McMaster Carr catalogs

We submit an order to McMaster Carr almost every day online and if someone needs something, we just go to Purchasing and they "add it to the cart". We usually have it the next day.
Guy brought over the new McMaster Carr catalog (121) that just came in the mail. We were joking about "who uses that anymore?"

He said "apparently some people do, because they sell for about $65 on Ebay". We couldn't believe it, checked and sure enough, there's a bunch on there. Some vintage ones go for hundreds of dollars. Heck, I've thrown away thousands of $$ over the years cleaning off my shelves. :shock:

I'm one of the guys that still uses the catalog. For me it's much easier to look in the book and see ALL of the choices in front of me, than to navigate several pages of a catalog online trying to find exactly what I am looking for than by having to click on each individual part to get a description. I know that's a pretty simplistic explanation, but given the way many sites work, I'll take paper over the computer any day.

That said, have you ever tried to get one of their catalogs? If you don't buy thousands of dollars worth from them every year, you'll never see one of their books. I know when Dad and I were working together we ordered a huge amount of stuff from them. We were able to do so because we had an older catalog given to us by one of our large, corporate customers. Only after we had bought from them for a year or so were we able to get a new catalog of our own. As it stands now I've got one about 7 years old, that was acquired when he and I were working together. I'm hoping to upgrade to a newer one as soon as I can get up with Dad and get it from the outfit he's working for since he 'retired' from working for himself.

That said, I rarely ever throw away catalogs. There is simply too much information in them that isn't available on many of the new computerized systems, especially for the older equipment. The best thing is you don't have to know a model and serial number just to get started looking. This makes it nice when you've got an engine, etc being used in an application other than what it originally was intended to do.

Having gone in with a friend a few years back and bought quite a bit of stuff from an old engine machine shop, I've got more old catalogs now than I can count. Now I've just got to get everything organized so I can find what I need to find, when I need to find it. Once I get to that point, I will have access to parts books from the '60s, that have information on vehicles back well into the 20's. Whether I need it or not I'll have it, and as is often the case I'll have it when someone else needs it.

(quoted from post at 10:34:27 02/18/15) ........

That said, have you ever tried to get one of their catalogs? If you don't buy thousands of dollars worth from them every year, you'll never see one of their books.......

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We spend about $200k with them each year..... And we got one catalog. Sounds like they know their value. :lol: Although, I might just call and ask for another and see what they say. :wink:

I guess I've taken their catalogs for granted because every place I've worked where we ordered from them, we've always had at least several hard copies.

Makes me wonder if anyone has actually bought one. I see all kinds of ridiculously priced stuff on there, some either have no idea what the real value is, or they just troll for anyone will fall for it.

I just got a new Grainger and Mc Master catalog, both went away, unopened.

BTW, I really don't buy that much from either of them, maybe $1000 a year combined. I used to buy more before internet price comparison became available. McMaster is great for hard to find stuff, Grainger is provider of last resort!

Just received a new one yesterday. I only look in the catalog if I need to compare a wanted item to know what to bring up on line. I was about to toss this new one but changed my mind and decided to take it out into the factory for quick reference.

(quoted from post at 12:06:59 02/18/15) Makes me wonder if anyone has actually bought one.
...!

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There are 3 pages of "sold" items ranging in price from a few bucks to several hundred.

Yes I also looked in "completed listings" and found 5.00 sale and a 177. dollar sale . Mine says Mcmaster 92 .

"That said", the catch phrase of the 21st century

I used to have a half dozen engineers who would spec
things using a McMaster Carr stock number and I'd go
to my regular sources and get the part. As a wise
old Senior Buyer told me once, "That big yellow
catalog is a great reference book, but don't buy
stuff from it unless you absolutely have to!"

One place I worked they needed a 1/4"-20x1/2" socket
head setscrew. Doesn't sound too tough... Except it
had to be a certain grade of TITANIUM! Only 2-3
places in the US stock them. It was for the rocket
fuel mixer for the space shuttle. No way would they
deviate on material!

(quoted from post at 16:44:41 02/18/15) I used to have a half dozen engineers who would spec
things using a McMaster Carr stock number and I'd go
to my regular sources and get the part. As a wise
old Senior Buyer told me once, "That big yellow
catalog is a great reference book, but don't buy
stuff from it unless you absolutely have to!"
......

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You make a good point. Our guys spec and buy from them because it's a lot easier than making calls to other suppliers. In most cases, the savings aren't worth the extra time for purchasing guys and engineers to try to save a buck when everyone is clamoring to get their designs done or parts in the door to meet a build schedule. That applies to run of the mill stuff but we DO shop around for mil-spec connectors and such that cost big bugs per unit. It's not unusual to have to spend $400-500 for a single electrical connector.

Mcmaster is my go to place for nearly every fastener and other hardware as well as small or odd plumbing stuff. The prices are fair, not cheap but not a ripoff either and quality is good. Usualy plumbing parts are same or cheaper than Lowes or Home Depot and almost always better quality and far more selection. The website is the best by far as you can search for a product and narrow it down so many ways, say you want nuts, you can narrow it down by size and then compare, or by material then compare, or coarse, fine etc. Definatly well setup

I will pay $50.00 for catalog 121 anytime. just e-mail me.

New Haven, Vermont
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