[R-390] Slightly OT: Good Service

[Tim Shoppa]

Tom Norris <r390a at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> They have great service, and they have EVERYTHING!
>
> The only thing they've not had that I've wanted is a *PRINT CATALOG*   
> While the web site is very good, sometimes it's nice to have paper in  
> your hands to be able to flip through to see what it is you're  
> looking for.  This year it'll be 6 years of trying every 6 months of  
> asking.

Cribbed from a Usenet thread by Scott Moore:

   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 !

More seriously, McMaster has some competition from MSC etc., and MSC
is much more liberal with their catalogs. My buys from them come
to maybe $100-$150 a year and they sent me their big catalog (I could
see the UPS truck come up on its springs a little bit when he put
it on the hand truck and wheeled it to my door.) Their website
( http://www.mscdirect.com/ ) isn't quite
as useful as McMaster-Carr's but it's close. I get next day delivery
from either of them most of the time (but occasionally something
will have to come from the left coast and take a whole week to get
here.)  MSC sends me 10 and 20 percent coupons every
couple of months.

But... MSC doesn't have spline keys! They don't have quite the
selection of oddball fasteners. They have a bit more of a machine
tool orientation (not that McMaster is a weakling in that area
either.)

Tim.