My Walmart Random Time Ammo Sales

Status
Not open for further replies.
it actually could work for Walmart in the capitalism sense. here's how i see it:

I don't go to Walmart anymore for ammo. period. it's never there. my wife and i stopped yesterday for some groceries and i swung by the ammo counter just for the heck of it. the gun guy tells me 10 guys stood in line this morning when ammo showed up....10 boxes of 550 rds of .22LR. first three guys in line all bought the max of 3 boxes, guy number 4 gets 1 box, and the rest get nothing.

so, if Walmart varied the times, people like myself might actually go looking for ammo with improved chances of finding it. and while i'm there i'd probably pick up a few other things. it may draw in more people through the door because of the improved probability. that makes good business sense to me.

lastly, the gun guy said the guys who bought the ammo are reselling it......the madness continues.
 
if Walmart varied the times...
Click to expand...
Heck - why don't they handle it like they do everything else in the store?

You know...one day they just up and decide to move everything.

As I explained to my daughter, in one of my old classes (don't remember which one), it was explained that companies often just pick the whole store up and give it a good shake in order to move everything.

The reason given was they don't want shoppers (like myself) to come in, go directly to what they want, and leave.

By rearranging the store from time to time, they hope you'll make impulse purchases in your quest to find where they moved your favorite product this week.

Ya wonder why they don't use ammo like Easter Eggs around the store!? :rolleyes:
 
I went into our local WM yesterday, to grab some bugspray. I walked by the ammo counter, and seen a newly posted sign. 1 box per day, 3 box limit per week, per customer. The shelves were still bare. :rolleyes:

I do see BG bids on .22 LR falling a bit each week though. A couple months ago, it was holding steady at $100+ for a brick. Seems the rates now down in the $60's range.
 
I think it's a good idea for WalMart to shake up stocking times to disrupt the ammo privateers.
It sure as heck isn't socialism when customers complain to the management on a matter and they listen.
If the gov told them how to sell their ammo it would be a different story.
At a gunshow this weekend the ammo cartel was in retreat on prices and there was way to much ammo laying around to be paying those high prices. I can't tell if we are over the hump or if folks in that neck of the woods just had a better stash but over a couple days prices dropped in some cases by 1/2.
 
I agree with the above poster that it isn't socialism when a store decides to listen to it's customer base. However, Wal-Mart doesn't care about anything but profit. They don't care who buys it, as long as someone does. To them, selling out fast is a good thing.
 
I agree with the above poster that it isn't socialism when a store decides to listen to it's customer base.
Click to expand...
Certainly so. The IDEA of distributing product to every person regardless of their ability or willingness to pay the market price or expend the effort to do what it takes to get it is the basis of socialism. Not the choice of a retailer to manipulate their sales to suck more folks into the store!

However, Wal-Mart doesn't care about anything but profit. They don't care who buys it, as long as someone does. To them, selling out fast is a good thing.
Click to expand...
Like I said before, no, they don't want to sell out to one guy in the first transaction. They want to lure people in with the hope that ammo will be there. Kind of like the lottery. The more folks who will report that they won a box or three in the "WalMart ammo lottery" the more of their friends and neighbors will come on down to play the game ... and maybe buy some toilet paper or a new TV...

Money in their pocket if they can keep you rolling the dice!
 
Sam, seems like you feel strongly about this topic.

It would follow then that you are also against limiting the number of boxes sold. So, an energetic early riser could come in and buy the entire lot of ammo. Everything on the sheves. Some would consider this good for walmart because with one large transaction they make $ and then the clerk is free to help others or do other tasks. Were I only selling ammo and did not want to raise prices, that is what I would do.

As I posted above, I think WM should get to do what ever they want. It is their store. I would bet they want as much foot traffic through the store to obtain more secondary purchases. Better for profits to sell 20 people 50$ worth of stuff each then to sell 1 guy 200$ worth of ammo in one sale. That is how they make money, on volume.

Apart from economics and there is human element to it, IMO. The clerks/managers probably get tired or selling to a couple people in the morning and then either catching heck from everyone else the rest of the day or telling some dad that they don't have ammo (again) so the dad and son can not go shooting.

It is interesting to see all the different opinions and how stores react and which sellersare successful and which will not be successful (short and long term). Also interesting to see how we determine market price. That price point can vary alot from place to place, time to time, and buyer to buyer.
 
Last edited:
I remember the gas shortage of the 70's. I used to pull up with my tanker truck and resell it to the needy peons.. those were good times!
 
