Enco, one of my favorite tool and parts suppliers, will soon be swallowed up by MSC Direct, their sister/parent company. This will be happening in August 2016, and I’m a bit upset about it.
I received a letter in the mail, telling me that I’ll get the best of both worlds:
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- Up to 30% off MSC catalog prices – every day (sweet!)
- The same prices I paid at Enco – fine print below
- Low cost Freight Saver shipping experience
- A superior website experience
I checked, and an up to 30% discount has been applied to my MSC account! I had checked the price of something the day before I received the letter, logged in, and saw an instant 30% discount off the catalog price.
I typically don’t order from MSC unless I need something urgently, or there’s a great coupon code for me to use, such as “up to 30% off $199+” or similar.
An across the board “up to 30% discount,” which means “up to 30 except when there’s a price floor on certain items or brands’ items,” will persuade me to consider MSC for more purchases.
BUT I did a chat with MSC customer service, and they suggested this isn’t a lifetime discount, but one that’s only good for a year and is up to the discretion of the local branch to renew.
That REALLY sucks.
When the same item is carried by Enco and MSC, Enco pricing is usually substantially lower, even when MSC has a nice coupon going on.
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Enco HOT DEALS are their monthly sale items, and often coupon codes stacked right on top of the discounts. MSC has monthly sales flyers as well, but you only get the lower of the discounted price or coupon price. Sometimes other vendors, even Enco, had better pricing.
Enco shipping is slower, but they have more frequent free shipping promos. MSC shipping is extremely fast unless something isn’t stocked by their distribution center one state over.
I’m really happy about this account-level 30% discount, but not knowing if it’ll disappear after a year is really putting a damper on things.
That Enco price matching has fine print, most notably:
Receive the same price you paid on all the products you purchased from Enco during the past 12 months, for one full year.
Speaking of price matching, that’s something Enco offered, but I don’t think MSC does.
Enco’s website is really… bad at times. Sorry, there’s no better word. It glitches out on me sometimes when I use Google Chrome, requiring me to clear out the cookies using a browser plugin. Searching can be difficult.
There’s a FAQ, with one question sticking out:
Why am I receiving special pricing from MSC?
During a recent analysis of web purchasing, MSC found that nearly 50% of Enco users also have MSC accounts. Those businesses value the higher functional convenience of mscdirect.com versus use-enco.com. As a valued use-enco.com user, we want to encourage you to explore the multi functional capabilities of mscdirect.com and discover all that MSC has to offer your business, not just special pricing. When you shop at MSC, you’ll get the best of both worlds.
I had great customer experiences at Enco and MSC.
I shopped at Enco when I wanted better pricing, and often bought items from their Hot Deals sales flyer that I didn’t even know I needed. I shopped at MSC when I needed tools, parts, or materials that weren’t available at Enco, as MSC has a much larger product catalog. MSC is also a better option when I needed something quicker.
I can understand why MSC is only offering one year of same-as-Enco pricing on items purchased in the past year. But that up to 30% discount is very tempting, and enough to win over a lot of the business I regularly send to McMaster Carr, other industrial suppliers, and even Amazon. If it too will go away in a year, and the person I chatted with couldn’t provide any certainty one way or another, it’s likely drive me further away from MSC. At that point, business I would have given Enco, and maybe any business I would have given MSC anyway, will be sent elsewhere.
I have been an Enco customer since June of 2007.
Even though I have known about Enco being MSC’s smaller sibling company, I am saddened to know that Enco will soon cease to exist.
Look when happened when Amazon absorbed Small Parts. The search benefits and differentiation slowly disappeared, as did the “Amazon Supply” that was their industrial supply portal, separate from the main site. Now, there’s nothing left from Small Parts, except for industrial supply remnants that sometimes stand out from a mix of hard-to-sort search results.
Once the dust clears, what will be left of Enco? At best, persistent discount pricing.
If anyone at MSC is reading this, I have two requests – please ensure that we all get persistent “up to 30% discounts,” and please keep Enco’s Hot Deals sales flyer going! I’ve followed MSC’s sales flyers over the years, but not with as much interest as Enco’s.
You know what would also be great? A ToolGuyd coupon code where readers can enjoy a similar discount. Maybe “up to 35%” on special occasions?
KL
MSC will price match, you’ve gotta contact them and then they’ll email you a “pricing quote” on your account. It can take a couple days total so it’s kind of arduous. Maybe faster if you just call. They’ve matched McMaster for me before.
