on the subject of McMaster-Carr...

just placed an order over the internet, after finding that even my favorite hardware store does not stock metric cap screws in sizes larger than M12. I bought a new bumper brace for my pickup truck, as it'd been whacked prior to my purchasing said truck, and was drooping a little on one side. The Ford dealer said that those bolts were not in his stock and were "rediculously expensive" so I figured if I was going to pay a lot for them I'd go ahead and put some stock on my shelves, I'll just replace them with standard 10.9 cap screws, nuts, and washers. (I'm one of those people that doesn't like to replace metric stuff with SAE sizes; I like being able to work on stuff with only one set of tools.)

I'll report back if I actually have an issue getting these bolts, but I fully expect them to be sitting on my porch when I get home from work tomorrow.

I just hope that none of my neighbors get all bent about the truck being in my driveway with no rear bumper on it (I removed it last night and discovered that I had to cut a couple bolts off to replace the brace; thus I have no way of reinstalling it until I get new hardware) maybe I should remove the license plate and tape it inside the cap window...

nate

Reply to
N8N
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Snooty neighbors?

Reply to
EXT

Actually no, most of them are very cool. Only one that I've ever had a problem with was the people across the street who took offense to my truck being parked in front of their house for about an hour one Saturday afternoon because I was clearing some dirt out of my back yard and needed to get a friend's truck all the way into my driveway to load it. Which pissed me off, because I try not to do stuff like that while their friends are ALWAYS parking in front of my house when they come to visit, which I can't get too bent about because it's not like I own the street, but they also park exactly in the center of the space between my driveway and my neighbor's meaning that I can't park another car either in front of or behind them...

It doesn't help that the guy doesn't appear to speak English, nor has he ever tried to communicate in Spanish either. He seriously communicates by grunting and pointing.

nate

Reply to
N8N

Agh, I forgot about the UPS factor. Not McMaster-Carr's fault, save for using a shitty shipping company. Actually as usual McM-C shipped the stuff immediately and it actually made to my local depot in time for delivery today, but when I track the shipment I get a "Delivery Exception" saying that I wasn't present at 7:30 PM to sign for the package... well, I WAS home, and I'm ASSuming that due to traffic and weather the driver never made it to my neighborhood. (I could accept that, because it did take me over two hours to get home from work, and all the traffic lights between Tyson's Corner and Merrifield were NFG... what a show...) But don't lie to me on your web site, UPS, just tell me the truth.

I know McM-C didn't send this package signature required as this one was worth only about $30 and they've sent far higher value orders without requiring a signature before.

*sigh*

I'm really trying not to start on another UPS rant. It appears that when doing business with vendors that ship via UPS I'm going to have to start having the stuff delivered to my office because their residential delivery service is simply abysmal.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

...

My normal residential UPS driver doesn't pull that s**t. She's very good and reliable even though I am somewhat remote. Where I am, UPS is the most reliable delivery service. DHL, on the other hand, is really terrible. Their drivers make excuses for 3 days in a row without attempting a delivery and then the package will just sit at DHLs warehouse for weeks without notifying anyone. Or else the driver will claim to have delivered it when it is still on the truck and delivers it 2 days later. UPS Freight (formerly known as Overnite Trucking) is also really bad.

Reply to
M Q

Hmmm. I find UPS service to be absolutely excellent.

Wonder if it the customer who has a problem and not ups?

Reply to
Duff2

No.

I have absolutely no problems with either FedEx or USPS save when the sender sends something "signature required." That's hardly the carrier's fault, either.

I knew I was in trouble when shortly after I moved I ordered some car parts and came home one evening to find some college kid's duffel bag and steamer trunk on my porch. The name, street name, street number, etc. all bore no relation to my name or address, but apparently the driver just started dropping off stuff willy-nilly. When I called the UPS office they wanted me to leave the stuff on my porch so their driver could pick it up "sometime the next day."

nate

de quoted text -

Reply to
N8N

I've gotten the "exception" on the UPS web site when I've been home (not that it matters with McMaster since they don't require a signature). They claim no one was home, but in reality they never tried to deliver it.

Residential delivery is the last thing they do each day in my area, after all the businesses have had their morning delivery and their afternoon pick-up. They often come at around 7:00 p.m.. If they can't finish by 7:00 p.m. then they give up and try again the next day.

One thing to be sure to do is if you pay for second day and it doesn't arrive in two days then contact the shipper for a shipping credit.

Reply to
SMS

Actually, if you look at UPS's tarif/terms of service

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V.P. on page 34, their service guarantee applies to ground residential or commercial addresses, but not to 2nd day residential addresses. If UPS screws up, the credit is to the shipper, if the shipper files a claim for it, not to the recipient. I am not sure that many shippers actually bother.

Reply to
M Q

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