WalMart rant

[Teachu2]

Has anyone else noticed how much WalMart gets bashed about their market dominance - and yet thay have not taken advantage of the current market by raising prices on guns and ammo to reflect current market prices? In fact, there are several threads about pawn shops, LGSs, and individuals buying at WalMart and profit-taking on the open market.

When this all dies down, we need to remember the companies who held the line - Midway USA, Brownell's, Natchez, SGAmmo, and a host of others - including WalMart.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I've never understood the Walmart bashing. They are a 100% capitalist entity, they employ tens of thousands of people, they have resisted unions effectively, they retail a significant amount of US-made products, almost universally have the best prices.

I hear the nonsense about poor treatment of employees sometimes. Guess what? Any employees who feel they can do better are free to leave. Yet I see the same faces at my local stores year after year. Must not be all that bad.

People gripe about "china mart". Next time you're there, look at the labels on a bunch of products. Then go to Target or another box store and check labels on similar products. Betcha more of the ones at Wally world say "Made in USA".

I'll support local small business whenever I can, but let's face it: What mom & pop shop in your locality carries everything you need? Without a Wal Mart in my town, I'd have to drive to the next or order online to get many items, because the locally owned stores simply do not carry them.

 

[Analogkid]

I tend to agree. Even though I have noticed a change in most of their ammo prices its just a reflection of what they have to pay for it. I can deal with that. Free market or not I won't pay $100 for your bulk pack of 22lr and don't be surprised if longtime customers don't either. And hold grudges for you doing it.

Some of the gun stores I have spent money with have set up a email list or have messages that go out on FB when they have ammo available. One of them goes as far as to email regulars and tell them they have ammo set aside for them even if they didn't ask for it and they really haven't raised prices all to much.

Guess which one I used to buy my last 2 handguns from.....

 

[akv3g4n]

Not a Wal-Mart fan. Never bought anything from them and probably never will. Being that they have been working with "Mayors Against illegal Guns" I'm not sure why we would hold them up as a champion of an RKBA business.

http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/ap_041408.shtml

I hear the nonsense about poor treatment of employees sometimes. Guess what? Any employees who feel they can do better are free to leave. Yet I see the same faces at my local stores year after year. Must not be all that bad.

While the employees certainly have the option of leaving if they don't like the wages, working environment, etc., Wal-Mart has been pretty successful at destroying any competing small business in the area that would pay these people a decent living wage. Unfortunately, some of these folks have a limited employable skill set and it's not real easy to find another job that would be better.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Going to walmart is like giving yourself a pay raise -- i seriously question the mental capabilities of those that refuse to take advantage of that .

 

[brickeyee]

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

Samuel Adams

 

[LiENUS]

omaha-beenglockin a pay raise in the same way that undercutting your local economy and outsourcing all of your jobs is a pay raise. good for the short term but it'll kill you in the long term when you no longer have a source of income yourself

 

[Teachu2]

Not a Wal-Mart fan. Never bought anything from them and probably never will. Being that they have been working with "Mayors Against illegal Guns" I'm not sure why we would hold them up as a champion of an RKBA business.

I never said they were a champion of RKBA businesses - my remarks were confined to their marketing policies.

It's funny - anytime a company attends a meeting that's called by a anti2A organization, they get slammed for attending. For all I know, they went to tell the antis that WalMart would not support such action.

WalMart is a profit-driven organization. In spite of the immediate profit to be made on guns and ammo, we haven't seen WalMart gouging. Instead, they have limited sales to try to let more customers get some, kept prices as low as I can find, and suffered bare shelves as a result. They could easily sell every box of ammo at a 50% premium in today's market, and all of that markup is profit - but they don't. There is something to be said for that.

 

[45_auto]

Wal-Mart isn't keeping their ammo and gun prices low because they like you. Not a good or bad thing, just simple business practices. Ammo and guns are such a small part of Wal-Mart's sales that it's not worth them going into the computer algorithms that set their prices to change it.

The coding and documented revisions to update it, then the coding and revisions to track and change it would cost them more than they could make from trying to take advantage of temporary market fluctuations of small-quantity items like guns and ammo.

