[TheForge] Gaaaaaaah!

[John Husvar]

On Thursday, October 14, 2004, at 02:52 PM, Ries Niemi wrote:

> Some steel yards are setup to deal with walk-ins, others are not- so 
> sometimes to get what you want, you have to buy a minimum order that 
> might be larger than you would prefer. A lot of companies want to 
> discourage timewasters and itty bitty orders, but if you are 
> persistant, you can get what you need.
>

<mick_jagger>
You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
But if you try sometimes,
You can get what you need.
</mick_jagger>

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Ries _is_ right about approaching in a professional, businesslike 
manner.

And it might be surprising how willing to work with small orders a 
supplier can become once one or two minimum purchases have been made. 
You become a "Customer" instead of just another nuisance call.

Of course, if the minimum is 25 tons per item, it might be a good idea 
to look around for somebody else. :)

If it's 250 bucks minimum per order, that might be manageable even by a 
small one-man shop.

Around here we're downright blessed to have Summit Equipment and Supply 
in Akron. The folks there are well known for being able and willing to 
handle any request for just about any metal. If they don't have it, 
check back later.

330-633-1717 for those of us close enough to use them. I think they'll 
ship too.

They cater a bit to small shops, crafters, hobbyists, and artists/art 
students, but can handle larger orders too. They're not the cheapest 
place in the world, but it's a lot easier to buy one piece of, say, 
phosphor bronze .020 thick X 2" or some 6AL4V (or is it the other way 
around?) Titanium for $5 a pound than to buy a ton of it at $1 a pound.