Walmart Ammo

[Lone_Sheep_Dog]

I buy nearly all of my ammo from walmart. I am getting tired of having to wait for someone to unlock the ammo case. There have been times when I've waited for 20 or 30 minutes for someone even after they called on the intercom system for someone to come and help. Why does walmart do this to it's customers? I'm tempted to buy ammo somewhere else even if I have to pay more.

 

[Chopdoktor]

Screw Wal-Mart, brother. Online is where it's at. The only time I don't buy online (even with shipping, it's almost always cheaper when buying in bulk), is when I buy it at my local gun shop, just to support those guys. I'd rather pay more to American independent businesses, anyhow, if it means I'm supporting my neighbor or fellow shooters and the private gun industry. Luckily, I can win both ways by buying online. Cheaper, AND it supports real gun industry folks.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Why does walmart do this to it's customers?

Because people like you still buy ammo there. You buy it there because the prices are low. Walmart keeps prices low by buying huge amounts of products and keeping overhead low. Having someone stand around the ammo counter waiting to help people doesn't lower overhead, especially when someone will stand and wait 20 minutes to buy ammo.

It's the same reason there isn't a sommelier to help you pick a nice wine to go with the popcorn chicken from the deli.

 

[Davek1977]

Why does walmart do this to it's customers?

Thats a pretty generalized question.....My answer would simply be "They don't" because the gun/sporting goods counter in my local walmart is well staffed by non-idiots most of the time. Unless I'm buying at odd hours (after 10, before 7) I've never waited more than a minute or two to be helped, unless the counter was swamped with other customers. I'm sorry you've had a difference experience, but the complaint about lack of service isn't universally true.

 

[HOWARD J]

I don't have to worry about it--Walmart in Wayne county. MI does not sell ammo or guns anymore. I guess the anti gun crowd got to them.
They have joined Sears, K-Mart, etc---Gun shops are happy.

 

[Lone_Sheep_Dog]

Again

I have had this experience in several walmarts. So this is not just a generalization. They should at least have a button you can use to call someone. they should authorize a lot more employees to sell ammo.
I wish I could buy bulk online, but I like to buy a little every week so that my wife doesn't notice.

 

[evan price]

My sure-fire way to get served immediately is to pick up the phone on the counter and press the page button and make my own announcements. Not vulgar, nothing rude, just keep paging "customer needs assistance NOW in sporting goods."

They come running.

 

[kingpin008]

Quote:
Why does walmart do this to it's customers?

Because people like you still buy ammo there.

Bingo. They do it because you allow them to.

 

[Justin]

My local Walmart has one of those little bells you ring to get someone's attention.

Failing that, go find a manager rather than standing around waiting for someone to show up.

It's the same reason there isn't a sommelier to help you pick a nice wine to go with the popcorn chicken from the deli.

Your Walmart doesn't have a sommelier?

 

[wrs840]

I buy a lot of my plinking ammo at WalMart, in .40 (WWB), .44 mag (WWB), and .357 (Federal) because within the parameters of what they stock, Walmart sells these particular common loads cheaper by far than anyone else. My "wait" in Statesville, Mooresville, and Mocksville, NC is typically somewhere between zero and two minutes. While I may take issue with some of the the strong-arm tactics WalMart uses against the manufacturers it represents, WalMart has done more to stretch the "common-man's" paycheck than any Union or Government Program ever has, so I give them kudos for that.

Les

 

[Marshall]

I once picked up the telephone at the sporting goods counter, hit intercom, and said "customer in sporting goods waiting for help with ammunition, customer in sporting goods waiting for help with ammunition. Someone showed up right away.

 

[Spec ops Grunt]

I buy nearly all of my ammo from walmart. I am getting tired of having to wait for someone to unlock the ammo case. There have been times when I've waited for 20 or 30 minutes for someone even after they called on the intercom system for someone to come and help. Why does walmart do this to it's customers? I'm tempted to buy ammo somewhere else even if I have to pay more.

Cool story bro.


I work at one of those sporting goods counters, and we'd probably be able to help if Corporate staffed enough people where I don't have to be responsible for 3-4 departments at a time.

 

[Mini30]

I don't have to worry about it--Walmart in Wayne county. MI does not sell ammo or guns anymore. I guess the anti gun crowd got to them.
They have joined Sears, K-Mart, etc---Gun shops are happy.

Typically, from a discussion on this subject in a northeast-area gun board, it's not the anti-gun crowd causing big-box stores to pull out of the gun business. It is the lack of qualified/capable staff able to properly fill out the FFL portion of a 4473, and the resulting fines to the store. (I've heard it can run as high as $2k per error, not just per erroneous form.)

