I love McMaster Carr!

[Question Boy]

As if it's not enough to have the best website I've ever used, consistently good quality products, fair prices, excellent inventory, speedy shipping without gouging, friendly staff that answers the phone..etc, etc.

Get this: They have a no-time-limit return policy! I've known about this for about three years but never tried it. Whenever I bought something I didn't use, I'd just toss it in a box for later. Well, I finally sent back that box of stuff, no invoices, no reciepts... A few days later they emailed to say they've credited my card for the returned items. Sure enough, my CC statement showed nearly $200 for that box of unused stuff that was just collecting dust..

Great company.

QB

 

[Mad Machinist]

I agree with everything you said. They have a location a little over an hour away from me. If I order by 11 AM they deliver the same day! If I'm gone by the time they get there I have a drop location so its there in the morning.

I love when I call the local industrial supply houses, especially Fastenal and they say they can have it tomorrow, you can guess how the rest of the conversation goes.

 

[Keelan]

Boo. Until they begin shipping to Canada, they suck.

 

[67Cuda]

Boo. Until they begin shipping to Canada, they suck.

That has probably more to do with Canada than McMaster-Carr.


Tom

 

[Keelan]

That has probably more to do with Canada than McMaster-Carr.


Tom

No, it has nothing to do with Canada, and everything to do with your country's Department of Homeland Fear-mongering... I mean, Security.

 

[John Welden]

I didn't know about their forever return policy, thanks.

What I find so crazy is that no one else has come even close to making a web site as good as McMasters.

Their site allows me to do my job much easier. I can run into the office, throw an order together in no time and then it shows up the next day. No mistakes, ever. And they don't drop ship parts from other companies that show up without proper paper work.

I use the solidworks files of their parts all the time when I'm designing. They are real solidworks files too, not some crap you have to import and translate. Saves a huge amount of time and mistakes.

I wish they carried more machine shop crap so I wouldn't have to use anyone else.

 

[GregSY]

I try hard never to ship to Canada; I don't blame McMaster. It has nothing to do with Homeland Security because it was a PITA to ship to Canada before HS ever existed. The key issue is Canada must seem their economy will be ruined if someone sends anything there.

 

[moonlight machine]

I hate spending money...... I like to spend it at McMaster Carr. Hands down the best on line site. Even a computer idiot like me can order with no problem. I don't remember the last time I ordered and anything was back ordered.

 

[TonyOW31]

I try hard never to ship to Canada; I don't blame McMaster. It has nothing to do with Homeland Security because it was a PITA to ship to Canada before HS ever existed. The key issue is Canada must seem their economy will be ruined if someone sends anything there.

It is to do with the homeland security, we can't buy stuff from there either, something to do with giving me the ability to manufacture weapons of mass destruction

 

[Keelan]

What I don't understand is that in the parallel universe of electronics, places like Digikey have no problem shipping to Canada. I'm sure they are selling some things that the DHS could classify as a risk... Are there certain products that these regulations target?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

In my experience, the problems with shipping from the US to Canada are with the Canadian Customs Dept. They're frequently overloaded, and are very inconsistent in how long it takes shipments to get cleared. Some things will go through in a day, others will sit in a warehouse for weeks. You just can't predict when something is going to get through and delivered. From what I heard, that's why McMasters gave up on Canada. They go to such effort to be fast and efficient, and all they got was complaints on late deliveries. There was really nothing they could do about it. The problem is worse with larger boxes of stuff than it is with smaller envelopes of parts. That's probably why Digikey deals it.

My business is expensive, hand made musical instruments. I no longer ship instruments to Canada because of bad experiences. It's a shame. I ship to most of Europe, Japan, and Australia with no problems.

Coming the other way, from Canada (and other countries) into the US, is a different problem. The big issue is the Lacey Act, which restricts imports to the US of endangered species of woods and almost any organic-based materials. It's a huge hassle right now, because they're still trying to figure out how to enforce it, how to apply for licenses, etc.

 

[jadewatchmaker]

McMaster Carr shipping

It is not just Canada. They can't be bothered with shipping anywhere out side the U.S. not even a US Army Post Office. I have to get it shipped to a friend or relative to use MCM.

