My local alum supplier just billed me 35.00 lb for 6061 t6

About 10 lbs... 5/8 x 1 1/8 x 60 in and 1 1/8 x1 1/8 x30. in....350.00

I asked the salesman why ,reply was well I did overcharge you for sawing by 60.00.
Great ...so now its 290.00.

salesman turns me over to the manager... His reply well material is very volatile and we had to schedule ...blah blah.....etc..etc if you buy more the price per will come down.

My reply was the 60. inches was a drop and alum is not 30.00 lb ..I had quoted this using online metals pricing (about 80.00 with shipping).

I order from you because your local..I don't ask for quotes on 100.00 worth of material as I don't waste peoples time for such a small amount..
He could care less ..At that point I told him "Im busy RE-INVOICE this and hung up.

I have Always made sure invoices were paid in 30 days so there's no animosity between us well....until now...

I'm wondering if these two are scamming WTF I dont know what to think?

Did Bralco transfer DALE from Albuquerque to Pennsylvania?????

I'd piss on it and tell them to come get it. If they insist you pay
return shipping, I'd still piss on it, and cut it into triangles and
put it in a flat rate box.

My guess is they aren't going to be, and they SHOULDN'T be your local supplier
from here on out... So.. Who is the company that whacked you a $60 cut charge
on 2 pieces of material????

Does Dale still work for Bralco? Have you checked recently? Maybe you should call over there and see.

OUCH!!!! I was a bit short of stock on a job so I went to a local supplier for a few 10' sticks of 3/4" and 1/2" diameter 6061 round stock. I thought I was going to get hosed, but at $1.65 pound I don't feel bad at all.

robert123 said:

Does Dale still work for Bralco? Have you checked recently? Maybe you should call over there and see.

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No idea, don't care.. I found somebody better.. I really miss the sales lady that came by, and we talked about
it last time she was here.. And I miss the sales guy that took my orders (he's gone now also).. I was talking to
one of my customers a while ago about it, he had the same problem, at this point, he also doesn't care..

We were actually talking about EMJ, (same parent company as Bralco).. And he had mostly given up on them, as
had I.. If you didn't want a whole truck load, they didn't want to talk to you.. And he would still occasionally
call them for a quote, and he finally got a new guy who isn't out to make his yearly paycheck on one small order,
and he's been using them again.

As for Dale.. They had their traveling sales folks.. for years Butch was my guy, and he was AWESOME!!! My guy that
took my orders was Rick(louis was his real name I believe)... After Butch I got Bridgette I believe.. Really cool
lady.. REALLY REALLY GOOD PEOPLE.. great company to work with... And then DALE became the boss in the sales office.

Get a quote from Rick, and then DALE would call.. Its not going to be $X, its going to be $X plus $$$, and its not shipping
tomorrow, its now coming form St. Louis and will be a week and a half.. If it was over a few $100, DALE would grab it from
the salesguy and take it for his own and jack the price.. So yeah... Fuck DALE, and I complained above him, I complained to
the sales people.. Nothing... and I KNOW I wasn't the only one.. No changes.. So F' Dale.. And F' Bralco for keeping
him for so long.. The good people they had are gone, and I didn't mind paying a little more for good service, low BS, and
dealing with GOOD PEOPLE..

I'm certainly not paying a huge premium for the joy of dealing with an asshole and longer lead times... And if the
people that own the place don't care, I don't care either.. At this point, there is NO point... I got other places
that won't treat me (and their own sales people) like crap, and I can get better price and delivery else where.

Though I do miss Bralco's sales people, and I am starting to run out of pads. (Scratch pads, not maxi-pads)

Having suffered similarly myself (albeit many years ago **) I'd say they no longer want the small customers .....probably some head office bean counters bright idea, and he knew he had the assholes to carry out his wishes - while at the same time gouging as many $ as he could.

**Like the OP I was a small user- mainly black structural and section steel, box angle flat etc etc, and out of the blue got royally shafted, so I found myself another supplier - 2 actually, who were prepared to play my game, and played it very nicely.

Scroll forward a year or so and I landed a big contract, a big and profitable job, for a good client, money up front etc etc etc and already having the quotes I'd priced on, I decided to put it out for re quote - in 1980, £1500 of steel was a BIG order, and surprise surprise, that old outfit got wind of it and came knocking, asking to be allowed to quote, ......and I let them, .......and they were the lowest - by about 7.5%, ............but Sami's soul wasn't for sale

Limy Sami said:

Having suffered similarly myself (albeit many years ago **) I'd say they no longer want the small customers .....probably some head office bean counters bright idea, and he knew he had the assholes to carry out his wishes - while at the same time gouging as many $ as he could.

**Like the OP I was a small user- mainly black structural and section steel, box angle flat etc etc, and out of the blue got royally shafted, so I found myself another supplier - 2 actually, who were prepared to play my game, and played it very nicely.

