Anyone knowledgable about Fastenal?
 

I have been searching the web for some oddball nutsy/boltsy and other hardware type stuff that I'd like to have. But I don't want hundreds of these things either. I found things I'd like on the Fastenal web site at good prices.

The web site can also tell you if your local Fastenal stores have your item(s) in stock. I have two local stores, neither of which stock what I am looking for.

My questions are:

1. If I open an account online and then place an order, do they ship it to my local store and then I pick it up or do they ship it to my address?

2. If I place the order online and they ship it to the store, do I pay the price indicated online or is there some kind of surcharge for the store?

3. Is there any kind of minimum order size or can I just order, say, one box of 25 bolts at the online price.

4. Anything else that I need to know.

Thanks in advance to anyone with input.

I'd just order from McMaster Carr. They will ship right to your door. You don't say what it is your looking for, but when it comes to bolts you usually have to order at least 10. Sometimes more depending on how large the bolt is. Fastenall is pretty pricey compared to McMaster on most everything.

Fastenal are great people for products and shipping garden tractors, would be a great time to become friends with them.

McMaster-Carr I have a 1930's catalog of theirs that is really cool.

Yes, I've ordered from M/C before and I feel like I kinda got burned on shipping. I think I ordered a couple small bearings and a couple feet of brake pad material. They had to ship from two different locations, so I got two shipments, and they charged me separate shipping on each. It all could have fit in one envelope instead of two shoe boxes at 8 bucks shipping each. That's what led to my question about Fastenal shipping to the store. I have two stores less than 10 miles away so I don't mind picking anything up if that's how they do it.

McMaster-Carr is very good at getting what you need to your door quickly! For me, I've always had my stuff next day via UPS ground. Oh....These guys are GOOD!

I believe the way Fastenal still does it, if you want it faster than on there normal order you pay shipping. But if you want it and will wait for it to go thru store order process than there is no shipping charges. Online order has no tax if you have it sent to house or business, pay tax on it if it comes to the story. so sort of got to check balance there.

Me I always look it up online, go to store and order it and have then ship on there order. for two reasons, 1. gets and working 1 on 1 relation than when I ship and receive tractor thru them it is a lot easier because you are a cutomer with them. 2. if it aint right I can return it for the correct one a lot easier, no return shipping and so one. best thing I can say, stop by introduce your self and get a feel for your store. The people at my Fastenal store are great, they have come in after hours to load up tractor parts on my truck for me because I work late.

you pay for service, or you pay for convenience. I prefer to pay for service, because in the long run you will need their help and they will be there for you

I'll ditto that HDS, my store is in Dubuque and I ordered a bunch of stuff last year from them, weird things like #12 machine screws for the tunnel covers on WF's & such. and the fine thread $10 screws for the muffler boxes. Some they had in stock, others not so when the stragglers came in to the store they called me to pick the whole order up.

Just order what you want, any quantity, and they will get it for Ya!

hdsdcouple, I don't think the question was how good it is to deal with Fastenall, it's more how do they ship, and how many will he have to buy to get 2 of something. Yeah, customer service bla, bla..... I get that. But I agree with the OP, that if I only need 2 or 3 bolts, I don't want to buy (and pay for) a box of 50. I really don't think you answered his question.


Ironman, I do not know how they ship. Where you pick it up, but you could probably call them at your local store and they could tell you. Second, I understand the deal about paying 2 shipping charges on one item. But, when your buying something that has to be shipped, that's just what you get to deal with. Personally, it's worth $8 (yes I know you had to pay $16) to me not to have to drive a 20 mile round trip. You'd spend that in gas anyway.

I don't think there is a minimum quantity. for instance, some items I got were only like 6 bolts of a certain size to bolt a bumper on an old car.

Call 'em!

HDSD, very good advice, thank you. I do intend to stop by there, just wanted to get a heads up on other's opinions. And like finsru, I just want to get a few oddball things to have on hand that you can't find at the hardware store. Thanks guys.

