McMaster-Carr--says no to Canadians

S

shaker

Joined
Apr 12, 2005
Messages
274
<rant on >
for the past few years i have been ordering some supplies from McMaster-Carr
with no problems ,,,ordered some stuff over the weekend and finally got this reply
"Terry,
We can only ship material to Canadian addresses that belong to larger manufacturers. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Katie"
maybe im not big enought for them any more,,,but the way i feel about them now is no matter how big they are ill do without before ever oredering anything more from them .
<rant off >
any other Canadians getting stuff from them?
so now i need another supplier ,anybody know of anyone who does ship to Canada? mostly i need someone who can sell me stainless steel hinges, nylon webbing(2"and 1.5"),,and cam buckles for that same webbing .
 
Seriously, very seriously, you need to let your member of parliament know about this. Not because we need to be angry with MC, but because this is happening with supplier after supplier, it is getting so it is impossible to be competitive. THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM (emphasis, not yelling). Nobody is paying it any attention. I think the real problem is that big firms like MC, and increasingly little firms also, practice cost accounting, and have ever more sophisticated ways of tracking costs. If they can't make money on this stuff, they will simply discontinue it.

I too am stuck between US suppliers that won't send me stuff and Canadian suppliers that don't have what I need or it is many fold more expensive. If the MCs of the world can't aford to send me stuff because it is a few cents from being profitable for them, I can't aford to deal with Canadian suppliers that were priced 100% above US prices before they suffered stranded stock under the new curency realities.

The government has been spending a lot of efort since free trade and more recently 9/11 keeping things open for the big guys, and not much for the little guys. It needs to be on their radar, even if the problems are tough at times.
 
I just moved back to Canada after spending 7 years in the states. I find myself ranting on an almost daily basis about all the goods and services I can no longer get. I can't believe Canada has fallen so far behind on internet stores and online ordering. Rant, rant, rant.

And another thing -- If I CANNOT buy something in Canada because NO ONE IN CANADA SELLS IT, then WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY DUTY ON IT!!! The idea of duty is to capture the sales tax (and punish for cross-border purchases) lost from Canadian sales. I don't agree with this under normal circumstances (compete, darn it), but when there is no Canadian source for something, it just adds insult to injury.
Rant, rant, rant...:grumpy:
 
Chant said:
And another thing -- If I CANNOT buy something in Canada because NO ONE IN CANADA SELLS IT, then WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY DUTY ON IT!!! The idea of duty is to capture the sales tax (and punish for cross-border purchases) lost from Canadian sales.
Click to expand...

This is a good point. It's YOUR government that is to blame here, not the US companies. I my previous line of work, we found that shipping anything to Canada to be tiresome at best. Duties, declarations, and a notoriously-poor postal system only complicates things for companies who do want to serve their Canadian customers.

I'm not trying to add fuel to this fire, because I agree with you that it is a real problem. The fact is simply that the bureaucratic bullsh*t that Canada places upon international trade does affect American MRO companies. I have dealt with McMaster-Carr for the last 15 years and have easily spent a quarter-million of my company's money there. Not ONCE have they ever sent me the wrong part, nor have they ever billed us incorrectly. MC is a standout company and their reputation is above reproach.

I guess the real point I want to drive home is that time is money to a mail-order company. One small glitch, or an extra 15 minutes taken away from an employee to fill out a declaration statement or track a lost order does indeed detract from the whole. You take a large company that may have 25-30 of these problem orders floating in the system, and suddenly you are paying one emlployee's wages to handle only that particular task. Simply speaking, you eliminate that task as much as you can from the system, and you eliminate the need for that employee. $$$

Okay! I feel better now. :D Let me suggest that you may find what you need at MSC, KBC, ENCO, and then try Zack White's Leather Co for the webbing and so on.
 
Yes, it is our government that is the problem. If what companies have to go through to ship to Canada is anywhere near as complex as moving a household of belongings to Canada, I don't blame them for not wanting to.

Moving from Canada to the States? Show up at the border with proper ID.
Moving from the States back to Canada? Well...there's this form and that form and the other forms and this agency says this and that agency says that and customs brokers and 72 hours border notice for autos and a detailed list of items and serial numbers and cost and how long have you owned it and keep all this documentation for 7 years in case we want to go over it again and...and...and...
 
