Dick's Sporting Gougers

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PhilA

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Man, I'm really tweaked.

Bought 3 boxes of Ultramax .45 Colt ammo at Dick's the other day, for $35.99 per box. Yes, I know, its a few bucks higher than most online sources, but most online sources are backordered for months. So I bit the bullet and paid the price.

Decided today that maybe I should grab a couple more boxes to have on hand, so I drove the 30 minutes back to Dick's. Clerk goes to ring them up, and they're now $49.99 per box! ***?! A $14 price jump per box in just TWO DAYS?! For ammo they already had in stock?! Unbelievable. I asked the manager if he would honor the price I paid just the other day, and of course he said no.

So, of course, I said I would politely decline to return to their stores for the rest of my natural born life. They want to price gouge me on ammo? Fine. There are plenty of other places that sell sporting goods that I don't need their overpriced crap. For the price of their $43 ripoff, they lost many hundreds, if not thousands, in future revenue. I'm sure they could care less about one person, but maybe I'm not the only one who feels this way.
 
The audacity of some of those nasty capitalists! :p

You're now the latest in a long line of people who get horribly upset over stores, stands, and a bubbas peddling their wares at a price they believe they can get from consumers. Meanwhile the rest of us do what we've always done; pay prices on goods we believe to be reasonable, and tacitly pass on all others. I've been doing this ever since I had an income, and not just on guns/ammo; vehicles, computers, books, eggs, milk, bread, etc.
 
maybe you don't understand how retail works... when yuo have something in stock, and your supplier raise the price, you raise the price of the item you have in stock, so you can replace it when you sell it.
 
It doesn't matter that Dick's distributor raised the price or not. I am sure Dick's upper management and the distributors management will see the big picture by the decrease in sales, the complaints and fewer returning customers. We had a new Dick's open last month alot of customers at the start but few people were buying. Even the grand opening prices were higher than the other local stores.
 
how many more threads on THR complaining about capitalism?:rolleyes: Would you prefer to live in a communist state with price controls? Can't have your cake and eat it too

Dicks has good prices on shotgun ammo for the shotgun sports, beats any online retailer.
 
"For ammo they already had in stock?"

"and you know this how?"

Because he was there buying some.......
 
"how many more threads on THR complaining about capitalism? Would you prefer to live in a communist state with price controls? Can't have your cake and eat it too"

And how many more about telling someone they should not use their right to freedom of speech. Did the OP call for legal action by the Govt? No he expressed his view that he was not going to shop there again. WTH is wrong with that? Your reference to him wanting some type of control that resembles communism is way off base.
 
maybe you don't understand how retail works... when yuo have something in stock, and your supplier raise the price, you raise the price of the item you have in stock, so you can replace it when you sell it.
Click to expand...

So when your supplier lowers the price, do you lower the price of your in-store stock because your replacement cost will be less? No? Sounds like a one-way street to me.

We all like capitalism, but that doesn't mean we have to accept every single aspect of "business as usual." This is one practice that has always bothered me. You will recoup your replacement cost by raising the price on your new stock. Raising the price on what you already have in stock is double-dipping.
 
just picked up a box of 50 38 spcl for $18 otd. at Dicks. the guy said the had just unloaded a pallet and only 4 boxes were left within an hour. He looked surprised when i said i only wanted 1 box.:D
 
I know this because when I was there the other day, I chose NOT to buy up all their stock. I bought three boxes. They had at least 10.

So when I went back TODAY, and they still had 5 boxes left, I made the informed assumption that these boxes were still there from the other day.

No, I don't fully understand retail. But what I DO understand is that if a store wants to keep my business, they shouldn't raise their price by almost 40% in two days. To me, that's not just capitalism--that's greed and price gouging. You can define it however you want.

Continue picking my post apart if you wish. I'm just exercising my First Amendment rights about the rapidly rising costs of exercising my Second.

Over and out.
 
"For ammo they already had in stock?"

"and you know this how?"