Now it is a capitalist marketing conspiracy???
Wal Mart like gov has plenty of faults and wrongs without inventing conspiracys. If the same were happening with food or gas many would be rioting in the streets wanting gov to intervene.
Wal Mart, Cabelas, Sportsmans Warehouse, your ma and pa that are connected all get regular shipments and most I have seen are rationing their sales, if they scramble up their stocking times that's just a bonus to those shopping for retail priced ammo.
From talking to some on both sides I have come to learn that some retailers believe that their customers will have long memories and keep prices down and supply spread out. The real scalpers don't seem to give a dam but they are the ones who are selling online or at shows and flea markets so it is to be expected.
I have sold a few guns and given ammo away with them and sold 22 to families with some kids who need to shoot.
I saw a neighbor looking for 22's to keep his boy in gopher shooting ammo and told him I'd give him a brick if he would replace it when he could.
It will take quite a while for the shelves to be fully stocked because many post panic buyers will have learned something and will keep a few thousand at hand.
 
Sam, seems like you feel strongly about this topic.
Click to expand...
:)

Funny, though. I haven't bought a single round of loaded ammo in at least a year, though my last such purchase probably was .22 LR from WalMart.

I've never sold any ammo, either. So you could say I don't have a dog in the fight.

However, I do find retail strategies and logistics interesting, and also think that ammo sales can be quite a good metaphor for broader economic theories and realities. When ammo gets scarce, what things come out about folks' economic philosophies when their own shooting joy is on the line? And what would we do, or wish stores to do, to avoid having to pay the price dictated by supply and demand? What limitations on someone's ability to purchase what they want are we willing to accept so that we can purchase what WE want, right now, and for whatever price we think it "should" be, and vice versa.

And what are large retailers doing to play with their customers and "set the hook" and how far will we go to ignore that if it feels like it's in our best interest?

Fascinating stuff!
 
Last edited:
Yes, it is interesting. I had been trying to compare this to the Hunt brothers and silver, but on a smaller scale.

For example, in a small or medium sized city could a few people buy up all the cheap ammo often enough to create a shortage and then somehow resell it to the same community at a higher price. There would have to be constant demand and a limited supply. The online aspect helps stop that from happening but if there are not other sources maybe it could happen. Maybe this is happening with some LGS in small towns. I don't know.

I think supply is coming back though. I don't know what we are all going to talk about then. Maybe there will be an 'range report' with pictures. Have not seen one of those for awhile. I love seeing pictures of people out shooting.
 
Yup, a return to a level state and "normalized" supply/demand curve is almost inevitable within a few months to a year at the outside. (Maybe not at exactly the same price points as before, but not too far off.) So all this is MUCH angst over a temporary situation.
 
When it came to a gold mine or strike, it was the man with a mule/wagon that struck it rich.. re-selling.
It's all about time, place and form. Sometimes they got strangled though.
 
In times like this we should all think to ourselves WWCTDD or what would Cheaper than dirt do?
CTD of course would do the most wrong thing and we should do the exact opposite of what CTD would do.

Cheaper than Dirt would be the first one in line in the early morning to buy up all the ammo that has no purchase limits. Forget about all the others because this is about what CTD needs and that is the #1 goal, to put CTD first.
Then CTD would resell it at 3X-5X more than what they got it for because they live in a capitalist society and that is all fine and dandy.

Remember this goes for everything we do in life. If you are driving down the road from work and see some elderly woman off in the shoulder with a flat tire, think WWCTDD.
CTD would keep driving by because CTD had more important things to do like go home and watch TV. Actually CTD would probably stop and offer to help the woman in exchange for whatever cash she had on her.
Therefore you do the exact opposite and stop to give her assistance because you are not a bozo trying to take advantage of another human that's in distress or just hoping to get a box of .22LR.

This is not just a sappy made up analogy I am giving here for effect. If I see a woman with their hood up or flat tire I stop and offer help. Most of the time somebody is already on their way to help them, they thank you and then you are on your way. Just yesterday Sunday afternoon I chased down a guy with a flat tire going out of my way to tell him before he went onto rim. He gave me a thumbs up as though he knew and shortly after pulled into his driveway. It's not that hard to help others most of the time. Walmart very well may be changing their buying limits or times to obtain their ultimate goal which is more profit but in the end it is actually helping fellow shooters.

Moral of story: When it comes to ammo, people get very greedy. Take the Highroad and try to to be Mr.CTD greedy pants.
 
Good point! Find someone with ammo for sale on Gun Broker, pay the going rate, and give it to someone who can't afford to pay that much.

