Re: McMaster exposed - Hardly!

Dave,

EXCELLENT post!!!

It seems this "McMaster is stupid" debate shows up over and over again anywhere technical people are conversing for awhile. It also seems that most do not realise the cost of dealing with many of the "little guys" compared to doing a BETTER job with your "bigger guys". There have been many case studies in lots of different trade and "business" magazines. It seems that for some companies, the ALL customers being always right is NOT the best choice... And MORE customers is not the same as more BUSINESS...

Ballendo

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., dspinnett@y... wrote:
> This is not stupid. It is a huge catalog that surely costs a small
> fortune to keep updated.
>
> I used to buy from them every day, and their catalogs were jealously
> guarded at work...
>
> It is possible to get them, but you have to request under the name
> of a business, and do it during their yearly distrubution.
>
> They have no shortage of customers, and penny-ante sales is not
> where they make their money, nor is it worth their time to devote a
> disproportionate amount of time on customers who will cost a lot in
> terms of customer support, yet get little profit from it.
>
> Their service is first rate, easily the best of any business I dealt
> with over the 7 years that I used them as a supplier.
>
> Just use their internet catalog, and you will soon find they are a
> valuable resource.
>
> Dave.
> >
> > This is so stupid, it is beyond belief! It is amazing that large
> companies
> > have such insane management! The catalog can't cost more than $5
> > to print, and the mailing cost might be $2 (bound printed matter
> is a special
> > cheap mail class). Having somebody look up a product, photocopy
> the
> > page and then put the photocopy through the FAX machine has got to
> > cost $15 - $20 in manpower time! If you do this 2 - 5 times a
> year,
> > it is actually costing them SERIOUS money to deny you that catalog.
> >
> > Jon