When does it make sense to engage Mouser with a bulk buy?

[Steve Gase]

I've been curious...  we look at coops as a way to save money through the power of a large purchase.  Can those savings be accomplished outside of a formal coop?

At what quantities, or at what dollar levels does this make sense to even attempt?

I can imagine a moderately-sized display using 60 SSCs (as an example).  Is 60 enough to start a dialog with Mouser?  If not, then what level would make sense?  Is shipping the biggest price savings?

When engaging vendor, is there a special handshake used to start the bulk purchase -- "Hi, I'm with DLA and I'd like to use the existing bulk-buy arrangement you already have established...." ?

[RJ]

First - Outside of coop managers doing authorized coops, no member is autorized to represent themself as DLA or being for, from, or speaking on behalf of DLA. This has come up before and was dealt with by me and I do not want this to happen ever again!

Members can feel free to call them up and ask for discounts or what ever as that is their right. But when a member calls up a supplier and trys to work a deal leading the company to believe they are dealing with DLA/I as an entity then problems begin.

With that said,
No a person doing their display is not going to have enough business to get discounts above the normal price breaks that you see listed. Because we do so much they work with us but we are talking tens of thousands of qty per part number per year. Even then the lower qty parts we do not get any special breaks on.

RJ

 

[deplanche]

If you are ordering only for yourself (getting parts outside of a coop), I would recommend reviewing each part in the BOM to see where you might either save yourself some money or get spare parts at little, if any, additional cost.

For example, for the SSCs, the resistors (291-150-RC) are $0.0540 for 10-199, and drop to $0.0190 for 200-999.  For the 60 SSCs in the example you gave, it would cost you $3.24.  But for $3.80 you could get 200 total resistors, and have plenty of spares for other projects.  It will cost you more, but still would be less than shipping costs if you needed more in the future.

Even better, for the 291-4.7K-Rc, you need 120 of them.  At $0.054/ea, that is $6.48 for what you need.  But if you increase to 200 of them, the price drops to $0.019/ea for a total of $3.80.  Which means you spend $2.68 less and get 80 additional resistors.  It's a win-win, and a no-brainer in my book.

As RJ indicated, you aren't likely to get price drop talking to anyone as Mouser for the small quantities of parts you would be looking at.  But carefully looking at their standard price drops for the parts you need might save you some money.

[Steve Gase]

First - Outside of coop managers doing authorized coops, no member is autorized to represent themself as DLA or being for, from, or speaking on behalf of DLA. This has come up before and was dealt with by me and I do not want this to happen ever again!

Thanks for the explanation, RJ!  It certainly makes sense and avoids a lot of confusion.

The context for my question was the thought that several people working together might minimalize the 'shipping tax' by getting together with their orders... and if doing that, was there essentially a DLA 'discount' that might be available.  This idea was not meant to circumvent DLA and the coops, but just find a way to further reduce costs when there are a bunch of people that might drive to another's house.

But I will definitely avoid the mess that this might create for me, for you and for other DLA members.

If you are ordering only for yourself (getting parts outside of a coop), I would recommend reviewing each part in the BOM to see where you might either save yourself some money or get spare parts at little, if any, additional cost.

...

As RJ indicated, you aren't likely to get price drop talking to anyone as Mouser for the small quantities of parts you would be looking at.  But carefully looking at their standard price drops for the parts you need might save you some money.

Excellent advice!  I will look for those opportunities whenever I can.