fastenal

[bmack95hd]

I peddled bolts and nuts for 42 years and knew of Fastenal for most of those years. I was a manager of 3 stores for the company I retired from. Every time we opened a new branch Fastenal would open one close by. Finally one opened up in Flagstaff where I was manager for 28 years. They were my best salesman due to lack of inventory and bad service. They had their share of business but slowly lost most accounts and went through employees rapidly. Most accounts didn’t know who their salesman was going to be. The store finally got down to 1 person and he was salesman, delivery guy, and would put up a sign saying Will Be Back At 3pm. Ha! They closed the branch and mine is still there operating strong, yes different business profile but I retired just in time.

 

[8850dave]

our local store is not open for walk in service , got to order and have order placed in outside box or locker not customer friendly anymore.

 

[moresmoke]

Years ago I had bad experience with grainger. High prices, bad service, minimum order, out of stock. Never did much with them.

I had the same experience with them also years ago. Just pointing out they seem to have turned a corner. Last week I needed some 1/2 keystock. Only place I could find it locally. A bit more than I could have ordered it, but was on hand.

 

[bc]

Stopped by our local fastenal this afternoon. Looked the same inside as 10 years ago. Had a girl sitting behind the counter. Shot the bull with the manager who was a local old timer from town. Place had the usual aisles of bolts, had Diablo blades, and fastenal has their own line of hss drill bits which he said the pipeliners use a lot of. He just spent 400 bux to detail one of their Dodge ram 1500 pickups with 12,000 miles that they sell online. Now they are using ram 2500 pickups. He never heard of any other stores cutting back. I suppose some places could have trouble hiring help.