Note from Missouri Bullet Company

[funkymonkey1111]

Just saw this on the Missouri Bullet Company facebook feed:

A heads-up: We are on the verge of making a fundamental change in our business model and wanted to give you all some early information about it, as you have all been nice enough to have taken the time to come here to our company Facebook page and deserve to be the first to know. The problem is that business is good. Too good. We can't meet demand. As you know, we have wholesale customers that acco...unt for major purchases and both the quantities ordered and the volume ordered are increasing steadily for them. Meanwhile, the retail trade is mushrooming out of control. Today, for example, Jo Ann took approximately fifty telephone calls, all while she was trying to pack, ship, and size bullets. Yesterday, two trucks arrived for wholesale pickups and Jo Ann and myself had worked until 2:30 AM yesterday trying to complete the orders, while Mark worked all that night and then throughout the day yesterday before the trucks came. And this is killing us. We're not spring chickens any more and can't keep this up. And so we have tentatively decided that we are going to close the door to new retail (internet) trade and exclusively service only the wholesale customers and our existing customer base, which we be grandfathered in. We are going to kill the Blue Press advertisement ASAP and impliment an access code on the ordering portion of website, which will have been sent to our 14,000+ existing customers when we ready the move.

This is what happens when a company evolves to meet changing circumstances and we don't want to do it. Not making new sales is likely to cause me a heart attack but it's something we have to do.

Anyhow, I welcome your comments as we formulate our plans for the future.

Brad

 

[beatledog7]

Brad, I understand completely. Were I in your position regarding a business, I'd probably make a similar decision.

Not everybody wants to be Ray Kroc.

 

[LiveLife]

The problem is that business is good. Too good. We can't meet demand.

Could not have happened to a better couple! A true model mom n' pop operation based on "customer satisfaction" as core of business model.

I think as long as there are retail outlets for Missouri Bullet like Powder Valley, Brad shouldn't feel bad for not filling "new" customer orders "personally" ... they'll simply be filled by somebody else and enjoyed the same (unless of course bullets packed by Brad/Jo Ann shoot better).

Hmmmm, I think I remember posting that Brad may need to go to 24/7 operation fairly soon to meet his customer's demand ... looks like time to ramp up production operation!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm just glad I'm one of the customers who are grandfathered in.
I agree as long as we can still get Missouri bullets it really doesn't matter from where although I guess the prices will be more from a 3rd party vendor.
Why the new name Brad?

 

[Rodentman]

I sincerely understand, and am gratified to be one of your customers.

 

[ChefJeff1]

I just got a box of 9mm smallball, to go with the 44's and 38's. I hope I'm grandfathered in.

 

[Striker Fired]

This is all because they have too good of bullets,too quick of shipping,and too good prices/value. What do they expect?
I'm setting up to cast my own so it won't effect me,can I sell my customer number?

 

[Tim the student]

Well, it could be worse - they could be shutting down!

I'm just glad I'm one of the customers who are grandfathered in.

No kidding. I'm thrilled to be able to order from them directly. They are a fantastic company, IMO.

Why the new name Brad?

I don't believe that is Brad. The poster said they saw it on MBC's facebook page. Strange first post though...

 

[Neutered10mm]

Last I checked, when running a business and demand is high like this, you expand to meet demand, not contract future sale so you can meet current demand. Sorry, but this is a lost opportunity to hire some of this nation's unemployeed and to invest in more production equipment. The number of gun applications is skyrocketing and this company is busy thinking of ways to NOT grow ... sad!

 

[LeonCarr]

I agree with FastCougar. I do not understand why they (and a lot of other gun related companies) are curtailing instead of expanding.

Missouri Bullets sells a great product at a great price, and that is why they are experiencing phenomenal growth. By expanding they are helping to introduce shooting to a whole new demographic which helps not only the economy but the cause of freedom also.

Buy more casting machines, factory space, and hire more employees.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[ljnowell]

I dont think either of you really understand the exact situation. If Brad feels like he needs to come and explain it, he will, but there is more to it than "we dont want to deal with retail customers anymore."

 

[LiveLife]

As OP posted, all of our questions are fully discussed on Missouri Bullet Company's facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/missouribullet

Missouri Bullet Company - Every existing customers is grandfathered, as I mentioned on the original post. And Ken, I'd love to hire more people. We seem to be sucking air on locating qualified applicants, however. Believe me, we're trying. We ran a want ad in the local newspaper last week. We have received a total of ONE resume. And in terms of expanding the operation - we have eight Magma LubeMasters and either Magma Bullets Masters with another one due in two weeks. I don't know of any cast bullet manufacturer with anywhere near that level of production infrastructure.


Chris Reinheimer - Wow! I hope this doesn't end up biting you on the tailside! Balancing growth with overhead is always difficult but stagnation gaurantees death!

Missouri Bullet Company - Chris, we have over 14,000 retail customers. And we have major reloading distributors buying a million bullets a month from us. I don't think that servicing that market could honestly be called "stagnation." A company can die from growth as easily as from market failure and we are trying to head that possibility off.


