea, Peter    . Jaycar seems only to have about half the stuff to make a pedal (transistor wise, at least). There are probably enough pedal builders in Aust that it would be viable to cater to this market.
My local Dick Smiths is even worse- they dont even bother to try to police the stealing of electronic components- they never even check to see if the parts I have in my little plastic bag match up to the item list I give them at the register. What REALLY pisses me off (pardon the language) is when people steal components. I actually spoke to the attendant about it the other day- and he agreeded with me- that Dick Smith doesnt really care if someone steals 20c of components, but the computer still says the components in question are still in stock, thus no more get ordered (even though they are all gone). I have been waiting for 2N3904's for 2 months now (well, actually, I bought them at jaycar) and there is STILL five left in the parts tower (so the computer reckons) Arghh!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I believe Dick Smith & Tandy are both owned by Woolworths, which explains a lot.
Anyone in Australia should have the following catalogs:
Jaycar, Alltronics, Rockby, Wiltronics.

[bobbletrox]

I don't even bother with DSE for compnents -but they've got good 1/4" jacks.  They also have a neat etching kit for $20 and sell a pack containing developer and 2 small pre-sensitised 'boards for $9.  I'm sure Dick Smith started his little shops as a place for electronics geeks to score components and kits, but they've got their nose in mobile phones, computers and car audio these days.  I guess that's where the money is these days.

Jaycar is great for 95% of my stompbox needs.  Their 1/4" jacks aren't so great, but they've got great stompswitches and these great mini DPDT, 3PDT and 4PDT toggle switches for cheap prices.  They don't have 2N5088's though so I've had to use some geezers called Futurlec for those.

[Neutral]

If your a melbournian then jot this guys details down:

A&S Profix
278 Warrigal Rd
Cheltenham
03 9584 5492

a Quirky little VCR/Microwave repairist that stocks a lot of whole sale parts.
He can turn up some components that Radio Parts / Jaycar / Dick don't stock and is worth a call before you get on the net and order.

[mikeb]

Thank God for Aztronics (or as my local store is called, Altronics) ... DSE are ok, Jaycar suck (idiot staff, poorly organised parts, they don't even have 1M log pots in 16mm format). For 1/4" sockets, you should try a music store - one here (Derringers, I'm sure Paul is familar with it ) have Neutrik mono and stereo sockets for prices less than the dodgy stuff in Jaycar, DSE etc.

MikeB

[Luke]

Your right! Jaycar staff DO suck! I was in there a fair while ago, and I wanted a 5 k trim pot. The parts themselves wherent labbled-so I asked the storeman if this was a %5k pot. He said- "it should be". I also bopught the GE diode I referd to in a previoous post (it looked like as silicon) I asked him if he was SURE it was a GE- he said "I'm not going to test it for a $1 part". granted, it WAS a $1 part, but I had to drive 20 mins for that $1 part (and bought other componests as well).
To make matters wore, in my change, the guy gave me a $5 note with (literally) a 3rd torn off! Lucky I spotted it before I got home! (and the guyt was a 30+ year old trainee-I would have thought he would have provided SOME service!
If I had a better option, I probably wouldnt return toi the shope again.
Luke

[Boofhead]

I suspected this was going to happen about a year ago, they seemed to be off loading a lot of electronics hobbyist type stuff - too much.   I mentioned it to my a friend of mine and he didn't believe me.   I suppose the collapse of EA magazine had a small effect on this as well.

Jaycar staff DO suck!

I think it's fair to say DSE staff suck to in that context as well.  I never ask people in those places for opinions, I trust my own opinion far more.  I know many people who have been given bad advice about parts and kits.  

I have asked the store guys where stuff is in the store and they have always been helpful, and they do make an effort. You have to realize these guys are salemen not technical advisors.  

"I'm not going to test it for a $1 part"

To stay in business these days you have to be realistic, and that's a pretty fair statement.   It's all about keeping the costs down and staying competitive.   That's why they can't afford to have people that are skilled advisors on the shop floor.

The things I would like from them is better consistency of stock and perhaps slightly better quality socket and pots.  If the stock was more consistent then perhaps the staff would be able to learn their stock instead of living with the moving target of varying parts.  I found the coating on the Jaycar 1% resistor comes off very easily - I've never seen resistors do this, it's like plastic.  The reason these guys stay in business (unlike DSE) is they have people hunting stuff down at good prices all over the place and the end result is you get what you get.   Altronics is much better in this regard.

It's a tough call for people like Jaycar to get better parts, while that satisfies fussy arses like us, there's far more people who don't know what they are buying and just look at the bottom line.  I don't know where the balance lies statistically.

As a rule I try to buy from as many sources as possible I don't like the idea of one company becoming a monopoly and dictating what you get - I try support smaller guys like David Reid (also an Altronics outlet) in the Sydney city.

[bobbletrox]

...and neither DSE or Jaycar have transistor sockets  :evil:

[vdm]

not true!! i saw a bunch of TO-5 transistor sockets (i think) but it still sucks, cuz i only ever use TO-92 style transistors.

but it kinda sucks about them ditching all the electronics stuff, because it's just easier to walk down to the shops and pick something up from dickies than having to drive for half an hour to jaycar, or pay copious amounts of shipping from america.

trent

[mnats]

I went to the Dick Smith website, got an email address and wrote to them about this rumour of discontinuing stock of electronic components. The reply was:

Thank you for your enquiry. As far as I am aware, that is incorrect and I have no information to indicate otherwise.

Regards,
John Arthurs
Service Co-Ordinator
Dick Smith Electronics

[Boofhead]

I went to the Dick Smith website, got an email address and wrote to them about this rumour of discontinuing stock of electronic components

Thanks for chasing this one up.  Now where's the truth lie?  If it is a rumor where did it start?  Where did the op find out  this info?  I just guessed it was a possibility.

[Chris S]

Ow! that would be a bummer, the only way I have been able to build or modify 90% of my pedals is by getting bits from a combination of DSE, Jaycar, Altronics and Futurlec.

I love being able to walk into DSE and buy just one resistor!

It'd be nice if at least one Aussie store had a 3pdt footswitch (has anyone found anything better than the Altronics DPDT stomp switch???)

I always have sympathy for the electronics store employees. Most of the time the component specailists are telling people how to wire their stereos. Most people who fix or build electronic devices are making more than the store clerks so I figure that's why those who know how don't sell.  :lol:

[mnats]

Thanks for chasing this one up.  Now where's the truth lie?  If it is a rumor where did it start?

It started when dubs was "speaking to mate" as he wrote.

In Jaycar the other day I overheard two sales people talking about Jaycar discontinuing all speaker sales. It would be irresponsible to pass this on as fact without at least checking with someone at Jaycar's head office.

[brett]

has anyone found anything better than the Altronics DPDT stomp switch??

Jaycar sell the "X-wing" stompswitch (for about $7).  Some people don't like them, but I've used about 25 of them and only had 1 that didn't work 100% properly.

[niftydog]

don't forget http://www.wescomponents.com/

and here's a couple more;

http://www.radioparts.com.au

http://www.cia.com.au/rcsradio/
These guys make PCBs!