Mr. Deer Hunter

I worked for a distribution center for Walmart, was the 3rd person that was hired there.

I could tell you stories that would curl your hair.

One of my jobs was to unload shoe trailers. Shoe trailers are JITF - Just in Time freight. They actually have the stickers already applied to the boxes for direct shipment to the stores. The ammo for the stores is all JITF..

When Walmart has their way, they will run all others out of business and then they will raise their prices higher then what the competition sold the same item for a year or two before, when you said it was too much money.

They brain wash everyone into thinking that they are the good guy and that they are only in business to help the little guy out by giving him a good deal.

Only I was a part of management, where I was told everything that went on and I can tell you that if you have a product for sale, Walmart will not sell it unless you can deliver 10,000 of it and unless they can have a multi discount - where they get it cheaper then anyone else. They do not care about quality, just quantity.

I do not deal with chain type store when it comes to the purchase of new firearms. I have 4 gun dealers that gets 90% of all my business. Grice Gun Shop, Bob's Army and Navy, Punxsutawney Feed Mill and Dicks Sporting Goods out of Ohio.

If you buy one Remington Super Mag from Dicks, and the price is $280 and if you buy 3 the price is $250, how much do you think that Walmart pays for 10,000?

Someday, the same people who shops in Walmart is going to have to send to China to get their social security checks.

hometheaterman

I realize not all of them are like I describe, but I've yet to be in one that's not and I've been in quite a few. A few have been friendly, but had extremely high prices that I just refused to pay. I don't expect them to compete with Walmart, but double the price on ammo is crazy, as is $200-300 more on guns. So I'm not sure where I'd even look for one in this state that's not like that.

Actually, I take that back I know of one shop that's mainly a police supply store that the guys are friendly, and their prices are pretty resonable. I'd have no problem buying from them. However, they seem to cater more towards police stuff than any kind of hunting rifles, so for most of what I'm interested in buying they simply don't carry. There is one other shop that just opened up with okay prices and the staff is friendly, but at the same time likes to tell you the traditional gun store tails. Unfortunately unless you want a AR-15 or tactical pistol they probably won't have what you want either.

Like I said, from what I've read online, it seems rare that a gunshop is not like this.

It's sad because I'd love to support local businesses. However, I'm not going to buy from them when they are clearly ripping the customers off and then laughing about the "idiots" that buy from them. Not worth it to me just to support the local shop.

hometheaterman

This post made me laugh. I see you don't buy from Walmart, yet you buy from Dicks which is a huge sporting good chain whom just happens to really overprice stuff just like Gander Mountain. I agree, though, you can often find decent deals on stuff at Dicks especially when they have sales. Their ammo and accessories is what I usually see over priced. Their guns seem decent and everything seems decent when on sale. However, how often do you see gun shops selling for the prices Dicks does? The gun shops here still have a $50-150 markup on most items over Dicks. Then you have to consider that Dicks already has a decent markup over Walmart, and you still are supporting a big chain not a local shop.

As for you working for Walmart, I'm not disputing that. However, I will state that in one area I have several family members and visit fairly often, it's a small town, and Walmart did come in and run quite a few places out of business. However, after that did that Walmart still has the same prices as other Walmarts in similar area's. There prices are no different at that Walmart than the one 50 miles away in the nearest big city. Now I've noticed they are slightly higher on ammo than the area I live in, but I'm literally talking $.50 a box, and they are inline with most other Walmarts I've been to.

A sporting goods shop is now back in the town. The gun shop went out of business (due to other reasons, not walmart), but now a farm supply store has started selling guns and ammo. Yet they sell mostly ammo that you can get at Walmart at a huge markup. They have some stuff you can't get at Walmart, but most of it you can get and at a fraction of the cost.

hometheaterman

Anyway, lets get this thread back on topic for the op.

statjunk

Homer,

Sorry I just can't let this go. I worked for a direct supplier for Walmart for 6 years. I was pretty high up the ranks and was privy to quite a bit of information. I assure you 100% that the prices will move up once they run the mom & pops out of town. I know this because for the company I worked for I devised the statistical methodology that set the pricing tiers. This was mandated by Walmart.

Am I proud of the work I did? No. But if I didn't do it then some other jerk would have done it.

If you can't find a local seller that has reasonable prices then buy online and find yourself a local FFL that deals at a reasonable cost. I have guy locally that charges $15 to receive and $25 to ship. If you look hard enough you'll find the same.

Trust me on this one. Don't shop at Walmart. They are unreasonable in their business practices.

