McMaster-Carr

Two years ago I spent a little over $11,000 at McMaster-Carr, no catalog. This year I spent less than 50 bucks, got a catalog. ????

We haven't been able to figure out their criteria either. I know he's placed a few smaller orders in the past but the catalog never comes??

||In article , snipped-for-privacy@noSpam.com says... ||> Does anyone have an extra or older McMaster-Carr catalog? A friend of mine ||> wants one but the company says they don't print that many new ones. If you ||> have one to spare could you let me know the cost? ||> || || || Two years ago I spent a little over $11,000 at McMaster-Carr, no ||catalog. This year I spent less than 50 bucks, got a catalog. ???? I've spent less than $30 with them, and I have gotten a catalog last year, and a new one this year. Texas Parts Guy

Would their CD not work for you?

Lewis.

I wanted to find out once and for all what determines who McMaster-Carr sends a catalog to, and when.

Turns out they are operating under goverment decree !

The weight of the catalogs was causing landmass depressions in sections of the country. Combined with depleted oil resources and mining, the excess weight was actually causing several large areas of the US to sink, inches or even feet in some cases. It was determined that the weight of McMaster-Carr catalogs, along with old copies of the National geographic, were affecting this problem.

They are still allowed to sent the catalog out, but must distribute them in an order that will keep the weight ballanced across the USA. Because this algorithim is not apparent unless you know the exact current distribution of both the old catalogs, and old National Geographic copies, the distribution will seem quite random !

I spent about $10K last year. Asked for a catalog and got a very nicely worded letter telling me that I did not qualify.

I won't spend that much this year. Maybe I'll ask for a catalog again, who knows, maybe they'll send it to me.

In 1999 and 2000 I spent nothing with them and they sent me a catalog both years without me asking for one. Someone ripped those off.

On a related note: I'm located close enough to McMaster-Carr here in Chicago that I can order stuff at 10:00 AM and have them deliver it before lunch time.

That's some truly awesome customer service!

George.

What CD?

I looked at our history with them. We buy a few hundred dollars worth of fasteners each year (mostly stuff we're too lazy to look up with Arow Components) and we always get a free catalog.

If you're in the SF bay area and you order from the LA warehouse with ground delivery, it comes overnight. Rumor has it that UPS fills a truck at the McMaster warehouse every evening and drives it straight to the bay area distribution center so it can be on the delivery truck the next morning.

Amazing! This makes perfect sense! This MUST be why all the used machine tools I want are in other parts of the country. It must be quite a job to keep track of all this - no wonder my taxes are so high.

Peter

they have one of the finest {imho}websites available, very easy to search and order

I completely agree. Their web page and online catalog are the best that I've used.

If you really want a paper catalog, find a buddy that works at a major big name company and have him request one using his company address and email.

Life is getting tough for some of them - so they spend more on advertising. Martin

Oops!!!

Thats an MSC CD that I have.

Lewis.

They are available on eBay.

Thanks, I check them out!

If you spend a thousand dollars a year there, they'll gladly send you a catalog for free =)