Heard a NASTY rumor ... Walmart firearms and related products?

[Pontif]

Friend of mine that is fairly well acquainted with the firearms market told me that the line of firearms, scopes and related items were manufactured by the different companies to lower standards so they could sell to Walmart cheaper.

THIS IS NOT AN ACCUSATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not want to get sued over this.

I am just wondering if anyone has heard this to be accurate, or if anyone has had unusual problems with a rifle or scope that has come from a Walmart.
The individual that told me this has had several significant problems with 2 firearms and 3 scopes that were purchased from 2 different stores. This may be his over-active imagination, or it might be true. I really do not know.

I do know that several manufacturers had to change specifications on products (lowered certain standards) in order to sell to Walmart at the cost that Walmart was willing to purchase them. That made the news a couple of years ago in Huntsville.

Anyone have any input? Know anything concrete?

Thanks

 

[Schleprok62]

If you were Brand X company, would you put your reputation on a product you intentionally built to a lower specification?????????

They used to say the same thing about K-Mart and light bulbs...

 

[Pontif]

Good point. To some companies, or this was my reasoning for asking, Walmart makes us such a large percentage of their sales, that there might be a valid reason for the reduction in certain standards.

Wanting to purchase a Leupold from them, but have hesitated because of the words of warning. I may be looking at cost too much.

Another good friend in the knife business told me to always buy the best knives I could afford when I was collecting. Price and cost - being two seperate things for the purchaser.

I may be suckered in by the politics of marketing and "rumors."

 

[tntwatt]

simple economics, Wal-Mart buys literally thousands of an item so they cut prices. They have 2500 stores plus 585 Sams Clubs. With so many thousands of people buying from WM, if Leupold or any other company put out a bad product, the negative rebound would sink them.

 

[chieftain]

I do know that several manufacturers had to change specifications on products (lowered certain standards) in order to sell to Walmart at the cost that Walmart was willing to purchase them. That made the news a couple of years ago in Huntsville.

Not one of those manufacturer's HAD TO change specs. They chose to. Why? They thought they would make more money by selling volume to and or through Wally World.

I am willing to bet no one related to Wally World literally held a gun to their heads. They didn't HAVE TO. They chose to.

I am also willing to bet They did not tell Wally World that they had reduced their quality either.

I would also like to see hard proof that product quality was reduced with Wally World's blessing. I am willing to bet it is more likely some fraud on the manufacturers part.

If you can't make the product for the price. DON'T MAKE IT FOR THAT PRICE. Kind of radical.

That is the greatest part of America. We each have choices.

Go figure.

Fred

 

[chris in va]

I saw a documentary last year about WM and a small business owner trying to get his product into their system. Over a year of struggles, he had to cut his product quality/complexity to meet the WM price point.

I've bought two rimfires from WM. Both were jammomatics, never again. Half the stuff I buy there fails somehow in a couple months.

 

[Pontif]

Right now, WM is an easy target (so to speak ... sorry ... couldn't help myself). Their prices are not as noticeably lower as they use to be, some bad press here and there, and emotions get going over what use to be an overall really positive American institution. I have watched Walmart take a beating. Sometimes, rightly so. Sometimes, simply "rumor."

HOWEVER, I simply have seen so much in the way of negative press, and I have also seen and heard so much from a couple of friends (although I have not purchased a lemon) that I am "skiddish" now. Can always "take it back," but I guess I expect more from a store - especially one with the power and promotional abilities that WM has. Like I said, I may be falling prey to the rumor wars.

 

[RugerBob]

I work maintenance for a large manufacturing company. If we lost wally world it would really slow our production up. They tell you what they will pay and if you can't do that they do and will go elsewere for there products. Like overseas. They buy thousands to millions of 1 product or another. That is a tuff contract to lose. just my two cents.

 

[wayne in boca]

Since Walmart is a discount chain,they tend to buy the more inexpensive line of products so they can sell them cheaply.For example,I bought a Marlin 336W at Walmart.Has the beechwood stock.If I wanted a walnut stock,I would have had to go elsewhere.Just a fact of life,if you go to a discount store,you don't get top drawer items.

