[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Local Gun Shop... .223 ammunition (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 9/1/2007 10:29:24 AM EDT
|
So, I walked into the local (Virginia Beach Lynhaven Blvd. location) gun shop in search of some .223 yesterday. I figured I'd grab a bit before the prices went back up... So, I rumaged around in their ammo pile, and lo and behold, I found a case of Winchester White Box Ammunition... So, very pleased with my find, I walked up to the counter to pay.... Clerk: "I'm sorry, sir, since there's a shortage, we are unable to sell cases of .223." Me: "Huh?!?" Clerk: "You may only buy 250 rounds." Me: "Ok, how much are 250 rounds going to set me back." (there was no price on the case) Clerk: "Let me talk to the manager" The manager comes out... Manager: "Sir, I'm not selling winchester .223 - and I'm certainly not selling you a case. We're in a shortage." Me: "You've got to be kidding." Manager: "No sir, you can buy some UMC .223, but the prices on winchester are changing as we speak." Me: "So, sell me the case at THAT price." Manager: "I can't do that." Me: "Is that a law I am unaware of or is that your policy." Manager: "It's the law of supply and demand - I can't sell the whole case to just one person... what if someone comes in tomorrow and wants .223?" Me: "Then they're out of luck and you've made 1 days worth of interest on my money... are you sure you're in business to MAKE money?!?" At which point I left... That was completely assanine. I'd have preferred he just said he wanted it for himself. Shortages don't mean shit when you're in business to move product - you just sell it at a higher price. WTF!? Matt |
News to me?  I have plenty in the store, for sale by the case or box. He is just a real bad businessman. It does no one any good sitting on the floor collecting dust. Yes it is getting harder to get in any quantity at all. I had to cobble for 3 cases of .45acp and six boxes of 44Mag out of LHD. No relief on the horizon.  Better save your brass! |
Really? How much for 1k? I accept all military discounts, too. haha! Matt |
|
I'm going to go against the grain here; As a former guy behind the counter I understand their point of view; Very little money is made on the purchase of new guns so thus you push used guns, ammunition, cleaning supplies, targets, accessories etc. If you have customers come in looking for good deals of .223 and they are rationed x amount perhaps they will buy other items since they are there anyways (why waste gas). Return customers are the key. Yes, they may not see Valleru21 again but they're betting on all the others to come back to pick up some more boxes of .223 and whatever else that they may need. Also another solution would be to special order a case of .223 so that way they can set that aside for you and they can still sell their few boxes. And they could simply be intent on spread loading the ammo to the masses rather than just one customer so everyone can enjoy it. Its the same reason why supermarkets sell certain items dirt cheap but x limit per customer. Ok, fire away. |
Guaranteed sale today vs keeping it around to maybe sell another day... And I'm pretty confidant that the OP is not going to become a regular customer of theirs. |
One thing bandit, it wasn't the possible sale of a Lorcin .25 auto. They know full well that .223 ammo prices aren't falling soon so holding on to it suits their advantage. They know that even when the prices are raised someone will STILL buy it. You may not agree, nor do I, but that's the strategy of firearms retailing. Anyone who's owned or worked at a firearms retailer please chime in, but with all the regulations, overhead, etc. it's hard to make money in the gun business. If you do it I hope you have money coming in from elsewhere as well and you do it simply for fun. |
I agree. The key is to get someone into the store. It's like those gas stations with 5 cents off per gallon on Sundays. So they "lose" 50 cents when someone tops off their tank. That same person buys a coffee, the Sunday paper, milk and donuts. |
I will from now on. I'm going to see about finding another range for our squadron to do qualifications at, as well - that may be a hopeless endeavour - but that kind of stuff shouldn't be happening. Matt |
|
