gwes@inmet.UUCP (06/17/84)
#N:inmet:5800054:000:1037 inmet!gwes Jun 16 10:09:00 1984 <$$$> Welcome to the world of the "free market". Due to many factors, mostly concerned with 1) wildly varying demand due to short business cycles 2) wildly varying supply due to production startup/shutdown 3) wildly varying pricing by manufacturers as "learning curves" change 3.5) wildly varying pricing by man. to distributors due to quantities bought this month 4) varying amounts the distributors decide to charge in order to get your business 4.5) how nice the salesperson is feeling that minute - most distribs give some latitude in order to get business Thus a chip that's on the shelf from one place at $2.25 is 22 weeks backlogged somewhere else at $6.75. It pays (in money) to establish good relations with particular sales people at a number of local distributors. They can often "obtain" chips even if the whole local stock is reserved for one of (DEC, IBM, HP, etc.). Be polite & friendly - if too many people browbeat sales, the whole company quits paying attention to small orders. Geoff Steckel (inmet!gwes)