+1 with what Jeff Higgins said. It's a real PITA sending anything to Canada.

I quit taking orders from Canada years ago as several were "confiscated" in customs. I'm pretty sure this was done to enlarge some officials collection and not a damn thing I could do about it. They weren't returned to me, that's for sure and the customer never got them either.
I stopped taking orders right after that.

It's amazing that we can't send anything to mexico or Canada without all the declarations, etc. but they can ship anything they want here without any troubles at all.

If Canada would move away from socialism to more open free enterprise system, the troubles would probably stop.

NAFTA seems one sided to me.

You might try MSC for your needs. They have always been one of the friendliest comapanies I've ever dealt with plus they get your order right out.

They don't care if it's a 10K or a $10 dollar order.
1-800-645-7270 and ask for their free catalog(the big book).
 
now that the liberals are out... there maybe just a faint flicker of hope to repair things.....maybe weed out some of that socialist crap

i wouldn't hold my breath, though
 
In my trade we have a lot of canadians come down and work in the U.S. but when we try to go up there to work it is a totally different story. I think someone from a third world country would have a better chance.
 
My sympathies to you Canadians!
I recently sent a package to Canada, and presumably, Canada Customs
[or is it now called, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)?] tore open the package, damaged some items, and returned it. :mad: I have heard of others having their package contents confiscated. :grumpy:

The only Canadian political party I see worth voting for is the CHRISTIAN HERITAGE PARTY. :thumbup:
 
Thing that really burns me is they i have bought lots of things from them before. If they had a recent change in their policy about shipping to Canada ,,,and more to the point shipping to me they could have sent me an email at that time telling me they no longer will ship to me before dropping this bomb on me when i need something . No matter where i am and where they are is seems to be bad business to me . They had no trouble making money off me for years . In the past I have shipped things to the USA with no problems,,and i have bought lots of things from the USA again with no problems .
MSDIRECT has returned my email telling me that while their website cant process an order to outside the USA,,all i have to do is phone or fax and they will be happy to do business with me
thanks to the poster who gave me that name
The point of this thread is not to bash the USA or to bash Canada,,it all about bashing McMASter-carr *BASH*
 
It is easy to blame ecvery thing on socialism but in regards to certain services it really doesn't apply. The problem we have had in Canada and always will have is that our consumer base isn't large enough. the market doesn't interest companies since our population is less then some states. The postal service here doesn't even try and improve service becuase there is no competition UPS and Purolator realize the market is too small so they don't even under cut each other.

I have had to send packages on a number of occasions to the states and filled out lots of documents the difference being is when your services screw up they are held accountable here there seems to be very little and growing to be even less we can do about appealling bureaucratic decissions. We should be a little more American in that way and dump some damn tea intot hte harbour to get some attention . When a customs package goes missing we should ask for all the propper paper work to be filled out and then even make a bigger noise to our members of parliment.

A
 
canranger said:
It is easy to blame ecvery thing on socialism but in regards to certain services it really doesn't apply.
Click to expand...

I agree. The consumer base is a problem, but the biggest problem IMHO is protectionism. The fact is, in many ways, the U.S. is far more socialistic that Canada. Economic and social controls in the states are far more pervasive (again, largely because of the population differences). But Canada, in trying to "protect" Canadians and Canadian businesses, and "protect" the costly social programs, end up harming both Canadian consumers and businesses and, ultimately, their own tax base.
 
Actually the problem is worse, if it was just BS or bad government officials, or a bad postal service (Not really), then it would be simple to fix, that isn't the main problem. It's what Jeff and others have said about the frictional cost of doing business up here:

"One small glitch, or an extra 15 minutes taken away from an employee to fill out a declaration statement or track a lost order does indeed detract from the whole."

I would add that these days they can tell if it is an extra 15 seconds...

You could call it laziness, in a way, like if you eat every meal at the drive-in, all of a sudden the idea of planting and digging up some vegetable on your own seems insanely onerous. Canada is not more difficult to deal with than most countries, certainly no more difficult than dealing with the US, but what has changed is that the dealing back and forth within the US is so much easier, who wants to bother with nickel and dime orders to Canada. And Canadians, through the internet, or reality TV, or whatever are learning how much easier it is in the US.

That's why this is a real serious problem that requires the attention of the Government. I don't see it as a partisan issue, since neither party has ever said a word about it, and they need to be educated. I don't see it getting better for a long while with the border situation set to get worse.

