Local Source for DDR Memory

[dsr at tao.merseine.nu (dsr at tao.merseine.nu)]

On Tue, Oct 26, 2004 at 11:18:37PM -0400, trlists at clayst.com wrote:
> Any suggestions for retail locations with decent RAM prices as compared 
> to those available online?  Clues as to why memory is priced so 
> differently from the online sources?

No to the first, yes to the second.

Memory prices fluctuate daily. A bricks-n-mortar store needs to order
the RAM at a particular price, wait for it to be shipped, hold it in the
store until bought, and re-order more of whichever subvariety they've
run out of today. They have to sell at more than what they paid, even
though today's price is 12% less.

In contrast, Crucial (for example) can adjust their website prices four
or five times a day, bill your credit card immediately, ship from their
holding warehouse in California, and tell the factory in Taiwan that
demand for DDR400 CAS2 with specific timing... is up by another two
sticks of 256MB.

"Just in time" retail systems. If you don't build in enough
buffer (warehouse) space, you crash horribly when the cargo ship
is delayed 2 days. If you buy too much warehouse space, your
competitors eat your lunch.

-dsr- but isn't it nice how memory prices keep dropping over
time?