Enco, a sister company of MSC Industrial Supply, has a dull, boring, and never-updated website. To be frank, I am actually quite fond of Enco. Their site is somewhat easy to navigate, their selection is decent, and the prices great, so I really never thought much about the site itself until now.
Update: It has been more than 8 months now, and it doesn’t look like Enco will be changing their logo after all.
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Earlier today I discovered that Enco is getting a new logo, seen above. Or maybe not, but companies usually only register trademarks and logos that they definitely plan to use.
At first I thought Enco was developing an in-house brand of tools, similar to MSC’s Paramount brand, but that doesn’t look to be the case. At the moment the logo is to be used for a catalog mail order service and online retail store service.
Hopefully the logo, if it does go live, will be emblazoned across a brand new website with a fresh and more useful layout.
Which sites do you love (or hate) ordering from? McMaster Carr is still one of my favorites!
Jim
I don’t really care for McMaster Carr all that much after a set of long and frustrating conversations I had with them via email. So I am trying to order an item as a surprise for a family member and the person I dealt with refused to give me any information at all. They wouldn’t give me any pricing information, an image (even stock image) of what this product looked like, the brand of this tool and even though I didn’t ask for this, for what ever reason they refused to tell me where this product was made as well.
This is after several emails back and fourth and after that, I never will buy from them again. Now I could understand if I was asking unreasonable questions, but why they wouldn’t give me pricing information is beyond me.
If I am going to order products online, I typically use Harry J Epstein. They not only respond politely in emails, but also are more than willing to share information on their products as well. I even received a hand written message on my invoice thanking me personally.
Stuart
Oh yea, McMaster can be a total pain to deal with for things like tools if you want specific product details. I won’t buy metal materials from them either anymore after they sold me scratched and gouged aluminum and were snooty in saying that they’re “meant for industrial applications”.
I ordered hex drivers, wrenches, chisels, and hammers from them without issue. Brands ended up being Bondhus, Armstrong, Mayhew, and Vaughan, so no complaints there.
They don’t provide brand or COO details since such information can vary. No pricing information is weird, though.
Jim
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if my family member wanted those details or not, but I figured he would at least like to know what the brand is should he want more from that company.
I had to learn the hard way though. As for your tools, glad you had no issues though. But yeah I truly to this day am not sure why they wouldn’t provide pricing. I mean if they are worried I’ll shop around I guess I can understand that, but how else would I know much I needed to pay for that item then?
Stuart
Sometimes final order amounts vary depending on shipping rates and how many different warehouses orders are fulfilled from.
McMaster is set up for industrial and commercial orders and so they don’t really care as much about consumers. That’s why I’m so fond of Enco and MSC – they treat me and my orders the same as they would orders of much larger scale.
Jim
You bring up a very good point there Mr. Staurt. Never really considered that before, probably because this all happened some time ago.
Doesn’t surprise me about MSC, I’ve dealt with them before and man the people I’ve spoke to were really nice. Very polite and just a real joy to deal with overall.
I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I am actually thinking of buying a item from the company Vaughn myself recently. I am thinking of buying one of those “Bear claw” saws, but considering I know little about the company, what is your thoughts on their saws?
I’ve heard great things about their hammers and how durable they are, low reasonable in price they are, the strength of the metal they use and on their website, apparently all their items are Made in USA. Now I am not sure about the last part, as I just going off what the site reads, but they sound like a decent company.
Stuart
This isn’t the right place to ask about saws, but I don’t mind. I will likely turn your comment/question into a post when I have a chance.
In a nutshell, Vaughan’s saws are decent. Their hammers and nail pullers are excellent. I am severely disappointed and frustrated at how their reps seem incapable of giving competent answers to my media inquiries and technical questions, but that’s not a reflection of their quality or customer service.
To be truthful I wouldn’t buy their ball pein hammers again for heavy duty applications. With just a few uses with quality cold chisels they mar and damage very easily.
