A new pearl of wisdom from our Walmart "friend"...

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I'm always surprised about people's expectations of WalMart.

I bought the oil filter for my 1970 Porsche 914 from WalMart, but I don't expect the guy in the automotive department to know how to do a valve adjustment on the Porsche, nor do I expect them to carry other Porsche parts like a wiper relay or brake pads (both parts they sell for your Chevy or Dodge).

They also sell TVs and stereos, but I don't complain that they don't have Klipsch speakers or someone working behind the counter who understands something like Impedance or what a low-pass crossover is or other technical stuff.

They sell groceries there too, but I don't complain that I can't find Japanese lobster in their seafood section, or Ice Age Brie in their deli case.

Why would I expect the guy at ths Sporting Goods counter to be a gun expert, or carry .357sig (or 10mm, or some other less common caliber)?


The things I buy at WalMart I buy because frankly they have the best price on them ... if I need some sort of technical assistance, or some product thats outside the mainstream, I don't go there.

Besides that, I've been to plenty of gun stores where the guy behind the counter doesn't know squat too ... or they don't carry ammo for my Makarov.
 
the lack of knowledge on the part of the clerk is evidence of the lack of effort on the part of the company and or store manager to effectively service the gun buying public
i think if you want to sell guns and ammo, you should put some more effort into it
now a Wally World i have patronzied in MO is very good about gun and ammo stuff, and ive never been asked if its for a rifle or a handgun :)
BSR
 
I've never had a problem with Wal-Mart. I go to the ammo department, pick the ammo I want off the shelf, pay for it up front and then leave.

I don't expect any gum-chewing, hat-wearer, mouth-breather to know his over carbed backside from a .357ZIG or a .375 H&H. You buy ammo from the Meg-A-Lo Mart/Try-N-Save because the stuff is cheap and readily available. Period.
 
El T -

Never been to a Wallyworld that let you pick anything up yourself but shotgun shells.
 
Wallyworlds around here do. Just in there yesterday, I-65 and State Road 26 in Lafayette, to buy underwear (that's just how exciting my life is) and picked up a bunch of 9mm and .45. Right off the shelf, the old guy behind the sporting goods counter/island was showing a rifle to someone else and told me to pay up front.

No mess, no fuss. No endless whining about calibler, no endless whining over "rifle or handgun" prompts, no endless whining over the quality of mouth-breather in a blue vest. Grabbed my gear, paid for it and then left.

Do not understand all the drama over a friggin' discount den. However, there is a warehouse of stuff that I do not get (bears, zombie, Wal-Marts, other imaginary problems).:D
 
the walmart i go to has a great sporting goods staff. they all know their stuff and are great to talk with. one of the managers has a ffl, and for a fee will obtain whatever a buyer wishes. but at 15% of the cost of the gun as his fee, i have yet to utilize his services in that regard.

when i bought my marlin papoose there, the clerk was 'oooohing' and 'ahhhing' over it, saying 'this would be great for my kids!' after the paperwork was filled out and she was ringing it up, she asks 'okay, you'll need some ammo with that, right?'
me, i'm speechless cause i've always heard that walmart will NEVER sell ammo for the gun you are buying on that particular day. i say 'ummm, well no, i already have a couple bricks, but isnt that against store policy?'
she looked at me as if i was positively nuts.
 
Yesterday I attempted to buy ammunition for a carbine rifle chambered in 9mm.

Store policiy does not ask if its pistol ammunition, but asks the owner/purchaser if the ammo is going to be used in a rifle.

The old man working told me that I needed to be 21 to buy 9mm ammo (He negated questioning me if it was to be shot in a rifle, but instead chose to wring it up as pistol ammunition :rolleyes: ) I am 19. He also asked my friend for his ID...

Ugh

I told him his own stores policy, and how the age limit pretained to what the ammunition was going to be shot in, not the ammunition itself. He rejected the idea. I asked him if I could buy .223 (For my AR15, however... I didn't tell him that, for he might have had an acute myocardial Infarction) and clearly said it was rifle ammunition. He told me I needed to be 21. I have purchased ammunition before at wally world, but this old, uninformed geezer wouldnt sell me anything. I was about to ask him to let me see that 7mm remmington ultra magnum in the case just to piss him off, and then badger him if it was legal for me to buy it as I am 19. :fire:

I just called the manager and told him about this little problem, and I hope he brings swift justice.

I am THIS >>>>>>>>>>>>> . < close to getting an RCBS reloding kit and learning to reload my own ammo. I am sick of Winchester White pack, particularly at WALLY world.
 
Funny how things vary by locale or by individual store or salesperson. Friend went to local K-mart last fall looking for steel shot for goose hunting. Was told they don't sell ammo for killing animals?!?!?! Today they still carry long guns and ammo! Go figure. I went in to price an 870, didn't buy. Haven't bought anything at K-mart in a couple years.

Most ammo at Wal-mart behind counter. Most knowledgable associate is actually a female. Gal up front at check out aksed what the 2 Value Pack 9mm's were for. I was stocking up for a Tac Pistol class so several answers came to mind, but I just said "gun".
 
My walmart experience...

I was looking at purchasing a new blackpowder rifle a couple years ago, and I had heard that the local walmart had a nice selection.

I asked to see the flintlock hawking rifle (most of them were percussion), and the guy behind the counter responded with "which one?", and I said: "The flintlock." To which, he answered "they are all flintlocks, that's what they call blackpowder rifles." When I tried to explin that flintlocks are so named because they actually have a little piece of flint, he began to make fun of me.

I left without purchasing anything.
 
HE MADE FUN OF YOU ?!?!

That is basis for termination at Wal-Mart !

