Never ask em for ammo for your carry gun and try it on for size in the store. LOL
DrDan
walmart
Moderator: Excalibur Marketing Dude
That realy worries me. When I was younger we had a lot of hunting and fishing stores that were local. They slowly dissapeared because Walmart, Kmart, and Sports Authority always beat their prices and put them out of buisness. Since then, Sports Authority has completely shut down it's hunting/fishing department and Kmart may have as well but I don't know because I had to stop going due to the fact that they never carried anything that was worth buying. So all I have now is Walmart and it isn't good enough.
I think that the closing of Walmarts hunting/fishing sections are probably because of low revenues but it may also be because of pressures from anti gun/hunting orgs. Either way it makes me feel very sour towards the walmart chain. If they are experiencing low revenues it is solely their fault. They can't expect to have a booming buisness when they won't pay enough to get qualified personel to run the place. They have 20 year old girls behind the counter that have never seen a wild turkey and would have never seen a deer if it wern't for the ones that they pass on the side of the interstate at 70 MPH. They have never shot a gun and if they ever had to, they would never figure out what kind bullets to use or how to load them in the thing. If I am going to make a big purchase like a new gun then I want a qualified person to sell it to me especialy if I am new to the sport and curious about ranges, accuracy, amunition, reliability, types of game it's suited for, etc... Thats just guns, what about all the other gear for hunting? First off, we all know how many gimicks are out there designed to take money from our pockets and do nothing to help us in our hunting ventures. Well when you have some idiot for a manager who has never hunted a day in his life that is mainly all you will get. When he sits down to do the ordering he is going to fall for all the brightly colored pretty packaged crap that we avoid. Then he will look at the prices because he is motivated to make money after all. He will buy the cheapest version of everything thinking he is doing a good thing but all he is doing is buying crap that we don't want because it won't work or it won't last. They don't realize that most hunters are more than willing to pay more for a high quality product that will last and work, like an excal. I have used wasps my whole life and love them but it's probably been close to ten years since I've seen a wasp broadhead in my local wallmart. All they have are heads from companies I have never heard of that look cool but probably don't fly well or stand up to a shoulder shot. When I think of box calls for turkeys, I want a lynch, not some white colored pine box with no sealant to protect it from the elements that looks like it will break if I drop it. It's the same for fishing and camping. They can't expect to do good buisness when they don't have the personell or products needed to do so. I go to Walmart now for shotshells and 22 bullets, hooks, weights, a couple lures, and licences. I can't get a good slug or specialty turkey round, I can't get my favorite fishing lures, and I've always made sure I had atleast an hour to spend for licences because I used to have to tell the employee where the books were kept, which ones I needed liscences from, and how to fill them out. I hope it will be easier now that all licsences are printed from a computer but I doubt it will be. I have no need for their crappy camo or worthless no name archery products and cheap camping gear. So even though my Walmart still sells hunting stuff I am much better off going to the one specialty hunting store left in my area (so overpriced it's not even funny) or one of two stores either 45 or 60 minutes away. They are a hundred times better than Waly's world of junk. They still don't have everything I need but atleast they seem to try. Walmart has been going downhill for years and it doesn't look like they will get better any time soon.