J-mech, I agree with you, but the part that irked me was that I needed the bearings and ordered additional item that I really didn't need at the time because it made no change in the shipping cost on my original order. How was I supposed to know that two items were shipping from two different places. I didn't really find out that I was charged shipping on each shipment until I received them and had two invoices with shipping charge on each. Pi$$ed me off, I only placed one order. It's not about the money. And yes, I coulda called them up and bitched and probably got a refund or credit but I just chose to file it in the "you dirty bastards" folder inside my head.

FWIW, I have bought bolts from my local Fastenal. I had to buy a whole box of 6-32 x 3/8 socket head,button head screws. I needed 8. $24 later... :(

I have bought from Mcmaster Carr, and had very good luck with fast shipping, however, you are correct, you pay a little more for shipping.

I have started buying from MSC Industrial, and had good luck with box quantity pricing. I also like them because, they show you where they are coming from to reduce multiple shipping charges.

Lastly, my local ACE Hardware has a great selection for the emergency need, but $$$ for any quantity.

I am with you Ironman, it has been a couple of years since I have ordered from McCarr.
And they deliver next day if ordered before 3pm EST.
But I do not like to order stuff online without knowing what the shipping charge is going to be.
So I only buy from them if it is not readily available locally.
They are like an ebay seller that sells for $1 buy-it-now and then charges $10 for shipping and handling.

In this day an age it is a business decision on their part not to show shipping cost.

No thanks.

I had to have some head bolts for a tractor last week. They didn't have enough in stock but had them delivered to the store the next morning. Cost me $8 freight. If I wasn't buying the bolts at my employers discount I'd have been just as well of to order from McMaster. By the time I factor in my time and gas, it probably became a mute point.

You guys complaining over a few dollars in shipping cost blow my mind. It's usually no more than a few dollars, and most of the time you can't drive and pick it up for that. I'm not gonna label a company "rotten bastards" or "rip offs" over even a $10 shipping charge. Costs money to ship stuff. Suck it up. :beatdeadhorse:

Right on, J-Mech
You can't ship much of anything anywhere any more for less than $5 unless it don't weigh nothing and is small.

What gripes me is folks (not businesses) want to charge $15 for shipping something that I know darn well will fit in a small or medium flat rate box. On the other hand, it is time consuming and there are costs involved for a business. CCC has free shipping on orders over $100 and we all know it don't take much to get an order up to that amount, plus you avoid sales tax in most instances which for me would be another 7%.

Face the facts This is an expensive hobby if you really love these rigs and want to do it right.

I have a Fastenal locally and the only problem I have is the fact you cannot buy a couple bolts or nuts without paying a 3$ surcharge for breaking the bag open. If the bag has already been opened you are good to go. If it"s a non stock item you have to pay shipping to get it delivered to the store. It usually not a huge amount. I did have a problem with McMaster Carr recently. I ordered 2 5/16th heim joints from them and they were both shipped out of New Jersey facility. To my surprise I receive them in 2 separate bags and the shipping was more than the 2 heims cost. Called them up and the issue was straightened out. My credit card was refunded the shipping on the 2nd one. From now on I will call them in person instead of online ordering. The fact that the shipping amount doesn't show up on the final check out disturbs me and you dont receive the final bill with shipping charges until after you have already got the product. Just boils down to the fact you can't trust anyone.

I do very little shopping locally. I only get 30 minutes for lunch and there is not enough time left at the end of the day to rush around town in rush-hour traffic. About the best deal I have found is my John Deere dealer. They have about 10-12 stores in their franchise. My local store and about 3 more run parts between them daily. They charge about $6 or so to move between stores, but you certainly can't drive there for that. Not to mention Deere is very reasonable and fast if the item has to be ordered from a hub.

Be careful with MSC, they will split ship in a heartbeat. I don't know what they charge the general public but at work I only pay the one shipping charge.

