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McMaster-Carr

DavidR8

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One of the reasons I asked is because my grinder came with Norton wheels in a McMaster-Carr bag. The grinder was owned by a business so I figured that was how they got ordered. Never tried as an individual. Wish I could see a shipping estimate before ordering though.
 

DavidR8

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Well that settles it...
From Mcmaster-Carr

"Hi David,
Estimated shipping for this order is $19.00; however, we do not ship to residences across the border and require a business or school address in order to ship to Canada.
Tyler"

Now what's stunning to me is that I sent them an email at 10:06 and got a reply at 10:10.
 
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kevin.decelles

Jack of all trades -- Master of none
Premium Member
I'd be interested if they would ship to a border crossing location (montana mailbox). I'm going to measure my acme lead screw and order a couple of nuts to see.
 

DavidR8

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I'd be interested if they would ship to a border crossing location (montana mailbox). I'm going to measure my acme lead screw and order a couple of nuts to see.
I wouldn't unless they will forward it to you from there...
 

YYCHM

(Craig)
Premium Member
Well that settles it...
From Mcmaster-Carr

"Hi David,
Estimated shipping for this order is $19.00; however, we do not ship to residences across the border and require a business or school address in order to ship to Canada.
Tyler"

Now what's stunning to me is that I sent them an email at 10:06 and got a reply at 10:10.

Hmmmmm…… I wonder what would happen if I gave my wife's name and the address of the high school she works at?
 

DavidR8

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Hmmmmm…… I wonder what would happen if I gave my wife's name and the address of the high school she works at?

I’m wondering what constitutes a business address.
Unit 2-900 6 Ave
How is that different from
2-900 6 Ave which could be an apartment.
How do they know I don’t run a job shop out of my home?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

cuslog

Super User
Premium Member
My guess;
Maybe they can tell from your postal code or IP address ?
Maybe you could use a business / institution address where you or a friend work ?
 

trlvn

Ultra Member
I worked for a number of years as a self-employed consultant under the banner "Clearview Consulting". I never incorporated a company; it was operated as sole proprietorship which is the original legal form of ownership for businesses. (Partnerships came shortly after and incorporation much later.) I have a bank account for the business and was registered for GST when it was operating. I suspect this would be enough to get around their "business-only" requirement but I haven't tested it.

OTOH, it was just as easy to get a favour from my US-based cousin. I ordered the couple of little parts I wanted and had them shipped to him. He relabelled the envelope and dropped them in the mail to me. One of these days, I'm going to see him in person and buy him a libation of his choosing.

I would *guess* that a company name like "R8 International" might be all that is required to circumvent their rule. Even better if you had a vanity email address 'david@r8international.ca' to go with it. Just saying...

Craig
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
So looks like nothing has changed. Identical response & company policies that I experienced.

Kevin you can try having the shipment specified to USA drop location, but my bet is it also wont go through same as David experienced. I tried my USA re-ship address which is a streert address not a PO box or anything. Didn't work. My buddy tried his USD CC based in a US bank going to a US address & also didn't work. So we figure its an IP address thing. Someone else suggested trying to submit through some anonymous dark web location (or whatever its called LOL) but that's beyond my skill set.

David I'm guessing the response was so fast because they readily identified your Kanukistan status & they probably deal with this on a daily basis.

Not that I think MMC gives a crap about us, but having it ordered through a US buddy & sent is probably exactly the conclusion they are hoping you will arrive at, because the package gets kicked out the door inside US with no customs/tariff/country of origin implications. What happens between you & your buddy declaration & duty wise is for USA/CDN customs to deal with. The sad thing is, the identical item could be available on ebay or amazon dot com & come flying through with no issues. So I figure I am doing my part to reward the company that has figured it out & gone the extra mile.

On the 'use your companies account' front, again count yourself lucky. A lot of companies don't want the internal accounting headache of separating business from non-business (personal) expenses if they are subject audit. It may be minor or infrequent, but they don't want to attract the wrong kind of attention because that usually involves pulling more records & justifying them if requested.
 

DavidR8

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Premium Member
I wrote back to Tyler at McMaster telling him that the address on my order was my business address.
This is his response.
“Hi David,

Please add a business name to the 'company name' field before placing order and we will ship.

When shipping to Canada, we also cover all the duty and brokerage fees. We provide 1-2 day delivery to your location in Victoria, BC and bill you only at ground rates.

Tyler”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
That’s great news. I hope you give it a test on a small order. So you just ‘applied’ using their web form recently or you had a prior account with them?
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Ps reading between the lines it kind of looks like courier based delivery like UPS or FEDEX. So you might still be subject to dinger fees on this side of transaction. Not to discourage you but hard to say at this point. Still, step in the right direction.
 

Brent H

Ultra Member
You will pay the price of the goods, applicable taxes and shipping - all in US dollars. Shipping for us is Purolator. Last packages totaled 71 lbs with shipping at $54 USD. I have not specifically had duty pop up - probably depends on the goods. I have had items they refused to ship : Anything to Quebec if there is not french on the lable (Quebec issues) and anything the governments are fighting about - like copper fittings or such that they have "anti Dumping" policies against.
 

Tom Kitta

Ultra Member
Interesting! And this is how "Tom Machine Tools" is born ;) Shipping is also very reasonable - they must have a good deal.
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Well I called them myself just now & they confirmed there has been no change to their longstanding policy of only shipping to 'companies and educational institutions in Canada'. She said they don't have a criteria like BN but may 'follow up' with prospective clients. So if you manage to secure an account outside of these parameters, count yourself lucky (or share your secret lol).
 

Brent H

Ultra Member
They have a lot of items - mostly all in stock and some harder to get things that you do not see every day - Like you can buy a piece of cast iron to machine or the end mill to machine it with - but...it is in USD so some "deals" are not that great. Delivery is fast. I use them on the ship as they deliver quick and they sell lots of industrial items. Works well when you are quarantined to the ship and most places up town have to order things in for you anyway.
 
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