Just saw this news piece yesterday about how smaller businesses and even hobbyists are starting to skip middlemen and go straight to metal suppliers for their projects. Apparently, it's becoming a bit of a trend because it saves money, but there's also some downsides like dealing with minimum order quantities and storage headaches. I mean, I get it—cutting out the middle guy usually means better prices—but is it really practical for smaller-scale stuff?
I've personally thought about doing this myself for some DIY welding projects (nothing huge, just backyard tinkering), but the idea of having to store a ton of extra steel or aluminum around my garage kinda puts me off. Plus, I'm not exactly sure how easy it is to even approach these suppliers directly without looking like a total amateur, you know?
Curious if anyone here has tried going direct like this and if it actually worked out cheaper or just ended up being more trouble than it's worth.