Scroll forward a year or so and I landed a big contract, a big and profitable job, for a good client, money up front etc etc etc and already having the quotes I'd priced on, I decided to put it out for re quote - in 1980, £1500 of steel was a BIG order, and surprise surprise, that old outfit got wind of it and came knocking, asking to be allowed to quote, ......and I let them, .......and they were the lowest - by about 7.5%, ............but Sami's soul wasn't for sale

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The morons that run these outfits don't think we have a memory, like msc charging me 36.00 for an insert screw. I have spent thousands on tooling since that day but those bastards have not got a dime from me.

moonlight machine said:

The morons that run these outfits don't think we have a memory, like msc charging me 36.00 for an insert screw. I have spent thousands on tooling since that day but those bastards have not got a dime from me.

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I totally agree Moonlight, ........while I like to think I don't bear grudges (with one or two exceptions - bastads ) I don't forget, ................there's an old Brit saying (I don't know if it's travelled) but IMO it says it all, ;- Every dog has it's day.

cmccull166 said:

About 10 lbs... 5/8 x 1 1/8 x 60 in and 1 1/8 x1 1/8 x30. in....350.00

I asked the salesman why ,reply was well I did overcharge you for sawing by 60.00.
Great ...so now its 290.00.

Click to expand...

Why order pieces? The cut charge was more than the material cost if you would have just bought 12 foot sticks.

My supplier has a $100 minimum charge for deliveries, if I need something minor I add a length or 2 of something I use regularly.

The only time I order cut to length is when the size is large enough that a full bar doesn't make sense. I don't want to buy a 12 footer of 6" diameter if I only need 30". But if it's 1" dia, no way I'm gonna pay a cut charge that's more then the material cost.

local metal supplies has 2 places in the city. the big place is for big industrial customers who order over $10,000 a year in metal
.
other store is for walk in small orders from anybody and they just charge 200% more until you buy over $100. or 100lbs and then the more you get the more price goes down per pound. they usually will cut 20 footers in half no charge or rather its all in the regular charge rate. normally i buy over $100. worth of metal at a time even for home use.
.
even if you wanted to small orders and small customers not allowed to go to the bigger store which is really setup to cut to length +/-.050" many pieces like somebody order 6.0" long pieces a 100 each each day. its setup for local customers who pay to get stuff cut to length by the thousands of pieces a year and they get a price rate on what they buy per year. obvious as they buy tons per year they get a better price rate probably even with cutting its still cheaper than buying for the small store
.
some minimum wage types are bad at math. local pizza place literally guy cant make change from a $10 or $20 bill. i end up giving exact amount. why he dont just have a $5 calculator nearby is something i dont understand

.
some minimum wage types are bad at math. local pizza place literally guy cant make change from a $10 or $20 bill. i end up giving exact amount. why he dont just have a $5 calculator nearby is something i dont understand[/QUOTE]

Because he does not know how to use a calculator ether.

Allen Steel in Redwood City charges $1 per cut using a wet saw. Don't bother looking for a website, they don't bother with shipping orders. They only work the local scene.

guest said:

Why order pieces? The cut charge was more than the material cost if you would have just bought 12 foot sticks.

My supplier has a $100 minimum charge for deliveries, if I need something minor I add a length or 2 of something I use regularly.

The only time I order cut to length is when the size is large enough that a full bar doesn't make sense. I don't want to buy a 12 footer of 6" diameter if I only need 30". But if it's 1" dia, no way I'm gonna pay a cut charge that's more then the material cost.

Click to expand...

My good fortune was they did not have 5/8 bar, 10-12 footer at there prices would have been 700.00.
Im sending a 100.00 check toay with a copy of there invoice..
This should get fun

Maybe I will forget to sign the check.

cmccull166 said:

My good fortune was they did not have 5/8 bar

Maybe I will forget to sign the check.

Click to expand...

hmm.. yea, sounds like they are screwing you.. but looking at the sizes, and that comment, well does that mean they saw cut it from 5/8 plate?

even if they cut it from a drop, well, that is still a totally different story...

as to the other size, is that 1 1/8 sq. solid bar an item they stock?

did they charge for a full length of that (as a minimum purchase of one size), and did they offer you the "drop" of 113+" and you declined?

did they inform you before doing the cutting how much it was going to be and why? did they provide a breakdown on the invoice detailing material charge per pound, and cutting charges? just a few things to consider before going to the mat on this...

oh, and sending an un-signed check is a bad idea. try to resolve this in a reasonable manner, and be prepared to defend your side to an arbitrator, jury or judge if you decide to fight. don't dick around with silly things like sending an un-signed check.

Limy Sami said:

...but Sami's soul wasn't for sale

Click to expand...

Good for Sami...

Limy Sami said:

...Every dog has it's day..

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Yup, my grandfather taught me that...

