The Wal-Mart nearest my house posts the list of what they are expecting on the next truck, and when the truck comes in, they put out on the shelves exactly what the list predicted would come in. So no, I don't believe that they have thousands of rounds or hundreds of cases of ammo (at least not the high-demand calibers) sitting in the back that they won't put out because they're too busy to sell stuff. They may have a lot of birdshot in the back, if they were careless with their orders, because that stuff isn't selling and there's a ton of it out on the shelves, but no, I don't believe they would be placing purchase limits on something if they have a ton of it just sitting in the back--it defies logic.
Furthermore, when I drop in there at 8 or 9pm (I work late a lot), the sporting goods department is not busy and there's always a clerk hanging around taking care of minor issues. There's nothing to suggest that he can't get around to stocking the shelves, and the evidence from all accounts indicates that what they have, they put out. There's no reason for them to reserve stock that's selling like hotcakes by hiding it in the back. No matter how busy they are, ultimately they are in the business of selling stuff and you can't sell stuff that you hide from the customers.
200 boxes, which I used as an example, was an over exaggeration. My point is that when I go to Walmart I usually find one overworked person who is handling ten different things. Cash register, phone, background check, stocking, price changing and rearranging things. IF they aren't in another department mixing paint or getting toys off the shelf 3 aisles over from sporting goods. I often--no, make that always--have to go search down the person working in sporting goods. Your Walmart may vary.
Ammunition comes in infrequently at Walmart. I have never seen a list that shows the next day's order. I'll ask about that on my next visit, but I do not believe that is standard here. When ammunition does come in though, typically it comes in a case, which I have been told is how managers in sporting goods order the ammo. Whether they receive an entire case or not is subject to what the ammo company sends them. Since they usually order multiple calibers on a single order, a lot of time these all arrive on the same day, or within one day, of each other. So an order to Federal may come in with 3 cases of 9mm, .3 cases of .40 and 3 cases of .45 and whatever other rounds were ordered as part of the same shipment. Then there may not be another arrival for many many days, or weeks, from another company. So when this order comes in on it's pallet, or multiple pallets but arriving on the same day, then the ammo may be stocked by the night crew, or left for the morning people to stock. I've seen it done both ways. Some of it may be placed in the gun room.......because you do NOT want to leave boxes of ammo sitting on the back loading dock unattended. Too much employee pilferage. Too much of a temptation right now.
IF it is left for the morning crew to stock behind the sporting goods desk, then it will be a matter of when they choose to stock it. Most of the time it is put out when they get there. But if the sporting goods person is called away, or they are get busy with something else, it is not unheard of for them to leave the ammo sitting there for half a day or longer. It really does depend on how busy they are.
In prior years, I know for a fact it was not uncommon for ammunition to remain in the gun room. Why? Well if the spot on your shelf for .45ACP was full, and you had more boxes, you would leave them in the gun room. This is how ammunition would get "lost". It would get buried under some other items, like other ammo shipments, or boxed rifles and shotguns, and would be found later when the employee unburied it and said, "Oh...I didn't know I had these." Likewise, if the ammo was placed in your gun room overnight to keep it from being stolen, then you might not know you have ammo until you either look in the gun room, or check on some list to see if you had any arrive. Again it might be hours, or a couple of days if you have no reason to go to the gun room. This seems unlikely now with all the demand. In prior years, I know it happened though.
Don't misunderstand me. I do not believe Walmart employees are failing to put out ammuntion. I believe they do so when they have time. I'm firmly in the camp that believes NO ammo is coming into the stores right now. Companies are on backorder just trying to fill the internet orders they received in Jan/Feb. They will be til October, some of the sights are saying, before those companies catch up with already existing purchases. What little they send out to stores is just a token effort to keep their products on the shelves and as a sop to Walmart so they'll get off their backs.
What I do think is false though is the idea that a small group is coming every day to Walmart and purchasing the ammo. Ammo isn't even
arriving every day. So if these guys are standing around doing that, or coming in to check the list every day, then they aren't scoring ammo every single day, because ammo doesn't come in every single day. When ammo does arrive, it usually arrives in 3 or 4 cases, maybe 7 or 8, it all depends on how much they ordered. If two or three companies ordered from--Federal, Remington, Winchester for example--all happen to arrive on the same day, then you might have 30 or 40 cases, or more, of ammo arriving all at once. Those 5 guys you used as an example are limited to 3 boxes of whatever type. I'm having a tough time figuring how it is that they--by themselves--are managing to buy up the 15 boxes of ammo per day (5 guys x3 boxes) and totally denuding the shelves of ammo of all calibers. They might make a dent in a 1000 round case of one caliber, but there would still be some left over even then.
The truth is that other "average Joes" are coming in to buy their three boxes of ammo and by the time 15 or 20 of them come thru--then 3 cases of ammo is gone. 20 times 3...60 boxes. 3000 rounds. 1000 round case. So 3 cases gone. That's all it would take. The first 20 people. If only one or two cases come in, then only 10 people.
Really...there's no big mystery here and no conspiracy of ammo flippers. It's just a bunch of people--average folk--decided that all of them needed ammo in large quantities all at the same time.