Pat
If you were and enco customer, beware that you cannot use any MSC discounts sent to you in your e-mail. We were informed that you will still get the same enco pricing so don’t panic. What MSC claims is that to get the same enco pricing they have to give you a discount on the MSC pricing and because of this, any discount coupon you receive in your e-mail you cannot use.
When it was enco, you got the enco pricing and if you got a 20% or 35% discount coupon, you could use it on top of the enco pricing. Not any more. When will they stop giving you the enco pricing? That will be next. I don’t know how many enco customer know about this, but I felt it should be known if you do not know.
Stuart
Yep, that’s the big disappointment I have.
Enco pricing was good, Enco sale pricing (on Hot Deals items) was great, Enco sale pricing PLUS Enco promo codes were fantastic.
With MSC, you get a sales flyer discount or promo code discount, whichever is greater. I figured that Enco pricing and promo code pricing wouldn’t stack.
I’m really hoping Enco issues a last-days coupon code so I can pick up a few things I’ve had my eye on, but I doubt they will.
Enco pricing brings down the price of MSC items to near where they were with Enco, but I think the opportunity for great pricing has passed. I’ve only seen reasonable and competitive pricing at MSC now, as opposed to their typical inflated prices.
Drew M
I finally just merged my account and I’m also disappointed by the pricing. The largest discount I’ve ever seen at MSC was 40% off and even that didn’t beat some of the deals I could get at Enco. I had my eye on the 6″ TE-CO vise at Enco so I’m not quite willing to pay MSC’s higher price.
I think this merger was caused by some bean counter who realized that in the long run it would mean more profit for MSC. I can’t really blame them but now I’m motivated to find a new source for tooling. I’ll probably still go to MSC for their Accupro line of endmills as they seem to hit an excellent price/performance ratio.
RemMax
I’ve used both Enco and MSC for about 15-17 years now and have been aware for years they were the same warehouse. Never did understand why MSC carried a few items like metric drill rod that Enco didn’t but mostly why MSC has always been so much higher on ordinary items I go through frequently (is. 1/4″ carbide end mills) I mostly use smaller end mills for what I do but they really spread in prices when you got to things like 5/8″ Colbalt Ball End Mill! Sure hate to see the Enco name and prices go but figures they would keep the name with the higher priced even though Enco was better liked in general by everyone I know using these type tools
Guess now I’ll have to look and see if I can find someplace with better prices, with Enco prices were hard to beat. With MSC…… Well, Not so much so
I know I’ll miss Enco in the future!
(Plus can’t even get MSC’s web site to work tonight!). ?
RemMax
Cabbage Stack
I think MSC has the most retarded or half-baked search functions on their website. I spend 45 minutes searching for items. Back in the day I could get the a physical Big Book find what I need in 5 minutes. On many many items now there aren’t enough filters to truly refine your search. Soooo – I have to scroll through page after page after page. I also found that Grainger website search functions can be just as brain-damaged. I bet if the CEO had to find stuff on a regular basis it would change damn fast! I find McMaster to be the least retarded. What it boils down to: they are OK IF YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR BY PART NUMBER. Otherwise it’s a PITA a lot of times. Wish I could make the CEO look for stuff 15 times a day, 5 days a week for six months.
brad
The Enco MSC merger was a huge disappointment and handled very poorly with misleading, arguably totally false, communications to Enco customers. Enco was a great brand and company for the primary market it served. I have written Enco/MSC and have not received any response for my concerns.
I have suspended all orders to MSC and will not be a customer going forward. There are plenty of other suppliers that will work for your business other than MSC without trying to be greedy and slide a 20% average price increase through from a poorly and poorly handled management decision.
The absolute best thing MSC could do, is bring back Enco..bring back the fairly crappy Enco website, bring back the hot deals and near constantly updated super discounts, apologize and give a 40% off + free shipping coupon to all Enco customers for a 6 month period. That is going to cost MSC some $, but frankly, I think that is about the only way they will be able to recover from such a poor decision.
Stan Losh
Enco lost me as a customer when they quit printing the big catalog. not only is the website a bit_h. to use but everyone doesn’t have a fast as all get out wifi connection in the shop. I could flip through the catalog in minutes and make an order large enough to get free shipping but if I have to wait for pages to load then I’m going to search ebay and amazon first and get free shipping.