Years ago a place we had dealt with for several years had a big shakeup in management. Almost overnight prices and terms
went nuts. I got royally screwed on a decent sized order. Their prices and our relationship had always been good so I just
had them ship stuff. In this case I didn't see pricing till after the material was cut up and incorporated in the job. When the
invoice arrived the prices were more than double which would basically suck all the profit out of the job.

I complained to no avail so I waited 60 days and then paid them based on my last cost for the same material plus 10 per cent.
They howled but nothing ever happened.

Fast forward a few years and a new salesman for that company wandered into the shop one day looking for an order. Me being
the (not normally) vindictive SOB that I am I sat down and wrote up a list of materials that would have totalled several thousand
dollars. Along with the meat I included some odd ball sizes that I knew they'd have to hunt for. Made sure there were lots of
different items and also specified a lot of cutting to some fairly tight tolerances.

I don't know how long the salesman worked on the order but it took him 4 days to get back to me. When he finally called I told
him he was close but if he wanted the order he needed to "tighten things up a bit". I strung him along for another week or so
and when I couldn't squeeze him any more I told him that there was no way in Hell that I would ever buy material from them and
to go and ask his boss why. Would love to have been a fly on the wall when that conversation took place...

LKeithR said:

Fast forward a few years and a new salesman for that company wandered into the shop one day looking for an order. Me being
the (not normally) vindictive SOB that I am I sat down and wrote up a list of materials that would have totalled several thousand
dollars. Along with the meat I included some odd ball sizes that I knew they'd have to hunt for. Made sure there were lots of
different items and also specified a lot of cutting to some fairly tight tolerances.

I don't know how long the salesman worked on the order but it took him 4 days to get back to me. When he finally called I told
him he was close but if he wanted the order he needed to "tighten things up a bit". I strung him along for another week or so
and when I couldn't squeeze him any more I told him that there was no way in Hell that I would ever buy material from them and
to go and ask his boss why. Would love to have been a fly on the wall when that conversation took place...

Click to expand...

Only one hit? ....there's hundreds of miles of grins in that game, ......instead of doing it once and telling em where to get off, ......'''invent'' jobs you have to quote, put together a list of sweet cherries and really sour apples, (hard to get etc etc) make it clear you're quoting the work, it's NOT an order etc etc, .....and then shrug ''sorry I didn't get the job - damn economy / whatever'' .........then do it again later, ...and so on.

DMF_TomB said:

local metal supplies has 2 places in the city. the big place is for big industrial customers who order over $10,000 a year in metal
.
other store is for walk in small orders from anybody and they just charge 200% more until you buy over $100. or 100lbs and then the more you get the more price goes down per pound. they usually will cut 20 footers in half no charge or rather its all in the regular charge rate. normally i buy over $100. worth of metal at a time even for home use.
.
even if you wanted to small orders and small customers not allowed to go to the bigger store which is really setup to cut to length +/-.050" many pieces like somebody order 6.0" long pieces a 100 each each day. its setup for local customers who pay to get stuff cut to length by the thousands of pieces a year and they get a price rate on what they buy per year. obvious as they buy tons per year they get a better price rate probably even with cutting its still cheaper than buying for the small store
.
some minimum wage types are bad at math. local pizza place literally guy cant make change from a $10 or $20 bill. i end up giving exact amount. why he dont just have a $5 calculator nearby is something i dont understand

Click to expand...

I spend over 10,000 a year and have for at least 7-8 years. Klein still won't deal with me, surplus is out of control lately, and everyone is gouging these days. 24 hour limits on quotes material up 30 cents a pound, all of a sudden delivery fees, and ridiculous service charges. But Surplus is still cheaper than anyone else between Buffalo and Syracuse. Really hard to swallow a 100 percent increase in the price I was paying for HR sheet a year ago.

Hi All:
Are these the rumblings of an impending trade war?
After all, there is a whole lot of uncertainty right about now, and the supply chains for aluminum and steel are starting to fray.

I'm predicting a lot worse to come; those of you who order a lot of material as a regular part of your business are going to have to get used to a whole new way of quoting, and your customers are going to have to help eat the uncertainty too if you want to survive and prosper.

I'm predicting the same sort of pricing policy you get with precious metals where you pay today's price and there is no material cost quoted.

This is going to be such a circus!

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

I don't think it's that fraught, the US and China are trying to talk nice-nice to each other at the moment. I suspect it's a combination of mild uncertainty with significant price gouging while the metal vendors can take advantage of it.

I'm just waiting for a spike in scrap value so I can get rid of some misc iron I've been holding on to...

Anywhere near Pittsburgh? Metal Supermarkets has a location there and are great for smaller orders:

Store Locator | Metal Supermarkets - Steel, Aluminum, Stainless, Hot-Rolled, Cold-Rolled, Alloy, Carbon, Galvanized, Brass, Bronze, Copper