Jonathan’s Journal: Metal Buyers’ March Musings

If you read our March Market Minute, you’ve got the birds-eye view on what’s happening in the metal markets this spring. While pricing and economic factors fluctuate, what do things look like for metal buyers on a daily basis?

Jonathan, SteelNow’s customer operations manager, spends his weeks on the road visiting metal buyers across Texas to learn what challenges they are facing and to find ways that SteelNow can help. Looking back on his travels in March, he noticed several key themes from conversations with customers:

Business Was Slow…

Beginning last November, our customers saw business stagnate slightly. “We had some customers that were typically fabricating doing more service work while things were slower,” says Jonathan. The reason for this slowdown? Jonathan says customers blame an especially slow holiday season. “From what I've heard, it could just be the holidays – the usual school breaks and time with family. But I did hear some customers that felt this season was slower than usual. There have been busy Decembers, but not so much this year.”

But Not Anymore!

Despite the slowdown, business seems to be picking up this spring, and you can see it on the shop floor! “It's interesting to go into someone’s warehouse these days,” explains Jonathan. From steel pipe to aluminum sheet, “you see more metal lying around, more work orders written up on the boards, and more jobs going.” While they work to fill incoming orders, some customers have ramped up business with SteelNow, reaching out to our team for help finding metal fast . “We're starting to see a little more activity from existing customers,” says Jonathan. “And more potential customers open to quoting jobs through SteelNow.”

Teams are Small

While business may be better, customers don’t seem to be growing their teams at the same pace. From conversations with customers, Jonathan sees it as a potential response to high turnover. Finding talent that sticks around seems to be a struggle, and this may have led to a reluctance to hire new employees. Rather than expanding, customers seem to be tackling the influx of orders with their core team. Customers are either doing the work themselves and keeping their team to the usual two to three members, or just hiring one or two new employees for extra support.

Service & Speed are Key

Amidst these labor challenges, metal buyers seem to be placing extra value on supplier service and speed. As Jonathan explains it, “what customers are wanting from a metal supplier like SteelNow is to know that we’re on top of their quotes.” When it’s time to find metal for your business, getting a quote back within 30 minutes or sooner goes a long way. As customers work to keep up with orders, getting information back from a supplier seems to be more important than ever. In Jonathan’s words, “If customers know a quote will come over quickly and the order will get done fast for them, it takes a lot of weight off their shoulders. They know that we can help them keep up with the uptick in production.”

There you have it! The latest from the road. Stay tuned for our next installment of Jonathan’s Journal for a taste of real-life feedback from metal buyers like you.