Want to know what Wal-Mart is making money on? Look at the items that they devote the most floor space to. Ammo and guns are usually contained in a small 2' x 10' cabinet. We're talking about 20 square feet, probably about the same amount of space they devote to kid's bicycle inner tubes.

 

[Old Dog]

Wow -- this has GOT to be a first: Someone quoting Samuel Adams ... in a thread about Wal-Mart!

Aye, if ye are implying that those of us that buy our ammo and gun-cleaning supplies at Wal-Mart have voluntarily given up our freedom for servitude ... perhaps ye needeth a break from the internet.

 

[Grassman]

Yeah my local WM had a DPMS AR15 the other day for $896.00. I ask you where else are you going to find that in todays climate. Walmart sometimes takes it in the shorts for no reason on public opinion.

 

[Teachu2]

Wal-Mart isn't keeping their ammo and gun prices low because they like you. Not a good or bad thing, just simple business practices. Ammo and guns are such a small part of Wal-Mart's sales that it's not worth them going into the computer algorithms that set their prices to change it.

The coding and documented revisions to update it, then the coding and revisions to track and change it would cost them more than they could make from trying to take advantage of temporary market fluctuations of small-quantity items like guns and ammo.

Want to know what Wal-Mart is making money on? Look at the items that they devote the most floor space to. Ammo and guns are usually contained in a small 2' x 10' cabinet. We're talking about 20 square feet, probably about the same amount of space they devote to kid's bicycle inner tubes.

It literally takes seconds to change a price in a computerized system like WalMart's. It was much more cumbersome to print and post "Three boxes per customer" signs than it would have benn to change all the ammo prices in the stores nationwide. They don't have to change algorithms, write code, or sacrifice goats - it's so simple, even a WalMart corporate buyer can do it.

WalMart knows exactly what is happening with ammo and guns in their stores. They are extremely data-driven, and when demand exceeds supply - they pay attention.

They also think long-term. They know it's cheaper to keep customers than to go out and get new ones.

 

[akv3g4n]

It's funny - anytime a company attends a meeting that's called by a anti2A organization, they get slammed for attending. For all I know, they went to tell the antis that WalMart would not support such action.

They didn't just attend a meeting, they made changes to their current policies based on recommendations from "Mayors Against Illegal Guns". A rep from the company even stood along side Bloomberg to announce the new policies. It's proudly displayed on the MAIG website.

 

[jerkface11]

Being that they have been working with "Mayors Against illegal Guns" I'm not sure why we would hold them up as a champion of an RKBA business.

Yup they are so beholden to Bloomberg that they still sell AR15's and 30 round mags. Maybe before you bash them for working with him you should look up what they actually agreed to do.

 

[ThorinNNY]

Well, IMHOP, Wallywolrd`s Great, Wallyworld`s Good, BUT it ain`t PERFECT.( I reluctantly admit I ain`t perfect either.)

 

[blakeci]

Not a Wal-Mart fan. Never bought anything from them and probably never will. Being that they have been working with "Mayors Against illegal Guns" I'm not sure why we would hold them up as a champion of an RKBA business.

http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/ap_041408.shtml



While the employees certainly have the option of leaving if they don't like the wages, working environment, etc., Wal-Mart has been pretty successful at destroying any competing small business in the area that would pay these people a decent living wage. Unfortunately, some of these folks have a limited employable skill set and it's not real easy to find another job that would be better.

must be nice to have all that extra money lying around to spend on groceries, diapers, baby food, clothes, etc. etc.

Before they built the walmart out where I'm living now, you would have to drive 30 to 40 minutes away just to pay a lot more money for a lot less selection. Many people in this economy are only surviving because walmart is cheap.

And in quite a few places walmart set up shop, there weren't really any mom and pop stores around, especially not any providing "a decent living wage" in fact more people in some of these semi-rural areas now have jobs due to walmart and all the little business that spring up around them...

 

[akv3g4n]

Yup they are so beholden to Bloomberg that they still sell AR15's and 30 round mags. Maybe before you bash them for working with him you should look up what they actually agreed to do.

