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An unpaid, gushing review of the McMaster-Carr Co.

Even though I use the Internet all the time, I have to admit that I prefer to buy locally whenever possible (I
guess I am from the old school).  And even when I do order from outside my area, I usually do it over the phone.
So I would like to tell you a story about breaking out of that mold and offer a critique of a company that has
helped to do it.

For the past several weeks I have been working with a client to repair their VERY large antique bread-rack.  It
has four upright brass tubes, three of which had split and needed to be repaired or replaced.  The tubes were
made by wrapping brass over a steel pipe.  To make a long story short, I decided that the best way to do the job
was to remove the tubes from the rack, remove the split brass and slip new brass tubing over the steel pipe. 
Since it is antique and probably made in Europe, none of the sizes are standard to what is made today.

Like I said before, I prefer to buy locally, so I contacted Industrial Metal Supply which has a store in San Diego,
CA (30 miles from where I live), to see if they had brass tubing close to what I needed.  They didn’t, but gave me
the name of another store in the area. They couldn’t help me either, but recommended a company in the Los
Angeles area that specializes in copper and brass.

When I called that store, I must have somehow offended the sales lady because she was extremely rude and
uncooperative.  They didn’t have exactly the size I needed, but had something close, so I asked how much it cost. 
She didn’t want to tell me, but finally and obviously very irritated that I insisted on knowing it said that it would
cost me $170 for a 12 foot length, plus the cost of shipping, from Philadelphia, PA.  I can’t prove it, but I think she
was trying to get rid of me.

Then I remembered McMaster-Carr.  I learned about them from my father-in-law, who has their catalogue.  I
had mentioned to him that I was looking for a 1” cup-brush with soft bristles, but couldn’t find one anywhere,
even on the internet.  He consulted his catalogue (which lists over 435,000 products) and found one.  Since his
catalogue was out of date, I went on to their web site (mcmaster.com) to see if they still had it.  They did, so I
decided to order a couple on line, via their standard shipping, which cost $4.  That was on a Friday morning.
That same afternoon, a package arrived with the brushes.  Talk about fast service!  Admittedly, they are in the
Los Angeles area (about 90 miles away), but I would never expect same-day service even from San Diego unless
I requested it and paid accordingly.

When I checked McMaster-Carr’s web site for brass tubing, their selection included exactly what I needed. 
Their price seemed too low, compared to what I had been quoted from the copper and brass sales lady,
so I called them to verify.  Sure enough, the price on their web site was correct.  That evening (Thursday) I went
back online and ordered two 6 foot lengths. I thought that since it was so close to the weekend, it wouldn't arrive
until the next week.  But it came the next day!  And it cost me just under $70, including shipping.

Maybe I’m the newbie here and everyone already knows about them, but having a bad experience with one
company makes me want to tell everyone about McMaster-Carr.  They have proven to be a reliable supplier,
which is essential to the business of repairing and restoring metalware.  Since they have a huge inventory I now
usually check with them first.  And, since I know I will get what I order so fast and the shipping is so reasonable,
it usually isn't worth the time and expense to drive down to the the store.

As always, you comments, reactions, responses are welcome.