I don't know about you, but the people I work with at distributors have a lot to do with whether I buy from them, or not. I stopped buying from two different companies when I couldn't get useful info and was actually lied to, but returned after different people started working there- in one case, I went back because someone called to find out why I hadn't been there in quite a while. I was amazed. The rotation of reps from one distributor call but past history tells me that it's best if I call and ask for specific people who are more knowledgeable.

First thing is wonder if the same people you've worked with before will even be around after the merger. When a larger entity buys out a smaller entity there is usually some kind of organizational culture clash for those involved.

Would definitely try to work with the new distributor, but they would definitely be on a trial basis.

In my case, Snap already bought my local disty. All of the same people are still there. Same rep, same "counter" guys, same warehouse guys. They have pretty much all of the same products plus added snaps skus to their inventory. It's actually been a nice, easy transition.

That was my experience with Allnet and suspect it will be the same with electronic lane.
The big difference between the two is Allnet had a huge location already as well as having been there for a very long time ( if you put time one and two together, once again Wally is a freaking genius for selling the same company twice) and el moved to newly built out location (haven’t seen it yet).