Sometimes you really do need the paper catalogs

[Joe Viau]

You can't beat a 60 pound Unix manual for killing a bug... like a %^&*roach! 

[Hiwatt25]

I take mine to work with me (I work alone in the field) and browse it while at lunch.  No better way to be left alone than to whip a big technical looking catalog out while you're eating your chicken fingers at Ruby Tuesday.  That or the RCA tube receiving manual.  A waitress asked me "Whatcha readin" once.  Once.

[Mark Hammer]

For my money, huge parts catalogs make some of the best reading.  I gave up on fiction several decades ago, because I found I was able to exercise my imagination more with a parts catalog.  But that's me.  When I was 12, one of my friends had a "hip" father, and Playboy could be found in their bathroom.  These days, I think my eyes would light up more to stroll into someone's john and find a Digikey and Mouser catalog for my reading pleasure.

The downside:

• As the number of available products increases, the catalog becomes larger and more places discontinue them because posted PDF versions are cheaper and easier to get to potential clients.  It's not just the printing but the postage costs as well.  I imagine that somewhere there are databases that allow companies to determine who buys enough stuff on an annual basis to justify sending them a catalog.  For the most part, my sense is that companies are not that discriminating, so they reason through whether the catalog ought to be published in terms of net return on investment when 800-page monsters are shipped out indiscriminately to anyone who has bought stuff in the last 6 months or so.  I couldn't tell you who, but I would imagine that somewhere some companies make you pay for the catalog up front,and will rebate you the cost of the catalog off of subsequent purchases, which seems to me to be a reasonable and fairway to do it.
• To keep printing costs as low as possible, the print gets ever smaller, much like the phonebook.  Generally, you need to have a magnifying glass to read them, which is a bit of a strain on the eye.  I'm wondering if it might not be more practical and helpful to all involved if a more barebones catalog (minus all those specs) was produced in print, and came with a CD or even DVD with the more detailed information that could be easily enlarged on the screen.  A lot of the time, all I relly want from the catalog is a price and availability list; i.e., we carry THESE op-amps and we want this much for them if you buy under 25 and this much if you buy more than 25.  This way you get the best of both worlds; the ability to sift through and let serendipity do its thing, and the ability to afford to provide that service to people at manageable cost.

[Skreddy]

Thanks for the info about changing or deleting your subscription.  I was wondering why they kept sending me a huge paper catalog every 3 months.  Changed it to CDROM; problem solv-ed. 

[johngreene]

I can think of no better use for a rain forest!

Just to keep this discussion factual; paper, especially paper for catalogs and such, is made primarily from fast growing pine and other softwood trees, especially in the USA. The trees are replanted and regrown in many cases. Rain forest trees are often exotic hardwoods, and are far too valuable to make into paper.

And much of the paper used in catalogs is recycled - from other catalogs.   

In the papermill I worked summers to pay my way through college, the majority of the paper to be recycled came from porno magazines.

True story.

--john

[Chris Brown]

when I was first getting in to electronics the mouser catalog is what taught me about the different types of parts such as axial vs radial etc etc.  lol every beginner should look through the entire book. 

Warm regards,
Chris Brown

[squidsquad]

A paper catalog is often better for me than being in the STORE....where I'm overwhelmed...sidetracked...and forget important things.  But...having done homework...and walking in w/a dog-eared-parts-circled-catalog as my list = problem solved.

[Meanderthal]

 I know a guy who heats his house with a combination of junk mail (wood/coal stove) and used deep-frying oil(oil furnace). He loves my old Mouser catalogs!

[Dave_B]

I know a guy who heats his house with ... used deep-frying oil(oil furnace).

Sorry for the OT, but does it smell bad?  I've cleaned out enough fryers to know that stuff isn't usually that fragrant. 

[col]

The Rapid catalogue in the UK this year is HUGE. I noticed things in it that I'd never have seen online  and didn't realise I needed!!!!! Much easier to see what caps etc you're buying than online and it helps that they are all together, you'd miss so much with just a search on the 'net. It's free as well unlike the Maplin one.

[MKB]

RG, I did the same thing a few weeks ago, was browsing through the Mouser catalog and found the Supertex depletion mode 500v MOSFET's, and bought a few.  Haven't had a chance to play with them yet though.  You have to love Mouser as they have all that cool stuff at great prices, yet still no minimum order.  They and McMaster-Carr may be the only large scale vendors with such policies.  Speaking of McMaster Carr, you seen their catalog?  A mere 4 inches thick...

[Meanderthal]

Sorry for the OT, but does it smell bad?  I've cleaned out enough fryers to know that stuff isn't usually that fragrant.

No, not at all. It smells like french fries outside his house! Seriously.

Now, the oil itself stinks... he uses 55 gallon drums, hand pumps it through 3 filters, then into the tank it goes. Messy, and there's sludge for the landfill. But, it works better than when he tried used motor oil.
And, he saves a bundle of cash. I'd do the same, but my house is 4 star electric, with mucho insulation, and a heat pump. No furnace.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

It's free as well unlike the Maplin one.

Ah, NOW I know why the Maplin on-line catalog is so crap - they are trying to force you to buy the paper one!