Rapid electronics in the UK have some special offers on right now and something interesting caught my eye and I whipped out my calculator and came up with some interesting numbers.
Tin/Lead solder (60/40) 22swg is idea for hobby electronics use and it’s usually cheaper the more you buy.
Rapid's own brand solder; which I’ve been using for years and perfectly acceptable, is available in two handy reel sizes of 100g and 0.5kg weights.
The 100g reel contains around 35 meters of solder, and the 0.5kg contains around 175 meters; so the 0.5kg contains five times the solder of the 100g reel. So far so good.
The price for one 0.5kg reel is £17.48
However, the price for five of the 100g reels is £3.49 each (or £17.45 in total). Not much of a saving I grant you, but it is a saving.
However, two of the 0.5kg reels would cost you £17.45 each or £34.96 in total, but ten of the 100g reels would cost you £3.22 each because buying ten or more reels moves you into the next price break, so 1kg of solder made from 100g reels now costs you £32.20, saving you £2.76.
Again, it’s not a lot, but if you don’t mind having smaller reels around (and perhaps you are purchasing for a school or colleague and the smaller reels make sense) or your on a budget, that £2.76 can be used to purchase more components, and of course, the more you buy, the more you save.
Always, ALWAYS check the price breaks for ordering larger quantities, look to see if what your ordering is available in different sizes and do the maths. I’ve made some considerable savings doing this.
For those that are interested, the Rapid part numbers I'm talking about are: 85-0592 and 85-0595
Happy discount shopping.