[TriEmbed] Digikey shipping options

[Pete Soper]

I learned something this week. Thought I was being clever to go with
FedEx for the  most recent  Digikey order because they offered FedEx
ground at a flat rate of $9 while, depending on the subtle variables to
do with how stuff gets packed, USPS Priority could cost eight dollars or
about $18 if the package weight exceeded a pound. In case readers have
not ordered for Digikey, they pack stuff as if the box will be simply
pushed out of the airplane over its destination: it would bounce a lot
but the contents would come away undamaged. So a few ounces of stuff can
translate to a box weight  of 14 ounces, to cite my previous order. That
episode made me give up on expecting to take advantage of the cheapest
option: first class USPS for up to eight ounces and typically three day
delivery (but with Priority it's two days from Digikey's location and
I've never seen the PO be late). I think currently if you order a single
0603 capacitor it might come packed with a weight of nine ounces
depending on how vigilant the staff is feeling that day. :-)  But don't
get the wrong idea: I   L O V E  Digikey. They send stuff just like
you'd expect if somebody's very important work was hinging on the part
arriving absolutely perfect, and hobby folks  are given exactly the same
service, year in, year out.

Anyway, I figured FedEx ground would be three days vs two for Priority
mail, so Friday delivery would be OK and with a cap on the cost. I
didn't count on weather in Memphis Tennessee hosing the shipment and now
the parts won't be here until Monday (FedEx doesn't normally deliver on
Saturdays), my "positively, absolutely"  Saturday due date is toast and
the $10 I might have saved is insignificant. Live and learn. Sure, this
can happen with the post office too. And Digikey might pop the stack and
the FedEx ground might go back to $13.87 for the first pound and $17.17
for one to five. This was a story about false economy and poetic justice
for straying from my bias to give my money to the PO.

-Pete