I’m a recently retired electronics professional that still likes to dabble at home. It kills me to order a couple bucks worth of parts from Digikey or Mouser and spend $8 in shipping. My local retailers don’t have the selection I prefer. What’s some of your resources for getting parts?
All the resources will charge about the same or more for shipping. I keep a list of stuff I need. When the list gets long enough, I order everything all at once. Also, buy in bulk when you can. I’m still using resistors I bought in 1996.
I assume you’re in USA? We’re spoiled in Australia, where we get free next-day delivery from RS (no minimum order) and Element14 (minimum $AU45 for free shipping).
Their USA branch companies (Allied & Newark) don’t offer free shipping it seems.