So, according to you, I should drop the vendor I use now that gives me lower prices without asking, call a rep who called us once 2 years ago, ask him to give us better pricing, then start ordering from them. Why?
We all have vendors we like and use. What's in your back yard might not be in someone else's backyard. What you get next day, may take someone else 3-4 days to get. It's called running a business. You do what's smart for your business.
We order from all the major players from time to time. We also have our "go to guys" for the day to day things. I think we all have those relationships. I'm also so glad to hear that ordering online is so stupid they none of us should ever do it. I order from Harbor all the time online. I LOVE using their online store. Why? Because when I can't recall which product I ordered, the brown or was it the bronze, I can open my order history up, see which one I ordered, drop it in the cart, be done with it. If you think ordering materials online is stupid, I'm not sure what else to say. It saves me time and energy, as I can go right to what I want, lookup old orders, and I can do it at 8:00 at night when no one's there to take the order, I can order it on weekends, when no one else is there. It's convenient and it works.
Silly me, ordering online. I didn't realize I was so lost in running my business. Thanks for the tips, I'll stop doing those things that are efficient for me right away.