Much is being made of a recent decision by Wal-Mart to start rationing ammo sales. The general consensus is that this is a bad idea, in that we should be able to buy however much ammo we want at a given time. Others disagree, with the idea that rationing allows more people to buy ammo. Many wonder why, exactly, Wal-Mart (and Dick's Sporting Goods as well, apparently) have chosen to limit ammo sales, under the premise that they're going to sell it all anyways; what difference does it make whether they sell all 50 boxes to one person or 25 people?
It's very simple: repeat business is good, and impulse shopping is better.
One thing you can say for the folks that run Wally World, they're sharp business people. It's a near-certainty that, with ammo as scarce as it is and folks checking in daily, sales have gone up across the board in the entire store. This is because people walk in with the intention of seeing if there's any ammo for sales, and remembering that they need to pick up a pound of coffee, a car battery, or a new pair of hiking boots while they're in the store.
Getting people in the store is the holy grail of retail. And with the ammo shortage, Wal-Mart's just about parked the bus outside the Ark of the Covenant here... Tortured metaphor aside, basically Wal-Mart is extending the in-store time folks spend by making them make multiple trips to the store (or store locations) as they're only able to buy two boxes of ammo at a time. Rather than driving to three different stores hoping one has ammo in stock, now we'll drive to three different stores to buy two boxes at each location...
It's genius, plain and simple.
I applaud the thought that went into this decision - while the gunnie in me is pissed that I'm *still* going to have to drive all over hell and creation to find ammo, the sales & marketing guy in me has to nod approvingly at the concept.
That is all.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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7 comments:
For me, I'd rather have a high probability of getting some ammo, then a low probability of finding any, but being able to buy all I can afford when I do find it.
The obvious answer to rationing is to take your wife and both of you buy whatever the limit is, in separate purchases.
Woah, dude! This post wins teh Intarsebz!
Yep. Take the spousal unit, and hit a couple stores.
I can't replace the three bricks of .22 we shot this weekend; it's going to make Appleseeds for the remainder of summer a bit harder.
I Finally found 380 auto at Four Seasons Firearms in Woburn. Three box limit. Yeah it sucks, but you know what, after not being able to buy anything for two months, I just bit my tongue, ($7 over Wally-world prices) and went about my business. I have a back order at Cabalas, they just called to push me back for the third time in two months, now they tell me I wont see a round of my bulk ammunition order till mid-July! I placed the order in January.
Uhh... what serious gunny still buys his ammunition at Walmart? Seriously? Their prices are not bad for a carbon store, but compared to online retailers, there is no competition at all.
Or is this one of those screwed-up Massafrakkit things?
Bingo, Linoge.
No one sells to MA via mail order since our intrepid AG decided they needed to be incorporated as a business in MA in order to do so...
I hate this state...
I applaud it...
Rumor has it that dealers have stalked Walmarts. Bought the stocks and then resold for 50% to 100% more.
I have checked up to four different Walmarts (all in my region) a few times a week for over 4 months now trying to get a box or two of .45 ACP Winchester 100 rnd White Box.
I have yet to be able to buy a box. I am now beginning to get frustrated as my supply of ammo is getting low. And it's very possible I might not be able to shoot in the near future due to lack of ammo.
So I like the idea of rationing.
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