 

[Ron T.]

That's odd because my company ships at least a dozen orders into Canada a day. It's all electrical stuff. I never have a problem with UPS as long as you have 3 copies or your commercial invoice in the outer pocket of your package and have the country of origin info noted as well. Our shipments are not all that different from what MC would shipping. I sometimes drop ship stuff from my suppliers to end users and run into the same thing with shipments into Canada but it's mostly because the companies that have a problem with it have a division in Canada that the order must go through so I end up flying the parts in and shipping them myself the following day.

 

[JoeBean]

What I don't understand is that in the parallel universe of electronics, places like Digikey have no problem shipping to Canada. I'm sure they are selling some things that the DHS could classify as a risk... Are there certain products that these regulations target?

Digikey are based in Minnesota - maybe their nearness makes them more sympathetic? At any rate, they maintain a "presence" in Canada, or at least did. I've received a number of shipments in the past from them from a Canadian address. Presumably this was done to ease shipment times.

In any case I receive shipments from the US (and internationally) on a daily basis. It's true that it does take longer to get here than it would to ship across the US, but that has less to do with customs than it does with the fact that I'm isolated on an island. Having said that, shipping does get severely backed up around Christmas. You can add around a 2 week wait to any regular shipment.

For the record, the fastest international shipments (other than from the US) that I receive come from Hong Kong. I don't know how much money they're pouring in to subsidizing the mail but even a $.10 item will ship free from a lot of HK suppliers and get here in less than 2 weeks.

 

[Kyle Smith]

What I find so crazy is that no one else has come even close to making a web site as good as McMasters.

Their site allows me to do my job much easier. I can run into the office, throw an order together in no time and then it shows up the next day. No mistakes, ever. And they don't drop ship parts from other companies that show up without proper paper work.

I use the solidworks files of their parts all the time when I'm designing. They are real solidworks files too, not some crap you have to import and translate. Saves a huge amount of time and mistakes.

I wish they carried more machine shop crap so I wouldn't have to use anyone else.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about McMaster Carr as well, the SolidWorks files are huge time savers. My only complaint is they do not put country of origin on the product description, but I have found most of the fasteners I order come from Canada, and they will tell you origin if you ask.

A webpage set up like McMaster Carr for cutting tools would be genius.

 

[Martin35]

As you can see I'm from Canada. We buy at least once a week from McMaster. Until last year if we placed a order around noon we got it next day everytime. From what I heard they had a issue with Canadian custom since they declared everything they shipped to be from US origin (wich is not true). Since that time , 80% of orders are arriving next day and the rest a day later.

Martin

 

[GregSY]

One time I needed a heart transplant, and McMaster Carr was able to find one in a lesser employee and had it in my doctor's hands the very next day. Sent some homemade chocolate chip cookiesin package as well. What's really remarkable is they found a way to make sure they arrived warm! Damn good thing I wasn't living in Canada at the time, that's all I can say.

 

[altered]

They ship to canada only if you were a long established customer ... some shop near me can purchase there and me, get ripped by reseller ...

 

[Ray Behner]

I agree with everything you said. They have a location a little over an hour away from me. If I order by 11 AM they deliver the same day! If I'm gone by the time they get there I have a drop location so its there in the morning.

I love when I call the local industrial supply houses, especially Fastenal and they say they can have it tomorrow, you can guess how the rest of the conversation goes.

I completely agree. Fasten-nil hasn't a clue. If I order from MMC by noon, I'll get it no later than 3:30, same day. If I'm not going to be here, I'll tell the order taker to put "No signature required" on the shipping label and it'll be in my shop that day. Cool way to run a business. Grainger has started this in my area also. Don't really care for them though.

 

[John Welden]

I completely agree. Fasten-nil hasn't a clue. If I order from MMC by noon, I'll get it no later than 3:30, same day. If I'm not going to be here, I'll tell the order taker to put "No signature required" on the shipping label and it'll be in my shop that day. Cool way to run a business. Grainger has started this in my area also. Don't really care for them though.

That's amazing you get your order in 3 hours! You basically have a shop with a McMaster attached to the side.