Dear Triembeders, Twenty five years ago when I finally pursued a life long
goal of getting into amateur radio some of my "ham" buddies who had more loose
change than me uttered two words any time the subject of obtaining a fastener
or raw construction material came up: McMaster Carr. Fast forward to earlier
this year when I decided to become active with the hobby again (albeit with a
single HF band and limiting myself to "low power", defined in most contest
rules as up to 100 watts). Anyway, I'm preparing to make a series of custom
yagi antennas, and if you want these to "stay in the air" for more than a few
months before turning into lumps of corrosion, you stay away from the
inexpensive but metalurgically challenged stuff at Home Depot or Lowes. For
instance, even just saying "stainless steel is the last word" only buys you X
years of trouble free service, but if you want to solve for X and ensure it's a
large number, you look for a stainless called "316". But I digress. For all
these years I'd always had one excuse or the other to go to HD or Lowes, order
somebody's pig in a poke off Ebay, etc. But this time I've been systematic. I
found 120 SS 316 hose clamps through Amazon, but some very specific size U
bolts were pure unobtainium until I remembered McMaster Carr. You know that
scene in "The Matrix" when Neo needs some weapons and a set of endless rows of
shelves of stuff is conjured instantly? That's what the McM web site is like.
If you can imagine it and it is not a full custom thing, that thing is there.
This is only a slight exaggeration (and I haven't seen evidence of gaps in
their inventory yet). But the real reason I'm writing is about the ordering
and fulfillment process. It is, in my opinion, light years ahead of Bezo's
wildest dreams. Amazon is a sparse matrix, and not just sparse, but mercurial
to a sometimes maddening degree (and I'm of course talking pre-catastrophe).
With my two orders so far, not only is it close to "one click", the
fulfillment is rocket sled fast. They don't offer me endless, dynamic choices
and offers of points or money for this or that one: there is no choice unless,
I guess, if I dig in and click around, call them, etc. Instead, similar to with
some electronics distributors, the final shipping (and tax and tarrif) details
catch up with you later. With McM the stuff simply appears, fast. And finally,
there's the old adage that "you get what you pay for". With McMaster Carr you
not only get what you pay for, but you sometimes get the pedigree. Picture my
surprise to get the chemical analysis details and photocopies of inspection
signatures (yes, multiple) and attestations of the origins and processing
history of my item. Say what? I guess these folks serve some very picky
customers! Now I'm sure my first two orders are well within the beginner's
luck zone. But all of this has been by way of saying if anybody on this list
asks about finding an unusual fastener, piece of sheet aluminum, etc, I have
just two words for you. :-)Pete
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