Here are the top three electronics distributors, based on 2003 sales:
Avnet $5,100,000,000
Arrow $4,947,000,000
Future $2,000,000,000 (industry estimate)
Now it would seem to me that you don't get to $2 billion in sales by catering to people looking to buy $100 or less.
To even be able to afford taking such small orders, you have to have considerable infrastructure in place, which costs a lot of money. Obviously, Future tries to not lose too much money on these small orders, so it charges reasonable handling and shipping charges, and it tries not to spend too much time on the phone, either.
For the most part, Future can not guarantee specific bins on small orders, period. So my advice would be to be very polite, ask casually for a specific bin, and smile a lot while doing so. Yes, they can tell if you are smiling or not. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif