I imagine the person was either kidding, or meant that their regional office was closing. McMaster, I expect, isn't going away anytime soon. They are a big enough company that if they were having troubles that were bad enough that customers were finding out about them, then it'd be in the news. However, they are very picky about who they'll send their printed catalog to. They aren't interested in supplying parts as an OEM (ie, parts that go in products that are sold) but rather parts that are used by their customer directly, such as to repair machinery, maintain an assembly line, or build lab equipment. You can see that they aren't terribly competitive on price, and don't have quantity discounts that would suggest they expect their customers to resell them, or integrate them into a medium to high volume product. As such, they call each person that requests a catalog and then decide whether to send one based on the type of customer they expect them to be - though I expect that order history has a large effect on this decision as well. You can see that old catalogs are traded on ebay for more than a few dollars for something that is supposedly 'free' - they are artifically scarce, and yet very desirable in some industries. So he may also have been telling you those things because you are not their 'ideal' customer. Or maybe he was having a bad day, who knows... -Adam * I sat through one of their recruiting seminars and went through the interview process. Very interesting company... On 8/21/08, Funny NYPD wrote: > Is mcmaster still alive? > The last time I called for a catalog, I was told the catalogs are out of stock and they are prepare to close the business. The guy must be kidding me. > I used to buy a lot of stainless pipes from them. > > Funny N. > Au Group Electronics, New Bedford, MA, http://www.AuElectronics.com > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: William Bross > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:10:24 AM > Subject: Re: [EE] Solenoid valves > > Martin wrote: > > >I'm looking for miniature (or just small) solenoid valves that operate > >on 12v. Most of the ones I find are at least $90. Is this the best option? > >- > >Martin > > > > > Martin, > > goto and search on solenoid valves. Lots of > materials / seals / voltages to choose from. > > Bill > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- EARTH DAY 2008 Tuesday April 22 Save Money * Save Oil * Save Lives * Save the Planet http://www.driveslowly.org -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist