MountainBear
Member
You know, I may be slow with my paperwork, but I imagine those of you who are claiming that receiving a transfer is only 10 minutes worth of work have either never worked in a gunshop or have a receiving clerk who handles nothing but transfers.
I am a small LGS owner. I don't have anyone else to receive my packages for me and fill out the paperwork. When I get a transfer in, I have a list of things to do.
I have to hope the people put the name on the outside of the box (bud's is good at that) so I can call the customer. That generally requires looking up the paperwork to find the number (sorry, I'm a gunsmith by trade, not an office assistant, admittedly, my filing system lacks). Then you call the person and hope the number is still good. In eight months in business, I've have four people give me wrong numbers or numbers that were disconnected. Then I have to try to track them down (thankfully, I live in a small town). The gun has to be checked in to my A&D log. Once they come in, I have to have them fill out the 4473 form. I have to take a few minutes to give instructions (unless they're a regular), as ATF likes things a certain way. Then, inevitably, there are corrections to be made. Then I have to enter it into the computer and wait for a response. If theire's a gun show, it can be an hour plus. Hopefully that clears. If it does, then I have to finish the dealer portion of the 4473 and write up the receipt for the transfer. If it doesn't clear, then I have to deal with a delay. Those are always fun, as people like to call every few days to check if they've been approved. Plus they like to remind me that I can release the gun to them after three days if there's no resolution (which I have a policy not to do, I always wait for an approval). At the end of the day, I have to log the gun out of my A&D log and check the 4473 for the fourth or fifth time before filing it away. I've never bothered figuring out the exact time, but its damn sure longer than 10 minutes.
That all being said, I still do transfers. When I was gunsmithing on one side of the state, I charged $35 plus the state $10 fee for transfers. That was the going rate. When I opened up my retail store on the other side of the state, I found I had to lower my price to $25 plus $10 to the state, as that was the going rate around here.
I can compete with most brick and mortar locations for gun prices. A few local big box sell things like 10/22's at lead-loss sale prices. I don't try to compete and I tell my customers about them. I don't hold a grudge when my customers save $50 or $100 on my prices. I've found honesty, customer service, and a solid knowledge base makes up for it and good customers don't seem to mind if I'm $10 to $20 more on some things. There will always be the guy who needs to know he saved the $5 by going to WalMart. Power to him. My business lives on regular, loyal customers for the most part. I do as much as possible to act in a manner to cultivate as many of those as possible. But I will never get them all. I understand and accept that. I will treat all my customers the way I want to be treated if I were in there shoes. Sometimes the realities mean that has to be tempered. I'd love to get guns at cost if I were a customer, but I'd also understand that overhead has to be paid. I wouldn't allow myself to be ripped off, but I've always believed in supporting local when possible. That's just my way of thinking.
I am a small LGS owner. I don't have anyone else to receive my packages for me and fill out the paperwork. When I get a transfer in, I have a list of things to do.
I have to hope the people put the name on the outside of the box (bud's is good at that) so I can call the customer. That generally requires looking up the paperwork to find the number (sorry, I'm a gunsmith by trade, not an office assistant, admittedly, my filing system lacks). Then you call the person and hope the number is still good. In eight months in business, I've have four people give me wrong numbers or numbers that were disconnected. Then I have to try to track them down (thankfully, I live in a small town). The gun has to be checked in to my A&D log. Once they come in, I have to have them fill out the 4473 form. I have to take a few minutes to give instructions (unless they're a regular), as ATF likes things a certain way. Then, inevitably, there are corrections to be made. Then I have to enter it into the computer and wait for a response. If theire's a gun show, it can be an hour plus. Hopefully that clears. If it does, then I have to finish the dealer portion of the 4473 and write up the receipt for the transfer. If it doesn't clear, then I have to deal with a delay. Those are always fun, as people like to call every few days to check if they've been approved. Plus they like to remind me that I can release the gun to them after three days if there's no resolution (which I have a policy not to do, I always wait for an approval). At the end of the day, I have to log the gun out of my A&D log and check the 4473 for the fourth or fifth time before filing it away. I've never bothered figuring out the exact time, but its damn sure longer than 10 minutes.
That all being said, I still do transfers. When I was gunsmithing on one side of the state, I charged $35 plus the state $10 fee for transfers. That was the going rate. When I opened up my retail store on the other side of the state, I found I had to lower my price to $25 plus $10 to the state, as that was the going rate around here.
I can compete with most brick and mortar locations for gun prices. A few local big box sell things like 10/22's at lead-loss sale prices. I don't try to compete and I tell my customers about them. I don't hold a grudge when my customers save $50 or $100 on my prices. I've found honesty, customer service, and a solid knowledge base makes up for it and good customers don't seem to mind if I'm $10 to $20 more on some things. There will always be the guy who needs to know he saved the $5 by going to WalMart. Power to him. My business lives on regular, loyal customers for the most part. I do as much as possible to act in a manner to cultivate as many of those as possible. But I will never get them all. I understand and accept that. I will treat all my customers the way I want to be treated if I were in there shoes. Sometimes the realities mean that has to be tempered. I'd love to get guns at cost if I were a customer, but I'd also understand that overhead has to be paid. I wouldn't allow myself to be ripped off, but I've always believed in supporting local when possible. That's just my way of thinking.
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