With any distribution business, the less money you have tied up in inventory in order to fill your distribution channels, the more money you will have to do all the other things a company needs done -- marketing, advertising, research and development, acquisitions, expansions, and so on. You need to turn your inventories as often as possible during the year in order to free up that working capital to do other things. The “official” calculation to figure out how you are turning inventory, is to first find out the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for the past 12 months. Then take the current inventory and divide it by the Cost of Goods Sold and you get the number of times you have turned inventory. Retailers, who used to work on the "Retail Method of Accounting", traditionally calculated the number of turns of inventory by adding beginning RETAIL value of your inventory to the RETAIL value of your purchases then subtracting the RETAIL value of the ending inventory, then divided that value by your total sales. This method has been used in the past because the retailers, on the advice of their accountants, used retail values as it was too difficult to calculate costs manually. But that assumes that everything you sell will be at the retail value. Now, with a good Inventory Control system you will obtain a true Cost of Sales. Hence, you should use the COST instead of Retail to produce a more accurate picture of your inventory turns: ((Beg.Inv.at Cost) + (Purchases at Cost) - (Ending Inv. at Cost)) / (Cost of Sales) If your Inventory system also has a method of tracking adjustments for shrink or scrapped items, then the more accurate formula would be: ((Beg.Inv) + (Purchases) - (Ending Inv.) - (Cost of Scrapped and Lost items)) / (Cost of Sales) Try to explain this to them next time you are in their shop, and watch as their heads explode.  |
That doesn't make sense. They have already paid for the ammo and won't recovery the money until they sell it. IF they sell the ammo thery could have that money to spend on other products or to collect interest on. If they want to stockpile ammo to speculate on the future price that's fine but they should have it in a stockroom and not on the floor. |
It sounds like ammo inflation is clouding your judgment of running a store. Selling 1,000 rounds to one customer probably results in fewer additional items purchased. However, selling 1 round to 1,000 customers brings in 999 more people with good odds they will buy additional items. |
Not really. Who is going to buy 1 round. The guy didn't say he was limitied purchase of WWB to people buying guns but he did say that the limit was 250 rounds per person. So only four people for one case. By my math he lost one customer to potential make 4 future customers happy. Hell if he refuses to sell it to them, just as he did with this guy, he will probably lose them too. Not good business. |
|
"If you have customers come in looking for good deals of .223 and they are rationed x amount perhaps they will buy other items since they are there anyways (why waste gas)." Not logical at all.Unreasonable sales restrictions will only alienate customers, not ingratiate them to you. The dealer's explanation is ridiculous. To not sell an item because you only have 1 is asinine. Reminds me of a dealer friend of mine, that I don't understand either. He has a used NHM-91 that he wants $700 for. He said his price is high because he probably can't find another. I offered him $550, just because he had it and I could get it right now. He refused for the above reason. Those rifles are available online continuously for $350-$450. So, I bought one for $400 online, and he lost a sale and $400 additional profit (because he offered the same rifle to me for $300, 3 years ago.) Not reasonable sales tactics. |
|
Maybe this is what happened: You dug up something they didn't realize they had. They tried to think fast because it was probably currently underpriced in their view. BTW, what was the price tag on it? What were they asking per box? Call them up Tuesday and ask for the same item and their price? Then ask about any purchase limits. I used to go there but never could manage to like those guys. It's been maybe 8 years since I've been there. Plus they used to gripe if you picked up brass off the range floor, even if it was in your stall. You could only pick up your own brass. Try figuring that out! F that joint! Someone told me they had new owners. |
Wow... So, because their business practice is so strange, and I questioned them about it, I am an ass? I suppose you're entitled to your opinion. Matt |
Any reasonable price, yes. Oh, by the way, I'm military, look and act the part - not some scary freak off the street. Matt |
You may think thats how you sounded, but as a neutral third party, the whole conversation smacked of smartass questions thinly vieled as criticisms of their desire to not sell all the 223 to you. There was also a bit of whinning in there as well. Try this next time: "Got any 5.56mm?" "Yep, sure do." "How much can you sell me?" Then they can say "250 rounds" or "as much as you can afford" or even "3 boxes" Being polite and bitting your tongue a bit will get you farther. I kinda doubt now this store will call you up when they get their next big ammo order in to see if you want a case. Way to foster good relations with your dealer, and in general just be a nice person. Edit: I'm not saying you intended for it to come out like that, but its how I see it and its probably how the gun store saw it. |