Columbus Machine Shops
Independent shops in Central Ohio pay 40–100% markups through service centers. We get you closer to mill-direct pricing — without changing how you order.
No contracts. No commitments. Just a conversation about your aluminum spend.
Savings Calculator
Enter what you currently pay and your monthly volume. We’ll show you the range of what you could save.
Estimated savings range of 8–27%. Exact pricing discussed on your call.
The Real Problem
Mills sell 6061-T6 aluminum round bar at $2.60–$2.90 per pound. Service centers buy at those prices, mark it up 40–100%, and sell it to you. The result? Independent shops overpay by tens of thousands of dollars every year.
How It Works
Email, text, call, or use our portal. Order the way you already do — nothing changes on your end.
We source your material at prices you can’t access on your own. You’ll see exactly what you pay before you commit.
Material arrives on your dock with mill certs included — verified before it ships. You pay less than your service center charges. It’s that simple.
Delivery
Place your order anytime Monday through Wednesday. No complicated portals or purchase orders.
We validate every order, confirm material specs, and include mill certs before anything leaves our hands.
Material arrives at your shop the following Monday. Consistent, reliable, every week.
This is planned procurement — not emergency supply. We recommend keeping your current service center for rush orders and routing your planned spend through Straveler.
Market Context
Primary aluminum tariffs hit 50% in 2025. Service centers pass this through to small buyers first and fastest.
Aluminum Producer Price Index surged 30.5% year-over-year (AGC, January 2026). Every pound costs more.
Ryerson merged with Olympic Steel. Metal Supermarkets was acquired by Riverarch PE. Consolidation means higher margins, not lower prices for you.
Mill relationships built by founding-era owners are disappearing. New owners inherit the shop but not the pricing.
Limited Availability
We’re building Straveler’s founding network of machine shops in Central Ohio. Founding Partners get pricing and access that will never be available to anyone who joins later.
If something’s wrong with your order — wrong spec, damaged material, late delivery — we make it right. No runaround, no excuses. That’s a promise.
FAQ
We’re starting with 6061-T6 aluminum round bar — the highest-volume material for Central Ohio shops. We’ll cover this in detail on the call.
Typically 8–27% below what you’re paying your service center. We’ll give you an exact number on the call based on your volume and current pricing.
No. Email, text, call, or use our portal — whatever’s easiest. Same material, same process, lower price.
No membership fee. No long-term commitment. We’ll walk through the details on the call.
You can still save. We work with shops of all sizes. Let’s talk about your specific volume and we’ll show you what’s possible.
Yes. Every order ships with mill certs. We verify material specs before anything leaves our hands — so you can trust what’s on your dock.
We make it right. Wrong spec, damaged material, short shipment — whatever it is, we own it and fix it. No runaround.
We offer simple, flexible payment terms designed for machine shops. We’ll walk through the details on your call.
15-minute call. No contracts. Just an honest look at what you’re paying vs. what you could be.
Or email david@stravelerstrategy.com
About The Founder
Founder, Straveler Strategies
As an Industrial Engineer out of The Ohio State University with a background in manufacturing, supply chain, and cost reduction, I’ve worked on the shop floor my entire professional career. I built Straveler Strategies because independent machine shops are the backbone of manufacturing and they should be getting the best prices on raw materials, not the worst.