rohorn
Plastic
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2016
I've been working on starting up a machining business this year (In the Denver, Colorado area) - just sold my first run of parts. Those parts were made from 3 full lengths of 0.875" x 0.125" 6061 tubing that I bought from the local (And easy to buy from) Metal Supermarket @ $4.74/lb - $1.64/ft. The customer wants more parts - a LOT more - and already paid for the next run!
So I start calling/emailing around for 30 more (About 200 lbs) of the same tubing to get going.
Erickson Metals: Nice email saying that they don't carry that size, but suggest a few other suppliers.
Tube Service: $10.83/lb - $3.79/ft.
Reliance (Colorado Springs): $12.86/lb - $4.50/ft.
Metal Supermarket: $4.57/lb - $1.60/ft
Asked all 4 using their website's contact forms - only Erickson responded - had to call the other 3 after waiting a week.
Have since requested a quote from Sapa on their website (They made the tubing I got from Metal Supermarket) for a 500 lb quote - no response, yet (One day later).
Didn't ask Ryerson (Not listed in their catalog, either) or Richardson Metals (Primarily custom extrusions?).
I can live with the Metal Supermarket price for now, but I'll need to do better than that to make it full time - I'm under the impression that Metal Supermarket is aimed at part time level supply anyway. Am I asking the wrong people and/or asking for not enough quantity?
PS: At the risk of sounding old and whiny, I tried starting a shop almost 30 years ago when I lived in rural New Mexico - Reliance (Albuquerque) bent over backwards to give me fantastic prices and fast service for low quantities of odd stuff. At the time, I lived in the middle of nowhere, yet their sales rep still stopped by to drop off a catalog. I told him that, even though they probably weren't making a dime off me yet, I really hoped things would take off and that I would be buying a lot more from them - and he said that's why they were being helpful. I'm guessing that's either a thing of the past and/or things in Denver are opposite of that in the metals business as well.
So I start calling/emailing around for 30 more (About 200 lbs) of the same tubing to get going.
Erickson Metals: Nice email saying that they don't carry that size, but suggest a few other suppliers.
Tube Service: $10.83/lb - $3.79/ft.
Reliance (Colorado Springs): $12.86/lb - $4.50/ft.
Metal Supermarket: $4.57/lb - $1.60/ft
Asked all 4 using their website's contact forms - only Erickson responded - had to call the other 3 after waiting a week.
Have since requested a quote from Sapa on their website (They made the tubing I got from Metal Supermarket) for a 500 lb quote - no response, yet (One day later).
Didn't ask Ryerson (Not listed in their catalog, either) or Richardson Metals (Primarily custom extrusions?).
I can live with the Metal Supermarket price for now, but I'll need to do better than that to make it full time - I'm under the impression that Metal Supermarket is aimed at part time level supply anyway. Am I asking the wrong people and/or asking for not enough quantity?
PS: At the risk of sounding old and whiny, I tried starting a shop almost 30 years ago when I lived in rural New Mexico - Reliance (Albuquerque) bent over backwards to give me fantastic prices and fast service for low quantities of odd stuff. At the time, I lived in the middle of nowhere, yet their sales rep still stopped by to drop off a catalog. I told him that, even though they probably weren't making a dime off me yet, I really hoped things would take off and that I would be buying a lot more from them - and he said that's why they were being helpful. I'm guessing that's either a thing of the past and/or things in Denver are opposite of that in the metals business as well.