McMaster-Carr

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Mr Ron
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McMaster-Carr

Post by Mr Ron »

Everyone loves McMaster-Carr for their quality products and delivery time, but I ordered a strip of brass, 1/16" thick x 1/4" wide x 24" long and it arrived in a box that measured 6" x 7" x 25". I also ordered an 1/8" end mill that arrived in a box that measured 6" x 3" x 9" and a 5' length of 1/2" delrin rod in a 6' long cardboard tube. There has to be a more economical way to ship such items.
Mr.Ron from South Mississippi
TomB
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by TomB »

I order from McMaster Carr very often, perhaps once every 2 weeks. I have noticed that whatever I order it always comes in a box that is much larger than what I would have expected. But I also notice that nothing I get from them is damaged in shipping. Many little things are taped in the center of a piece if stiff cardboard that just fits in the box and holds the actual part of material 2 or 3 inches from the outside of the box in any direction. Their shipping cost a lot but I have to say that is always gets me the item without shipping damage.
earlgo
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by earlgo »

This may not be the definitive answer, but whenever I order something at McM-C and pick it up on site, it still comes in a shipping sized box with all the shipping labels. If you ever get to visit a McM-C you will see nothing from the will-call area but conveyors. I think the box size is determined by what is able to be transferred by the conveyor system with 100% success. No one wants to stop all the conveyors while someone climbs up and dislodges a stuck box. Just my observation.
--earlgo (15 mi from the Aurora, OH warehouse)
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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Steggy
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by Steggy »

Mr Ron wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:50 pmEveryone loves McMaster-Carr for their quality products and delivery time, but I ordered a strip of brass, 1/16" thick x 1/4" wide x 24" long and it arrived in a box that measured 6" x 7" x 25". I also ordered an 1/8" end mill that arrived in a box that measured 6" x 3" x 9" and a 5' length of 1/2" delrin rod in a 6' long cardboard tube. There has to be a more economical way to ship such items.
The cost of a carton or shipping tube is small in the scheme of things. Distributors of McMaster's size buy those things by the truckload and pay very little per unit for them. Almost all of the shipping cost is the actual transportation and delivery. In the case of the Delrin rod, shipping tubes come in standard lengths that are usually multiples of 2. So using a 6 foot tube to ship a 5 foot piece makes sense. It's cheaper labor-wise to pack the ends with cushioning material than it is to have an employee cut down the tube to 5 feet. :D

As others noted, an oversize carton can do a better job of protecting the goods during transit. We regularly order from McMaster and have had nothing damaged during shipment to date.
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jscarmozza
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by jscarmozza »

About 3 or 4 weeks ago I started to have trouble getting the McMaster Carr on line catalog. I tried all kinds of things to clean up my IPad, even going so far as buying more storage; unfortunately and through McMaster Carr, I found out that they had updated their website and my old iPad is no longer compatible with the new website. So unless I buy a new or different device I'm no longer going to be able to buy from McMaster, I'm disappointed to lose access to such a great source.
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Steggy
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by Steggy »

jscarmozza wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:48 pm About 3 or 4 weeks ago I started to have trouble getting the McMaster Carr on line catalog. I tried all kinds of things to clean up my IPad, even going so far as buying more storage; unfortunately and through McMaster Carr, I found out that they had updated their website and my old iPad is no longer compatible with the new website. So unless I buy a new or different device I'm no longer going to be able to buy from McMaster, I'm disappointed to lose access to such a great source.
You've just created the argument in favor of using a desktop or laptop computer for web activities. The browser running on a real computer can be updated. No so much on a gadget like an IPad.
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Music isn’t at all difficult.  All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!  :D
jcfx
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by jcfx »

Even a desktop/laptop will go EOL with the internet, it comes down to when the browser your
using is still supported in that particular version OS. It's worse with "iBricks" since the browser is tied
to the iOS.

This is just a suggestion, there might be 3rd party browsers that you could try with your iPad
Firefox is supported for iOS 11.4 and later.
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Steggy
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by Steggy »

jcfx wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:38 pm Even a desktop/laptop will go EOL with the internet, it comes down to when the browser your using is still supported in that particular version OS. It's worse with "iBricks" since the browser is tied to the iOS.
Actually, that isn't entirely the case.

The browser is tied to the operating system (OS) only to the extent of using the OS' APIs to carry out browser functions, e.g., opening files, sending/receiving datagrams over the network, etc. In that regard, if you are running on Windows (aka Billy-Ware) and using Internet Explorer (aka the virus catcher) you are definitely hamstrung by the Billy-ware version in use. This is less an issue when running Firefox or some other third-party browsers. Despite Windows XP having been EOLed nearly seven years ago, recent versions of Firefox will run on it, as will recent versions of Mozilla's Thunderbird E-mail client.

Your desktop/laptop OS can be upgraded in most cases if needed to support the new and improved browser you want to run. This is less problematic if your OS is Linux instead of Billy-ware. :D
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jcfx
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by jcfx »

Very true, but even browsers like Firefox will reach EOL when it doesn't make sense for them to keep updating
or something changes either on the server or OS side. Which is why I suggested jscarmozza to try Firefox if
his iPad OS is within Mozillas' support range.

An example is I'm using Firefox ESR 45 with MacOS 10.6.8, Apple's Safari browser died a year ago for me.
And FF ESR 45 it's slowly beginning to not work with some web sites, one option is to get another new
Mac with the latest and greatest, or upgrade the OS to a version that still has a currently supported browser
and computer.
jscarmozza
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by jscarmozza »

Appreciate the advice guys, thanks.
John
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BadDog
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Re: McMaster-Carr

Post by BadDog »

BigDumbDinosaur wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 3:31 pm The browser is tied to the operating system (OS) only to the extent of using the OS' APIs to carry out browser functions, e.g., opening files, sending/receiving datagrams over the network, etc. In that regard, if you are running on Windows (aka Billy-Ware) and using Internet Explorer (aka the virus catcher) you are definitely hamstrung by the Billy-ware version in use.
Not quite accurate either

I've got a dozen intermittently active VMs running a whole range of Windows (and other) OS versions. All my windows versions get redirected to third party browsers immediately after init or repave, and the OS infrastructure (including shell integration) all happily use what I tell them to use. I haven't seen IE in any capacity for anything in years, and code I write sometimes uses those OS APIs to access the web. I'm sure there are internal features of the OS that are hard wired to IE's rendering engine or other, but I can't think of any specific, and it hasn't presented an issue for me.

That said, all of the various high-level electronics support browser upgrades and replacements. That includes Android and Apple that aren't limited in any way I'm aware of. Things get a bit stickier when dealing with non-rooted android product-differentiators, but even then you can chose what interactive browser you use, and thus address the original issue.
Russ
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