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With Enco gone - who do you buy 'shop junk' from?

Antarctica

Hot Rolled
Joined
Jan 16, 2007
Location
Annapolis, Maryland
Enco was my goto for low to mid grade shop 'stuff', and machining consumables. Their prices, sales and occasional 'free shipping' coupons drove that. For the "i gotta have it tomorrow", McMaster is always great, but I don't generally buy drills, tapping fluid, measurement tools etc. from them. And don't tell me MSC...

Now that Enco's been 'gone' for two years, who do you buy 'stuff' from?
 
I have found some reasonable prices at Zoro.com: Industrial Supplies, Tools, MRO Products & More which I think is owned by Grainger but I have received e-mail coupons and such for 25% off etc.. I did not pay attention to the shipping costs since my orders were small.

I never understood how Grainger survives. They do bombard the radio waves in my area with ads during sports broadcasts. Maybe there is a subliminal message in them, I buy from them as a last resort. I think I have bought from Grainger's something like 3 times in over 20 years of being in business.
 
you have it all wrong... Amazon. they don't sell anything , they broker the shit , from zoro or travers or whatever . then provide for free shipping and logistics. remember when they used to just sell books.?

my wife bought a patio set... 300# easy, had to be truck freight shipped, with a lift gate on the van,,,2 guys,
was about $100 cheaper than the same one from lowes plus free delivery .

soon, EVERYTHING will be from Amazon.
 
I was thinking just yesterday as I was doing a job about Enco. I looked at all the little 'extra' stuff I was using to get things done. Stuff that didn't need to be the best and made the job so much easier but I couldn't afford to buy at big name prices. I looked around and was amazed at home much stuff I had bought every time they had one of their money big sale days.

At the time it was the Lift-all straps. I have a nice selection. Bought at a 40% sale, it was fantastic and I never could have justified buying all of them at full price yet they have made my life so much easier and safer using more than I need just to be safe. I was actually missing Enco quite a bit.

I search around now. All Industrial, McMaster, Travers but I don't find their prices that great. Never MSC, I can always find a better price.
 
now you can buy that same shit for much cheaper... STRAIGHT FROM CHINA . shipping will be subsidised by the PRC,
so figure $2-$5 on anything under 10# . the same SHARS or PHase2 hjunk can be had if you look for it.
 
Travers but I don't find their prices that great. Never MSC, I can always find a better price.

Travers was good till they started pushing their brands.

Travers and MSC will drop prices, if you have the time to call and haggle... BUT when I order from MSC I do not have the time. Besides where else can you order by 8pm and have in your hands the next morning. Countless times they saved my behind thinking I had a full draw of backup tools for this Hot Job...but 7;30 you pop a tool, go to grab new tool out of the draw and its empty...or worse filled with spent tooling. YIKES!
 
I've bought stuff from CDCO. I usually just look on ebay. I need a cheap set of 1/8" mill parallels- $30 or so all over ebay, free shipping. I've had mixed results buying stuff directly from China. Some good, some bad. I ordered dressing diamonds (really cheap) and they never showed up. I've ordered other small items and got them surprisingly quick. I'm not willing to risk more the $20 on stuff shipped from China. Who ya gonna complain to?
 
Grand Tool was always "grand" for oddball stuff like #7 B&S taper collets. Victor in Brooklyn NY is kind of like them.

Yup, I have their last catalog, IIRC 2000.

I bought a very nice 4" boring head with the house brand name on it "Grand"
The catalog listed it as "Eastern European" and the price was good.

I see Victor has some of the oddball taps, but only in Hand taps.

The Grand tool catalog was extensive with taps, and several styles listed
as "L.H." as well.

I called in an order once, I got a very gruff man in a hurry.

As I placed the order, he didn't need to see the catalog numbers, and he verified they were in stock immediately. I didn't even hear a keyboard being typed, I think he had the inventory in the warehouse all in his head.
 
Yup, I have their last catalog, IIRC 2000.

I bought a very nice 4" boring head with the house brand name on it "Grand"
The catalog listed it as "Eastern European" and the price was good.

I see Victor has some of the oddball taps, but only in Hand taps.

The Grand tool catalog was extensive with taps, and several styles listed
as "L.H." as well.

I called in an order once, I got a very gruff man in a hurry.

As I placed the order, he didn't need to see the catalog numbers, and he verified they were in stock immediately. I didn't even hear a keyboard being typed, I think he had the inventory in the warehouse all in his head.

Enco is gone...damn.
 
I haven't bought anything major for the work shop in years, tried to do all that before leaving the work force.
If I want s**t from china I have a Horbor Fright or their compediter Northern tool right up the road.
Last I bought from Grainger was for an over priced blower motor for the furnace, it was zero out and the house was closing in on that too quickly to mess around with for very long. With out the fee from the heating /ac man I might have come out on top price wise and didn't have to listen to any BS from him either?
Some of the suggestions I will look into, Victor,CDCO etc.. I still have DoAll, KBC and a few other catalogues floating around but haven't used them in a while so don't know their status.
For a lot of things I find them on this forum, if I need it soon I look at ebay, if the quantity and price is right it usually works out.
Dan
 
Sussex tool out of Wisconsin and Illinois, Im lucky they are 15 min away from my shop.

I can get cheap Travers stuff or Harvey tools out of them. They hit all price ranges.
 
want cheap junk ? Harbor Freight ,also flea bay has great deals and free shipping on good junk,,,,MSC........heres the thing about MSC,,,their monthly flyers can have good deals,,,but,,here is what a lot peeps don't know,,,if you do enough business with them they give you a preferred status and free shipping on everything.Preferred status in my case is around %20 off most listed items in their catalogue.Kinda brings them into the game.Name brand stuff too,not just junk

JSYK,,,MSC was always the parent company of Enco,,,I know for a fact that the regional store in Fernley Nevada had both companies under one roof,always.So if junk is what your after,,whatever crap Enco use to have,,MSC still carries it
 
JSYK,,,MSC was always the parent company of Enco,,,I know for a fact that the regional store in Fernley Nevada had both companies under one roof,always.So if junk is what your after,,whatever crap Enco use to have,,MSC still carries it

No, Enco was not always part of MSC. MSC bought Enco in 1997: https://cdn.mscdirect.com/global/media/pdf/enco/enco-faqs.pdf

MSC also bought up J&L in 2006: MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. Announces Completion of Acquisition of J & L Industrial Supply | Business Wire

Then, in 2010, they bought Rutland Tool & Supply Co: MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. Announces Completion of Acquisition of Rutland Tool & Supply Co.

More info and rumors here: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/what-does-msc-own-237551/index2.html
 








 
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