Now there is this, I believe we should buy or paints and stuff from local dealers. Even if we have to drive out of our way to do it! The reasoning is super simple! Let the Wholesalers and Dealers take the burden of damage shipments.
We as individuals have neither the money or the expertise to handle claims regarding paints and other volatile liquids. Yes, in the long run The price will rise a little, but we will be happiest being able to get what we want.
I don’t usually go here because I have many, many bottles of Tamiya and Model Master I have not used. If I need that color then I will get a bottle out of the bunch and revive it. I have only lost two out of maybe four Hundred.
Remember, I am a retired miniaturest. So I accumulated much in the way of supplies. My Son is surprised that I revive instead of buying certain colors. If I can revive the storage queens why shouldn’t I? I won’t buy new for a while and I have plenty of thinner and retarder to do revivacation. Plus I snjoy getting to NOT spend more than I have too!
There is another reason of why we should, whenever possible, purchase our supplies from a local store, it may help local stores stay in business. For example, I live in South Florida, and in my area there is only one hobby store with a good selection of kits and supplies for our hobby, most of the other stores have switched to remote control models.
I understand why most hobby storage have switched to RC, is more popular and the profits are a lot higher, but, it leave us modelers that are not interested in RC, like me, high and dry.
My closest hobby store is two hours away so it’s online only for me. Now, when we did have a local hobby store, I would buy as much as I could from him, even if it was a little more expensive. Sadly, they closed about 5 years ago.
The only local place that sells paint that I’m interested in is Michaels. I go there on the way home from work and pick up any Testors square bottles I ordered from them earlier in the day on their web-site. Quick and easy.
Other than that, we really don’t have any “local” hobby stores in my area. I support all kinds of mom and pop shops that are “local” to someone else though, because most of them figured out that they should sell on-line as well to expand their customer base. For any small business, time is money, so they make more profit on on-line orders than they do on some of the guys we have all seen at the hobby shop at one time or another who spend an hour chatting with the staff and then buy one bottle of paint.
As for hazmat shipping? The stores I order from all handle that just fine and are really good at handling damaged shipments. Many of them are even certified to ship hazmat since they ship a lot of paint and other chemical-based model supplies.
Carrying R/C stuff is brilliant. Having raced 1/10 and flown gas, electric planes and helis… you always need parts - at least I do - and don’t want to wait [:P]