I think that the closing of Walmarts hunting/fishing sections are probably because of low revenues but it may also be because of pressures from anti gun/hunting orgs. Either way it makes me feel very sour towards the walmart chain. If they are experiencing low revenues it is solely their fault. They can't expect to have a booming buisness when they won't pay enough to get qualified personel to run the place. They have 20 year old girls behind the counter that have never seen a wild turkey and would have never seen a deer if it wern't for the ones that they pass on the side of the interstate at 70 MPH. They have never shot a gun and if they ever had to, they would never figure out what kind bullets to use or how to load them in the thing. If I am going to make a big purchase like a new gun then I want a qualified person to sell it to me especialy if I am new to the sport and curious about ranges, accuracy, amunition, reliability, types of game it's suited for, etc... Thats just guns, what about all the other gear for hunting? First off, we all know how many gimicks are out there designed to take money from our pockets and do nothing to help us in our hunting ventures. Well when you have some idiot for a manager who has never hunted a day in his life that is mainly all you will get. When he sits down to do the ordering he is going to fall for all the brightly colored pretty packaged crap that we avoid. Then he will look at the prices because he is motivated to make money after all. He will buy the cheapest version of everything thinking he is doing a good thing but all he is doing is buying crap that we don't want because it won't work or it won't last. They don't realize that most hunters are more than willing to pay more for a high quality product that will last and work, like an excal. I have used wasps my whole life and love them but it's probably been close to ten years since I've seen a wasp broadhead in my local wallmart. All they have are heads from companies I have never heard of that look cool but probably don't fly well or stand up to a shoulder shot. When I think of box calls for turkeys, I want a lynch, not some white colored pine box with no sealant to protect it from the elements that looks like it will break if I drop it. It's the same for fishing and camping. They can't expect to do good buisness when they don't have the personell or products needed to do so. I go to Walmart now for shotshells and 22 bullets, hooks, weights, a couple lures, and licences. I can't get a good slug or specialty turkey round, I can't get my favorite fishing lures, and I've always made sure I had atleast an hour to spend for licences because I used to have to tell the employee where the books were kept, which ones I needed liscences from, and how to fill them out. I hope it will be easier now that all licsences are printed from a computer but I doubt it will be. I have no need for their crappy camo or worthless no name archery products and cheap camping gear. So even though my Walmart still sells hunting stuff I am much better off going to the one specialty hunting store left in my area (so overpriced it's not even funny) or one of two stores either 45 or 60 minutes away. They are a hundred times better than Waly's world of junk. They still don't have everything I need but atleast they seem to try. Walmart has been going downhill for years and it doesn't look like they will get better any time soon.
A bad day in the woods is better than a good day anywhere else.
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Grizzly Adam
- Posts: 5701
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:36 pm
- Location: Decatur County, Indiana
Hey, LV2HNT ...
The situation must vary from store to store, and sometimes greatly, for I've known several WalMarts to have very good selections of ammo and gear in keeping with the then-current seasons ... and lots of name-brand firearms in stock. Of course, you can't often find rare or unpopular items there, for as in any box store, they're going to sell what the computer tells them will generate revenue.
Not that I'm "beating the drum" for Wally World ... I'm not. I do shop there because of their low prices, and I make no bones about that. I give our local "Mom and Pops" some business, but I can't afford to buy all my stuff from them. I will if they'll come even close to matching the price. I bought more than $30,000 worth of lumber off a local concern because they came close to matching Lowes and Home Depot's pricing.
I guess WalMart is what it is ... a big box price leading store where the dollar is the bottom line ... and I have to admit that when it comes to my shopping there, that's the bottom line I'm looking at too. If I were rich, I'd just have the local stores order everything we need ... because we live 65 miles from the nearest Wally World!
Can you get to the BassPro in Hampton, Va. ... or do you have one closer? We get in that one sometimes, but usually only when we're there for something else, or coming through, as Tidewater is about two hours away from us.
I order a lot of stuff on the net anymore ... just let Brown bring it to me!
The situation must vary from store to store, and sometimes greatly, for I've known several WalMarts to have very good selections of ammo and gear in keeping with the then-current seasons ... and lots of name-brand firearms in stock. Of course, you can't often find rare or unpopular items there, for as in any box store, they're going to sell what the computer tells them will generate revenue.
Not that I'm "beating the drum" for Wally World ... I'm not. I do shop there because of their low prices, and I make no bones about that. I give our local "Mom and Pops" some business, but I can't afford to buy all my stuff from them. I will if they'll come even close to matching the price. I bought more than $30,000 worth of lumber off a local concern because they came close to matching Lowes and Home Depot's pricing.
I guess WalMart is what it is ... a big box price leading store where the dollar is the bottom line ... and I have to admit that when it comes to my shopping there, that's the bottom line I'm looking at too. If I were rich, I'd just have the local stores order everything we need ... because we live 65 miles from the nearest Wally World!
Can you get to the BassPro in Hampton, Va. ... or do you have one closer? We get in that one sometimes, but usually only when we're there for something else, or coming through, as Tidewater is about two hours away from us.
I order a lot of stuff on the net anymore ... just let Brown bring it to me!
Grizz
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flbuckmaster
- Posts: 969
- Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:23 pm
- Location: CRAWFORDVILLE, FLORIDA
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Grizzly Adam
- Posts: 5701
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:36 pm
- Location: Decatur County, Indiana
Yeah ... I went to an Advance Auto Parts store in Plymouth, NC to get a rebuilt alternator for my GMC pickup one day. Told the boy behind the counter that it was a 1998 GMC Sierra C1500. He then asked me if that was four or two wheel drive. I said "two-wheel drive."
