But for prototyping, paying extra for quick turnaround is often very sensible

I'm surprised they don't offer next day turn around (whenever fedex's last pickup plus however long to build). Even same day if you live close to their factory.

Meanwhile as a hobbyist I'd be glad for the discount "we will get around to it sometime in the next two weeks discount"

	▲	crote 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Because the US doesn't have the supply lines for that. You simply can't compete with a Shenzhen where there are a dozen PCB factories and a warehouse for virtually every part you can imagine within a 30-minute drive. In Shenzhen you can have Some Guy in a truck doing a parts pickup round around town a couple of times a day. In the US you're waiting for overnight Fedex from Digikey. And sure, there's a lot you can stock in advance, but virtually every board will have this one weird part you don't stock yet.

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brudgers 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Right.

Plus if you can get someone on the phone there can be value in that.

And if a sales engineer comes out and sees your operation you might get more than a free lunch…