I imagine the reason McMaster split a shipment without telling you is its just standard practice in industry. $10 freight is nothing compared to machinery sitting still an extra day. Don't get me wrong, I'd not be happy either but its just one of those things you have to accept as to how it is. Individuals are such a small percentage of their business, well we just aren't going to be catered to in my opinion.

By the way, the worst I ever got burned on shipping was a part for my grain drill. Package weighed about 5 lbs and was only 2hrs away, cost me $25 in shipping charges. Had to look on the bright side, it was in stock and I got it the next day!

I'm glad you had good luck shipping items using Fastenal. My local Fastenal didn't want to take the time to get a quote for me to send a 3 point Brinly plow. This store didn't want to mess with someone that needs only a small quantity of fasteners. I called a Fastenal store some 35 miles away for a quote. They finally got back to me 3 weeks later. They were the same cost as UPS. UPS shipped the plow to new owner in 3 days.

If I ordered items from McMaster-Carr before 6 pm I will usually get items the next day.

Well it looks like members opinions and experiences are all over the map on this subject. Both good and bad results with most of the major providers of specialty items. I guess if you are satisfied with the one you've used before, stick with them. If not, all you can do is spin the wheel an take your chances.

As far as shipping costs go, I don't think anyone objects to paying the price as long as it is reasonable and up front. For instance, a while back I decided to purchase some lawn mower parts from a higher profile, small engine internet vendor. Their shipping charge was a set amount, rather high, but if your order totaled over a certain amount the shipping was free. My total was just shy so I added in a couple of pre-wound weed-wacker spools that are easily bought anywhere, to put me into free shipping.

So my order arrives, no mower parts, one weed-wacker spool. The invoice says mower parts are "out of stock, don't know when they will be in stock", the weed-wacker spool I got was "last one in stock, let them know if I want other one back ordered". They only charged me for the one weed-wacker spool but you guessed it, they charged me the set shipping charge, about 4 times the cost, for one weed-wacker spool.

They had my email and fone number on the order but did not contact me to see if I wanted to wait for a complete order or cancel. How do you avoid ripoffs other than not ordering from a vendor like this ever again?

With the exception of McMaster Carr pulling that split shipping crap on me I have really had no problem whatsoever with any on line orders. Ironman I guess the only way to get around the problems you discussed would be to go old school and call on a land line before placing a order.

I just got a reply from McMaster-Carr about my inquiry about shipping charges.
The lady that replied claims they are about to ad shipping charge calculations in the near future.

I buy a lot of vehicle repair parts from RockAuto. Some stuff they show is in their warehouse and a lot of stuff they are evidently selling for other vendors.
Rock Auto shows what the shipping will be, where each part is coming from and the shipping cost from each origination site.
BEFORE you place your order.
Doing that allows me to pick the same part but a different brand.
Doing so you can buy the parts you want from one or two originations versus ten different originations.
Which if the minimum shipping charge is $5 per origination site, you can save a bundle.

If you order 12 oddball items from McMaster-Carr you might get them from three, four or even five of their warehouses, all charging a shipping fee.
And currently, they have no way to tell you that on their online ordering program.

I hate to buy stuff online because of shipping costs. If you buy a few parts here and a few parts there it really adds up.

When getting a shipping quote from Fastenal, the stores do not set that up. They have another department that they use. It is called Third Party Logistics (3PL). I have posted the ladys contact info in another thread, I will see if I can find it and re post it. I shipped a cast iron rear from South Carolina and they did a great job as far follow up and keeping me up to date. It cost 70.00 to get it shipped. I have purchased bolts from Fastenal and they are on the high side. If you are not in a hurry they can be bought on that bay site, usually with free shipping.


Edit: This is the lady at Fastenal that I talked to. She handles the shipping. Spring Floyd, 404-346-9175. When she gives you a quote, she will save the info. so if it is something you are looking at buying, you can get a quote and then if you get it you do not have to go through giving her the info again.

Last time I got a quote via my prior correspondence with Spring Floyd, someone else responded from her email account.
She may have moved on.
That was about two months ago.

And I think the shipping cost is based not only on size and weight but how much room they might have on that route.