Because he was there buying some.......
Click to expand...

He was assuming it was the same ammo that was in the store the previous time he visited.

Most retailers have a set mark up on goods they sell, say 10% to 15%. If it costs more for the retailer to purchase these goods, their prices must go up accordingly to stay in business.
 
Price gouging is impossible when the product is not necessary to sustain life. Even in desperate situations, price gouging is a rare event.

Consider, for example, the price of a hotel room in a hurrican refuge city, and consider this a case of necessary shelter with no other options besides other hotel rooms or public shelters. Now, let's assume the price is usually $75 and during predictable high demand periods (like graduation time in a college town)the price is $150. Is that gouging? Some uneducated people who think by emotion might think so, but virtually all reasonable people say that it isn't.

Now, let's say the price for the same room is $300 during Hurricane evacuation. Most people probably do think that is gouging, but I disagree. The fact is that shelter is in very short supply. A higher price will incentivize people to double up or otherwise put more folks in the room. It may not be ideal, but it still beats the public shelter. If the price is left at $75 or even $150, a single person might take the room by himself. That's his right of course, but it effectively reduces the supply of shelter.

High ammo prices have the same effect, at least in theory. In my view, prices are still too low, which is obvious given the complete dearth of supply. If .380 acp was priced at $75 a box, I might actually be able to find it. Frankly, I'd thank the dealers for being smart with their pricing, and would tend to stick with them later as long as their prices reflected the better supply reality that I hope we see.
 
"He was assuming it was the same ammo that was in the store the previous time he visited.

Most retailers have a set mark up on goods they sell, say 10% to 15%. If it costs more for the retailer to purchase these goods, their prices must go up accordingly to stay in business."

Smart business set price according to value. If I have one box of widgets to sell, and the demand is great, AND my ability to get more widgets is nil, then I need to make enough from the one box of widgets to last me for awhile.

The reverse is also true. I may have paid $100 for a case of widgets, but if the demand is not there, I probably need to either take a loss or incur storage costs.

If you want businesses to limit profits during high demand, then you should be willing to pay top dollar for minimal value when demand is low. Right?
 
"Gander mountain is exactly the same.

I will never buy from them again."

Thanks! Maybe they'll raise the price enough so that ammo is actually available. Right now they're just dumb enough to make 'anit-gougers' mad, but still not smart enough to raise prices appropriately.
 
"Some uneducated people who think by emotion might think so, but virtually all reasonable people say that it isn't."

That's rather insulting, Husaberg Man.

As you can tell by my post count, I don't speak up on this board much. I listen, learn and occasionally open my mouth.

Mebbe I'll just go back to listening again.
 
Small gun shop I visited today had Remington 44 mag ammo for $45/box as I recall. They just got it in in the last couple of days and 45LC costs about the same amount. They had 9mm and 40 S&W also for around $23/box. Bazer 9mm was less.
 
PhilA-I wouldn't quit posting just because someone disagreed with me or was insulting. There are some people on here who have really well thought intelligent posts that I enjoy reading. There are also some that I really don't care much for (thats saying it as nicely as I can). But I like to participate in this board because I enjoy it & I have learned a lot here. If someone doesn't agree with me-or I feel they have an insulting elitist attitude-about the best thing I can do is just let it roll off & move on to whats next.
Life is too short for me to waste too much time worrying about other peoples opinion of me.
 
Dicks' ammo prices have always tended to lean on the high side like Gander Mt. The only time things are close to right is when they have a sale. I know that when I go in there, so I'm not insulted by their prices. At least they have some for sale, but I don't think they are gouging intentionally; only replacement cost plus their usual markup.

I know how you feel with Dicks. But I don't have high expectations. Their guns as I recall are moderately price.
 
Marx is alive and well on THR.
Click to expand...

What's Marxist about complaining about high prices? It's just typical consumer behavior--part of the invisible hand of the marketplace.

If everybody calmed down and voted with their feet, prices would start to drop.
 
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