I have a couple of the Vaughan pull saws and a Shark saw, and at least one Japanese-made model. The Vaughans are great for the price, but they’re not the only options.
jesse
I hate McMaster Carr. Totally rude and uncooperative, the exact opposite of MSC and Grainger.
Stuart
Wait until they promise you a catalog and then renege on it when it never lands in the mailroom. I hold grudges. Still, personal grudges aside, their website is top-notch and a leap easier to navigate than many others.
Grainger won’t give you the time of day without a corporate account since they’re strictly business-to-business.
Baji
Stuart, you didn’t hear? With Grainger you can now buy from them by using a free guest account. I’ve done that several times, in fact I’ve been doing that since they offered that program.
I’ve only had positive experiences with Grainger, in fact several times have had my items given expedite shipping to my local store as well. Between Grainger and Harry J Epstein, you can’t go wrong.
mnoswad1
is that gust account for ordering online or can you go to the counter and say “Guest Account”? I used to go to Grainger for past employers, tried to go in on my own once and they practically shoed me out the door. Prices are way over local retail, and nothing except florescent bulbs and spray lube seems to be in stock.
Baji
Mnoswad: Actually the best items are the items you order online. Their website has a better selection of items and while they do some tools, it’s best to order from their website.
As for the guest account, here is how I personally do this. Now due to my occasionally full schedule, I use their “Live Chat” to speak to an agent, but I also call my local branch’s phone number and or technical support number for Grainger. All I say is the following. “I’d like to place an order under a guest account please.”
Now at the risk of sounding rude and I don’t mean to, I can see how they why they might kick someone out if they don’t have a existing business account. Reason why is business accounts receive some discounts and reduced tax rate as well. Can’t really blame them for enforcing some sort of policy.
Now I will admit, some of their prices are somewhat high on some products, but not all. For me personally, I rather pay slightly more to have the chance to order some products that you can’t buy really elsewhere.
Now not that accusing anyone here or what have you, but I’ve noticed with a polite and relaxed attitude, you’ll receive better help from Grainger and they will be more likely to help you as well.
As a generality though, I’d strongly recommend researching the product you want (and write the Grainger sku number beforehand) and Grainger will is really easy to use.
Stuart
It does depend on the store or local rep. Business account or not, Grainger’s policy is to sell to businesses and not consumers. The guest account seems to be a loophole they created, but there might still be a clause in there somewhere where guest customers agree that the products are not for personal use.
Stuart
No, I didn’t hear, thanks for the info! The last time I tried to order from them was a while back.
There’s a branch near my new location but I haven’t stopped in yet. I’ll make a point to do so next week. Maybe even open up a business account.
Harry J Epstein is excellent, one of my favorite suppliers as well.
fred
We do quite well with Grainger – and they say that they will provide rebates/discounts based on your annual spend. Discounts can also be negotiated based on volume of your company business with them. I also buy from a local industrial distributor – where discounts are negotiable based on volume and payment terms (e.g. cash up front versus net 15 or net 30)
jesse
I do have an account at Grainger, and have been happy with their service.
Scottthetec
Grainger in my area is pretty easy to work with. And there are somethings that are difficult to find same day anywhere else in town (mines pretty well stocked). Prices in the catalog are meaningless.
I also like Ferguson for plumbing and Johnstone for HVAC. Johnstone can be more trouble without an account. After a few too many trips, they handed me an application for an account. Ferguson has been golden. Have an account there. Really helpful and knowledgeable staff.
Another cool site is smallparts.com (whoops, they’re now amazon supply). Oh well.
Stuart
Small Parts has really been Amazon Supply for a while now, just not in name. The redesign and relaunch took place back in April.
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/amazon-launches-new-amazon-supply-industrial-shop/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
My needs don’t usually take me to specialty commercial suppliers so I cannot comment about that.
Baji
I can, Amazon Supply is awesome. I’ve ordered from them recently and wow I am impressed with the selection of the items they carry. I received my item actually pretty fast, despite only using the regular shipping methods.
Scottthetec
Here’s another one I just discovered – http://www.drillspot.com. They appear to be a virtual Grainger store. So if you don’t have Grainger account, this would work.