Subject: McMaster-Carr Supply Co., New Brunswick, NJ

From: [email-masked] (The Rifleman)
Date: 11 Oct 1994 23:47:09 GMT

Anyone know whether this is a good place to order parts?  None of the local
shops I could find had what I was looking for.

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From: [email-masked] (Megan Halstead)
Date: 12 Oct 1994 05:32:41 GMT

>shops I could find had what I was looking for.

I have had excellent results with them--fast response! However, their prices are not usually the lowest, unless it costs you more to search than you'd save by
 doing so.

If I'm not mistaken, they have an online order service, so you can check stock
and prices on things yourself. I think you need an account with the company, 
though.

Good luck.

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From: [email-masked] (James Kirkpatrick)
Date: 12 Oct 94 08:42:19 MDT

In article <[email-masked]>,
[email-masked] (The Rifleman) writes:

|>Anyone know whether this is a good place to order parts?  None of the local
|>shops I could find had what I was looking for.

I tend to prefer MSC, since they will actually send you a catalog.  But if
you can manage to do business with McMaster-Carr, folks have been happy.
Note that MSC has many stocking centers not listed below.
>From  the FAQ:

   -  McMaster-Carr Supply Company
      PO Box 440
      New Brunswick NJ 08903-0440 USA
      (908) 329-3200 (Sales), (908) 329-6666 (Other Departments),
      (908) 329-3772 (FAX)

      Also has stocking sales centers in Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

      Note that they apparently only deal with companies.  Jim Harres reports
      that they refused to send him a catalog.

      Prints an annual 2600+ page catalog.  Very complete supplier with tools,
      screws, shelving, wheels, lamps, heaters, air conditioners, plumbing,
      electrical supplies, plastics, metals, pumps, containers, motors, gauges,
      paint brushes, hooks, door hardware, pH testers, microscopes, etc.
      Metric and english threads and sizes, too. Small bits of information,
      reference charts and advice are scattered throughout the catalog.

      No minimum order.  Satisfaction Guaranteed, whatever that means.
      No problem with returns, but they ask that you get specific return
      instructions before shipping anything back.  All prices subject to
      change.  Visa and MasterCard accepted.  Prices are quoted plus actual
      shipping.

      Experience with McMaster-Carr is very good.  They do update
      (read: raise) their prices frequently, so don't believe catalog prices.
      Get a quote before buying.  Expect the catalog to be 10% low.
      Shipments have been prompt, complete, and accurate.  Prices seem
      high, but they make up for it with "one-stop" shopping.

   -  MSC Industrial Supply Co.
      151 Sunnyside Blvd
      Plainview, NY  11803
      (800) 645-7270 (AT&T), (800) 753-7900 (MCI), (800) 255-5067 FAX

      Their 93/94 catalog is 1971 pages, and their selection has been
      described as "dumbfounding".

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From: [email-masked] (Alan Frisbie)
Date: 13 Oct 94 11:24:11 PST

Re: McMaster-Carr Supply Co., New Brunswick, NJ

> shops I could find had what I was looking for.

I have not personally ordered from them, but people I
respect say that they are very good, mostly because of
the variety of things they carry.

One problem is that they will only send their catalog to
companies larger than the typical "garage shop".   I suppose
that once you have placed an order they will send you one,
however.

I borrowed a catalog from a customer and was impressed with
the range of products.   It is as big as the MSC catalog,
with some overlap in products -- much less tooling, but
much more general maintenance/repair stuff.   If you are 
a plant maintenance person, this seems to be *the* catalog 
to have.

--  Alan E. Frisbie               [email-masked]
--  Flying Disk Systems, Inc.
--  4759 Round Top Drive          (213) 256-2575 (voice)
--  Los Angeles, CA 90065         (213) 258-3585 (FAX)

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 12 Oct 1994 20:51:28 GMT

>shops I could find had what I was looking for.

   I ordered some high-temp exhaust system paint from them for my
Chevy. No problems, no hassles, and the stuff was delivered 
practically before I hung up the phone.

   These opinions are my own, not those of the Library of 
Congress.

                                             Howard Sanner
                                             [email-masked]
                                             [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (J. Kimberlin)
Date: 12 Oct 1994 20:06:14 -0700

Good place.  Call them first.  Generally they have in stock the items in 
their massive catalogue.  The important thing is that they have it.  You 
can search for a long time before you get what they have and their prices 
are standard - whatever that means.  If you want specialty bearings go to 
a bearing house.  If you want leather go to Tandy.  But generally, McM is 
the catalogue to have to see if your want item is made and its retail 
price.  Then you can go searching through the Thomas Register, etc.

JerryK

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From: [email-masked] (Bruce Holder)
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 20:13:03 GMT

The Rifleman ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Now I'm worried they [McMaster-Carr] won't fill my order "because I'm not
: a company"

  Don't worry.  I ordered one item last month from a four year old catalog.
The order was handwritten on notebook paper and I enclosed a personal check.
The old price was about $15, so I sent $25 to cover price increases and
shipping.  I mailed the order (Denver to Chicago) on a Monday and received
the item the following Monday.  About two weeks later, the invoice came with
a refund check for the difference.
  The refund was for $25 minus the price on the invoice, suggesting that the
catalog price may include shipping, which might explain why their prices
seemed consistently high.  I couldn't find anything about shipping and
handling in the catalog itself.
  On the basis of that one experience, I am very pleased.  Now if we could
just find a way to get catalogs.  Has anyone tried bogus letterhead?  Surely
it would be cheaper for them to just send the catalog rather than pay a clerk
to look up every requesting company name in Dun and Bradstreet.  (Although
I have seen gun suppliers that required a copy of a Yellow Pages listing to
differentiate stocking gunshops from individual FFL holders.  (Although with
today's desktop publishing programs, the Yellow Pages format wouldn't be that
hard to spoof either.))

--
Bruce Holder		[email-masked]
			(303)530-8739

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From: [email-masked] (-F.KERFOOT)
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 12:51:46 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Bruce Holder <[email-masked]> wrote:
>...

I have placed several orders with McMaster-Carr as an individual, by
phone, on a Visa card. I told them at the beginning that I was ordering
as an individual, and they had no problem. They included shipping
charges (UPS in my case) on both orders. One order was about $75,
the other about $25. However, on the second order the current price
was about 20% LESS than the catalog (I double checked, to make sure
I hadn't mis-communicated the part number). It happened to be 3' of
3/4" drill rod. Perhaps your shipping charges came out of a price
reduction.

By the way, I don't find McMaster-Carr prices all that out of line.
They are significantly lower than a local industrial supply house
(who for all I know buys wholesale from McMaster-Carr). The only
people who seem to undercut them on price are the importers (Enco,
etc.), and then I'm not sure we're comparing prices on the same
items. Besides, the real value of McMaster-Carr is that they have
a lot of things that I just wouldn't know where else to find (but
which I invariably need desparately).

>...

It doesn't seem to matter how big the company is. I work for a small
company called AT&T, who I assume McMaster-Carr has heard of. We have
a person in the organization whose job is to place all of the purchase
orders. I went to him and asked him to save his old McMaster-Carr
catalog for me. He says he has trouble getting new ones. It may be that
the formal purchasing organization can get them, I haven't tried them
yet. I'm not sure I would choose the same catalog distribution policy
 if I ran McMaster-Carr, but it seems to be working for them. We may
want to be careful not to bug them too much about catalogs, to avoid
having them stop accepting orders from individuals (which is perhaps
easier for me to say, with access to at least a several year old
catalog).

Frank Kerfoot
[email-masked]