The BIG Rule at Wal-Mart is "Respect For The Individual".

Making fun, talking down to or in otherways insulting a customer is "cause for discipline up to and including termination".

You should have complained to a member of managment (red vest) immediately !
 
Knife_Sniper came out of the closet to say:
Yesterday I attempted to buy ammunition for a carbine rifle chambered in 9mm.

Store policiy does not ask if its pistol ammunition, but asks the owner/purchaser if the ammo is going to be used in a rifle.
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I love the sign that says "FEDERAL LAW requires that you be 21 to buy handgun ammo and 18 to buy rifle or shotgun ammo."

Federal Law - From the green book.

TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS

CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

PART 178--COMMERCE IN FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION--Table of Contents

Subpart F--Conduct of Business

Sec. 178.99 Certain prohibited sales or deliveries.

(b) Sales or deliveries to underaged persons. A licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector shall not sell or deliver (1) any firearm or ammunition to any individual who the importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector knows or has reasonable cause to believe is less than 18 years of age, and, if the firearm, or ammunition, is other than a shotgun or rifle, or ammunition for a shotgun or rifle, to any individual who the importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector knows or has reasonable cause to believe is less than 21 years of age...

Note: HAS REASONABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE.

The federal statute on ammuntion for the too long didnt read crowd states that a licensee may not deliver HANDGUN ammunition to anyone to anyone who they have reasonable cause to belive is less than 21. From what I'm reading that means that "dont ask dont tell" is a legal defense - if the ATF gets on their case about it.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the responsibility for buying and using the right ammo assigned to the gun owner? Expecting the clerk at Wallyworld to make sure you get the right ammo is not realistic on planet earth. To their credit when I went there and asked about 9X18 Makarov ammo the kid told me they don'tcarry it. I'm not a Walmart fan but I do buy 9mm ammmo there occasionally. Expecting the people who work there to know anything about what they sell is not realistic. It would be nice but it ain't happening.
 
The man may have had a C&R. It is an FFL, but not a terribly difficult one to get, and would not be surprising that he still works at WallyWorld rather than his own gun shop.
 
You're not referring to Bob at the Hermitage WallyWorld, are you?? :confused: He's one of two WalMart people I've met that know what the heck they are talking about.

(FYI - Person number two is a lady at the Ashland City WalMart.)
 
2yrs ago I worked at the Owasso Supercenter Ok, (20 mins north of Tulsa).
The self paced computer training I rec'd included properly filling out 4423's, proper storage and handling, (not four rules, but don't drop, don't let people load and such) and how to call NICS. Nothing covered general ammo or firearms info. If someone knows, they educated themselves. And they are trained to never say "I don't know". Technically they could get in trouble, particularly if its a District Store which mine was.

P.S. The FFL at my store had the store managers and sporting goods managers name on it, so they both "had" a FFL.
 
Another thing is that all ammo sales are final. No refund, no exchange. So some advice: If your sending someone to buy ammo, give him/her and empty box to take with them.
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here is the first wrong answer i have seen in this thread. wal-marts policy is that they WILL take returns on ammo AS LONG AS it is within 24 hours with a receipt. after 24 hours you are out of luck. we then have to take a "mark down" on the ammo and it is picked-up by the police department and destroyed(yeah right).

I love it when I buy .30-06, and they ask me if it's for a handgun.
Yeah, sure, handgun OF DOOM!
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what is wrong with that? there are 30-06 handguns out there. thompson makes them for the contender. just because you have never heard of them doesn't mean they don't exist.



huaco is correct, it is not my responsibility to know what type of firearm you have and what type of ammo you need. i can give you a suggestion of what you need based on the information you provide to me. but if you(general term, not picking out an individual here) don't know what you need then how am i supposed to know. EVERYDAY i have people come in and say "i need some bullets." i ask "what kind". the typical response is "i don't know it goes in a rifle". i then have to find out what type/model so i can tell them what they use.

while the majority of sporting goods associates out there don't know what they are talking about, there are some of us that do. on the flip side of the coin, the majority of customers don't know what they are talking about either, but there are also many that do.

i could go for days about the people that come and talk to me about the moose that was brought down by their daddys 12 gauge with bird shot(conversation i had with a lady tonight). while it is possible to do it, i doubt it happened the way she was telling it. or the elk they have harvested over the years with a 22 magnum(which is "all the rifle anybody ever really needs.."). or the guy that asked me yesterday "why does the tag on that gun say 710 but the little tag underneath it says 30-06?" i said " because the 710 is the model, and 30-06 is the caliber." his exact words "i've never heard of a 710 bullet, what does it look like?"
 
here is the first wrong answer i have seen in this thread. wal-marts policy is that they WILL take returns on ammo AS LONG AS it is within 24 hours with a receipt. after 24 hours you are out of luck. we then have to take a "mark down" on the ammo and it is picked-up by the police department and destroyed(yeah right).
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If you work at the wal-mart here in Asheville, take that sign down. To be perfectly honest I dont know if that sign is still there, but I do remember seeing it.
 
i work for a wally world in washington. while i don't doubt that some dumbass in management put a sign up at your local wal-mart saying they don't allow returns on ammo, it is not walmarts policy. there may be a local law there stating that ammo can not be taken back. i have seen the same sign at some local gun shops.
 
I am continually amazed that anyone would expect any "associate" working in any dept in Walmart to know anything about anything. :rolleyes:

Yes, I'm sure there are some knowledgeable people working there - at least until they find another job.

It's a "discount store" - you get what you pay for - you are responsible for yourself - TANSTAAFL ... and all that

Only gun stuff I ever buy there is the Federal 22 LR bulk packs
 
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