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This web page details our opinions of and experiences with:

Bad Supplier: Dykema Rubber Band Company
Some suppliers are a liability to a business, not an asset.

Just how sick and tired ARE businesses becoming with bad suppliers,
and how much do bad suppliers damage our economy and GNP?
Google it yourself!

The following series of emails are self explanatory, presented here in chronological order:

 

 

To: info@dykemarubberband.com
Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 1:59 AM

Here's a tough one for you.

We need a rubber band that is pretty close to 2.7 inches wide.

Thickness is not important, and neither is length (say, at least 12").

Color must be as light as possible (off-white or cream-colored ok).

Prefer latex-free.

Any hope for this?

 

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Hello and thanks for the inquiry,

We have some in stock product that is 3.5 inch flat length x 3 inch wide with a .035" interior wall.  These are a very light natural rubber creme color. There appears to be about 35+/- pieces per pound.

There is only about 4-lbs of this available or about 140+/- pieces.  The minimum order is 1-lb @ $8.99/lb; if you buy 2-4 lbs the p[rice would be $7.99/lb (Plus Shipping).

We can also custom cut any length rubber band (Our stock runs from 7/8" to 11" flat length) to any width you desire.  We have a lot of remnants in White but most is not latex free.  To process a custom order there is a minimum 8 pound requirement.

If you need to order or have additional questions please call me @ 800-516-9072.

Respectfully,
Lou McKibben
DYKEMA RUBBER BAND CO.
1010 McKee Street
McKees Rocks, PA 15136
412-771-1955 / fax 412-771-1960
lou@dykemarubberband.com

 

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To: thebestrubberbands@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 6:15 PM

Thanks for the reply.
Here’s a clarification of what we’re trying to do. We actually don’t care if the rubber we receive is in the form or shape of a rubber band. We are merely trying to find a rubber type that we can print on using any of a variety of printing methods (dye sublimation preferred). We know we can’t print on latex using any method (except silk screen, which won’t work for our purposes) with satisfactory results, so anything we try should be latex free. Once we find a suitable type of rubber, we’ll want to buy around ten to thirty pounds initially, depending on the shelf life of said rubber – if the shelf life is long (as in many years), we’ll want much more. Whatever rubber we choose will need to be available on an ongoing basis, and must be at least 2.7 inches wide and at least 8 inches long. Wider and/or longer is fine; we can cut it here – in fact it will be cut anyway, so the dims are just the minimums. Thickness is unimportant. So, having said all that, we’d like to buy a sample of any and all types of rubber that you use, except for those that are latex based. The size for test printing is not important – say, at least 2 inches by 2 inches, any shape, any thickness, as long as it will ultimately be available in strips at least 2.7 inches wide. How many different types of rubber do you have in stock that we can test? Please quote us a price for sending us however many samples you have, and advise how to pay, and we’ll immediately order them.

Thanks,

 

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Dear Customer Service,

Regarding printing on bands to our knowledge only three USA based organizations can do this.  We rep the one that gives the fastest service at the lowest price and supply him the rubber used in this process.  So we know that it will work for that purpose.. 

This printer shared with us it was a long drawn out and challenging learning curve to learn how to do this successfully.  It requires special ink formulas and a heat curing process.  I It took them 6 months of experimentation to perfect his method.  

If you need to know more about printing on rubber bands, contact Craig McClean on our staff.  412-771-1955.  Craig is our resident expert on this subject and can arrange to provide the same rubber used by this band printer for your experiments.

Good Luck.

Sincerely,
Lou McKibben  

 

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To: 'thebestrubberbands@yahoo.com'
Subject: RE:

Per your suggestion (below) we did contact Craig McClean perhaps two weeks ago and spoke with him at length. He stated that he was unaware of any special printing techniques for rubber involving heat-setting or special inks. We did place an order with him at that time for a sample of eight pounds of white, flat rubber (approx .050). However the order never arrived and we can’t find the charge to our card. Obviously this entire interaction has been less than productive (to be blunt, it ticks us off). Can you salvage this situation or not?

 

(we received NO reply to this, and no product ever arrived)

 

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To: 'thebestrubberbands@yahoo.com'
Subject: RE:

We’re sorry you have not found the simple human courtesy to respond to us re this missing order. Failing a meaningful response by close of business on 8-18-08 we will post these emails publicly on a review site about your business. Is there something wrong with you people?

 

(we received NO reply to this, and no product ever arrived)

 

Conclusion: No one needs the aggravation of struggling with a supplier like this one.