Over at Zoro Tools, one of my favorite industrial suppliers, they’re holding a very good pre-Black Friday 2017 deal.
Spend $500+ and get 25% off your entire order. There’s the usual fine print, linked-to at the end of the post. Max savings is $2,000.
Advertisement
I have ordered lots of tools, supplies, equipment, and even a tool cabinet from Zoro. While not every transaction went perfectly, their customer service is easily one of the best that I have ever had to contact.
I can be nervous when ordering certain items online. That’s still true when ordering from Zoro, but in the case of a product defect or shipping damage, I’m at least reassured that Zoro will make the experience as least unpleasant as possible. Zoro has been an excellent store for me to order from.
As soon as I’m done with my work for the day, I’ll spend some time combing through my wishlist and shopping list to start putting a Zoro order together.
Coupon Code: THANKFUL4
The coupon is active now (I tested it), and will be valid thru 11/22/2017 (Zoro is on central time).
Advertisement
Should you wait for a potentially better deal? If you plan to spend more than $500? I don’t think so. This will likely be the best discount you’ll see this holiday season.
If your order total is far away from topping $500, you might be okay waiting for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. But if you plan to spend more than $500 easily, 25% off will probably be unbeatable.
PatrickD
Zoro has not run a 30% in several years, correct?
Stuart
Correct.
Generally, the only way the promo could get “better” would be if the price threshold was a little lower.
I received a “VIP” one-time-use promo code for 20% off $350+. It’s been typical for them to have a higher minimum order price for a 25% discount.
Nabeel
Actually, they ran it for the past 2 years. Once on 11/30/15 and twice in 2016 (8/24 and 11/25). I’ve been waiting all year for the next 30% off sale. God willing should be here this Friday.
On another note, love this site, Stuart. Seems like we both traded in our clarinets for another hobby.
Stuart
You’re right!
I do see the 8/24 email in my inbox, I forgot about that one. It was limited to “storage, shelving, ladders and lifts, tools. I believe you about the 11/25, but can’t find reference in my inbox or notes. There was a 30$ flash sale on 5/14/15, 3/17/15, and 12/29/14.
Those flash sales don’t give enough time for proper order planning, but I guess they’re hoping for impulse buys.
Yea! I still have that clarinet somewhere.
Thanks for the kind words!
Whiskey and wood
Their prices are always so inflated I can’t ever find anything worth buying there. Right now the dewalt drill combo with 1 flexvolt battery and premium drill/impact is $528, whereas at Home Depot you get the same one for $379 plus TWO more tools free! Lame.
Stuart
It strongly depends on what you’re looking at.
Power tools? I too have seen very high pricing. You can’t expect them to match Home Depot retail pricing.
But hand tools, industrial supplies, tool cabinets, supplies, and all kinds of equipment are less expensive at Zoro, sometimes without promo codes.
Consider the Flir E4 thermal imaging camera. It’s $949 at Zoro before coupon, same as at all other Flir dealers and distributors.
I bought some test equipment from Zoro, a tachometer somewhere recently, and a tool cabinet for less than I’d be able to anywhere else.
Most of what I buy from Zoro are the kinds of tools and supplies that you can’t pick up at Home Depot, Lowes, or even Amazon.
Kevin
Flir is now excluded from the deals, along with many other brands. I got a Flir E4 on one of the last 30% coupons, so I am quite happy I moved when I did…
Stuart
Ouch. Thanks! I guess I didn’t check the fine print closely enough.
I believe I bought mine from TEquipment with a 5% or 6% discount.
Julian Tracy
Yea – F$%# Zoro. Looked at a few Makita combos – $1000 for items seen everywhere else for $550.
That’s got little to do with “Can’t expect them to compete with Home Depot pricing”, That’s just basic train robbery.
Based on those few items I looked at, I’d never spend a cent there.
