In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
What the resistor costs them to buy is irrelevant, een if the resistor
costs them a fraction of a penny. What they offer is the convenience of
being able to drop in to the store and pick one up, rather than wait up
to a week for one to be delivered. It also costs them *at least* 20p in
wages to handle the order, assuming they pay the legal minimum wage, and
their overheads are *much* higher than somebody with a few racks of
shelving in a warehouse in an industrial estate somewhere.

Not only that, you can go in to Maplin and buy and pay for a single
item, as there is no minimum order and no delivery charge, whereas most
of the online suppliers either have a minimum order or charge a few
pounds for delivery.

That would be fine if every shop stocked the full range of resistors. But
they don't. And their online price is the same.

They seem to be simply clearing out existing stocks of such things -
without clearance prices.

I used to buy a lot from Maplin. Enjoyed the trip to my local shop and
having a browse. Not any more. They decided they could make more money by
changing their direction. But then so many others sell what they went into
- and often at better prices.

--
*Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.