 

[Schleprok62]

Well, I do know that a lot of companies will make specific models of a product for them, but you will only find THAT model at wally world...

 

[Robert Hairless]

That's a very old rumor and there's nothing to it. As you've figured out by now, no major firearms company is going to put its branding on an inferior version of the same model and disguise the deception. They would destroy their reputation and business.

Think of what would happen if Remington sold its own counterfeit 870s to Wal-Mart while selling the real version to the Mom and Pop Gun Store. After the initial sale, that gun might well come into the used gun market and no one would know if was fake or real. Who would buy 870s after that news surfaced?

I doubt that Remington started that rumor, and I don't think Wal-Mart would have done so either. They stand to lose a lot if people believe it. So who stands to benefit by the rumor except the people who want you to buy from them at higher prices than you would pay for the same thing at Wal-Mart?

The next time you see mom or pop, give them my regards. I hope her arthritis is better and his grumpiness has settled down a little.

 

[TimboKhan]

Right now, WM is an easy target (so to speak ... sorry ... couldn't help myself). Their prices are not as noticeably lower as they use to be,

I would argue that the prices aren't as low as they used to be because the quality of merchandise is, on the whole, better. I can remember when stuff purchased from Walmart was almost always borderline crappy. To some degree thats still true on the lower end of product lines, but not so true at the higher end. Using knives as an example, it used to be that all you could buy from them were crappy off-brand knives (Coleman, Camp-mor, etc..). You can still do that, but you can also now buy Spyderco, Gerber, Kershaw, Buck and Leatherman products from them. Not so long ago, that simply wasn't possible.

 

[cracked butt]

This rumor comes up on a different gun board every couple of months. Usually its about manufacturers cutting corners on manfacturing or sending factory seconds or customer returns to be sold as new at Wally world.

All of it is pure 100% unadulterated bunk.

A few manufacurers have produced models specifically for Walmart sales- with lower grade finish and fewer features to meet a price point, but they are represented for what they are and not as a higher grade model.

 

[Avenger29]

It ain't true.

I've purchased firearms from Walmart. All work great, and look pretty good.

As far as Walmart Specific models go, one that I can think of is the Ruger 10/22 with Birch furniture, a 22 inch barrel, and a stainless/clearcoat finish. I purchased one of these 3 years ago. Great gun, and looks good, especially with the full size stock and long barrel- it just looks right.

Marlin produces the W model 336 for the chain stores. It's got cheaper hardwood furniture (not walnut), but the rest of the gun is as good as the higher grades.

I've bought two rimfires from WM. Both were jammomatics, never again. Half the stuff I buy there fails somehow in a couple months.

What rimfires did you buy from Walmart?


And, ya'll, please hold off the Walmart threads. Pontif, I figure you don't know about the moderators' dislike for Walmart threads- they usually turn into Walmart bashing and no real discussion.

 

[BoilerUP]

My brother did get a lemon Remington 1187 12ga from Wal-Mart a few years back...but they exchanged it no questions asked and the new shotgun has cycled flawlessly.

 

[CajunBass]

Actually all of Wal-Marts guns are made at a secret manufacturing facility located on the dark side of the moon, using slave labor that wasn't good enought to "cut it" at the cheap tennis shoe factories.

They're made out of recycled cardboard and aluminum cans and held together with duct tape that has reached it's expiration date.

Once they've run "mom and pop" out of business they're going to stop selling guns at all and thereby accomplish their real anti-gun agenda when those same guns spontaneously turn into garden compost.

I know it's true. I read it on the internet.

 

[okiewita40]

Lot's of things have changed at Wal-mart. Having met Sam Walton an knowing what Wal mart used to be compared to now is almost heart breaking. Sam was a down to earth guy that cared what people thought about him and his company. Now his kids are running it and are only looking at it from a money stand point.

Wal-mart used to be about American made products now it most all says made in china. Wal-mart is a major player in a lot of industries though. My wife works for the company that supplies Wal-mart with all of their chicken. So I know for a fact that Wal-mart tells the company at what price per pound to put on the package.

