Why I Now Take Small Orders Seriously: A McNichols Insider's Perspective

Here's What Nobody Tells You About Small Orders At McNichols

Look, I'll be straight with you. When I started handling orders at McNichols back in 2017, I had a quiet bias against small-quantity orders. A customer wants five pieces of grating? A single stair tread? Three linear feet of perforated? My internal reaction was not worth the paperwork. I'd mentally prioritize the 500-piece shipments, figure the little guys could wait.

That attitude cost me. Not just money—credibility. By September 2022, I had personally mishandled 14 small orders in ways that forced redos or refunds, totaling roughly $3,200 in wasted budget. The worst one: a contractor needed 12 bar grating planks for a school ramp project. I ignored his email for three days because it seemed too small. He went to a competitor, and that competitor ended up landing the entire school district contract—worth over $80,000—based on that tiny first order. I learned the hard way that small orders aren't distractions; they're opportunities wearing work boots.

My Three Reasons You Should Be Taking Small Orders Seriously

1. Small Orders Are Testing Orders (And Tests Have Consequences)

What most people don't realize is that a first-time buyer ordering 5 pieces of McNichols steel grating isn't being cheap—they're being smart. They want to see if the material matches the spec sheet, if the packaging survives shipping, if the customer service team picks up the phone. That $200 order is a prototype for their next $20,000 order. If you nail it, you earn a loyal account. If you mishandle it, that buyer tells ten peers at the next trade show. I've personally processed orders that started at 10 square feet of wire mesh and grew to 5,000 square feet within 18 months. The buyer from that last example? He now places quarterly orders exceeding $35,000. All because I learned to treat his tiny first order the same way I treated the big ones.

2. Small Orders Teach You Flexibility—And Market Trends

Here's something vendors won't tell you: small orders are a goldmine of market intelligence. When a customer orders a single bundle of fiberglass grating in a non-standard color, it's usually because they're prototyping a product that might become mainstream. I once had a guy buy 4 pieces of plank grating (the smallest quantity we ship) just to test a new architectural railing design. He found a surface slip issue, redesigned, and six months later ordered 2,000 planks for a cruise ship balcony retrofit. If we had turned him away at the test phase, we would have missed the entire trend. By tracking those tiny, weird requests, our team now makes product recommendations that are way more accurate than any market report.

3. Small Orders Build Relationships That Outlast Price Wars

But here's the part that really changed my mind: the lifetime value math. A small order from a startup might have a tiny margin—say $35 profit on a $200 order after setup, picking, and shipping. That same customer, three years later, might order $50,000 in grating for their second factory. The initial $35 profit turns into thousands. More importantly, that customer becomes a reference you can point to. I've seen our sales team win deals specifically because we showed a prospect we'd handled small orders for a now-respected competitor. It's not just about the revenue—it's about the social proof. And all of that starts with a single small transaction.

Addressing the Obvious Pushback: Doesn't It Cost More to Handle Small Orders?

"But small orders have higher per-unit handling costs. We can't be everything to everyone." I've heard this from colleagues at other distributors. Here's my honest answer: it depends on how you structure your workflow.

At McNichols, we standardized our small-order picking process. Instead of each salesperson pulling inventory manually, we created a "quick-pick" station with the most common stock items (standard grating widths, common mesh sizes, pre-cut treads). We also set a minimum order value of $100 to avoid truly wasteful transactions, but we never refused a legitimate request below that threshold—we'd offer a slight upcharge or suggest alternative products that fit within their budget. The cost of handling a small order dropped by about 40% after we implemented that system. So no, you don't have to lose money on small orders. You just have to be intentional about it.

Also, let's be real about what "wasting time" actually means. I spent way more time re-explaining specs to a frustrated customer whose small order was mishandled than I ever spent processing the order right the first time. So glad we implemented a mandatory three-point check for every order under $500—it saved us a ton of rework.

My Final Takeaway (And What I'd Tell My 2017 Self)

If you've ever dismissed a small inquiry because it felt like a waste of effort, take it from someone who made that mistake for four years: the size of the first order doesn't predict the size of the relationship. Treat every McNichols catalog request like it could be the seed of a long-term partnership, because more often than not, it is. The next time you see a request for 3 linear feet of perforated metal or a single stair tread, remember: that's not a nuisance. That's a prospect vetting you. And if you ace the test, they'll keep coming back.

Trust me on this one. I've got the order history to prove it.