KenF
I just can’t afford MSC’s higher prices. I was looking for a quick change tool post, but I can’t afford $400+ for one. I could have bought one from ENCO for a little over $100. Heck, I have a vertical mill, I’ll just make my own! And I won’t pay MSC’s prices for my dovetail cutters either! I can get a lot of cutters for my end mill cheaper locally. I also sharpen my own cutters.
Josh
Who are you all using for your suppliers now? I haven’t bought anything since enco was killed off, as the deals with MSC were never comparable to enco’s deals.
Stuart
MSC, McMaster, Zoro.
I haven’t found any deals as good as Enco’s, but what can you do?
Chris Valente
I found good discounts at Machine Shop Discount Supply or Shars. I was literally pissed that MSC absorbed Enco then jacked up the prices. I NEVER ordered anything from MSC as they were higher than even McMaster-Carr. I’ve been an Enco customer since the late 70’s. I couldn’t be more disappointed!
Mark
I used to buy my 64 1/2″ long metal band saw blades from Enco for a little over $5 apiece. Now that MSC has done away with Enco, the price has more than tripled for the same item. Screw them. I’d keep buying my blades at Harbor Frieght like I’ve been doing lately.
David Ing
WOW
Just found out about the merger.
At first glance it would appear that pricing just tripled.
RIP Enco
Chris Valente
NOT HAPPY! So sorry to see the merger. MSC dropped many of the items that Enco carried and the ones they did keep have doubled in price. MSC is more expensive than even McMaster-Carr. I started using SHARS and Machine Shop Discount Supply for my shop, between the two, I can usually find what I used to buy from Enco at about the same price. I saw nothing “special” about MSC’s special pricing.
Dr. Sanford Miller
It’s all greed, my friends, and MSC could care less about your complaints about their pricing of goods, or anything else. Enco sold the same exact drill bits (just as an example) as MSC, but MSC somehow figured that they were more ‘elite’ than Enco, even though they owned it, and they did convey this image to buyers such as the US Government (your tax money) and many other companies that were being contracted by Uncle Sam to produce goods for the ‘well being’ of its’ citizens.
In other words, it’s really called ‘supply and demand,’ but it also boils down to the people that buy from MSC, like deep pockets such as those who are employed by the USGovernment and who could give a shit less on how much they spend the US taxpayer’s money. That said, companies like MSC and the like, charge whatever they wish, and you can pay it or not. They don’t care. They are supported by the likes of the US Government. You try and get the same US Government purchase prices and see what happens. And now you know the rest of the story. Don’t expect any deals with MSC unless you are a Fortune 500 company.
Mark Croxdale
Yes, I was/am really ticked off about Enco getting swallowed up by MSC. MSC pricing is far and away higher than Encos ‘ every day of the week. I had to go through them to get parts for my metal horizontal/vertical band saw. I was quoted $138.00 and was told that the most important piece was on the boat headed this way and it would be 4 to 6 weeks. At 5 weeks I called MSC to check on the parts and was told, once again, “the parts are on the boat and headed this way so expect 4 to 6 weeks for delivery”. I cancelled my order, went to Harbor Freight and bought the same machine w/ a 30% discount given by the store manager at time of sale. I keep wishing that I can find some other place to buy the necessary parts when I have a failure. Does anyone know where you can buy parts for Enco at a reasonable price.
Greg Gillespie
Bullshit! MSC Sucks. They buy out competition and jack up the prices. Then only give discounts to high volume buyers and you still have to beg for better prices. I used to be a very active customer with J&L, and ENCO. I wont buy anything from Price Gouger MSC. Rex supply , Travers and Peen Tool are my go to supplier. $#%&@?+** MSC!
Lee Robinson
I was shocked to find ot ENCO was eaten ny MSC! I have a small bench bandsaw, called a model 100 by ENCO and now need new “tyres” for my pulleys and can’t figure where to go. I’ve had this little gem for about 40 years, and it still works great. Any ideas anybody?? Lee Robinson W. Palm Beach.
Rita McGraw
Hi I have a gift miniature trowel that was given to my Aunt many years ago I do not have a date. The trowel (I think that is what it is, it is brass and comes to point and has a wooden handle.) The wording on the brass part says “TO CEMENT OUR FRIENDSHIP ENCO SUPLY CO. INC. LANSFORD, PA” . Can you tell me any thing about this type of gift? Did ENCO make a habit of doing this type of thing? Are there any records of who would have received these. Any other information you need please let me know. I am thanking you in advance for your help.
Stuart
I’m sorry, I don’t have any information or insights that can help you with this.
Rita McGraw
Well, thanks just the same.