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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Death of Surplus
Last edited Mon Dec 7, 2015, 10:05 PM - Edit history (1)
by: Brandon Dunson
I thought the surplus electronics market in Dallas was a byproduct of local manufacturing, after all we have some heavy hitters in our back yard: Texas Instruments, Maxim (Dallas Semiconductor), ST Micro (at one time), Diodes Incorporated. If we widen our radius to include Austin (3 hours down the road) we can make a much more impressive list by including: National Instruments, Freescale Semiconductor, better yet Ill just insert the graphic Im pulling data from right here:
Granted, not all of these are companies that manufacture silicon, or even have manufacturing facilities here in Texas. That doesnt necessarily matter for surplus to exist. Back to my point of where surplus originated. While I wasnt completely wrong (these companies certainly have helped contribute to the surplus electronics market) the beginnings of surplus storefronts date back to World War II. Did anyone see that coming? Neither did I. However it does make sense, the US government would have had a large stock of stuff to get rid of at the end of the war.
Enter the sale of government surplus all over the nation, usually near air force bases. So this is how the more generalized concept of a surplus shop came to be in existence; mix in the domestic manufacturing of electronics in the 1970s and we have electronics surplus shops aplenty.
MY FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE
I didnt really appreciate how valuable my local electronics shop was until watching Beers in Bunnies Workshop Workshop Video #36. If you havent seen the video you only need to know that [Ian] of Dangerous Prototypes and [bunnie] of Andrew [bunnie] Huang are standing in [bunnie]s work-space in Singapore drinking beer and talking about the lab that is [bunnie]s life. You with me now? Okay, there is a point in the video where the two discuss the ability to run down the street and buy a connector as something only available in Singapore or Shenzhen. Let me briefly pause here to clarify that Im not comparing my local electronics shop to the Shenzhen market or Sim Lim Tower in Singapore, only stating that I too can hold parts in-hand before purchasing them. Im also not [brandon] of Dangerous Prototypes or Andrew [brandon] Huang, clearly.
Granted, not all of these are companies that manufacture silicon, or even have manufacturing facilities here in Texas. That doesnt necessarily matter for surplus to exist. Back to my point of where surplus originated. While I wasnt completely wrong (these companies certainly have helped contribute to the surplus electronics market) the beginnings of surplus storefronts date back to World War II. Did anyone see that coming? Neither did I. However it does make sense, the US government would have had a large stock of stuff to get rid of at the end of the war.
Enter the sale of government surplus all over the nation, usually near air force bases. So this is how the more generalized concept of a surplus shop came to be in existence; mix in the domestic manufacturing of electronics in the 1970s and we have electronics surplus shops aplenty.
MY FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE
I didnt really appreciate how valuable my local electronics shop was until watching Beers in Bunnies Workshop Workshop Video #36. If you havent seen the video you only need to know that [Ian] of Dangerous Prototypes and [bunnie] of Andrew [bunnie] Huang are standing in [bunnie]s work-space in Singapore drinking beer and talking about the lab that is [bunnie]s life. You with me now? Okay, there is a point in the video where the two discuss the ability to run down the street and buy a connector as something only available in Singapore or Shenzhen. Let me briefly pause here to clarify that Im not comparing my local electronics shop to the Shenzhen market or Sim Lim Tower in Singapore, only stating that I too can hold parts in-hand before purchasing them. Im also not [brandon] of Dangerous Prototypes or Andrew [brandon] Huang, clearly.
Snip
http://hackaday.com/2015/12/07/the-death-of-surplus/
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The Death of Surplus (Original Post)
LiberalArkie
Dec 2015
OP
dembotoz
(16,820 posts)1. intersting article
Make7
(8,543 posts)2. Fix for broken YouTube link:
Insert t=0& after the question mark in the URL. Like this:
[div class="excerpt" style="margin-right:3px; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #bfbfbf inset;"][link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=0&v=Zt7WVF5UfnA|Beers in Bunnies Workshop Workshop Video #36]
Beers in Bunnies Workshop Workshop Video #36
LiberalArkie
(15,727 posts)3. Got it... Thanks