Welding supply rant

D

dodge trucker

Tractorologist
Member
Got a question
MIG stands for Metal INERT GAS. inert means not hazardous. 75/25 gas used with it must be inert as it doesn't light up in a fireball when it hits the weld pool.
So WHY was I just charged a 25% HAZ MAT surcharge on a bottle of 75 25?
$28 damn bucks just for the surcharge. And I think sales tax is computed as if I had instead bought a $28 item off of the shelf.
Is it just the AIRGAS company
Is it time to switch gas suppliers or do they all screw us customers like this?
I just had to pay $153 for a bottle today. After they added this bogus charge. Ive been buying from this place since the late 90s before there was such a place as "AIRGAS". I've seen where car repair shops add a "shop supply charge" which likewise is BS most of the time, but even that isn't 25%.....
 
Well when I looked at the receipt and started complaining about this charge, Pat, from whom I've been buying from at this place for years, just went dead silent/ like he became part of the furniture and didn't say one word. I expected him to try to defend this charge but, no. It still pisses me off, thinking about it 2 days later. It may cost me more the first tank if they force me to buy it but if they don't charge this BS trumped up charge in the long term it will wind up cheaper to start buying across town.
My son who works at Nucor steel (as I did for a few years from '05-08) says they deal with both welding gas places in the area and that "he could have told me that Depke was cheaper" and didn't know that Ive been dealing with AIRGAS all these years. And all he could say was not to be so pissed because there was nothing I could do about it. That may be, that still doesn't make it right though. I wonder if enough of their customers rant, if it might eventually change anything my son never did say whether either replace stuck his work with such charges.
Well Years ago when I was in the market for a welder I went into the company that Depke had since bought out and they had a machine I was interested in. I asked about the price and they said they couldn't sell it that it was being transferred to their other place 40 miles away and that I could drive there and deal with them to buy. Here I was with cash in hand needing a mig at the time since my last one had burned out, and they refused to deal. I would have saved them the trouble of hauling it. But, no.
So I went across town and the former place that AIRGAS used to be bent over backwards to make sure I got what I needed and gave me the first couple of bottles on them even... No paperwork, no nothing. No requirements for me to rent or buy the tank, because as they said "id eventually have to bring back to them to fill/swap anyway".
I later went back and got a bottle of oxygen and a bottle of acetylene and same thing. Just pay for the gas inside not the tanks. I still have those same tanks (well not exactly but I've never had problems swapping them out not have I ever been asked for paperwork) that's why I have stayed there but apparently they have worn out their welcome.
 
That said when I googled a hazmat charge I got responses from various sites saying the poster was surprised that AIRGAS was still in business due to some of their practices. I guess people have been charged hazmat from the on welding clamps, on spools of wire, on consumables for their guns. And I guess the amount varies based on how the counterman feels that day.
 
Well I used up that bottle already and last week they hosed me again. That tax is more than 33%. Because they put sales tax on the hazmat fee besides. This bottle won't be so quick but I don't anticipate it taking me as long to get thru it as the bottle did that I turned in a month ago when I started this post. Anyone here work for airgas or any other welding supply house?
Anyone else here get hosed for such charges? Is it a state by state legislation thing, or even an airgas thing? The last 4 bottles they've screwed me so basically I've paid for the next one. It dam well better be FREE the next time I exchange a bottle of gas.. whether oxygen acetylene or 75 25. I've already paid for it with their BS charges
 
Im paying $135 CDN for my 80CF bottle of mig. Air Liquide is my supplier the past 25 years…Im sure my first bottle was about $60…They gave me a free 80CF bottle of oxygen recently,,just a friendly customer service thing..
My new Arccaptain welds flux core excellent so i have not used any Mig gas in 2 months.. Once i start welding body panels ill be using gas..
 
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Air gas will fee the living hell out of you.

I raised hell when they shipped me 10 welding lenses (I ordered 12). They charged me a delivery fee and fuel surcharge! They came back 3 days later with the 2 lenses and charged me a delivery fee and fuel surcharge again! I blew up! I said in another post about this I threw the salesman off the property. Told him to send a truck for his bottles I’ll get them some where else.

We have a lot of bottles. 75/25, o2, act, propane, nitrogen, liquid nitrogen.

It doesn’t matter what you have or what you do they will take every penny possible from you.
 
The farm and fleet my wife works at has a bottle exchange but I don't know if they'd accept "someone else's" bottles. I've had that problem elsewhere before. So I never asked about it. I've just gone back to where my bottles came from.
So, "too many toys" this appears to be more of an "airgas" issue than a legally required fee issue?
The reps there wouldn't say anything as to why they charge what they do, one stood there like a brick wall and wouldn't say anything when I asked "W T F" was the deal with those bogus fees and the 2nd guy, who I dealt with this most recent time would only say "sorry, I get ya, but its preprogrammed in, sorry, can't do anything about it"
I wonder in the local Depke (affiliated with weldstar) would accept my tanks... They're within 2 miles of the airgas store
 
dodge trucker said:
The farm and fleet my wife works at has a bottle exchange but I don't know if they'd accept "someone else's" bottles. I've had that problem elsewhere before. So I never asked about it. I've just gone back to where my bottles came from.
So, "too many toys" this appears to be more of an "airgas" issue than a legally required fee issue?
The reps there wouldn't say anything as to why they charge what they do, one stood there like a brick wall and wouldn't say anything when I asked "W T F" was the deal with those bogus fees and the 2nd guy, who I dealt with this most recent time would only say "sorry, I get ya, but its preprogrammed in, sorry, can't do anything about it"
I wonder in the local Depke (affiliated with weldstar) would accept my tanks... They're within 2 miles of the airgas store
Click to expand...

A hazmat fee is just paying their cost to transport, store, and such hazardous materials. I do not believe it is any federal fee. A store pressure vessel is considered hazardous. However, most places just incorporate that cost into their bottle pricing structure.

Airgas is higher in all aspects.

We went back to Mathenson gas. They do not list a hazmat fee or what set me off the "delivery" fees. They have 3 locations in Illinois Not sure if any are close to you.
 
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