About Us

Over 30 Years of History

Nothing represents our passion for this work and commitment to doing it right than the story of our founder, Gerald "Jerry" Scott. In early 2014, Jerry celebrated 45 years in the independent metal service center industry.

After graduating from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a business degree, Jerry joined the U.S. Coast Guard, where he saw active duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Recruited into sales by US Steel in Pittsburgh, Jerry graduated from the US Steel Sales Training School and went on to find a passion in the steel industry. The first week of February in 1969, he threw himself into the private metal service center business, opening his first company just outside of Youngstown, Ohio.

After starting and selling two additional steel companies, Jerry started Tri-State Steel in Niles, Ohio, and the company served customers throughout the Tri-State region of the Ohio River valley for almost 10 years.

Then, in 1988, Jerry and his wife Anne made the big decision to move the Tri-State Steel operation to the South, relocating to Reidsville, NC. Based on the central location that Reidsville has in NC, its proximity to the Triad, and the ability to service southern Virginia, Reidsville felt like the ideal location for Jerry's newest entrepreneurial adventure. Of course, being only 3½ hours from Ocean Isle Beach, which the Scott family loves, was a major plus as well.

After more than 20 years at the helm of Tri-State Steel, Jerry turned operation of the company over to his son, Steve. Jerry has shown great willingness to allow others to take the company to the next level while still being an active, valuable participant in the day-to-day business operations, enabling Tri-State Steel to flourish.

Core Values

Customer-Focused

Everything we do is centered around you and your project: your needs, your specifications, and your timeframe for turnaround. Even if you’re not exactly sure what you need, describe it to us and we’ll put our expertise to work for you to find exactly what you need and get it into your hands quickly, at a fair price, and with exceptional customer service.

True to Our Roots

We’re a family company and our focus has always been on connecting with each customer and fulfilling their unique metal needs as quickly as possible. From our family to yours, we truly have your best interests at heart.

Reliable

We pride ourselves on delivering exactly what we say we will on time and with the highest quality products. When you describe your metal needs, we’ll use our industry expertise and years of experience to find the best solution for you and deliver upon everything we promise. 


Our Logo

When we began updating our marketing materials and product reference sheets, we decided to upgrade our old logo to a new one that really reflects who we are and how far we've come over the years. A lot of thought went into the Tri-State Steel logo because we wanted a logo that told of our history but also showed the commitment we've made to Reidsville and the state of North Carolina.

We chose to include the state of North Carolina in our logo because this is home not just to the company, but to each of us and our extended families, as well. Since Jerry and Anne Scott relocated the company to Reidsville in 1988, this state has been good to us, and we've done our best to be active and valuable corporate citizens in Reidsville and beyond.

Our tagline, "distributing quality metals and exceptional service since 1988," is important to us not just because it tells our customers what we do, but also because it is our touchstone: Every success we've had has happened because we stayed focused on those two things.

Sometimes we're asked, "Why did you steal the Pittsburgh Steelers' logo?"

The short answer is: We didn't.

The longer answer is:
The Steelers logo is based on the Steelmark logo that was designed by U.S. Steel (now known as USX Corp.), then turned over to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), where it began to represent the steel industry as a whole. We wanted to pay homage to the long history that steel has in the U.S., so we found a way to work the three "star" shapes into our logo.

In case you're curious, the star shapes originally stood for "modernity, lightness, and stylishness" of consumer products that were made of steel; later, the shapes came to represent coal, iron ore, and scrap steel, which are the three materials used to produce steel.

If you'd like to view and to read more about the Pittsburgh Steelers Logo, please visit http://www.steelers.com/history/logo-history.html.

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