Shout out to McMaster Carr
 

I ordered hardware yesterday afternoon, just got them delivered. Noice!!

McMaster Carr and Uline are great companies to deal with.

I have always had great luck, and experiences with Uline, and only ordered from McMaster Carr a few times, but satisfactory also.

Fastenal, on the other hand has been nothing but a pain in my azz...taking forever to get ordered parts, not notifying me when they have arrived, and routinely screwing up my orders. Nothing has prices on the item, it depends what sort of discount deal that you have worked out with the sales department as to how much things are !

Usually I can find that odd thing I need from McMaster and wind up with 500 of them for $8.

About 20 years ago I was running a shop near a giant McMaster Carr warehouse.
The pic below shows my old shop (in red) and gives an indication of how big the McMaster Carr warehouse is
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1621372950.jpg

I called them so often I was given a personal service rep that I could call directly.

It was awesome, like having the world's largest hardware stash. Anytime I needed something I could call and it'd be ready at will-call in a half hour, 15 minutes if it was a real emergency.

Fastenal on the other hand was a dirty word in my book.
Twice during my career I "inherited" a supply contract with fastenal and twice I killed the contract and ran them off.
Trying to pad orders, "creative" invoicing, delivering 1000 pcs when I only wanted 100, etc.

They could get an item delivered from Ohio to downtown Toronto next day, our local suppliers could not deliver that quick. Not sure what the brokerage cost was though. I think they only sell to companies up here now, and not individuals.

Belmetric vs. McMaster-Carr

Battle of the Heavy-Weights

Add Vibra-tite to your next order. You will thank me some day

+1! Great service. I run a home based detail/restoration shop. Need the occasional hard to find hardware item... usually delivered the next day!

Yep... sometimes I buy 100 when 4 would have done... but the service is great and I look at it like I have 96 for next time. 😄

I have used McMaster for work items, mainly MRO stuff. Have used them for personal items as well. Just got some alum sheet stock for a project on my fishing boat. They even sent material certs.

Good org. There is not much that they do not have and the quick delivery is great.

LOL!
Been there, done that. I needed 6 rivets for my truck frame. Minimum order was 25 or 50. They still weren’t expensive though.
+1 on McM Carr’s great inventory and service.

I use them almost everyday for my business. They have fantastic service. Once I need some SS fittings for a Con Ed job in the city. My local branch (NJ) did not have the items. They flew the material out of Chicago on a Saturday, had a courier pick it up at the airport and delivered to my home at 1:00AM. I paid an additional $75 for this service. Great outfit.

We used them at work also. Got to a point and they contacted us to assign a person to help with any order. They even started carrying items we asked for but they didn't have. Good company.
In a few cases, I would order on an afternoon and got the item the next day. I don't know how they did that - it was years ago.

Here's another secret about MC most don't know: if there is something you need that isn't in their catalog and they don't have, many times they will go find it and buy it for you.
They have lots of really good buyers who don't have a problem making a few calls on your behalf.

For example: I needed a replacement hydraulic pump and reservoir system for a (edit) 120 ton press.

They offered stuff that we could have made work but it wasn't exactly what I wanted.
I gave them the make, model, and serial number of what I had.
An hour later she called and quoted a price for an exact OEM replacement and asked how many I wanted ;)
And the price was about $200 cheaper than the enerpac system they had in their catalog.

Granted they probably wouldn't go to that much trouble for a $2 part, and I don't know if they would for someone who was not an established customer.
But you never know, and it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I usually get my orders same day if sent in by 10AM or the following AM if sent in by 6pm.

Maybe a little more $ but the service is impeccable.

Fantastic company no doubt

I’ve been ordering some odd stainless stuff from them for a boat project. I have to say, their mobile app is excellent!

You can also download cad files on their site for most items and plug them into 3d print designs. Makes it nice if you want a pocket for a nut or something, you know it’s going to fit exactly.