As a longtime McMaster user, our work recently tried to get us to switch to Fastenal and/or Grainger as preferred suppliers because of some bullshit procurement dick-waving (they wouldn't offer us a blanket 1% discount like the other guys, or something)

It's honestly astounding how bad their websites are, compared to just about anything else, even if you have the manufacturer's exact part number.

But yeah, McMaster is awesome,and there was enough hell raised that they were back on as a preferred supplier within a few months. Like, what even is a 1% discount when it means your engineers and maintenance guys are spending untold hours fighting a shitty website to find that one specific component that McMaster serves you up in 4 clicks?

inb4 coolstorybro

The brilliance of the McMaster-Carr website is best appreciated when viewed alongside the print version of the McMaster-Carr catalog. As a child, I literally grew up on that bright yellow book, since my parents used it as my booster seat for the kitchen table. It is a thick tome, second only to the thinner Grainger catalog, which became the next booster seat after a few years.

Sites like this make me remember the brief period we had where internet speed outpaced website bloat. Everything just loads instantly. Outstanding.

Oh yes. I love McMaster.

My fridge is covered in their magnets

I see those magnets as XP badges for every time I spent $200 and some educational (if often tense and frustrating) hours instead of the repair shop's $2,000.

Thats the fault of corporations and scummy dealers, not craigslist.

Oh shoot. Regulations ?

Oh for sure shop local if you can. I have an o Reilly's but they ship everything in anyways and the quality is usually worse than rock auto.