[jcrawfordor]

One of the nice things about McMaster in my mind is the way their website is organized very much like their paper catalog. It's not as good as the paper catalog for casual browsing, but it does mean that when you're not quite sure what you actually need you can "flip through" the website and have a decent chance of spotting something like it.

Unfortunately McMaster is a little stingy with their paper catalog, I think you have to hit a certain $$$ amount on orders before they send you one. I think that's fair, it's a pretty hefty book and presumably costs them a meaningful amount of money per copy. I'm always surprised with U-Line which now sends me two of each edition of their catalog when I hardly ever order from them... I think they might be losing money on me as a customer at this point.

[hedora]

I can't ethically purchase anything from U Line any more. Does anyone know of an alternative supplier?

The U Line family has historically come out against things ranging from flouridation to Martin Luther King and currently supports election deniers / anti Semites. They are the number one donor to the Republican party:

https://www.propublica.org/article/uline-uihlein-election-de...

Their working conditions are unbelievably sexist / restrictive (similar articles are available from journalists, if you don't trust glass door):

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Uline-RVW7...

E.g.:

> Uline is privately owned and therefore does not have any stockholders to answer to. The dress code is business professional, which means guys have to wear ties. That in and of itself is not unheard of, what is unheard of is that women have to wear knee length skirts and panty hoes during the winter months and only around Memorial day can they stop wearing panty hoes. Hey Uline this is 2015 not 1950! This dress code is a directive from Liz the owner. Yes, women can wear pant suits but of course they have to match. I'm trying to drive home that this place is run like a cult and it will destroy you if you stay there long enough.

[jcrawfordor]

I'm in the same boat, in fact I chuckled that the most recent U-Line catalog has a bit of a political rant from the founder in the back cover, something about social justice warriors. Most of what I get from U-Line I buy from a local business instead these days just for convenience and because I need relatively small quantities but... to be honest I think U-Line is their wholesale supplier. I'm on the hunt for a different way to get a wide variety of packing materials in relatively small quantities.

[jamincan]

You can ask Uline to have a note added to all your orders not to pack a catalogue.