Aircraft Spruce vs. Wicks

[Jon Matcho]

With all the talk about Wicks vs. Aircraft Spruce & Specialty, I wanted to put both to the test and share my experience purchasing from them at SnF 2004.

 

This was my first major airshow outside of the local baloon festival. For starters, I didn't quite expect SnF to be an all-out trade show. I don't know what I was thinking, since what else would vendors be doing there? In any event, like all tradeshows, I found it rather dizzying at times.

 

Both booths were quite busy. While the ACS booth appeared larger on the vendor map, it was setup as a storefront with glass counters, so perhaps the space was not as well optimized as it could have been. The result seemed to be that you did not have as much access to view their products.

 

The Wicks booth on the other hand, was accessible. They had demo products strapped to display boards hanging on the wall. It was good to touch and feel the tools. There were also other products lying around that you could bring to the counter yourself for checkout.

 

At Wicks, I received personal attention, and only had to tease the sales rep that he wasn't giving me enough "love" when he got distracted with another customer. I initially put my order in on Saturday, and came back to add an item or two on sunday. I was amazed that the rep, whose name I forgot, remembered mine. I received a show discount, personal service, satisfaction, along with some "love".

 

At ACS, I had to belly up to the counter, fighting for attention it seemed (there were a lot of people doing the same). I don't blame ACS for this necessarily, but they may want to reconsider their booth layout next time. I asked for MGS and whether they had a show discount. The sales guy said, "no", more or less, I think since I wasn't buying a glass panel. Accepting this, I had him add one more gallon of MGS285 to the order. He came back, along with letting me know that I'd get both at a good discount. I left satisfied, with a show discount, and with good service similar to that of a busy auto parts desk. No complaints, but no "love".

 

I can say that I would definitely order from both again, depending on how I felt. If anything, you do get the feeling that ACS is bigger and busier than Wicks, but that's not a bad thing. The general advice I received was to buy the first few chapters of material from Wicks, which I did for the most part. Going forward, and once knowing the exact quantity of material I need to complete the next chapter, I do think I'll settle into shopping more on price. From what I can tell, price is comparable between Wicks and ACS. If an order requires some pre-sales, at this point I would probably call Wicks first.

 

To be continued...

[Dave Clifford]

It is definatly worth the effort to comparison-price shop between the two. The last time I ordered foam, there was a $10.00 + price difference per sheet, and I ordered 13 sheets that day, so I saved a ton. Well,,,,, not a ton, but it adds up to big time savings over time.

[Jon Matcho]

I put a small order into Aircraft Spruce recently and received 100% satisfactory service, and even a touch of Love. For just a book and a full-sized set of M drawings, I was given all the attention one could expect for such a small order. My phone calls were answered and returned promptly, and my order was delivered as promised (the part I knew was not backordered). Expectations were met.

 

Also, I did say that I ordered "full-sized M drawings", which have not been available previously. I never looked forward to the accuracy of tracing M-drawings using a french curve, and am looking forward to receiving these. I was told that these are created using a printing press and NOT a copier, and that the result will be true to the original M drawing dimensions.

 

I'll let everyone know how they look when they arrive.