Here's one last thing I'll leave you with. Walmart will rarely buy from one distributor. They like to have a minimum of two. The Walmart policy is that a distributor must sell them the product cheaper than they sold it to them last year or the product must come with a value add. They play the distributors against each other with this game. Many of these distributors operate at a loss and generally find ways to degrade the product. They have agreements and if they violate those agreements with Walmart, they will get contacted by the lawyers. Fun stuff, I know all about this.

I'll leave this dog lie now unless you choose to rebut anything I've said.

Tom

Backwoods7

Walmart guns are as good as any you could buy and usually fair priced but I usually deal at pawn shops buying used guns. I've only bought a few new guns the used ones are just as good cheaper and usually have extras on em. I recommend going the used route

hometheaterman

The problem I have though is that the local gun shop which is the only one in this town charges $50 to do transfers. They literally just don't care what they charge for anything. Now I can drive to the small shop 25 minutes away that will do them for $25, or I can drive an hour to a shop that charges $22. However, that's still fairly high, and by the time I buy online which is usually already more than what Walmart's charging then add in that fee, I'm not as high as the gunshops, but I'm still paying a lot more for something that I'd get no benefit from over buying it from Walmart. I just don't see the point in paying extra money. Maybe Walmart doesn't have the best business practices, but at the same time who wants to pay more for the same product. Now if I want something Walmart doesn't have, I will buy it online or find a shop that has it. I mean if they just let the distributors walk all over them and rip them off they wouldn't be able to offer the low prices they do. My understanding, and this is just my understanding from what I've heard, I've never personally dealt with it, but is that with some of the local gun shops selling stuff marked up crazily high, that it's not all that they are just marking it up, but that the distributors are putting huge mark ups on the products. So I mean, when you are as big as a company of Walmart, you can't let them do this either. That's kind of my feelings on it, but I do agree some of the business practices don't seem to be the best, but I fail to see what they are doing that's so wrong.

If the products are of lesser quality, and the guns still shoot sub moa groups, and the ammo still shoots the same and kills deer just as well, how would I benefit from paying twice the amount for one from the local shop that's "supposedly" higher quality?

I don't think there is a single store out there that doesn't wish they had the buying power or Walmart.


For example when I went shopping a few weeks ago for a set of scope rings, the first store I went to tried to sell me some very overpriced Simmons rings that just looked cheap as heck. They claimed that they didn't have any other .22 rings in the size I needed. The next shop had some vastly overpriced Tasco rings that were also very cheaply made. I ended up buying them at about double the online price just because I wanted them right then.
I shot the gun the next day and sure enough the rings are so cheap that they won't clamp tight and keep sliding around. I ended up stopping by Walmart and picking up some Weavers for $4 cheaper that worked fine. Had they not worked, Walmart would have taken them back though. I asked the gun shop if they'd take the Tasco rings back, and their reply was "nope, maybe you can give them to a friend or something." They also love to try to tell me how I should just save my money and buy overpriced Tasco or Simmons scopes instead of something quality. I've noticed this at several gun shops. The only one I haven't seen this at locally is one who really pushes Leupold products.

So if they are selling the same cheap crap that's made in China that Walmart sells, only more of it, and don't except returns should you have a problem (Walmart will at least take it back), what makes what the local gun shops are doing any better than what Walmart is doing?

I'm just really failing to see what Walmart is doing so bad. Yes they sell a lot of crap, but at least they take returns if you don't like it. It's not like other stores aren't selling cheap crap.

IMO if the gun stores get run out of business by Walmart, it's their own fault. Plenty of people are willing to pay a few dollars extra, but when it gets to the point of ammo that's $22 a box at Walmart being $45 at the gun shop, people just draw the line. Or a gun that's $400 at Walmart being $650 at the gunshop. I mean they don't have to charge those prices. They could sell the ammo for $25 a box and sure they would only make a few dollars a box, but they would sell a ton of it to people wanting to help out their local shop. Then when there is an ammo shortage and Walmart is selling it out as fast as they can get it in, the gun store would be too. Making $3 a box and selling 1000 boxes is sure a lot better than making $23 a box and selling maybe 10 boxes and still having your shelves packed full during the ammo shortage when everywhere online and Walmarts are sold out and can't keep it on the shelves.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like many shop owners are smart enough to see this, and instead they want to get greedy and think they can way overcharge people and that people should pay it because they are a "mom and pop shop".

You also have to remember, Walmart started out as a mom and pop shop. They just didn't rip people off, and treated people right and grew to be the massive chain they are today.

