Anyone know what's happened to J&L?

J&L.I

Two examples of why it's better to source parts yourself and not rely on other or hearsay.

[1] I use to buy loads of gas struts at one time and believe it or not RS were the cheapest at £42 for a pair, On day a set came in with their sticker across the original suppliers name. Gas Springs at Coventry. So trying to save a bob or two i rang them up to see if they would supply, yes no problem but they wanted a minimum order of 10, no problem as we used plenty. Came back with a price of £38 plus delivery, remember RS is free but decided to get one batch to see if we could do better once we ordered. "OK 10 pairs of springs at £38 per pair, I'll order "

"No Sir that's £38 each !!"

When I pointed out that RS were selling them from them for £42 a pair he told me they didn't sell that cheap to anyone, I told him to look at their then site them and put the phone down.

[2]

I also buy reasonable quantities of Tufnol sheet in thickness's from

3mm to 25mm, again I used to use RS who could manage to beat all the suppliers who rang up. I then found Direct Plastics at Leeds who have all their prices on line.

I was then told by someone that they were expensive and to use a plastics company at Coventry I think it was who supplied Direct Plastics. Another phone call and finished up with prices 1/3 above DP's pricing. When I queried if they did supply DP yes I was told they did and they were cheaper. I had to ring for their prices, DP's are on the web .

Often when you factor in carriage one stop shopping often makes sense, also it a different ball game if you are only buying or need small or reasonable quantities. What I pay for one bar of material is nothing like Mark pays for 42 tonnes.

John S.

Ordered some abrasives from J&L last night at 7pm and they were here this moning, so they are definately still working!

AWEM

I could add a third:

1. Whatever option you decide on someone will always toddle along and say where it's cheaper and/or what brand is better! It's not worth getting into a twit about IMHO....

Bit like cars really, buy a new Ford and the next door neighbour will always claim Vauxhall offer better deals.

Julian.

Two examples of why it's better to source parts yourself and not rely on other or hearsay.

[1] I use to buy loads of gas struts at one time and believe it or not RS were the cheapest at £42 for a pair, On day a set came in with their sticker across the original suppliers name. Gas Springs at Coventry. So trying to save a bob or two i rang them up to see if they would supply, yes no problem but they wanted a minimum order of 10, no problem as we used plenty. Came back with a price of £38 plus delivery, remember RS is free but decided to get one batch to see if we could do better once we ordered. "OK 10 pairs of springs at £38 per pair, I'll order "

"No Sir that's £38 each !!"

When I pointed out that RS were selling them from them for £42 a pair he told me they didn't sell that cheap to anyone, I told him to look at their then site them and put the phone down.

[2]

I also buy reasonable quantities of Tufnol sheet in thickness's from

3mm to 25mm, again I used to use RS who could manage to beat all the suppliers who rang up. I then found Direct Plastics at Leeds who have all their prices on line.

I was then told by someone that they were expensive and to use a plastics company at Coventry I think it was who supplied Direct Plastics. Another phone call and finished up with prices 1/3 above DP's pricing. When I queried if they did supply DP yes I was told they did and they were cheaper. I had to ring for their prices, DP's are on the web .

Often when you factor in carriage one stop shopping often makes sense, also it a different ball game if you are only buying or need small or reasonable quantities. What I pay for one bar of material is nothing like Mark pays for 42 tonnes.

John S.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You make my point admirably John, that shopping around is really only worthwhile for relatively large scale purchases.

For you, spending perhaps £400 on one purchase, it would be worth spending an hour hunting around for a 10% lower price because your saving would be £40. In my case I wanted a single 3" slitting saw of a specific thickness costing a shade over £20 from J&L. I too could have spent a similar time searching for a 10% lower price and saved myself a whole £2. That would be an utterly uneconomic and wasteful use of an hour of my time, which I could better utilise working to earn many times £2 per hour.

Cliff.

I hear all the points about time being worth more than a 10% discount and how it`s cheaper sometimes to buy from the agent,and yes I agree it sometimes is.But one should never get into the habit of just using a supplier without thinking. I would rather save a tenner than work to earn one.Think about that one... J&L for example,I use them maybe once a year for something I can`t get elsewhere for delivery tomorrow.I will look at there special price then call them and expect that without trying I will get another

35-40% off. Cromwell Tools,I look at their special offers and laugh.The current rep who really thinks that one day he`s going to sell me something says,don`t worry about the price,I can do a lot with that.A lot still would not be enough. WNT,used to buy a lot from them,not now,horrendous prices and poor rep means they don`t get =A3100/month here if I can help it. I use Licharz Ltd for plastics.I find them the best on what I buy which is usually only a few metres of 50mm dia nylon.They are in Daventry. I buy a lot of carbide from Cutwel Tools.They are distributors for Korloy.I was skeptical at first but they have grades that in the right applications will put the big names to shame.They also do a small catalogue for model engineers with tooling suitable for Myfords etc.They will split boxes of inserts too.The tech guy is on the end of the phone for speeds and feeds.The cat is free and I`m not on comission. John touched on a sore point with steel prices.I used to have two machines running on a job which used 8.5 tonnes of 40mm EN1A every week.Job run for ten years and every steel mill in the place was at the door.With very few exceptions there were only a few pounds per tonne between the prices. I admit I do get infinitely better prices than the guy wanting one bar,but if I was to sell it to small users,by the time I had shipped it and done the paperwork I wouldn`t be much cheaper than the stockholders. As a final note on J&L,have a look at the price of something from their UK catalogue then go and have a look at the American catalogue of MSC for the same item. Mark.