I stopped in last weekend at the Walmart in Greenville Pennsylvania and bought 3 boxes of Federal Automatch. They told me that they could only sell me 3 boxes due to limited quantities. I wanted to buy all six boxes.

Today I stopped in again to see if they had some left. Two boxes left so I asked for both of them and they would only sell me one. Weird! I asked him what it would matter if someone else had to buy some of the other brands of .22lr? Why would it matter if I bought both boxes?

He said that it was only "fair" that they limit quantities. WTF is fair about that? I have money sell me what you have on the shelf dumbass.

There was plenty of remington and CCI on the shelf with some winchester bulk packs as well. It not like I was buying the last two boxes of .22.

I agree. What difference does it make if I buy it or if someone else buys it? It's getting SOLD so who gives a shit?

Today, I was calling around looking for ammo, and found a place with some Rem 223 55gr. in stock (11 boxes). Not a great deal, 9.99 a box, but since it is hard to find, I told the girl I'd take it all. I told her I would pay for shipping, as the store is in another state.

She called her manager (who I happen to know, and have been friends with for years) and asked him if she could sell all of it to me. He said "No. Don't sell it all to him."

She called me back and told me what he said, and that she would not even be able to ship it anyway, so there was no use me even trying to buy it.

I was like WTF? All you have to do is call UPS/USPS, whatever, I'll pay, and I'll buy it all. What's the big deal?

She said: "Well, we can't get it, so he desn't want to sell it."

So FUCK THEM and FUCK the guy who I USED to be friends with. Fuck-stick!

This argument comes up again and again, but it fails to consider the good will that a company looses when they don't have what their customers are looking for.  In short, it is far better to disappoint one hoarder than to disappoint 10 other customers.  

a company is forced to choose between angering lots of customers with "gouging" vs. angering lots of customers by being out of stock, vs. angering the occasional hoarder/reseller.  

the most logical thing to do is to limit purchase amounts.  

Anyway, it is their stuff, and they can sell it to whoever they want.

Eta-  I honestly didn't think people would ever buy at these prices.  My local WM has plenty of .223 at around $10.00 per box, but what is the point?  Does anybody really think that 50 cents a round is a good VALUE?        Pop,pop,pop,pop = $2.00  

 I'm going to start selling my stash.

Bought 6 more Fed Bulk bricks this morning. No limits at my local Wal Marts.

Yep, mine had 6 at lunch and I got 4 but could have gotten all 6 if I wanted. I'm getting all I want before they start limiting it though.

Should not make any difference though. Even if 5 people went in and bought all 11 boxes, what is the difference? They STILL will not have it on the shelves for that 6th customer. So SOMEONE is going to be pissed, right? It goes back to :You can't please all the people all of the time. So why not please ONE person now? Like me?

But to not sell it to me and give me some bullshit excuse about shipping? Fuck em!

I understand what you are saying, though, and I can agree, to a certain extent. You have a valid point.

Yeah, but now you are making the people happy who would only purchase $20 of products every ten years, and pissing off people who would spend $200 every month.

The logical thing to do is to take care of the bigger customers.

I got lucky enough to find a stash of Blaser Brass 9MM at wally world over lunch. Bought it all. No limits.

I remember when I used to turn my nose up at all things Blaser.  Sheesh. Rationalizing...just using it for the brass.

This is also a store to store decision..not company wide...my wal-mart has routinely sold entire batches of 9mm shipments to one person.

Sounds like a completely arbitrary local policy and not some formal Wal-Mart corporate policy.



You could write Wal-Mart corporate, but that might back fire and result in a formal limit on ammo purchases.

Every time I have tried lately, there is nothing to be found. They might as well limited it to zero because it wouldn't make a difference for me.  I'm guessing what happens is whenever a delivery gets in, a few people go in a wipe them out clean.

Bring a few of your buddies next time, spread out, and have them each buy three boxes.

Good point. I spend anywhere from 150-300 a month on ammo, mags, and other gun related items. COPES DISTRIBUTING, OEM Police Supply, AIM, 44mag, and a few others on here normally get my money. All good places to deal with and I have never had any issue with any of them.

BTW, sorry about the hijack of the thread. My Wal-Mart has NOTHING in stock....well, like 7mm-08, 243 and a few other calibers I don't have weapons for.

Lots of guys tag along with the wemenz just to browse the gun department.  They end up buying additional knickknacks that they didn't plan on.    That is why WM had gunz-n-ammo back before it was the IN thing to buy.      Retailing is a numbers game, it's nothing personal.

BTW- The folks who have been here a while might remember out "National Walmart Ammo Day"  Where Arfcommers all over the country pledged to buy large quantities of WM ammo, just to reward them and encourage them to keep selling it.      At the time, WWB 9mm was $10.00/ 100       WWB .223 was $7.95/100    .22 550 bricks were $9.95 (Federal and Remington)      This was only about 2 years? ago.    

I think we overdid it guys.      Unintended consequence are a cast iron Bitch.  

They tried to limit a purchase I was making.  Employee told me he could only sell me 3 boxes of .45.  I said fine, I'll take three, walk them out to my truck, come back and get three more, until I'm tired of it.  He said no, only three boxes, that's it.  I asked to see  the policy in writing.  Then he says, ok, I'll sell you six.  Then I tell him so there is no policy because you just went from 3 to 6, breaking your own "policy".  He got all pissed off and red faced and then I bought every fricken box of 45 they had, which was not my original intention, just to show him what I thought of his "policy".

