[dfearnow]

My company is a preferred customer to MSC. We get at least 30% off every item I order. Ive used them for 90% of my purchases. My questions is, would it be better to thin my credits out over different vendors or stick with one? Same goes for my material, ALRO handles 90% of my jobs. I would also like to hear of other good tooling and material suppliers you guys use. Maybe I can pick up a good lead from this thread. My shop is in central FL, but if you have a good source for something, go ahead and post it here. Someone later might be able to use the info. Thanks.

[Lyfordln1]

I am a one man shop(garage) but I use Alro because they have nearly always the best price, especially with shipping included, and MSC, while you can sometimes find a better price, I will have my tooling the next day.
Availability and delivery are second to none.

[txcncman]

If you are basing your purchases on price alone, then go with cheapest price. I value service very, very high and will willingly pay higher prices to get that service. I use Travers Tool many times because when I call their applications people I have gotten the best service for information out of all of the vendors I have used. And, Travers makes custom tooling.

[fizzissist]

I've used MSC for years, and for the most part, very happy with price and delivery... Service? Not so much. They've sent multiple reps out onsite,,, and followup is completely non existent. ... Why bother in the first place??

Phone support on special orders has been terrific though.

On major puzzlement is that MSC and Enco are not only under the same ownership, they are IN THE SAME BUILDING. I know, I been there. So always check to see if Enco has the same identical thing for less. It may mean it's coming from the right side of the warehouse isle instead of the left. Literally.

I also use USSHOPTOOLS for chuck jaws and CAT40 holders, among other things. Their service and prices have been great for us.

McMasterCarr is also a phenomenal source.... Order by 4 and have it the next day. Not cheap, most of the time you don't know what brand you're getting, but the service? How do you beat that?
WWGrainger is another source of stuff... They'll also do "accommodation sales" if you need something for yourself...

[5axisguy]

While MSC does carry alot of items they are sort of a one stop shop. However my cutting tools are waayyyy over priced from them. I use local suppliers that offer better deals and most importantly they actually have applications guys, aka, support.

[fizzissist]

While MSC does carry alot of items they are sort of a one stop shop. However my cutting tools are waayyyy over priced from them. I use local suppliers that offer better deals and most importantly they actually have applications guys, aka, support.

This is a good point.... a local small vendor will also bring factory reps around which helps establish a rapport, ... sometimes a phone call to a friendly tech support can easily offset a higher initial price.

[brian257]

Checked a few days ago for an Irwin bandsaw blade. Enco was about $15 and MSC was about $30. They told me in the past that they price match, but when I tried to get them to match they said they don't match Enco because it is a sister company. What, they match other competitors, but not their own company? Anyway, MSC service has always been good and for all but Enco cheapie brands and sale items their price is comprable. Not sure where each ships from, but to Jacksonville, FL I get MSC in one day, but Enco is 2-3 days. I believe that Enco just has the one warehouse and MSC has several.

One thing with MSC that drives me nuts is that they send two or three emails a week with free shipping offers, 10% off, or some other special. I have to dig through the last weeks emails when I order to see what special applies. I would much rather they just list good prices all the time.

[underthetire]

My local guy always does better on pricing for the like for like stuff. Even with our discount, he was still 20% less on the last mill holder sets. If something is ever wrong, I can drop off the wrong item at his house on my way home and he gives the correct one on the spot. No hassle, and hands out demo tooling all the time.

[TechGuy5002]

Checked a few days ago for an Irwin bandsaw blade. Enco was about $15 and MSC was about $30. They told me in the past that they price match, but when I tried to get them to match they said they don't match Enco because it is a sister company. What, they match other competitors, but not their own company? Anyway, MSC service has always been good and for all but Enco cheapie brands and sale items their price is comprable. Not sure where each ships from, but to Jacksonville, FL I get MSC in one day, but Enco is 2-3 days. I believe that Enco just has the one warehouse and MSC has several.

One thing with MSC that drives me nuts is that they send two or three emails a week with free shipping offers, 10% off, or some other special. I have to dig through the last weeks emails when I order to see what special applies. I would much rather they just list good prices all the time.

Enco's regular prices usually beat MSC with a MSC coupon. Bonus, Enco almost always has a coupon code either free shipping or 10% off. The only time I will order from MSC is for parts that are not available on Enco, or other distributors because MSC has such a high markup. In this internet age, its seems hard to believe MSC is doing well with their high markup prices.