As far as Canada US is concerned there isn't any duty.
 
if your talking about laziness....... ACKLAND GRAINGERS won't sell products to me anymore... why.. because they can now only sell to businesses in canada and not the public.... reason being is that their products don't have the appropriate safety stickers and warnings...... wtf ????

I don't care if my files and sand paper have safety warnings.... or anything else for that matter.

there is this deepening devide between the " haves" and " have nots " ... it seems like any little bit of freedom taken away is really starting to hurt...
- and Canadian gov't loves to run through these kinds of laws.....
civil liberty..... whats that??
 
I have shipped stuff to many countries and the only one I have had problems with was Canada.
Back in 2000 or 2001 I have had a liner lock folder confiscated at customs due to being a "gravity knife" and am pretty sure it is "gravitanting" on some Customs officer´s belt since.
I will still ship to Canada but when it is a folder - any folder, I let interested party know about this before buying.
 
There is a lot of negative in this thread -and I agree that there does seem to be a trend developing - but we have to acknowledge that the norm is by far the opposite. Almost all the companies I deal with stateside offer excellent service and support. Places like Jantz, Crucible, Admiral, Norton, Tru-Gri, Evenheat, WSSI, Martronics, and so many more - all bend over backwards for me to document carefully so I don't get stuck with extra taxes and to ship by my preferred carrier (always USPS if it will go that way).

This is a global economy. If I don't go the distance for my customers, they will just go elsewhere - and if my suppliers don't want my business, there is someone else who does.

I agree with shaker. This isn't about international relations - it's about one short sighted company.

BIG Thanks to all the US Suppliers who welcome my business!:thumbup:

Rob!
 
Rob! said:
... to document carefully so I don't get stuck with extra taxes and to ship by my preferred carrier (always USPS if it will go that way).
Click to expand...

Rob - I've been getting mixed results ordering from the U.S. Sometimes I get hit with duties, sometimes I don't. How should shipments be documented to avoid extra taxes?

Other than taxes, the delay is annoying -- I assume this is happening in customs. My last order to you arrived here in about three days from Alberta, while my last order from TKS took almost 3 weeks.
 
I had a knife sent to me as a gift once the GUY marked gift on the shipping package and the the customs officer charged me anyway even though it was under $60. Why? you may ask becuase the GUY did not write a cute leter or send a cute card in the package to expres it was a gift. Their reasoning is that marking the box on their form isn't good enough they need the little note in the box. And we were suppose to know that.

Abe
 
Chant said:
Rob - My last order to you arrived here in about three days from Alberta, while my last order from TKS took almost 3 weeks.
Click to expand...

:D You should keep ordering from me.

Actually, the delays are almost always in Customs. There shouldn't be any duties on US made items for the most part. Normally what we get dinged for are taxes - GST for all of us and PST for those who live and shop in opressive tax regimes. With the post office, there is a 5 or $6 charge - kind of a tax for collecting tax - but it's WAY better than the 'brokerage' graft that the couriers charge!

You are right, that some parcels get dinged and some don't. Don't complain - they are all subject to the taxes and some make it through. Just smile and say thanks for the ones that get through.

The biggest thing shippers can do for supply customers is to be careful not to declare the value higher than actual and also not to insure for extra. We get dinged on the higher of - the enclosed invoice - the declared value - the insured value - the value arbitrarily assigned by an inspector.

Welcome to the global economy.:)

Rob!
 
Rob! said:
:D You should keep ordering from me.
...
Welcome to the global economy.:)
Click to expand...

I most definitely will keep ordering from you. Good prices, fast service:) . As a new maker, I get kinda impatient waiting for stuff I need to continue on my learning curve -- I sure appreciate being able to get supplies from you so quickly.

But, while you carry all the essentials, you don't carry everything a knifemaker wants (and thinks he needs):rolleyes: , so I still end up ordering stuff direct from the states.

Thanks for the info on customs delays, and the "hit and miss" of getting hit with the taxes. I wondered if I was just getting lucky sometimes. And I agree with you that service from U.S. companies is mostly great. The only complaints I have are with our own cumbersome and expensive customs.

As far as the global economy...I felt a part of it when living in the U.S....now that I'm back in Canada, I feel like I've been cut off from it:mad:
 
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