I agree that none of the policies that they implemented aren't as onerous as banning sporting rifles or the standard capacity magazines that go with them but when they take input from an organization headed by one of the premier gun grabbers of our generations, it is dangerous.

must be nice to have all that extra money lying around to spend on groceries, diapers, baby food, clothes, etc. etc.

I'm not independently wealthy. It's my opinion that the other stores that I shop at have items competitively priced with that of Wal-Mart or are a better value at a higher price.

And in quite a few places walmart set up shop, there weren't really any mom and pop stores around, especially not any providing "a decent living wage" in fact more people in some of these semi-rural areas now have jobs due to walmart and all the little business that spring up around them..

This has not been my experience and I live in a pretty rural area. I'm glad that they are able to help out some communities.

 

[dmckean44]

I grew up in a rurual area next to a fairly large sized city and never much cared for Wal-Mart, it was dirty and mostly undesirables shopped there. About 15 years ago I took a job in a much smaller more conservative city for a few years and Wal-Mart was a life saver. There was literally nothing else open at 3am when you needed medicine and such. The regular drug stores closed at like 9:30, it was crazy.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

I hear the nonsense about poor treatment of employees sometimes. Guess what? Any employees who feel they can do better are free to leave. Yet I see the same faces at my local stores year after year. Must not be all that bad.

It's an intergalactic difference in the back especially with the unloaders.

 

[45_auto]

It literally takes seconds to change a price in a computerized system like WalMart's.

LMAO. What has to happen before those new prices are typed in, and how long does that take? You think any Wal-Mart manager or employee can change any price they want at any time?

 

[jerkface11]

LMAO. What has to happen before those new prices are typed in, and how long does that take? You think any Wal-Mart manager or employee can change any price they want at any time?

Every POS system I've seen implements price changes on the next restart. Those are generally done daily.

 

[MachIVshooter]

While the employees certainly have the option of leaving if they don't like the wages, working environment, etc., Wal-Mart has been pretty successful at destroying any competing small business in the area that would pay these people a decent living wage. Unfortunately, some of these folks have a limited employable skill set and it's not real easy to find another job that would be better.

Exactly one person has control over employability and job skill set. If you want to make more money, improve your skills. It may require sacrifice and commitment, but there are plenty of single moms and dads out there holding down a job, raising multiple kids and going to school. Anyone can make their life better, but no one owes you anything. You have to earn it.

And in quite a few places walmart set up shop, there weren't really any mom and pop stores around, especially not any providing "a decent living wage" in fact more people in some of these semi-rural areas now have jobs due to walmart and all the little business that spring up around them..

That's been the case here. There weren't very many retail type small businesses to begin with, the ones that did exist still do, and the wages they pay are no higher than wally world. When they opened here, they brought dozens of jobs to the community, and added tax revenue to our county that had been going to the neighboring county with their Walmart, Target and other stores.

There were a bunch of chicken littles when they were building, but in the end, it was a big net positive for the town.

 

[joeschmoe]

They are the largest retailer of firearms on earth. So anything they do effects us. Generally they are the McDonald's of retail. Lowest common denominator where low price is the only goal. Good place to snag a deal, but don't expect quality service or advice.

My only complaint with them as a business is their history of union busting. If their employee's want to get together and unionize that is their right. It used to be illegal to fire people for trying to unionize. Walmart got the law changed so they could.

 

[Bubba613]

People will buy from the company that offers the best overall deal at the moment the consumer is ready to buy. So all of this about "So and So shop was gouging. I'll never buy from them" will go out the window once So and So offers a product the consumer wants at a competitive price.

 

[BADUNAME30]

Lemme tell ya about about our local WM.
One VERY cold and VERY windy wintery night last year, while going into the store, I noticed that thier American flag , up on the roof, was a bit torn. I went into customer service to meantion it to them. They imediately called for the store manager. I told him and without hesitation. He first apologized to me, then imediately went into the store, retrieved a new flag and up on the roof he went.
When he was done, he searched me out in the store and asked if i knew the proper way to dispose of the tattered one.

Oh yeah, i better keep this 'gun/ammo'. Thier current prices on ammo are up only very little right now. Tho i've yet to see any in the cases.