I’ve gotten a few samples from various companies over the years, or in various cases, bought a couple of parts direct from the manufacturer. It often amuses me the huge differences in packaging levels between the various manufacturers. I’ve got a few things recently, while looking for some particular parts, so I thought I’d run a short series on how some companies stack up.

Microchip sent me four SOT23 devices in this nice small cardboard box below. This is fine, and I might even find a use for the box again, but because it came in a box, customs here in Iceland held it up for a few days searching for a receipt. (first from me, and then inside the parcel when I couldn’t provide one) On the bright side, the parts list inside the box didn’t list the “handling” charge they charge for all samples, so customs didn’t try and charge me VAT. Small miracles :)

A simple envelope with maybe a sleeve of bubbles would have been plenty, but this is fine really. Nothing to complain about :)

Microchip samples package - 4xSOT23