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Where for short pieces of SS 303 four inch and larger bar stock?

scadvice

Titanium
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Location
"Stuck in Lodi", Ca
Just went through a near month long hasle getting two 3 inch long slugs of 6" round 303. Where is the best place to buy at a decent price. Example:

Mcmaster = about 270 bucks each shipped
OnlineMetals = about 127 bucks each shipped.

OK...I can wait a week and a half for the Online order. However, here is what happened:

On 5/24 I placed an order and got an e-mailed the next day stating the material was BO and wouldn’t ship until 5/29. The tracking number 1Z212W130353257816 (UPS) tells the story of what happen after it did ship…lost in Illinois. (This is the real tracking number go ahead and look)

On 6/4 after talking to their sales department a replacement order was made. On 6/5 I again received an e-mail from them stating the material was BO and to be in stock on 6/6. This order finally shipped on 6/11. AGAIN the tracking number 1Z212W130354666220 tells the story. Lost shipping label. i.e. poor packaging by your people, poor handling by UPS. TWICE NOW!


The order came in late yesterday afternoon broken up box obviously re-taped after that and only one piece of material! Twenty six days now and the order is not complete.

I now have to call my customer and explain to him what is going on. Not good, as this is the second time I have to inform him of a shipping problem from the material supplier. He’s, I’m sure already upset from the first time and I won’t speculate on what he is going to do or say to me a SECOND time with the same excuse!

I gotta find me a backup source that doesn’t break the bank. With a 140 bucks more in cost per piece at McMaster that’s not going to work and keep me competitive.

Current status, They have promised to send the missing slug 2nd day air (from Ohio)on their dime. I'll post what happens.

But....I still need a good backup supplier with a compeditive price...
 
Metal Supermarket has always been good to me for stuff like this.

Online Metals has done the same backorder thing to me, so the last couple times I ordered from them out of desperation, I called first to check stock and got a really pissy response. Like I should just trust them.
 
You must have a local supplier of steel around you no? There’s like 3-4 people I can call here in CT for steels of whatever flavor. Sure they take time to ship but it shows up crated or wrapped a thousand times in shipping tape never a problem. If you don’t know anyone around sometimes a call to your local copper and brass or aluminum supplier will yield an answer provided your on terms with them. Sometimes if they don’t stock something they’ll know who does and are happy to help especially when they are your go to for other things
 
We’ve had a couple similar experiences with online metals. Sure it’s convenient to just go online and order ur material but that gets negated when they charge outrageous prices for shipping and takes forever because they didn’t actually have the material... or they cut ur bars at 81” instead 82” so you cannot get FULL parts out of the stock you receive. And when you call and tell them they do absolutely NOTHING to help other than say they call sell you some more.

Sorry *end rant*

We find our local suppliers are pretty much at same price as online competitors but more willing to work with you and can get you free delivery if you order enough at the same time. 100lbs or more gets us free delivery on their truck so there’s no dealing with UPS/Fedex.
 
Online Metals- horrible customer service, decent prices but everything is out of stock its seems. I only use them because I live 5 mins away from main hub in Ohio and they have discount codes all the time.

If we can wait I use speedy metals decent prices but great customer service and everything we ordered shipped in 48 hours or less (cut to size)
 
Thanks' all. I get tied up doing other things and pick the easy path for metals as said then get a bite in the ass. Thankfully, the customer is not in a big hurry and understanding! What a nice change! Most of the time they want everything yesterday even though they ordered it today!
I'll check out the leads...
 
Not necessarily close to you but Alro has always been good to me. If you look at the prices online, they're usually about 30% cheaper when you call the store. Tulsa, OK would be your closest store.
 
"The end of the story"

The final piece showed up last Monday around 5PM. It was suppose to be here early the Friday before. Shipped two day air on their dime. They STILL boxed it in a single cardboard box with paper packing! This time even with the side half ripped out it made it. There were a number of dents and scrapes but fortunately it cleaned up to size... though only because it was oversized.

Thanks for all the material leads...
 
Once your into UPS'ing material you can start sourcing from just about any supplier. Call and look around, many have online stores where they sell remnants at good prices.
 








 
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