 

[LiENUS]

The walmart by my house doesn't lock their ammo up in a case. I pick up a box of 550 22lr and 50 17 hmr every time i go

 

[CraigC]

The world would be a better place if people stopped buying guns and ammo at Walmart. I can actually get a better deal on .22LR bulk ammo at a locally-owned sporting good shop. Same for .223, .45ACP is slightly higher but I can live with that. Everything else I handload. I don't step foot in Walmart unless I absolutely have to.

I guess the anti gun crowd got to them.

Make no mistake, everything Walmart does has everything to do with profit.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Why does walmart do this to it's customers?

There have been times when I've waited for 20 or 30 minutes for someone even after they called on the intercom system for someone to come and help.

Why do Wal-Mart customers wait so long for service?

 

[CZguy]

My local Walmart has one of those little bells you ring to get someone's attention.

Your store only does that because you are a moderator.

The rest of us have to wait. I think that I'll try picking up the phone and making a page.

 

[BeerSleeper]

I don't care that they lock it up. I only care that they want you to pay for it there, at that counter, or walk you to the register with it. Annoying! That means ammo has to be my last stop, I want to get it first.

Once time, at one walmart, the ammo counter guy was a personable, older gentleman. He told me, the only reason they do that, is so someone doesn't change their mind about purchasing it, and set it down in some random part of the store where it doesn't belong. I had marched right up to him and said, "Two 100 round packs of WWB in .40S&W, please." I must have looked determined, as he said I could just put them in my cart because I looked like someone who was sure exactly what he wanted...

----FWIW, I've never waited more than a minute or two for someone to open the ammo case, but then again, I'm the sort of guy that, if there's no one behind the desk, I'll go out and find someone.

 

[Geckgo]

Thank you Lone Sheep. I have this problem every time I go in all of a sudden. I can understand FFL restrictions, but I don't buy my guns at walmart. But they only give ONE person the ammo key!!!!

As far as why I go to walmart, It's less than 0.5 miles from my house and from leaving the door to my house until I arrive back (aside from waiting on the ammo guy or if they are busy in the checkout lines) in under 5-10 minutes! Plus they have everything I need

Spec Ops Grunt, can you think of a way that customers could "persuade" your store manager to cut you down to maybe say 2 depts and the ammo counter??

 

[Davek1977]

As far as why I go to walmart, It's less than 0.5 miles from my house and from leaving the door to my house until I arrive back (aside from waiting on the ammo guy or if they are busy in the checkout lines) in under 5-10 minutes!

This!!! I also have a Runnings Farm and Fleet even slightly closer, but they are not open 24/7 nor as reasonable on ammo prices (though the selection of guns and ammo is MUCH better than Wal-mart). However, if I save 5 bucks on every 550 rounds of .22lr I buy....those savings certainly add up over the years. I wait (momentarily) at Walmart's ammo counter because I can't afford NOT to usually.....and keep up with my hobbies and responsibilites, anyway. I will never wrap my head around those who think they are going to "save" the local shops by paying twice as much for the same ammo. Be my guest, but I simply can't afford to give my money away, which is exactly what paying more for the EXACT same item entails, IMO. I buy the ammo I need where I can get it the most cheaply. Oftentimes, that IS walmart, but sometimes, it isn't. Shopping around to get the best deal seems to be an art lost of some folks...

 

[Geckgo]

Agreed Davek, when it comes to .22 bulk packs and toilet paper, wally world is where I go. I found a local owned place that sells my CCI .22 cheaper in town, and I buy ammo for my .45 online. I pick up 30-06 wherever I can find it, my walmart is usually out of that, as is everyone else

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I live exactly 3 miles from a WM superstore but I drive to the next town to buy ammo. WM is the only ammo retailer in our town so going out of town is the only other option. Locating ANYBODY in the sporting goods department who can then look for the ammo key is a time consuming and frustrating ordeal. The ammo is so far behind the counter that you have to get someone to get it out just to know what bullet type,weight etc. I one told the associate I wanted some Federal .308 Winchester ammo. She gets this disgusted look and says "Okay,which one Federal or Winchester"?

 

[ultradoc]

When I need help at a store and am waiting and waiting sometimes I pick up the intercom. Sometimes I go behind the counter. [they don't like that].And once my dad was tired of waiting so he started punching the keys on the register. That got them there real fast. But that was about 10 years ago and not at Wall Mart. Wonder what would happen now if he did that?

 

[bikerdoc]

No wallmart for me, Local gun store only. Run by a real American.

 

[Sav .250]

If your in a hurry, then that could be a problem. My local Wal-Mart, the waiting time (if any) is minimal.