I bought DT's #14 aluminum nipples, 12mm silver.
43 boxes (about 4,300 pieces).
These are probably the most commonly used aluminum nipples.
I once bought out the entire inventory of 76 boxes from my distributor
(→here), but this time it's not a buyout.
For example, if I needed 3 boxes of a certain nipple,
and the distributor had 100 boxes in stock, I'd probably just buy 3 boxes.
But if they only had 5 boxes left, I'd definitely buy all 5.
The 43 boxes I bought this time is just that amount—
"this much is small enough that I'll stock up beyond my immediate needs."
Since that 76-box purchase, once the distributor's stock recovered,
I'd been adding small orders of about 5 boxes at a time.
But DT products come in only once every 3-4 months,
so that's about 3-4 times a year.
If the item I order doesn't make it into the next shipment,
I might have to wait six months.
So I've been thinking about the most ruthless buying strategy possible:
I've been monitoring the inventory daily since it was at 120 boxes,
planning to buy them all out in one go once it drops below 50 boxes.
That way, the stockout period would likely be longest.
The real reason I bought 43 boxes is different from what I just wrote—never mind that.
Back when I bought 76 boxes, someone called me out a bit on the whole buyout thing,
so this time I didn't buy out the stock. The distributor had 44 boxes, and I bought 43.
When I checked the inventory just now, it's already out of stock.
A DT nipple box—
100 pieces per box takes up about this much space.
If I'm careful, I can compress 2 boxes into 1,
so I can barely fit 200 pieces.
This is also 200 pieces, but if I throw them in carelessly, they don't fit.
If I pour them in while shaking slightly, I can get them level,
but that's tedious, so I usually compress to just under 200 pieces per box.
With the nipples that come with DT spokes—
for silver-black Champion and silver Competition models,
it's 100 spokes per box with 100 brass nipples,
but for Black Competition and silver-black Revolution, it's 72 spokes per box with 72 aluminum nipples.
Since they use the same box, I can compress 3 boxes of the 72-piece boxes into about 1.
I compressed the 43 boxes down to 22.
I already had 11 boxes compressed from before,
so now I've got 33 compressed boxes on hand (about 6,500 pieces).
43 boxes (about 4,300 pieces).
These are probably the most commonly used aluminum nipples.
I once bought out the entire inventory of 76 boxes from my distributor
(→here), but this time it's not a buyout.
For example, if I needed 3 boxes of a certain nipple,
and the distributor had 100 boxes in stock, I'd probably just buy 3 boxes.
But if they only had 5 boxes left, I'd definitely buy all 5.
The 43 boxes I bought this time is just that amount—
"this much is small enough that I'll stock up beyond my immediate needs."
Since that 76-box purchase, once the distributor's stock recovered,
I'd been adding small orders of about 5 boxes at a time.
But DT products come in only once every 3-4 months,
so that's about 3-4 times a year.
If the item I order doesn't make it into the next shipment,
I might have to wait six months.
So I've been thinking about the most ruthless buying strategy possible:
I've been monitoring the inventory daily since it was at 120 boxes,
planning to buy them all out in one go once it drops below 50 boxes.
That way, the stockout period would likely be longest.
The real reason I bought 43 boxes is different from what I just wrote—never mind that.
Back when I bought 76 boxes, someone called me out a bit on the whole buyout thing,
so this time I didn't buy out the stock. The distributor had 44 boxes, and I bought 43.
When I checked the inventory just now, it's already out of stock.
A DT nipple box—
100 pieces per box takes up about this much space.
If I'm careful, I can compress 2 boxes into 1,
so I can barely fit 200 pieces.
This is also 200 pieces, but if I throw them in carelessly, they don't fit.
If I pour them in while shaking slightly, I can get them level,
but that's tedious, so I usually compress to just under 200 pieces per box.
With the nipples that come with DT spokes—
for silver-black Champion and silver Competition models,
it's 100 spokes per box with 100 brass nipples,
but for Black Competition and silver-black Revolution, it's 72 spokes per box with 72 aluminum nipples.
Since they use the same box, I can compress 3 boxes of the 72-piece boxes into about 1.
I compressed the 43 boxes down to 22.
I already had 11 boxes compressed from before,
so now I've got 33 compressed boxes on hand (about 6,500 pieces).