One of my pet peeves when it comes to buying stuff is the selection. Even with the convenience of on-line platforms I somehow felt that the choices there is rather limited. I can go from shop to shop and the answer is the same. Surfing on-line platforms is no different. And once in a while, in a sea of the same offerings, there would be one that shines out. But that is rare.
For I believe, that there is an individual company or group which brings stuff into the Country in bulk and then offer them to various vendors. In the end, the whole street or platform is flooded with the same items, with each vendor competing against the other. To add insult to injury, years later, when you have the chance to go to another place, you would discover that there are more variations to the item you just bought but it was never ‘introduced’ in your Country. This is because, I cynically feel, that the Main Buyer decides on what is available to them and which brings in more profit. The same can be said to the Seller they are buying from. Unless they know what the Customer needs (ahem) or which item is more popular, they are just doing their job.
Hoarding
In the end, where economically feasible, I would tend to stock up (which is rare) on the items. One of them would be the Soldering Iron. For decades, I’ve been using Goot Soldering irons and eventually the Hakko Brand but now, it might be time for another change. The Goot soldering irons are stil out there, just that it is beyond economical reach. And now, I am afraid, the same can be said with Hakko where months ago, when I was in Pasar Road looking for them, the whole place was flooded with Pro’s Kits brand. A brand which carries a lot of tools but I am still wary of with as some of them looked like blatant OEMs but with a much higher and disagreeable price tag.
NEW HORIZONS
I might veer towards those fancy ones electronic temperature control but the issue is that these expensive pencil thick irons might be hard to hold comfortable in my hands. And I am not sure if they can last long if I am doing hours and day long soldering when it comes to doing a production run. Maybe I should visit Pasar Road once more…
