Msc/enco Worried?

Bob Korves

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Rest In Peace
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Ever since MSC announced the end of Enco, I have been inundated with email "sales" and "promotions," one a day, or more sometimes. At first it was the same old spiel, a good percentage off, but a very high (for a H-M) minimum order, the same very high base pricing, and no free shipping on smaller orders. With time, MSC seems to be very slowly lowering the bar and improving the deals, but I am still yawning at them, especially when you really read and understand the fine print:

"*Certain [undefined?] exclusions apply. Discounts may not apply to certain [undefined?] vendors. Offer subject to change or cancellation without notice. Discount will be taken off of current catalog price [which catalog?]. If an item has a web price and a promotion code is applied, MSC will automatically provide you the lowest of that price and the discounted price [no double dipping]. Items are discounted up to the discount shown or to the maximum extent possible for a particular manufacturer [if it looks too good, we have an out]. Receive the same price you paid on all the products you purchased from ENCO during the past 12 months, for one full year [most items I bought from Enco are one time purchases, and I am sure they are aware of that]. Free UPS Ground Shipping offer only valid within the contiguous 48 States (AK, HI, PR and International orders are excluded). Offer subject to change or cancellation without notice [You already told me that once]. Free Ground Shipping is not valid on COD orders. Free Ground Shipping is valid on small parcel standard ground orders for customers who do not participate in any UPS collect, 3rd party billing or consignee billing program. Not valid for Get It Next Day, Next Day Air Saver or any premium air upgrades [we won't work with you on this]. "
Comments in [brackets] are mine.

If you have been to law school (I haven't), maybe you understand all that or see it differently. I interpret all that to mean they can charge me whatever they want, and it is up to me to figure out what loophole kept me from getting the discount (keep them poor and confused.)

Specifically, it says no discounts from certain unspecified vendors, we can change our mind whenever we want to, the discount can be taken off the big book price, which is WAY more inflated than their web prices, no additional discount on discounted items (double dipping, which was the status quo at Enco) and they will only give you the old Enco price on part numbers you have bought from Enco during the last year, and only for one year. Free shipping may not be free.

I am starting to get the feeling, though, that MSC is not at all satisfied with the number of Enco customers who are migrating over to MSC and actually placing orders. They are gradually improving the deals here and there. We will see if they really want our business, or if it is just easier to let it go and keep nailing their existing customers, who apparently do not know any better, or care enough to vote with their feet...

Maybe it is easier for ME to just let it go and find other vendors. I have been getting a lot more promotions from other machinist supplies vendors who also want my business.
 
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"It is not about what you earn but what you keep". So I would move to other vendors who actually provide you with the price/value that suits you without expending a vast amount of effort to see if you are getting a decent price.

I never shopped Enco or MSC (too expensive) as they didn't ship to the GWN. Enco's website was enough to put me off :) As a result of their being gobbled up I have learned about a lot more other vendors such as KBC (who are also in Canada and not too far from me), VictorNet and JTS machinery.
 
Bob
I've been noticing some of this also and wonder about MSC's intentions to keep Enco's customer base. I suspect that they don't really care about us small guys. I still hope, however, that Enco will offer one last sale as a going away present for us (I don't really think they will, though).
 
Most companies want to keep as large of a customer base as possible while maximizing profits. They will do whatever makes sense to them to achieve it. I am sure MSC is no different. This is about how their corporate choices impact our H-M portion of their sales.
 
Speaking only for myself. It may be a good thing that Enco is going away. I really don’t need any more stuff/crap. Enco would dangle that carrot in front of me and then it was history. I have enough for two life times. It’s time for me to take a reality check.

Enco was reasonable with lightning fast shipping. McMaster has no minimum, prices are fair to high, shipping time average. EBay is a crap shoot. The flea market could be a gold mine. I find doubles and triples in my garage ALL THE TIME!
 
I got multiple letters and postcards about switching my account over. I tried tonight and ended up calling customer service. I had an old MSC account that gummed up the works. My email address was associated with an inactive account. I hope it gets better.
 
I wrote MSC/Enco off. The new deals suck. I found other vendors to fulfill my needs and at decent prices. Wholesale Tool Co. has some good deals, but you have to watch. I use the Shars eBay store some and a few other eBay stores. I also use Amzon some. And also McMaster Carr.I just have to look a little harder for the bargains. So who needs Enco .....
 
These business decisions are made in cycles; some bright young person with a freshly minted MBA and zero experience pushes buttons on a calculator and figures out that 'hey, we're only making X dollars on each of these small orders' and rationalizes it into 'we could make more money by not serving this small-order market".

So they reorganize and institute policies and procedures that discourage small customers with obtuse come-ons and opaque terms and a lot of people move to other vendors who are delighted to have the windfall business. Often as not these 'hobby' customers are also the decision makers at larger enterprises - and as the small orders go to other vendors - some of the large orders start moving that way also.

A year or two later someone with brains looks at the situation and says "What the H*** happened to all our small-order business?" and "Why is our sales volume declining and our competitors are serving OUR customers?"

About that time the bright young MBA gets relocated to other employment (where "Do you want fries with that" is part of the script) and the company scrambles to reinvent itself as "the source for all your needs".

I've seen it before, nothing new under the sun except slightly different flavors of greed and stupidity.

Stu

Bozo explosion: The large number of inept employees that a company ends up with when it hires an incompetent executive, who in turn hires incompetent managers, who then hire incompetent workers.

"There's got to be some level lower than idiot." Without missing a beat, he replied, "Management?"
 
Bozo explosion: The large number of inept employees that a company ends up with when it hires an incompetent executive, who in turn hires incompetent managers, who then hire incompetent workers.

"There's got to be some level lower than idiot." Without missing a beat, he replied, "Management?"

"Everyone rises to their level of incompetence"
 
Most companies want to keep as large of a customer base as possible while maximizing profits. They will do whatever makes sense to them to achieve it. I am sure MSC is no different. This is about how their corporate choices impact our H-M portion of their sales.

That assumes a rationality not always present in such decisions. At one time comic books were available in drug stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, etc. Then they decided to sell only through comic book stores and subscriptions. At that time they sold 900,000+ copies of Superman. Today they sell 50,000+.

Schlitz used to be the number two beer brand behind Budweiser. Then they introduced the ad campaign that came to be known as "Give me Schlitz or I'll kill you".

Atari once ran a TV commercial mocking people who still played the original version of Pacman that they had bought from Atari.

New Coke - remember?

Irving Gas, on the other hand, decided that they were in the business of selling gasoline, not banking. So they gave a decent exchange rate on the American dollar when other stations always seemed to screw you a bit. For a chain of Canadian gas stations they did pretty well.


I believe that every business in a capitalist society should have a sign prominently displayed in every office:

"WHEN PEOPLE WANT TO GIVE YOU MONEY, TAKE IT!"
 
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