Another thing that gets me is that I have a guy I talk to every once in a while that works at Walmart. It's funny because he told me that they have had a local gun shop owner come in and ask to buy ammo by the case. Since they no longer have a limit on how much you can buy, they sold him what they had. So the gun shop is obviously selling the same exact ammo at a higher price. So how am I getting a better product. I even noticed that some Federal .40 S&W pistol ammo was in the gun shop with the product code WM and then the numbers. You can tell it's from Walmart since it had the WM in the product code. Oh you guess it, at a higher price too. I think this happens a lot more often than most of us would care to admit too.

hometheaterman

I want to add that after doing a lot of thinking I did remember one gun shop in this state that carries many types of firearms that's decent on prices. By decent, I don't mean Walmart prices, but they aren't trying to totally rip off others. Their used prices seem high, but their new ones seem decent. Unfortunately it's quite a drive for me. It's also in the same town as the Police Supply store I mentioned above as well as about 1 miles from Bass Pro Shop and Gander Mountain, so they have all that competition in addition to Walmart. Every time I've been there they have been so busy that I've had to wait in line to pay for stuff. They just stay super busy.

Which is my point. If the other 98% of gun stores would quit trying to rip people off and start treating people right, they could be doing this business too and not being so called "run out of business" by chain stores.

That and the Police supply are the only two gun shops in this state that seem decent that I've been too, other than the one that only seems to have tactical weapons and it's brand new so it's hard to tell how they will turn out to be. That's sad consider I've been to more gun shops than I can count.

Teddee5

Walmart Evil? Probably works for a competitor, or has been listening about the bull from the Gov. who cannot stand for a Co. to make money and is not union. Over the years I have heard it all. Usually from those that do not want to work or wants to be the boss without having earned it. The wages are good for those starting out. They do have benefits. But don't bother applying unless you want to work. Thruout this countrys history there have always been corporations that have low starting wages for those with no experience. They are a first job, to give experience to those who have none.
Insurance Co.'s, McDonalds, Long's, Walmart, etc., Be glad they are there.
Besides, I like to pay as little for as an item as I can. Anyone who says different is incredibly ignorant.
Do they put others out of business, perhaps, but how many do they put to work at that location? Many more than I would suspect they might put out of business. Ask any small town in America if they would like a Walmart, or K Mart or Walgrens? Home Depot, Loew's, where is the outcry against them. They ceretainly would also put small business out of business.
So, really, why pick on Walmart? They're no different than any other corporation in this country. And for those that think otherwise, that is what has made this country great, businesses, both large and small. Perhaps, IMHO only.

homers brother

Sam Walton probably said the same thing at one time or another. You're in danger of revealing your principles, careful....

Unfortunately, a lot of people in this country have to deal with concepts like a "bottom line", a "budget", and try as you may, you're probably never going to convince them to spend $50 more at a local gun dealer when they can pocket it and buy at a discounter. Is it worth that to get someone into the field on opening day? One more hunter to fill the ranks, when the sport's on the wane according to most survey data?

In time, most sportsmen find that Wal-Mart doesn't offer the specific products, brands, or quality (particularly optics) that they seek. Discounters tend to be very generic to avoid being stuck with niche inventory that won't sell anywhere (often an affliction gunshops have, thanks to poor trades or misguided market predictions = poor business decisions). That's not to say though that the inventory discounters stock is necessarily of any poorer quality than the like items finding their way onto gun dealer's shelves, as another poster has claimed. I've a Wal-Mart Vanguard that shoots every bit as well as my gun shop Vanguard, it's just not as pretty. Pretty doesn't kill elk.

As well, once people find a need to have a reputable 'smith work on one of their firearms, or wander in because Wal-Mart didn't have something, knowledgeable and courteous staff should be recruiting them as new customers. Of course, that doesn't always happen. A local dealer I used to frequent hired staff (again, poor business decision) that spoke to me and a number of other customers I knew in arrogant, condescending tones, particularly if you wielded any shotgun but a Browning, or any pistol but a Glock. I wasn't surprised, and wasn't all that sad either, when they had to board up their shop a year or so ago. Serves them right, in my book.

Yes, Wal-Mart is aggressive and I've seen local retailers go under as soon as the box stores come in. I'm also aware that local retailers make all sorts of bad business decisions that have more impact on their survival than the arrival of Wal-Mart or Cabela's.

Though I generally buy my firearms and related paraphernalia at my 'smith or at one of two local chains, I find it hard to fault anyone who wants to hunt, but has no firearm, for buying a "starter" from somewhere like Wal-Mart. It's more important to me that they're in the field on opening day.