I doubt that anyone in the firearms industry would make a lower quality firearm just to sell them to wal-mart. You will not get a top of the line model but then again you are not paying top dollar for them either.

 

[eliphalet]

Heard a NASTY rumor

Like most rumors it is just that, a rumor and not truth.

 

[Hoppy590]

not dirrected at guns specificly, but athey sell differant products. if you can buy item X from a local store for 20$, you can get item X-1a from walmart for 15$. the differance is in packaging, options etc. guns specificly, you get the same remington rifle, just it might not have the iron sites, or another gun might not have the holes tapped. where as the rifle you get from a local shop would have these standard.

 

[Monkeybear]

Walmart has been known to tell companies to make their products less expensive or they won't stock them. These companies will often have seperate SKUs for their walmart products. These products have been made cheaper by losing features or sometimes by using cheaper materials. I have a Braun razor I got at Walmart for $60 less than the one at The Sharper Image. Its the same damn razor just minus the LCD screen and the lights that tell you how much of a charge you have left. The blade, motor, cleaner and exterior are the same.

As for guns, well alot of Walmarts in my area have stopped carrying guns because they were unprofitable. What dose that tell you?

 

[Neo-Luddite]

This is a general manufacturing problem discussed in the book "The Walmart Effect". Not specific to guns, but the logic goes like this:

Each year, Walmart demands that supplier costs to them go down by 3 or 4%. To keep selling to Walmart, the supplier must cut costs somewhere. So, jobs go, product specs change, and the production eventually goes to China. Eventually, the quality has become SO POOR that Walmart stops carrying the brand.

In the book, a real life example of a classic well-made (USA made) lawn sprinkler is traced as first jobs go, steel becomes plastic, factory closes and product goes to China, and finally (after like a 7 year process) Walmart says 'go away'.


As far as guns (the ones still sold at Walmart) being inferior--it's possible that a brand might degrade BECAUSE of this nightmare process over time--the more pervassive rumor from the stools of gun shopm owners was that a 'lower class' of the same gun was dumped on walmart and this justified the higher markup on the same models they sold. That was BS (unless it is a different spec, many are).

I got my kid a Cricket last month. GM had them for 99 bucks, my local store had it for 127 bucks. I bought local because I like the store and the service I get there (they hooked me up with someone who fixed my mini once for 15 bucks). Would I spend an extra 200 bucks--no--hey--I'm not nuts.

 

[Technosavant]

Some companies do cut corners to sell through Wal-Mart. There's a well known story of Snapper refusing to do that and as a result they no longer sell lawn mowers through WM.

Many large retail chains request specific SKUs for their use only; this is prevalent in electronics. Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart are among the ones known for doing this. Sometimes the item will be identical but with a different model number. Sometimes it will have a different set of features. This is to confuse and prevent price shopping and price matching- it's easy to say "that's the lowest price anywhere" on that TV, since nobody else sells that particular model number.

When it comes to guns, though, the product liability is such that a company would be a fool to churn out low grade crap with their name on it for a particular chain. Sure, it may have a less expensive stock, but the action and barrel will be the same.

 

[Soybomb]

Lets say I'm ruger and making 10/22s. Walmart probably is the biggest seller of my guns. Do I want to sell junk to place that is going to be giving me the most exposure in the market? If anything walmart would get my highest quality guns because the guns at joe's bait and bullets might be sitting on the shelves for years, those walmart units are going to be moving and thats what people will be talking about.

 

[againstthagrane]

i don't know about how it pertains to the gun world, but walmart put vlasic pickles out of business by "holding a gun to their heads" in order for them to lower their price.

google it.

 

[Rugerlvr]

The Mossberg 500 I bought at Wally world in 1996 or 97 is "funny." I don't know if it's a W*M special model, or what, but it's got a bantam sized forearm, even though it's got a full size buttstock and full length barrel. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be a synthetic forearm made for what I've got. I bought the standard Mossberg part, and it doesn't fit.