Or, go out to WalMart at 6:00 am, stand in line, and buy your 3 boxes. Then go give them to someone who doesn't feel like getting up so early, or who doesn't want to take the hours off work to do that.

Charity for one's fellow man is a beautiful thing!
 
Impureclient,
The whole point of a market based system is that prices are information, by holding them steady and limiting purchases the information doesn't rapidly flow to the producers to invest in new supply, to hoarders that now is the time to realize profits, or to buyers to stop buying because you're no longer the highest value user.

By limiting purchases, bullets become essentially $20 bills laying on the ground "freely" able to be picked up by anyone (even those without interest in their final use) because anyone can benefit via near arbitrage profits. Allocation simply shifts profits from manufacturers to those who have low opportunity costs (ie those who are least inconvenienced by being at walmart when product is likely to be available) the harder it is, the more likely that housewives and students or others who aren't paid to be somewhere else, camp out at the sporting goods counter to buy for resale.

If all sellers ramped up prices in the manner CTD did, the demand information travels back to manufacturers more rapidly, resulting in a manufacturer scramble to boost production due to the increased profits available, and arbitragers would have no interest in participating in the market (because no profits were available) or many end users would forgo shooting for a short while until the increase in demand was either filled or abated. Thus the "crisis" would end more quickly.
 
Does anyone know if manufactures have raised prices or are their prices generally same (subject to raw material fluctuations).

Does CCI realize the high demand and low supply and then charge Acadamy, Walmart, or Midway more now or at the time of the next contract? Or is it business as usual for them.

Just wondering.

I think S&W raised the prices on their AR recenlty. Don't know why.
 
Glad Walmart does not carry 10x25 ammo. Went to Walmart and got the following: bottled water, condensed milk, water purification pills, candles, toilet paper, batteries, canned food. Life is grand.
 
12many,
Without access to distributor invoices, I/m not sure. Winchester's parent talks about increased unit revenue (ie higher prices) that rose coming mostly because the product favored higher priced sporting channels rather than police/government channels (which are generally at lower prices). That suggests they haven't increased prices dramatically (and is why they aren't investing in production increases even as simple as delaying a previously planned factory closing).
 
give it to someone who can't afford to pay that much
Click to expand...

Already did that a couple weeks back. Actually they could afford it though. It was just there was no .22 available for them to buy so I gave them a brick for nothing.
I also let them use a couple of my .22 handguns and 9mm also. Of course the 9mms came with a couple of boxes of ammo too as the range was charging double what I paid for what I have. Helping out my fellow man, or woman and kid in this case.
 
So all this is MUCH angst over a temporary situation.
Click to expand...

This. It will be back. People who don't believe that deserve to pay high prices.

I also think it's a great idea to help folks out that can't buy ammo, especially youngsters. I don't have a massive .22 stockpile, but I'm doing pretty good. A guy I know bought a new Ruger 22/45 and has no ammo for it and can't find any. I gave him a couple 50 round boxes. It wasn't much, only cost a few dollars, but he was grateful and gets to try out his new toy. Doing good things will come back to you. I've learned that.
 
I head they stock at 6:30 AM or so on Mondays and scalpers come and buy it up so...

Today I went there at 6:30 AM. Sure enough some old men had a stool and sat there for quite a while till they brought in the ammo and they bought it up.

And that is why you see NONE on the shelves.

So how to fix this?

Well first off it is free enterprise for them to buy and sell for a profit. After all this is America.

BUT, being America you don't have to buy your groceries or goods from Wal-Mart, right?

So you guys notice on your ticket now and then they have wal-marts web site and a chance to win a shopping spree by answering a questionnaire online?

Well take it up and get online and answer it. Near then end they always as for 'improvements' in service.

Mention the scalping and let them know if they don't start stocking at NOON, yes mid-day, and limit buyers, then you will take your business elsewhere.

See each questionnaire is for the very store you shop in (it's on the ticket) and you are letting management know how upsetting this is to you.

Do this and after a while if no changes, go to another store and just before you do that answer another ticket's questionnaire and let them know you are leaving and why.

Deaf
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
  • Locked
Annoying situation at Walmart
2
Replies
44
Views
3K
Sam1911
S
L
  • Locked
Walmart Ammo
2 3 4
Replies
81
Views
3K
happygeek
H
4
  • Locked
Another Walmart Tread....
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
gulogulo1970
gulogulo1970
B
  • Locked
More ammo @ Walmart than you might think!?
2
Replies
42
Views
2K
basicblur
B
O
  • Locked
Special order ammo at walmart?
Replies
6
Views
1K
JohnKSa
JohnKSa
Back
Top