McMaster-Carr, +1!

[ChazzC]

They Did It Again!!!

In a good way: I had a question about the T-Slot Nuts I have in my cart so sent an email to McMaster-Carr at 10:44pm EST last night. Going through my 40+ (not counting the junk that were automatically shifted) overnight emails, I saw that McM answered my question at 11:09pm!

 

[Winegrower]

Even living in the wilds of the Sierra foothills McMaster Carr gives "order today, delivery tomorrow". I actually do not know how they do it.

 

[extropic]

I have also wondered "how they do it?". What I have noticed is, per the tracking info, the packages going north (out of the greater LA area) from Santa Fe Springs (L.A.) aren't tracked by UPS until Sacramento. From the tracking info, I infer that McMaster presorts and puts those packages on a truck going directly from McMaster in Santa Fe Springs to the UPS hub in Sacramento. By that method they bypass any transport/sorting delays that would otherwise happen in the L.A. area. Packages that are to be delivered to Southern CA addresses go to the UPS hub in Cerritos (LA) for redistribution. My take away is that McMaster values their customer base and quick delivery is one of the elements that keep many repeat customers.
Massive in-stock availability, Will Call hours seven days a week, very generous return policy and generally rational prices (except watch out for raw stock) are other elements that attract me.

 

[Firstram]

I have also wondered "how they do it?". What I have noticed is, per the tracking info, the packages going north (out of the greater LA area) from Santa Fe Springs (L.A.) aren't tracked by UPS until Sacramento. From the tracking info, I infer that McMaster presorts and puts those packages on a truck going directly from McMaster in Santa Fe Springs to the UPS hub in Sacramento. By that method they bypass any transport/sorting delays that would otherwise happen in the L.A. area. Packages that are to be delivered to Southern CA addresses go to the UPS hub in Cerritos (LA) for redistribution. My take away is that McMaster values their customer base and quick delivery is one of the elements that keep many repeat customers.
Massive in-stock availability, Will Call hours seven days a week, very generous return policy and generally rational prices (except watch out for raw stock) are other elements that attract me.

They have a fleet of UPS trailers lined up at all times, it’s impressive!

 

[extropic]

They have a fleet of UPS trailers lined up at all times, it’s impressive!

Yes. I'm only experienced with the northly happenings, but I imagine they may presort for westerly (Phoenix?), southerly (San Diego/Mexico?) and maybe north-westerly (Las Vegas?) because those are pretty large markets. All of those would remove a huge load from the UPS Cerritos hub and speed things up.

Half a century ago (+) I had a part time job presorting boxes of bank checks at a Deluxe Check Printers plant. They had an area setup as an official PO sub-station. The SOP was that any Zip Code that got 25 boxes, or more, had a discrete mail sack that was subsequently routed directly to the delivering PO without any additional sorting. That sped up delivery to the customer. That experience (along with the tracking info) is the basis for my guess about what's going on at McMaster. Considering how few (5?) brick-and-mortar locations McMaster seems to have, to cover North America (at least), they really do a good job with the logistics.

 

[ChazzC]

Home Depot Just Got Closer to McM!

Saturday, 4:30pm - Laundry Room light out (special 4-pin, U-tube fluorescent bulb); no problem, I keep a spare bulb but with only one arm, we decide to wait until Saturday to change.

Saturday, 5:00pm - Checking Amazon for a new spare bulb; maybe LED? Amazon has a bunch of LED replacements, but all require bypassing the ballast, not a big deal, but let’s check HD & Lowes.

Saturday, 5:10pm - HD has Feit plug & play LED bulb, pick up now or FREE DELIVERY TOMORROW!

Saturday, 5:12pm - Order placed

Sunday, 10:17am - Bulb delivered!!!

Sunday, 11:00am - Replacement complete (hardest part was instructing “assistant” and retrieving/re-stowing folding step stool); spare fluorescent is still the spare, but at 20,000 hours I probably won’t need it.


EDIT: Getting groggy - forgot which day was what - the adventure started Saturday at 4:30pm, and ended Sunday at 11:00am.

 

[woodchucker]

Home Depot Just Got Closer to McM!

Friday, 4:30pm - Laundry Room light out (special 4-pin, U-tube fluorescent bulb); no problem, I keep a spare bulb but with only one arm, we decide to wait until Saturday to change.

Friday, 5:00pm - Checking Amazon for a new spare bulb; maybe LED? Amazon has a bunch of LED replacements, but all require bypassing the ballast, not a big deal, but let’s check HD & Lowes.

Friday, 5:10pm - HD has Feit plug & play LED bulb, pick up now or FREE DELIVERY TOMORROW!

Friday, 5:12pm - Order placed

Saturday, 10:17am - Bulb delivered!!!

Saturday, 11:00am - Replacement complete (hardest part was instructing “assistant” and retrieving/re-stowing folding step stool); spare fluorescent is still the spare, but at 20,000 hours I probably won’t need it.

20,000 is BS, none last to their rated hours. It's just a number they put on.
My son has had a few Barrina's fail. They are not close to meeting their life expectancy. Life is generally longer than fluor, but not close to what they print.

 

[ChazzC]

20,000 is BS, none last to their rated hours. It's just a number they put on.
My son has had a few Barrina's fail. They are not close to meeting their life expectancy. Life is generally longer than fluor, but not close to what they print.

I have yet to burn out an LED bulb, either an incandescent or fluorescent replacement (all are Feit, and the fluorescent are plug & play).

However, HD must agree with you, just received this email:

 

[woodchucker]

I have yet to burn out an LED bulb, either an incandescent or fluorescent replacement (all are Feit, and the fluorescent are plug & play).

However, HD must agree with you, just received this email:

View attachment 513983

I have lost quite a few. Some of them just start blinking on occasion (replacement for incandescents). Others just stop working. I just lost 3 about the same time of the ones with adjustable arms for the garage or basement.

 

[ChazzC]

I have lost quite a few. Some of them just start blinking on occasion (replacement for incandescents). Others just stop working. I just lost 3 about the same time of the ones with adjustable arms for the garage or basement.

Thinking back I did have to replace one a few years ago: 100w (equivalent) incandescent replacement with a huge heatsink that the power company sent us for free. It lasted at least ten years averaging 8 hours a day, so almost 30,000 hours. Newer versions have been installed throughout the house 12+ years.