Wow, what can I say. I spent thousands there when I had the truck shop, but now I'm semi-retired and don't use/need much. I still have several stacks of their pull-out tray assortments of nuts, bolts, you name it, probably 40+ of them. I needed to fill up the flat washer trays and some other misc bolts so I called the local store, or what's left as the local store. (Strongsville closed a few years ago, then Middleburg, then Brunswick, leaving Medina closest) After listening to a 30 second recording telling me that if I didn't have an account (I do) their minimum charge is $50. No biggie, I plan to spend more than that. I finally talk to a sales person when basically tells me they closed my account due to inactivity (it's been 2+ years) and if I want anything to order it online. I don't like their website (I've used it before) and want service where I can walk in and get my trays filled up.
After listening to this I started to tell him how disappointed I was after spending considerable amounts of money with them in the past. The SOB hung up on me! I went to True Value hardware and dropped over $400 filling my trays. F*** Fastenal!
TLDR. Needed $300+ in coupling nuts for the following morning. 2 local Fastenals turned me down for not having an account. Local HD/Lowes combined didn't have enough. Fastenal over an hour away said they will hold until closing(within minutes of my gps ETA). Arrived to a locked door and sign "closed to general public". 3rd phone call the door opened. Guy checked me out without a problem. He did comment that corporate wants them to focus only on commercial accounts for the profit but he will continue to sell the whoever so long as he has the time. Guy saved my, well my boss's ***.
About a year ago for work we needed somewhere around 150ish coupling nuts for the following day. Boss not knowing what a coupling nut was gave the task of finding them to me. My first thought was Fastenal since ive always drove by one a few times a week and i know they deal in fasteners/hardware. 2 closest fastenals(one near home and another not far from the job) wouldn't talk to me after i told them we didnt have an account. Went online and started searching and if i cleared out every home depot and lowes within an hours drive(literally would of been at least 7 HD/Lowes off the top of my head) i still wouldn't of had enough.
Called a Fastenal for the hell of it just over an hour from home down in Berks County. Told him what i wanted, told me his system showed 7ish more than i needed in stock. Told him id be driving over an hour, was willing to pay for them over the phone just to ensure they would be there. Put me on hold for a few minutes, came back and said i couldnt pay over the phone. Im just waiting to be asked "do you have an account?". Instead he said he counted them and was actually a few shy of the number i told him i needed but i had until closing to get there or they were going back on the shelf.
I arrived less than 5 minutes before closing to a locked door and a sign on the door stating something along the lines of "closed to the general public". I was furious. Called the number 3 times until someone picked up. Told him who i was, that i just drove over an hour there, and that the door was f*cking locked. Got real quiet, heard some talking in the background. My trucks clock said it was 2 minutes past closing and i thought he hung up on me. Another voice says come in and as I'm about to repeat that the door was locked someone walked out. Apparently the guy who walked out was the guy who locked the door early to get done whatever and go home. The whole time the guy i spoke to was checking me out i was waiting for the "account name?" question but it didn't come.
I waited until after i paid and asked about the sign on the door. He blamed it on corporate, that they dont think its worth selling to the average guy when they can focus on commercial accounts which bring in more money. One commercial order which they can load, haul, and deliver in hours profits more than the store front in a week or even a month. But as far as he was concerned a sale is a sale. Priority goes to commercial accounts but if he can make sales between them he will continue to do so. He commented that commercial accounts may make big money but can also lose big money since some locations they service barely go through much of any fasteners yet they are still required to stop by, check the bins, friendly chitchat, just ******* money away and the one transaction with me taking all of 10-15 minutes total profited them more money than many accounts they have in months and that if my employer decides to look for a supplier we will have their name in mind, The way he made it sound i assumed he had to of been upper management at that store, or maybe just not a *******. Thanked the man, Took me both Lowes and finally the last HD before home to get the last few i needed with an extra.
Just to make the boss sweat it out i waited until 5am the next day when i was leaving to tell me i acquired them. He thanked me. Fired me a few months later. Guess i shouldnt of told him i did my part and he could spin them all on?? Was rehired 2 months later. Water under the bridge? Sure, something like that but remember there is only so much water and eventually it comes back around.