Last week I could buy 1 case of ammo a day at the local shop, today I was rationed to 10 boxes.

It is in retailers best interest to encourage their customers to buy more items than just ammo. They need customers to come in and buy as much of their merchandise as possible. So, you think,  they should sell you all of the ammo that you want to buy. Under the current circumstances, If they did that, then they would have 1 satisfied customer and 100 others that come in later to find no ammo. This will make those 100 customers upset. Upset customers do not shop with as much enthusiasm as happy customers.
So, selling you all of the ammo, under the current circumstances, is not in their best interest

Besides, if 100 customers come in and are able to buy at least some ammo today, they will be much more likely to return tomorrow. If they come in and find bare shelves a few times, they will, by Pavlovian theory, learn that that store is not the place to find what they want and go elsewhere. Do that a few times and they have a habit of not coming back. Not good for a retailer.

What you fail to remember is that the ammo shelves are already nearly empty all the time. That last box of Automatch is probably already gone and the other customers are pissed anyway. What is the difference? If they weren't 20 miles away, I would stop in and buy the last box tomorrow if it was still on the shelf.

Its still fucked up.

I'd like to add the following:

Part of this is because asshole dealers are going in and cleaning out walmarts only to turn around and fuck either hard-up or unsuspecting newbies buying it at their store.  Not only is that unethical in my book it also pushes the price point for these products to the right, which means all of us that are still wanting to buy on a regular basis get fucked out of extra money when we can even find ammo to buy.

The other thing is the non-availability of ammo situation (created in part by hoarders and dealers) spawned a snowball effect fueled by fudds and other people that normally wouldn't be buying quantities of ammo.  Similar to the "run" of rice back a year or so ago where folks were running to warehouses to buy bags of rice that most of them wouldn't know how to cook if their life really did depend on it.....it was "the thing to do".  Now we have people out buying qty of ammo because everyone else is doing it, and when they go to WM to buy a box or 2 of ammo and it ain't there it just reinforces the panic.  

Sure, I'd like to go in walmart and be able to buy whatever qty they have of x-ammo (like the ole' days) but I'll gladly accept a "limit" if it helps the price keep from being artificially inflated more than it has to, soothes the fudds' nerves so they taper off from this panic buying, and allows me to pick up a brick of .22 so the kids and I can go out shooting when we feel like it.  



 

 

They are attempting to take care of the broadest base of customers as possible.  Limiting sales quantities on high demand products wasn't invented recently.

It's hard to limit what they don't have, at least here.

Actually, limiting quantities like this indicates that they have not raised the prices enough to keep up with current demand. You might not like it, but higher prices lowers demand and helps to keep things in stock for those who really need it. If you have no ammo, you would be willing to pay more for it than those who have lots. Its simple supply and demand. If you have a large supply, you don't demand more as much as someone who has no supply and very high demand.

If you have a gas station during an emergency, and you leave your prices the same as usual, many folks who don't need more gas might fill up their extra cans to take advantage of the good prices. If you raise your prices, then they would pass by and those who's tanks are running dry would have a shot to get the gas that was only extra for you.

If Walmart had raised pistol ammunition prices a enough to stop me from buying, they might have some on the shelves right now for the guys who are just getting started. Also, it would be too rich for the dealers who are buying up Wally worlds ammo to resell.

Gander Mountain has WWB 45 100 rd boxes on the shelf because they have them priced $59.99 each. Way too much for me to pay, so they have a supply for the guy who doesn't have any ammo and needs some badly.

That doesn't explain why they couldn't just let me have the single leftover box.

This is wise. Limits will eventually hit all Wal Marts I think. Also, I did hear that at least the Federal Bulk Bricks are heading up in price per the Wal Mart sporting goods guy. 13.47 per 550 will be looked at a steal in 6-12 months.

I thought I heard that Walmarts are having problems with small local stores buying up their ammo stock.

I agree with this. I would rather see WalMart selling WWB 9mm at $100.00 for a 100 pack than having their shelves empty. Increasing the price is THE ONLY FAIR WAY of controlling panic buying. They would be likely to reduce prices once the panic begins to subside some.





 

i went to the local wally world in the next town, i know the maganger of the store(i did not have to use the name drop) sence the clerk sold me all EIGHT boxes of blazer brass 9mm and 4 boxes of CCI minimags

Good score.



 

I think I will start to look on the bright side and start stocking up on shotgun ammo, since they seem to have unlimited quantities of shot gun ammo. A few boxes of buckshot would be a good idea.

I was at the local Wallyworld today. I talked to the manager in the sporting Goods Dept. He said he can't keep anything in stock. He also said the company will only let him order certain things. He said he got in 2 cases of 9mm, last week, and sold them right away.

I don't know how it is where you are. Have you tried to talk to the manager?

I was told he would order me anything I wanted, if it was on their list, of stocked items. He did say he can't get 223, it's been on order for over a month. But if I want 9mm, 45acp, or anything else they stock he would be glad to order it for me.


I might get a couple of cases of 22's Don't have a 9mm, and don't want one. I have a Dillon, so I don't need any handgun ammo.

Going to check the prices of stuff on the net, compared to wallyworlds case price.



Edit: I don't live in a big city.

Picked up some Blazer brass 45 acp today in Meadville PA walmart. They kid at the counter didn't even consider limiting my purchase. I picked up all 4 boxes for $14.97 each. I also picked up some more Remington 00 buckshot to round out my stash some.

Weird how two walmarts only 20 miles apart are so different.