Oh the joys of my life, i deal with this big company dictating prices every day... i work in the AUTO industry... you start out at a selling price and YOU figure out how to make a profit... and every year the customer DEMANDS a cost down or they take the business elsewhere... it is PURE cut-throat... if you don't practice strict continual improvement you are going to go right down the crapper... I've recently changed jobs and moved to a smaller company that supplies many Tier 1 companies... Denso basically dicatates that we will only make 5% profit on anything we manufacture for them... they get a copy of the balance sheet at the end of the year...

as for firearms... yes walmart sells the same guns as everyone else... you can walk in and order any regular production remington for a significant amount less than the average mom and pop shop. I don't though.... i would rather spend more at my local gunshop because i walk in, they know my name, they treat me like family and their prices are still less than the local cabelas retail store... I just prefer to support someone who has been there 2 1/2 times as long as i've been alive... and they must be doing well because the place is always packed... and they always have 6 folks behind the counter waiting on people and 2 gunsmiths in the back... with a 6 week backlog just to get your firearm blued...

as far as people go... we all want to make a very comfortable living and we want to pay as little as possible for goods... it is a big circle... if you figure that 40% of the cost to produce the average good is direct labor cost you can see the issue... the more you pay the worker the more it costs you to produce that part and you have to pass taht onto the customer... sadly this is a large reason for outsourcing to foreign lands... cheap labor = cheap prices which are still not "truly" passed onto all of us but makes a corporations balance sheet look very attractive to shareholders... there has to be a fine balance somewhere.... people don't understand it is a big circle that effects them, maybe not right now but surely in the futire in one way or another...

I don't make a point to shop at walmart but i do when i KNOW they have something i need when i need it... such as when i happen to be doing some form of work and it is 11 pm on a saturday night and i have an O-CRAP i need this now situation... otherwise i'll take my business to the smaller grocery stores and hardwares, etc closer to home...

People are easy.. they want what they want, when they want it and they don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it... we aren't all like this but unfortunately many folks are...

Jamie

AMEN Rootsy... (STANDING on chair applauding!!!)

Everyone is "20 dollaring" themselves to death and out of a job in this country. ANY boxstore (Wallyworld, BPS, Cabelas, Gander Mtn etc...) is taking the real money out of a local economy and leaving only that paid too mgmnt and hourly employees. So much for your local tax base.

BUT like you said, sadly most don't give a damn. It's all about THEM and their precious lil wallet. But like I say, "How much of a value is that XYZ product at Wal-mart if it meant you lost your job along the way? How cheap was it REALLY?"

GREAT post Jamie,
RA

ps
Trust my on this guys, its already happened in California and it will only continue... In 10 years Wal-mart will probably NOT be carrying guns. The ATF is making it harder and harder on dealers, regardless of size and with Wal-mart its all about "profit per square foot" so you can bet guns will be out of the picture for them sooner or later. And honestly, if you DO have problems or need assistance with your guns are you gonna take it too that pimple faced teenager in the sporting goods section at Wallyworld? The manager? Oh you mean the one that was stocking the pharmacy 6months ago?

I say the same. I pay my help A very fair price. Yes I could get help alot cheeper.Would it be as good, no way.I pay a good price so I get a good product. If for some reasion my profit is not good enough I will take the loose way befor I would get cheeper help.

Wallmart will hurt the towns that do not help the small people.

Ask the wadges at wallmarts.Then ask A mom and pop stores wages.

Then what's the problem? As long as people want guns someone will sell them. If Wal-Mart stops there will simply be a resurgence of smaller places doing it. You guys should love that.

I'm not defending cheap foreign products I'm simply asking why Wal-Mart gets blasted for selling them when every other store in America, right down to the mom and pop stores, sell them also. Unfortunately if you restricted yourself from any store that dealt in them you would just have to stop shopping pure and simple.

As opposed to the pimple faced kid at one of my local sporting goods stores. Or the other one where the owner leaves either his goofy brother of questionable sexual orientation or his mother running the place 90 percent of the time. Yeah they're much better...NOT!

At least the pimple faced kid at Wal-Mart has health care and a 401 k plan.

I know firearms. I don't need an employee of ANY store to tell me what I need in that area. In fact I despise the ones who try to talk me out of what I want in favor of what he thinks is best, because nine out of ten times the guy is full of s###.

How intellegent does a person have to be behind the counter at Wal-Mart in order to follow the following commands, "Hand me that one." "Order this one" Yep it takes years of experience to master complicated dealings like that.

That's great. Obviously Wal-Mart isn't hurting them then. Glad to hear it. None of the sporting goods stores in my area have closed either.

And folks said Jed, move away from there. I did!

In my area for the type work Wal-Mart employees are doing.

Mom and Pop = minimum wage, no paid vacation, no health care, no retirement plan.

Wal-Mart = better than minimum wage rates, health care, paid vacations, and a 401 K retirement plan.

In fact many of the employees at the local Wal-Mart left small local stores to take a job there. Not because Wal-Mart ran their old employers out of business but simply because it was a much better job than the one they had.

If thet is true that is good. From what i have seen this is not the way it works.

I do know there is some gready small busness owners out there.

Sadly enough its the same way around here.

what come on look at wal-mart wed site and you can buy a sako rem win. and wost of the rest oldelkhunter should take his own advice and check what he says the only diff. is win you buy at wal-mart is when you walk out the door it is yours dont try to return it if it does not work you have to send it back to the company.. same guns you buy anywhere..

I have been in a number of gun stores in Alabama and have found the selection and prices just as good if not better then my local dealers..Maybe you hate gunstores, maybe they look at you and say here comes another Walmart shopper . As far as ordering a Sako Weatherby MKV that is fine ..where do you go look for them and try them on except at a local gunstore you don't think pathetic WallyWorld has them there to look at . BTW where do you buy handguns ? Does Pathetic Wally world handle them. So let me guess you go to a well stocked gunstore pickup the guns and try them out and then run to Walmart and buy them?


The point DUH is I can buy them at the same price or cheaper .

Oh boy I am really Skeered now

You would no soon find a Sako or any fine gun in a Walmart unless they made one specifically for Walmart which based on their current demand is not likely. I am sure Sako wants to make 1.00 profit on any of their rifles, oh yeah listing their guns in Walmart would be instant prestige..


Not their fault they are a POS but they have POS made by companies that suit their market . Still having a problem understanding what I say.

You may pay too much for a rifle but I have bought more rifles then you have hairs on your head and I don't overpay for anything.

Really I didn't realize that thanks for enlightening me.


Listen Buckmaster9( BTW are you related to Jackie Bushman) Really thanks for enlightening me now go back to your deer video game. I buy rifles at walmart and they are Remingtons for their actions which get shipped out and worked on ..I have yet to see a clearance gun worth anything at Walmart not that I am in the store with any frequency. Just when their chewing gum is on sale


No they created them for the so-called working man that frequents Walmart ie Todd1700
Part II the spartan lineup per some magazine I read last night will be sold exclusively by Walmart.



I am in partial agreement on this one Todd I dislike Lowes and Home Depot and Kmart equally . If I go into a store and want to buy 2 carriage bolts why do I have to buy a 24 bag at Home Depot or Lowes.




RR thanks for the words but these 2 can say what they want..the day Walmart stops selling guns lets see how many small stores pop up to sell guns.. I can almost say without reservation not many.


BTW guys I am done with this topic to those that love Walmart continue shopping there I will limit my purchases to motor oil and chewing gum.