Levi Nowell - Wow, i always knew it would come. I know all about trouble finding quality employees. I would rather go to the dentist than sit around doing interviews. Its a shame i wrecked my back or else i would head west with a resume!

Missouri Bullet Company - But we're small and nimble and if necessary, can always re-open the floodgates


Missouri Bullet Company - You would not believe how hard we work and and the hours we put in and the stress and strain associated with this enterprise. There is a lot of back-end stuff that we have to handle also, lots of red tape, government tripe, employee problems, yadda yadda. If you haven't done it, you can't know ... having a successful business is having a tiger by the tail. You just have to ride the wave and not fall off. If you remember the animated Disney film "The Sorcerers Apprentice" you can relate, I'm certain


John Morrison - So how does being grandfathered in work? If we already have an account, we're good?

Missouri Bullet Company - Grandfathering is a simple deal. As I mentioned, we will email our existing customer base an access code so that they can access the ordering portion of our website, same as always. Easy, not a big deal.

 

[Striker Fired]

I am on the side of Brad,while ya a person could expand and hire new employees ect... but along with that comes increased headaches with insurances and such,plus many times doing so hurts quality and ontime deliveries or customer service.
I think they opened the business as a small mom and pop type shop and want it to stay there. I doubt if this desision will be the "death" of them,they will still do well ,but actually enjoy life by getting some of the workload reduced.

 

[Tilos]

I think it's the right call by Brad, not expanding...

This whole industry in only one judge appointment from being shut down.

 

[El Guero]

Hope I get grandfathered in too... I just received my first order from them about a week ago!

 

[mgmorden]

I've already ordered from them in the past so I guess I'm grandfathered, but in this day and age I see elimination of retail as a mistake. Resellers these days basically perform a service that isn't needed in this day and age. Back in the days of yore the common man didn't order things. It was considered too much of a burdern. In modern times, people are much more direct on ordering. When I can avoid going through a middle-man and dealing with instock vs out of stock and such, I'll always do so and go direct.

As always, its their business and I wish them well - I just think that in this case they took the wrong fork in the road.

 

[Owen]

As someone that's owned small businesses, each time the business has gotten to the point where I needed to hire someonw to grow the business, I've opted to not grow. The regulatory headaches are immense, I'm a technician, not a HR manager, etc.

Its a royal pain in the butt to jump through all the hurdles required of small businesses.

 

[1KPerDay]

sounds to me like they just need to hire a few teenagers to do the grunt work.

I hope they work it out; I love the company and hope they find a way to make money and be happy and enjoy their lives.

Particularly because I currently have an order in with them.

 

[LiveLife]

Brad/Jo Ann will probably kill me for posting this, as it will add even more work load; but if you want to be "grandfathered-in" and be able to order direct from MBC in the future, quickly place an order and maybe you can be added to the 14,000+ customer list (I guess you could ask in the comment box if you could be added to the customer list).

Sorry Brad/Jo Ann if this causes you any trouble.

 

[sellersm]

Kudos to Brad & JoAnn! No sense killing yourselves, it's not worth it...

 

[rfwobbly]

Sounds to me like they just need to hire a few teenagers to do the grunt work.

Yea, hire teenagers. They already know everything !!


As a student of business, I knew it was only a matter of time before this day came. Success is a double-edged sword. Poor Brad and wife probably haven't had a vacation in years. Sure they have "fame and fortune" but what good is it if you have no time off to enjoy it. They obviously crossed the tipping point several months back too.

My hat's off to them for honoring their existing customer base and not writing us off just to deal with "the big accounts". That shows a lot of character in my book.

 

[sellersm]

My hat's off to them for honoring their existing customer base and not writing us off just to deal with "the big accounts". That shows a lot of character in my book.

^This! +1 zillion. They're good people and deserve some rest.

 

[1KPerDay]

Problem is the existing customer base and order volume is so large it's obviously causing problems. Locking it at the status quo may stop it from getting worse but it won't make things better...

 

[snuffy]

What's amazing about this thread, is this guy with the funkymonkey handle has posted this on 3 forums as his FIRST POST. All within 4 minutes! Why register just to place this business decision by MBC to limit it's sales? I'm well aware of copying something into the clipboard feature of a PC, then click paste on a forum post, but three forums in 4 minutes?!

I copied that from my post on the cast boolits forum. Another poster said this;

[/QUOTE]
... and that he has posted this ONE TIME since joining 14 months ago

on another site, he joined in December of 2010 and made his "first post" today.[/QUOTE]


I sense a conspiracy here. Maybe it's just my suspicious nature, or it's the solar flare that caused it???¿

I know absolutely nothing about running a business, so I don't know if this was the right decision for Brad or not. I just hope he continues to prosper. One thing for sure, I'm glad I cast my own!

 

[evan price]

Its a moot point to me since I cast my own, but if I wanted to buy mass market cast boolits theres lots ofcc other choices. Its great that business is good BUT MBCs niche was their attention to individual reloaders. Those wholesale buyers like fast service BUT again, ifcd another company started cutting price then MBCs out. Retail customers are what started and allowed this to begin.without them mbcs would be just a dream. Meister or Vance and many others went the same way.
Wish MBC the best, but now the door is open to lose to a new co.