Now, you might think that a counter jockey at an auto parts store would familiarize himself with the series characteristics of major American truck lines, but I let the two or four-wheel-drive question slide ... after all, he might have been new or just operating on auto-pilot.
But when he next asked me, "Is that a front or rear-wheel drive?", I had to control my reaction ... didn't want to laugh out loud or anything.
After all, how many front-wheel-drive full-sze American trucks do you know of?
"Ah ... a rear-wheel-drive," I sighed. "Aren't they all?"
He just gave me that "Are you some kind of idiot?" look you spoke of and continued to try and figure out what I was driving. You might imagine that when we got to engine designations a whole new level of difficulty in communication arose.
In the end, I had to swing the computer screen around and pick my own alternator, while he looked on and answered a call from someone on his cell-phone.
Seems to be the way of things, doesn't it?
What can Brown do for you?
Now, you might think that a counter jockey at an auto parts store would familiarize himself with the series characteristics of major American truck lines, but I let the two or four-wheel-drive question slide ... after all, he might have been new or just operating on auto-pilot.
But when he next asked me, "Is that a front or rear-wheel drive?", I had to control my reaction ... didn't want to laugh out loud or anything.
After all, how many front-wheel-drive full-sze American trucks do you know of?
"Ah ... a rear-wheel-drive," I sighed. "Aren't they all?"
He just gave me that "Are you some kind of idiot?" look you spoke of and continued to try and figure out what I was driving. You might imagine that when we got to engine designations a whole new level of difficulty in communication arose.
In the end, I had to swing the computer screen around and pick my own alternator, while he looked on and answered a call from someone on his cell-phone.
Seems to be the way of things, doesn't it?
What can Brown do for you?
Grizz
That seems to be the way of business nowadays, hire the cheapest staff that still have a pulse . It is that way at the auto dealer I work at . They don't want to pay for qualified experienced people . most of the people with experience have left . I will probably be next. I would be gone already if I was willing to move . Most of the replacement are useless, and the bussiness numbers show it . but they don't seem to care. Companies want cheap labour well you get what you pay for.
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Grizzly Adam
- Posts: 5701
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:36 pm
- Location: Decatur County, Indiana
I'm sure that's right, Dnepr ... and I meant no slight to guys like you who really do try ... guess "counter-jockey" might sound demeaning. This guy wasn't even that!
He obviously didn't know, didn't care, and wasn't about to try harder. And it's frustrating.
I've had the same kind of experiences at Lowes this past year while building my new house. You buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff ... and no one knows anything, or helps you, or loads for you ... the only thing they do is check you out.
Way of the world. If that's what keeps prices low, I wouldn't mind paying a little more for some service sometimes.
He obviously didn't know, didn't care, and wasn't about to try harder. And it's frustrating.
I've had the same kind of experiences at Lowes this past year while building my new house. You buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff ... and no one knows anything, or helps you, or loads for you ... the only thing they do is check you out.
Way of the world. If that's what keeps prices low, I wouldn't mind paying a little more for some service sometimes.
Grizz
FL, how about the two in Tallahassee? Last time I was there I was impressed with their Sporting Goods!flockmaster wrote:The new Super Walmart here in my area opened up this year and didn't sell guns from the start. They told use that no new stores would be selling firearms as of Oct. 2006.
Hey, they had TriPod Shooting Stands displayed out side the main entrance and about 100 cords of fire wood! Inside they had the biggest Gun Display I have seen at any Wal-Mart and I have seen many. They even had pallets of Deer feed on the floor!
That's the best Wal-Mart I had ever seen for the hunter's.!
I have 15 Wal-Marts in a 30 mile radius from me!
"Just an Ole Sinner Saved By Grace"
www.floridaconservation.org/
www.floridaconservation.org/
My bet would be that they are looking for the most profitable use of floor space is the big reason they are dropping guns in so many stores. It often take a clerk a good bit of time to make a sale, they have a lot of time in the paperwork, and that costs them money. Be interesting to see if the items that don't require so much time or paperwork (ammo - muzzleloaders - archery) are still on the shelves come hunting season time.
wabi