[uli12us]

brian257; Strange, If I were MSC I would say, you can buy Enco parts from us and we will ship this to you with all the other parts you buy.

[viking73]

We buy alot from MSC and get next day delivery, mostly taps/tooling. Endmills and cabide drills I get locally with better prices.

[allthumbz]

I find Enco to be cheaper on the same item. MSC inflates the price, then gives you coupon codes to bring it back down, but Enco still beats them. On service and items that are harder to find, I like McMaster best.


Nelson

[djr76]

MSC, McMaster Carr, Alro are my go to companies for years now. MSC will meet or beat any price on same or equivalent and gives free shipping to preferred customers. Mcmaster has an excellent return policy, just return, no questions asked and is great for technical information via website. Alro has great value added services and delivers next day on in stock items though they can get beat up in price from competitor sometimes, its all how the salesman has you dialed in.

[Packers]

The problem with any catalog house is that they do not address your biggest need as a machinist which is productivity.

You could get all of your tools for free and still be going backwards if you do not have the right tool to do the job

So if productivity is your biggest concern, meaning completing the most amount of work with the least amount of money, then you will need to have someone in there who actually knows something about cutting tools.

Not only that but how is an MSC, with about a million different products, really gonna know what the strengths of their products are?

Fact of the matter is that when you order your tools from MSC, you're just sending your money off to get spent on some penthouse suite in New York city for some guy that doesnt know a thing about cutting tools.

So for what its worth, you should feel bad. Bunch of leeches is what they are

[wizard]

Just don't end up with to many suppliers

A few comments about MSC:

1. Having a web sight and a catalog is a godsend for people that work in 24/7 operations! This means if something crops up at 2 am I can leave a part number and Msc number and price with the purchasing guy in the morning. This means a high likely hood that the right part will come in. This is a big deal. We have considerable issues in this regard and do work with local suppliers. Often the local suppliers can take that MSC number and ship the same thing. In effect the catalog becomes a common reference.
2. Sometimes quality is more important than price, we have found that MSC does well with things like nuts and bolts where other suppliers seem to think you want cheese.
3. Sometimes for things like taps and dies you want good cost effective quality, it this regards MSC has a very good selection. You can generally find the right quality part for your needs.
4. MSCs prices are high, never pay the list price if you can avoid it.
5. MSC does allow you to buy brand names. This can be good or bad depending upon your perspective.
6. MSCs marketing sucks. They seem to offer specials weekly with so many constraints that they often aren't worth considering. More so the offers come via E-Mail with expirations that are unrealistic, often expiring befor you even read them. In the end it leaves you with a feeling that MSC is slightly sleazy when it come to marketing and pricing goods.

Contrast MSC with McMaster-Carr another supplier we use:

1. You never know what brand you are getting through McMaster-Carr, they actually seem to go out of their way to make sure you don't know.
2. Generally the quality is equally good though. Mc Master though is directed at more of a facilities needs supplier rather than a supplier to the machining industry. As such their catalog has an obvious focus that is different than MSCs.
3. Service is also excellent maybe even the best in the industry.
4. Mc Master doesn't bomb your E-mail with offers that expire before you read them.

As to local suppliers we do use them but in some cases they literally buy from MSC or Mc Master. Prices aren't all that great either. The obvious problem is that you need to source through vendors that have items the big boys don't have. Frankly I don't see the service of the locals being that much better sometimes the sales reps are as clueless as the reps at MSC. It does pay to seek out the better local reps though, when you find one that knows his business it can be a significant advantage.

In the end places like MSC are an evil that can't be easily avoided. When you can find better alternatives do so. Good local relationships can often get you out of sticky situations.

This move to minimize the number of vendors worked with is common with many companies these days. While I don't agree with it, they claim it saves significant cash, companies like MSC win big time because they can serve up so much of a companies needs. Thus the unavoidable evil comment above. Generally somebody in an office someplace makes a deal and forces everybody in the company to use XYZ vendors as their primary source of whatever. This supposedly greatly reduces the paper pushing and costs associated with it. The problem is you as a purchaser of parts or tooling often end up paying significantly more for a part. In the end I don't see the advantage, it seems to be more about policy and making one fiefdom look good. So it simply might not be worth the effort to fight it at your organization.