Frequently Asked Questions

Howard Precision Metals accepts payments in the form of cash in advance, ACH, check, money order, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. For additional questions on accepted forms of payment, please contact our sales professionals at (800) 444–0311.

Howard Precision Metals is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Therefore, we are required to charge sales tax to our Wisconsin based customers unless we are provided with a tax-exempt certificate. If you are located outside of the state of Wisconsin, then you will not be charged sales tax. However, you will either need to provide a letter of responsibility of use tax or your tax-exempt certificate.

You are not required to have an open account to purchase from Howard Precision Metals. We can process your order on a “house account”. Payment can be made in the form of cash in advance, Visa, Mastercard, or American Express.
If you would like to open an account with open terms at Howard Precision Metals, you can call and speak to a sales professional by dialing (800) 444-0311.or you can simply fill out and return our credit application to begin the process.

Credit limits are determined based upon multiple factors. We analyze credit information from reputable sources as well as request references from vendors named on the credit application.

There are many benefits to having an open account at Howard Precision Metals. In addition to saving money with our early payment benefit, we will be able to keep track of your purchase orders, part numbers, hours of operation, and other custom details that allow us to provide you with the best customer service.
Absolutely. You can request to open a credit card only account. Note: credit card payments will not receive the early payment discount. Credit card payments are processed the day after the order ships.
For open accounts, our payment terms are ½%10n30. If you pay your balance within 10 days, you earn a .5% discount. Otherwise, payments are due in 30 days. In order to receive the early payment discount, payment must be made by check or ACH only. We do not offer early any payment discounts on orders paid by credit card.

Though we do everything we can to package our orders for protection, sometimes shipments can be damaged in transit. If this happens to you, please note the condition of the material on the BOL upon arrival. Since freight damage claims are difficult to resolve, it is crucial that you note the damages on the BILL OF LADING when you receive material. Please take pictures of the damage. Then, either call or email your sales professional and provide as many details as you are able. Your sales professional will contact our Quality Department and we will begin working toward a resolution.

Though we do have policies and procedures in place to help us avoid these costly occurrences, they still occasionally happen. If you receive an incorrect or out of tolerance item, please contact your sales professional as soon as possible with all the necessary information (listed in next question and answer).

In order to assist you as effectively as possible, please have as much information about the shipment as possible, including: photographic evidence using standard measuring devices, your purchase order, Howard Precision sales order number, line item number, part dimensions, alloy, tolerances, number of affected pieces, and summary of the issue. By providing accurate and complete details to your sale professional, we may expedite the claims process and replace your material in the most time effective way.
If you would like to write a review, you can do so by visiting our home page and clicking on the lower left-hand corner. There is a yellow box titled, “REVIEWS ON HPM”. Click it and follow the prompts. If you would really like to make an impact, review Howard Precision Metals on Google. Simply Google Howard Precision Metals in the search bar. When the search results appear, our company’s personalized profile (Google calls this a ‘snack pack’) will appear on the top right side. Simply scroll down to the reviews section and click to add your own, personal review.

Please contact your sales representative via e-mail or by calling (800) 444-0311.  Our sales professionals will make the necessary updates to your account. 

Please contact your sales representative via e-mail or by calling (800) 444-0311. Our sales professionals will make the necessary updates to your account.
Please contact your sales representative via e-mail or by calling (800) 444-0311. Our sales professionals will make the necessary updates to your account

Howard Precision Metals is a 100% aluminum distributor. We stock wrought aluminum plate, cast tool and jig plate, aluminum extrusions, aluminum mold plate and more. For a complete list of our current in house inventory, download our brochure.

Short answer: No. If you are searching for an aluminum product not listed in our brochure or our website, we may be able to provide you with the material. Simply request a quote through our website or call our office at (800) 444-0311 to speak with a sales professional for additional details.

Contact us via our web page or call to speak with a sales professional, (800) 444-0311.

The Random Rack is updated every fifteen minutes. Because we try to run an efficient sawing operation, many of our larger Random Rack items will eventually be used to saw other custom orders. If you see something of interest on the Random Rack, order right away. These items go fast!
Howard Precision Metals is located at 8058 N. 87th Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are just off Bradley road, on the city’s north side.
Our sales office is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (CST).
Will calls may be picked-up 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (CST) Monday through Friday.
Receiving hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (CST) Monday through Friday.
We require delivery appointments on all deliveries.
To make a delivery appointment, please call our toll-free number, (800) 444-0311, and request to speak with our receiving department.
Each order that ships via common carrier is packaged according to commercial standards and accepted practices of the industry. We utilize heat treated lumber to build custom skids, wrap corners with v-board and top with cardboard to assure that material is fully protected until arrival at the ultimate destination. For the safety of our team and yours, we use polyester strapping (PET strapping) instead of the more hazardous steel banding. For ups shipments, custom boxing is utilized to ensure that your material arrives in pristine condition. If you have any special packaging requests, please call and speak to one of our sales professionals at (800) 444-0311.
Our minimum order requirement is $75.00. However, Random Rack orders carry only a $30.00 minimum.
Pricing on some of our items changes monthly with the LME published metal values. If you have concern with any part of your quote or order, please contact our sales professionals by calling (800) 444-0311.

Though not guaranteed, our typical lead times for ship out or will call are same or next business day for non-cut general warehouse pieces, 1-2 business days for cut to length bar stock items, and 2-3 business days for saw cut plate items. Keep in mind that these are typical and will vary with our workload. Please note that large quantity, production saw cut orders may require additional lead time. For current lead times, please contact our sales professionals by calling (800) 444-0311.

Our saw schedule is determined by workload and available capacity. If you have a HOT RUSH job, give us a call. Orders get cancelled, employees sometimes work overtime. If we can deliver without falling behind on our existing commitments and delivery dates, we are happy to serve you.