Seems very odd that a shipment could be dropped off without a bill of lading. The paperwork has to be in hand as the local shipping store would not know who is paying for the shipping. That being the case, there has to be a paper trail and a control number that can be tracked.
I purchased my first 392 Hemi from IL and it was shipped through Fastenal Pekin IL to Dover NH cost $172.83 insured at $4000. It took 3 days when they called I borrowed a truck and picked it up . The nearest Fastenal with a fork lift(gas) was 35 miles away and fine by me. On average I have been paying $300 for shipping engines. This could be my last engine and I am happy.
How long ago was all this? When I first started using Fastenal five years ago, the service and prices was excellent. In the past year, the prices have gone through the roof and the service sucks. My package was delivered to a store in California on March 4th. On the 16th, they informed me that all items in transit would still be delivered to the store to which they were originally sent, but my package is on a permanent hold until further notice. Oh, and by the way, we have no idea where your package is. What am I suppose to think? I will not be using Fastenal going forward. Good luck to you who want to roll the dice.
UPDATE: No less than thirty seconds after I posted my last comment I got a call from Fastenal. My bumper came in. The girl working at the store told me she had never seen anything like it. Evidently, my bumper arrived with no tracking in the system. I don't care. I'm super happy that I have it. Got a fork? I'll eat some crow.
You don't need to eat crow, you still had a crappy experience and wanted everyone else to know about it. I can tell you I won't be using Fastenal for shipping.
Happy that you got your bumper, people need to remember that there is no shipping company with a perfect record. There are a lot of happy customers with them and other companies that have unhappy customers as well, so everyone has to decide for themselves which shipper to use. By the way, I have no dog in this fight, just saying!
Buzz, glad that worked out for you, Still remains a mystery to me how this happened but that is how it goes at times.
I must say this went fairly easy. The gentleman that bought the HEMI had an account w/Fastenal. I put it on a pallet, strapped it down & took to Fastenal with the paper work he provided, backed the trailer up to the dock & they picked it up w/forklift. He let me know it arrived safely & he was happy - me, too!!
I've explained it like this, in the past: Fastenal is NOT a shipping business. They utilize their infrastructure for people to ship at somewhat of a value. There are issues with their model because the priority is to move THEIR goods, not yours. Some Fastenals have a person sitting in an office somewhere who you call and they can coordinate the job and price it out. Others you just have to use the website (only done that once). Now, because it's not a shipping place, you must pack, crate, pallet the items. They don't have packing supplies because let me reiterate this... that shipping part of their business is just to fill space in a truck. If you had 10k widgets to sell, and it took up a whole truck, they likely couldn't help you. Time is also an issue. I sold something to a guy in TX and he wanted Fastenal. The problem was (well, I thought it was a problem) it was going to take approximately 2 weeks to get it there. They were about as sure as I was on that timeline. I brought it over to UPS freight, they forked it off and it was there in like 4 days. I remember that it wasn't much more of a cost. Just like using Greyhound, I have had some items get misplaced. I can't say lost because they did show up, eventually, when some manager realized there was an out-of-place crate sitting in their way. I have actually paid to have items crated either because of time or it was part of the deal and I've had that were hit-or-miss. It took a few tries but I have a good shop, now, that does crating whenever I need it. They aren't cheap but they are worth it... but I never had that luxury when I lived in a small town. So, I'd hop on YouTube and look up building a crate if that's a necessity. Lastly, there have been a handful of times that Fastenal price absolutely crushed the others. The only thing I can think of is it must've been the right route, right time, right load.
Careful with YRC. There was a thread earlier about their terrible service since the two companies merged.
Well, Based on this glowing recommendation, I went into Dunn Lumber last week, and because Home Depot was out of the landscape timbers I needed. I called Dunn first to confirm they had what I needed; they had the timbers at $3.10 a linear foot. I'm used to buying lumber for "X" amount, not "linear feet" (I'm not a carpenter, just your average home owner and gear head), but OK, I can go with the flow. Went in, and WAITED for the 6 or 7 counter people to acknowledge my presence, and I had to go around the counter to them (this seems familiar). Paid for the ;umber and a couple of other items, and went out to the yard. While I'm untangling my rope, the two lot guys loaded up my P/U truck, and I did't need the rope as the timber fit into the bed. I did't pay any attention due to the rope untangling, and THE speed they loaded the truck up. Got home, and every single timber, all eight of them, are busted up, knotted, split, chunks missing, POS lumber I have ever seen for sale. And then, I look at the MAIN sales slip to see I paid more than quoted, and the itemized slip is someone else's, so I called the store for a conversation with the manager. Turns out, they gave me the wrong timbers, along with the wrong itemized slip; I told them to deliver the correct ones, and pick up the junk timbers, but they could't do it until the next morning. They must have come before 7:00 AM when I got up, as the timbers were already here, and two of the replacement timbers are just as bad as the previous ones, so I take them back to the store to swap them out. Now, I will give the managers credit for addressing the problem, and they even sent a $30.00 gift card. OK, hop, skip, and jump to today. My outside faucet starts to leak rather badly, and the closest place is Dunn Lumber; kinda urgent, so I went in again. No one again asks to help, until one counter guy, who has a customer he's working with, calls me to the other counter peoples attention; and SHE says to me, from the other side of the counter, "I can help you over here". There you have it, Dunn Lumber officially has lost a customer for life!!!! God I'm glad they don't sell auto parts!!! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Just dropped of a crate with a 392 hemi going from Dallas to Wisconsin for a rate of around $175.00 thru Fastenal and their Blue Star shippers. Will let you know - the Fastenal place was new and really nice.
I’m currently having issues with Forward Air..... I had always had good luck with Fastenall; I didn’t have a choice on this one. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have used Fastenal several times and always happy with price and service. I hope they start shipping again.
Fastenal is REALLY funny, and not HaHa funny. Each distribution center has it's own little quirks. I have shipped the same item to several customers over time and I get prices from unbelievably low to ridiculously high. My latest experience is that they can't ship to my local branch because they no longer will deal with automotive parts. They will, however, ship them to a branch that is 35 miles away instead of 26. The kicker is that I've had the same shipment to the closer store twice before. If I would have called the item 'aluminum castings', it probably would have gone through. The good news is that I have something else to go that direction for anyway. More good news, the whole shipment is $100. I think that Fastenal corporate should standardize their policies. But, I'm sure they don't care what I think.
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