Whiskey and wood
I just had a powermatic planer in my cart at $3900 to see if the discount would work on it, it did! But in the 2 mins I went to look at another model for comparison, the price on the first one jumped up to $5000, completely negating the discount to begin with! I don’t see why I shouldn’t expect them to compete with Home Depot, acme tools does it, as does toolnut, and many other online retailers. That withstanding, even if I don’t expect them to match the free tools, I still expect them to sell the drill kit at its MSRP of $379, not $528!
Stuart
If that happened to me, I’d be in a chat or email with customer service asking them to honor the price.
Stuart
They’re not the only ones doing this. I don’t know if it’s because margins are slim, to compensate for big customer discounts, or what, but industrial suppliers have high prices on retail power tools.
9/10 of what I order from Zoro are at or near the best prices available, and are the types of products you can’t walk into a retail store to buy.
Would I order Dewalt power tools from Zoro? No way, and I wouldn’t even think to check.
Some Milwaukee tools are competitive at Zoro, more so when there’s a coupon.
The Milwaukee hand knockout punch set, 49-16-2694, is $329 at dealers, and $331 at Zoro. After 25% coupon, assuming the minimum is met, it’s $248.30.
The lowest price on a Wera nutdriver set is $43.69 at KC Tool ($39.32 after coupon), $36 at a retailer I will no longer shop at, and $44.81 at Zoro, or $33.61 after coupon.
Maybe if enough customers complain about their power tool pricing, they’ll do something about it. But then they might add those brands to their “excluded from coupons” brand list.
Tim
Being a Milwaukee person, some things I found at Zoro… hand tools are the same price as Acme and HD, or a tiny bit less, so wind up being better with 25% off. Same with Milwaukee paint markers, utility knife blades, and other “consumables”, usually turn out cheaper than Acme even after 15% off there is considered.
The “gems” of my purchase this time are the new M12 batteries, Zoro has the 3Ah compact M12 batteries for $48 each after coupon, HD is 55/ea for 2, and Acme is $50 after 15% off there. For the 6Ah, Zoro is $70 after coupon, HD is 80/ea for 2, and Acme is $76 after 15% off. Not a huge savings over a 15% Acme coupon, but those are also somewhat rare.
fred
We bought a batch of things via Zoro – mostly for the plumbing business. When they had the 25% or 30% off. We found that their prices were outstanding on things like Wheeler Rex tools and Midwest backflow test kits and parts. You might also want to price compare them after 25% off on Starrett, Williams and Jancy.
Greg
Never been a fan of Zoro. Tried to shop there 2 years back and the website was so clumsy and hard to navigate it was a pain. Searching was horrendous… you would put in Dewalt drill set and get EVERY item they carried with the word “Dewalt” Drill” “Set” 1000’s of results to filter through. I did hear they revamped it after a focus group lol . If a company needs customer input in 2016 to figure out how a website should work there is problems!
Along with as many others say…Their “normal” prices are just so non competitive in todays day and age where it is so easy to see what things should sells for. I never mind paying a few bucks more when i need something right away but 100’s more is robbery.
Enjoy the 25% off I’m sure people will find deals. Ill take my business elsewhere.
JMG
Nov 27 coupon code: CYBER25
20% off $150 plus
25% off $250 plus
No listed exclusions on the flyer…
fred
On Stuart’s recent post about Klein deals – I cross checked one of his Amazon prices on a Klein D213-9NEcr – and with 25% off the Zoro price – Zoro would save you about $3. So if you’re in the market for Klein Tools it might be worth some comparison shopping
PatrickD
Just placed an order… got 8 sticks of 7/8″-12′ B7 all thread for the same priced shipped to my house as my local steel supplier (Alro). Nuts and washers as well. Got some Proto impact sockets for the same price as the cheap Apex USA sockets to hammer ’em home with too.
I love Zoro and the 25% sales. Yes, it doesn’t work for everything… but it definitely works for a lot of stuff.
Gary
Ridgid hand tools (or at least pipe wrenches, basin wrenches, and tubing cutters) are 20% off at Zoro … coupon code BFTWNTY