[Starman]

I have been doing business with McMaster-Carr for about 15-20 years now and have nothing but good things to say about them. I first started doing business with their Chicago office before they built a warehouse here in Atlanta. I was always impressed with how friendly and courteous their telephone order-takers were. They always went out of their way to help me and gave me as much time on the phone as I needed.

I now do business with the Atlanta office and the same holds. They must have a fantastic corporate culture. Everyone is very professional, but very helpful, looking out for my interest and making sure I have just what I need. I often pick up my orders at will-call, especially when I worked close to the warehouse. Once I ordered the wrong bolts, so when I went by to pick up the order, I told them what I had done and they immediately changed the order, called up to have the right bolts sent down, and had me out of there in no time. All this happened while the place was going nuts around me because UPS was on strike and they were looking for other ways to get their orders out (at any one time, there will be a half-dozen UPS tractor-trailers backed up to the doors being filled with orders on a normal day, so you can imagine how a strike would disrupt operations). Anyway, they went out of their way to make sure my $6.00 order was correct, even when I had made the mistake on it.

Getting a catalog is difficult, but if they have them in stock and I need a new one, they will usually give me one. If you ask at the wrong time of year, however, they will be out. I find it necessary to have a paper catalog, since they have so many things I don't even know exist. I leaf through the catalog until I find something that will do the job I need. It's amazing what they have that I can use for something besides what the item was designed to do. Or else I will find something better than what I was going to use.

In my book, they can't be beat. I also do a lot of business with Grainger and have had good luck with them. If you are associated with a school system, contact someone in the purchasing or maintenance departments to see if you can use their catalog or have an old one. I'll bet they have some.