Free Market For The Win!Techgraphix wrote:Have you opened the supply and inspected it already?
I have not opened the DOA power supply, for a couple of reasons:
1) It's not my job. Yes, I could probably fix it. I are an electrical engineer.
As geeks we typically have the natural tendency to open it up to see what's wrong and fix it, but I didn't buy a Used, Not Working, For Parts Only power supply on eBay. If I open it, even by heating the tamper resistant warranty assurance sticker to peel it off without tearing it, I've substantially degraded my warranty claim and complicated the issue. Right now, the responsibility for this is on the seller, as it should be. I don't want to get into an argument over the fact that I opened the power supply and now it's somehow not their responsibility.
2) I'm inclined to fix things, but I'm trying to fix the bigger problem. From my perspective, the problem isn't a broken power supply. The problem isn't even a power supply that was broken in transit. The problem I'm trying to fix is an eBay seller with a good feedback rating who put a power supply in a plastic bag and dropped it in the mail. Of course the power supply is trashed. It was almost inevitable. If I drop a hammer on my toe, I don't blame the hammer and I don't try to fix the hammer. If I fix the power supply, there is no incentive for the seller to fix the real problem, which is their epic fail shipping process. The free market works, because everyone acts in their own enlightened self interest, and that's a good thing. If I don't insist that the seller fix this problem, then you guys are likely to order a power supply and have the same exact problem. Ultimately, making the seller fix this problem even benefits the seller, although I doubt he sees it that way. Free markets are incredibly efficient, self correcting, and they even have an intelligence that is greater than all of the participants.
Anticipating your next question... free market capitalism is close to being a religion to me, even to the point that I'll spend more of my time on the free market solution by making sure the seller incurs the cost of fixing his mistake so he'll prevent that mistake in the future, even when I could have pursued the technical solution, fixed it myself, and had a working power supply sooner.
Regardless of how this matter is resolved, I've already spent an hour documenting the problem and engaging the seller. The less geeky and more practical business decision would have been to throw the power supply paperweight in the trash, leave decent eBay feedback to avoid retaliatory feedback that would endanger my 100% eBay feedback rating, and order the 36V/24V supply from LightObject.com, because I know they'll ship it properly. I'm sure a lot of people do exactly that, the problem is never fixed, and the seller continues to save 50 cents on packaging and destroys power supplies in the process.
It probably seems that I'm all worked up about this, but I'm not. I'm at worst mildly perturbed. Every project has these little hassles, and I consider them the cost of playing the game. These little aggravations are background noise in the symphony that is my project.
I am somewhat frustrated that someone thinks that putting a power supply in a bag is an acceptable shipping practice and it's somehow my job to educate them. I feel that I've been thrust into the role of teaching Remedial Life Lessons To The Perpetually Clueless, and that's not a job I would ever aspire to, but it's not a job that I can shirk in good conscience, either.
If the laser tube that I ordered from China arrives damaged, as so many apparently do, then I'll probably be more than a little perturbed.
The seller responded to my eBay inquiry last night, had me email pictures, and this is probably well on it's way to being fixed, hopefully with only minor additional aggravation to me.
This episode and similar episodes continue to reinforce the value of having good suppliers. I see this daily in my small business. I know if I order stuff from McMaster-Carr or Digi-Key, there is a very good chance that I'll get exactly what I ordered and no hassles. I've flirted with shipping supplies from other vendors to save some of the shipping costs I pay with U-Line, but the messed up orders and lower quality continue to make U-Line the better deal. When building my laser and needing those specific parts, I was happy to learn that LightObject.com is a good supplier, and I've gladly shared that info in this build log (almost to the point of writing an infomercial!) because that info is critical to the free market. Most of us aren't going to build lasers on an ongoing basis, so we don't have the opportunity to learn by trial and error. We need to know up front which sellers provide good value and won't waste your time, and I felt that I was doing a service to the laser building community to share my good results. That's not to say that any of the other suppliers aren't equally good. I'm new at this and I haven't tried them, so for now, I'll leave that free market data point for someone else's build log.
I'm off to finally start the BOM spreadsheet for my laser that I promised you guys, so anyone wanting to go down a similar path has some bread crumbs to follow.
And maybe I'll make time today to cut the foot tall yard and file my quarterly sales tax form with the state.