My local Bass Pro and the ammo/components shortage.

[SunnySlopes]

The guy working there was telling me about their pandemic protocol.

They open at 9 AM and have customers lining up around 8 AM. They had a line of customers one morning with some kid at the back of the line. BP opened the doors at 9. The kid ran past the line (of older guys) and bounded up the stairs. (Guns, ammo, etc are on the second floor.) The kid grabbed more than the allowable amount and went downstairs to check out. Downstairs apparently doesn't pay attention to "gun stuff" and ammo limits.

The guy explained to me that nobody at the front of the line was able to "run" anywhere, much less, up a flight of stairs. So they complained. So BP initiated some changes.

All their ammo and components (such as it is) has been moved behind the gun case, accessible only to BP employees. There was very little there, of course.

But the shelves where they used to display/market ammo and reloading components aren't there anymore. It's been replaced with generic shooter's accouterments.

Also, BP employees go out and hand out numbered tickets to everybody in line. First guy gets #1, etc. #1 goes in and gets his limit of whatever's available. Then #2, etc.

They didn't even have plastic MTM cartridge cases, which is what I was there for. They did have, however, the long gun socks I needed.

Interesting times.

 

[Steve S.]

Back in the ‘70’s, I would occasionally visit an LGS that was located on the border of the “bad part” of St. Louis. The owner was notorious for gouging patrons with limited funds by selling (predominately handgun) individual rounds of ammo at inflated prices. At the time, I felt that practice was simply terrible but for the couple of exchanges I witnessed, both parties seemed happy. Maybe we are headed that direction again, I do not know.

 

[Dunross]

Given some of the behavior we have seen this last year I think Bass Pro is doing the best they can with the circumstances they have to work with. There is far more demand than the industry has been able to cope with leading to 90+% of shooters not being able to find what they want while a small handful who can stand around for an hour or more before the store opens on the day they get their deliveries run out with arms full. That is simply bad for business in the long run and they know it. They also know that shelves that are empty for long periods of time are also bad for business. A store with nothing to sell is not in business.

In a nutshell I think Bass Pro is doing the right thing by rationing out what stock they are able to get. This gives more people a chance to get at least some of what they are after rather than most people getting nothing which soon leads to them not bothering to go to that store any longer. Which is exactly what I have done with my local Bass Pro. Except for non-gun related Christmas shopping I haven't been into the Gainesville store in more than six months when I used to be in there about every two weeks.

 

[BigBore44]

I have no dog in this fight. But I like the idea of numbered tickets. Though, I promise, some of those older guys were planning on reselling the ammo.

 

[wgp]

Sat outside our Cabelas the other day. 8-10 guys waiting at the door, but when they doors opened lots of car doors in the parking lot also opened and guys trotted to the door (I started calling them "ammo ants", it looked like a trail of ants). Now they disperse what they have in small amounts through the day, sometimes move the ammo to the front of the store and always have clerks running the show. 5 boxes per customer, or 8 if you have a Cabelas card. One clerk told me they would find customers buying in the store and re-selling right in the parking lot for a profit. Last gun show I went to I saw components for sale still in Cabelas-labeled bags. One day soon I predict there will be a glut of Covid vaccine, but I'm not as sure about ammo.

 

[Hartkopf]

Now the running will take place to be first in line, to get the first ticket. What's next apply for a ticket online the day before?

 

[earlthegoat2]

I’ve been having good luck at my BPS around 10 on Saturday mornings. No line and not too busy in the store yet.

Got some 20 ga sabot slugs and 450 BM Federal Fusion.

Oh yeah, once again, it’s easy to find what you need when it is not 9mm or 223.

 

[GEM]

I understand free enterprise and the free market but some analyses of such state that it fails to deal with the rapacious nature of parts of humanity. I find this sort of reselling behavior and stalking the stores in the morning rather reprehensible.

If I were BPS, I'd set up some kind of sales registry and limit your weekly purchasing. Sounds a touch totalitarian but that's the way I feel.

 

[Ranger99]

Well in my area, they've been lining up at the stores since the first "22 shortage " but a
lot of the people I would relate that to would get indignant about it and stop just shy of calling me a blankety blanking liar.
Now just as then, we've enabled those gougers by lining up to pay their exaggerated prices

 

[FROGO207]

The best way to combat this is to plan ahead and purchase enough to get through these "speed bumps". I am fortunate that every payday I could set aside something to put into my hobby. My method was buy two, use one save one. Can't wait for things to return to store shelves and I can replace what I have used up and given away in the last year or so.

 

[swg1]

I just refuse to pay the gouging level prices. This isn't my only hobby. I recall staring at a brick of 22 for $75 during the last shortage and it occurred to me that buys a lot of gas for my motorcycles.

It also prompted me to buy some flintlocks.

 

[3Crows]

I have no dog in this fight. But I like the idea of numbered tickets. Though, I promise, some of those older guys were planning on reselling the ammo.

You are exactly right.

And I am 67 and I can bound up a flight of stairs pretty fast. Swim, bike, run, shoot and bounding up stairs, no big deal.

 

[Pat Riot]

When we had the ammo shortage a few years ago the Walmart that I went to in Oregon would have people line up at the ammo counter. I reload my ammo but my Grandson was coming to visit so I wanted some .22 ammunition so we could do some plinking.
I was number 3 in line. People were allowed to start lining up when the store opened at 07:00
Myself and about a dozen guys got there early.
We were told that at 8:00 someone would be there to help us.
We stood around waiting and talking.
At about 10 minutes before 8:00 an announcement came over the PA: “Would a representative from Sporting Goods please come to the Customer Service desk?”
The doors at the rear of Sporting Goods opened and a lady that I had seen working in Sporting Goods came through the door and as she was walking past us she said “I will be back to help you guys in a moment.” and she proceeded to the front of the store. By this time there were at least 30 guys waiting in line.
A few minutes later she came back followed by these two young guys that had snotty little smirks perched on their faces.
She walked behind the counter while these two guys bellied up to the counter and I heard her say “Now what is it you guys need?”

There was a moment of shocked silence followed by a very heated response from every guy there including me. Without boring you with a blow by blow of what happened next I will just say “Smirky Boys” got no ammo. Security and Police showed up. Some folks at Customer Service got reprimanded including the manager that directed the Sporting Goods lady to give her friends special treatment and in the end that Walmart changed their ammo distribution policies by passing out numbered tickets and staggering times they brought out ammo denying frequent patrons the opportunity to take advantage by turning them away.

Oh, I did get some .22 ammo to go plinking with my grandson.