I "discovered" McMaster-Carr when I worked at the cannery. We'd routinely make 4 figure orders from them.

After I moved on, I discovered to my surprise that their philosophy applies to $5 hobbyist orders just as it does to corporate purchases.

Last week, I ordered $80 worth of hardware and tooling from them. Received it today (normally 24 hour service, but holiday...) and discovered I'd screwed myself by not paying attention to little details like decimal points. Wanted a .505 reamer, ordered a .0505. Damn.

Emailed them about the screwup on my part and could I return it.

Their reply? "Keep the mis-ordered reamer, we'll apply the price to the correct reamer and ship it to you for the difference."

Not the first time something like this has happened with them. You pay for quality but you also get service. Can't recommend them highly enough.

They are great and I love the "retro-future" website.

I often buy screws for optic mounting and guitar stuff and I can always drill down to what I need. Their high strength torx and torx plus allow screws are so much better than the cheap screws that strip to easily that come with most optics.

Funny thing is I end up buying a box of 50 or 100 screws to get the few I need, but it's only like $10 a box.

Their prices are just ok but their availability and service is top notch! My business used them a lot. Had a distribution center about 15 minutes from my building.

I'll echo the aforementioned sentiments. Good place to get stuff. Very quick. Can't complain about prices.

McMaster rocks!

Their customer service is great (as Paul has already stated), shipping is quick, and items are in stock. We've joked at work that one could build an entire factory, using the McMaster catalog as the sole supplier.

And yes, the paper catalog is still available.

Huge McMaster benefits for me are the descriptions at the beginning of each catalog section (you can learn a lot just from reading those), and the downloadable SolidWorks models of nearly everything I've looked for.

They are a great example why I don’t always shop for price. Their service is excellent, and I’m happy to pay for that service when I need it. When I need a specific item like a precision fastener, certain tooling, etc, I rarely look elsewhere and almost never even consider the price. They have what I need, will get it to me quickly, and I won’t have to mess around with trying to buy something else when I get sent the wrong thing, or the item I purchased wasn’t adequately described. That kind of service is well worth a little extra cost.

They definitely have the best website. Not only will they have your widget, but they will explain how it works and what alternatives folks are using.

I buy from them and also MSC, another industrial supplier.
MSC usually offers three price/quality levels of fasteners, and tooling, from the typical Chinese to high quality and premium stuff.

Not to derail with a side rant about Grainger, but the website comments reminded me how much I hate finding things on their site for work. If Amazon can show me what 9 billion products look like without clicking on them individually, so can you. Especially at their crazy prices.

I wish we could deal with McMC at work.

I have dealt with them in the past with no regrets.

I order from them for work regularly. We think they have a time machine in their shipping department.

Wow! Always seen their catalogues but never paid em no mind. I will now, Thanks.

McMaster basically kept the business I was working at during covid in business with their availability of hardware and fast shipping.

I've bought a lot from them, but never needed any customer service, as they always got it right the first time.

Best customer service I ever got was from EMG pickups. I bought some on eBay that didn't work, emailed EMG tech support. They walked me through some tests, no joy. They then sent me some new ones, which worked perfectly. I said I just wanted to pay for them and keep them. They wouldn't let me pay, said to keep them, mail in the bad ones. Two weeks later they said the bad ones were fakes, still wouldn't let me pay them. They warrantied used fake pickups!

Another believer.

Their diagrams for items with exact dimensions have helped me finish projects with better outcomes.

Agree, prices aren't rock bottom, but certainly fair and the service is top notch.

I’ve used them a lot. Only stellar experiences. Their selection is impossible to beat.

Someone here was looking for a very long hex head wrench in a specific size and length. MMC had it in stock and ready to ship for a couple bucks.