Posted on 01/19/2009 9:15:17 AM PST by OB1kNOb
A week or so ago I read in a FReeper thread where someone made the claim that Wal-Mart was running out of ammunition and apparently lacked the resources to restock it quickly. I thought to myself, surely this can't be true. Afterall, Wal-Mart is huge enough to have access to unlimited supply to anything they choose to sell. I mean, they are Wal-Mart.
So, this past weekend I decided to conduct my own investigation into this claim. On my way home from work Friday evening I stopped by three Wal-Mart's and visited their Sporting Goods (SG) department to buy some 9mm shells.
The first store I visited I made a bee-line for their SG dept. What I saw of their ammunition shelf behind the SG counter reminded me of the bread and milk aisles a day before a predicted snowstorm. Except for a few specialty shells it was basically bare. I was wanting to buy a box of 100 9mm shells, but all they had was one box of 50. That's strange, I thought, but surely one of the other two stores I planned to visit would have what I wanted in stock, so I preceded to the 2nd Wal-Mart store just a few short miles down the Interstate.
When I walked up to the 2nd SG dept. counter a young lady was there. I made a quick scan of the ammunition shelf behind the counter. It was the same as the first, pretty much empty. I asked the young lady if they would have a new shipment of 9mm shells in anytime soon. She shook her head and said "No, in fact the warehouse that supplies us told us to quit calling them and asking when they would have anymore ammunition to deliver."
Whoa! That response somewhat surprised me. Surely though my local store in a smaller town would still have what wanted. Au contraire. When I walked up to my local store's SG counter, I didn't even bother asking the clerk if they had what I was looking for. Their ammunition counter was emptier than the first two I visited.
By the time I got home, I decided that Saturday morning I would visit a couple more Wal-Mart stores in a neighboring city 20 miles away. The next day the 4th Wal-Mart I visited was the same - very little on the shelves, and no 9mm's. By now I was wishing I had bought the one box of 50 I had seen at the first store.
I decided before I visited the last Wal-Mart across town, I would make a visit to the local gun store where I recently purchased my pistol. Surely, they would have an ample supply of shells, and I could put my growing angst to rest.
Fat chance. Their ammunition shelves looked like Wal-Mart's. They had one box of 9mm's remaining which I quickly bought. I asked the owner if he would be getting anymore in soon, and he said, he would make a note to order more Monday. Hmmm. That's a strange response I thought. I figured he would have a better handle on his dwindling supplies and would already have made a new order, that is if he could get more supply.
I then went to the 5th and last Wal-Mart on my personal investigative tour. Ammunition shelves were the same as the previous stores, practically empty, but LO! What do I spy but two lonely boxes of 50 9mm shells sitting by themselves. I quickly pointed to them and told the clerk I wanted to purchase them. As he was ringing be up he said, "You're lucky. We just got these in today.".
So, it appears the rumors are true and that Wal-Mart is experiencing a shortage of ammo. and it appears this shortage extends beyond Wal-Mart and is affecting local gun stores as well. At least in my neck of the woods that's true.
Thanks, I’ll check it out.
Just bought some more shotgun ammo (500rds) from my local W-W at lunch. Seems they’ve still got a bunch of Federal 12GA 7-1/2 and 8 shot on the shelf. I bought out all their 22LR last week (250 bucks worth), and they haven’t restocked it yet. They HAD 6 boxes of UMC .223 55gr there for 9.47/box and I got those too. Most of what is left are hunting rifle rounds. No 9mm, .45ACP, .38/.357, or .40SW, or .308 at all. I’ve never seen the shelves look so empty. Good thing I handload everything I shoot but rimfire.
Walmart is pure anti-gun. The one where I live has gone from selling a full line of rifles and black-powder pistols to just ammo to now having a few skanky-looking boxes of ammo in a locked case to which no employee has the key. Screw them.
Not from what I see down here in the South. All the WM's I've seen carry shotguns, 22's, deer rifles, and muzzleloaders along with a basic compliment of ammunition (until lately). They may be having to play by a different set of local political rules up your way. My condolences.
This is a long boring post on the joys of modern retail logistics from someone who has seen it peripherally from the IT department for years.
What you are seeing is the benefit of Just-In-Time inventory practices in the retail industry.
My guess is that retailers, who start stocking for “Holiday” in about August, don’t consider ammo to be a big “Holiday” seller. Space at distribution centers (DCs) is limited, especially around the holidays. DCs have to make sure they have enough of the right stuff to stock their stores and nothing that doesn’t move. I’ve worked for organizations who’ve actually rented 40 foot ocean freight containers and stacked merchandise that wasn’t moving in there temporarily - eliminating employee parking in the dead of winter in the process.
So starting in early November customers start cleaning out ammo from store shelves. Stores make frantic calls their DCs, the DCs probably have a limited stock and NO orders in the pipeline. Everything goes on hold until after the After Christmas Sales. My guess is that merchants for big retailers, like Walmart, are just now placing panic orders to their vendors for ammo. What you probably got was 100 rounds of the first after holiday pallet that just trickled in to some Walmart DC in your area. Over the next few weeks the problem may (may) abate somewhat as the supply chain gets refilled.
The problem is, the manufacturers don’t want inventory in their warehouses anymore that the retailers do. Inventory is treated as an expense. Therefore, this time of year manufacturers probably slow down production until Spring so they probably don’t have a lot of product in stock to refill the retailers pipeline.
Now comes the tricky part. The merchants for the retailers don’t want to get stuck with a lot of ammo that people won’t buy for months if the panic abates and they don’t want to get stuck with a lot of ammo they can never sell if the Dems do some of the reactionary stuff they say they are going to do. So should the merchants load up their DCs and restock the store shelves or should they hang fire and let the clerks, at the bottom of the retail food chain, listen to the customers complain? This is the part that gets merchandising executives big bonuses or termination orders as the case may be.
As for the manufacturers, they’ve probably been caught flat footed too. Should they start churning out ammo, knowing that if the Dems do nothing there is going to be a glut of ammo on the market and they will have to discount their inventory in order to clear it - just as their organizations are getting use to the new fat margins? Or should they restrain production in order to save labor, warehousing, transportation and materiel costs and not build up any inventory just in case the Dems DO enact some reactionary laws like microstamping that could leave them with a lot of product they can never legally sell in the US and probably can’t export? And oh yea, there’s a recession going on.
My guess is that unless some brave entrepreneur starts bringing in (literally) boat loads of ammo from overseas and cutting into market share, Olin and CCI won’t be putting on any additional shifts and we won’t be seeing full shelves in retailer’s sporting goods departments anytime soon.
Because their supply chain is simpler the problem will probably effect online retailers and your local gun shop less than major chains.
*
something is wrong if they asked you for your ID.
W-M in Mesquite, NV was pretty much cleaned out - NO pistol ammo and just a few rifle boxes.
Same in St. George, UT as well as Sportsman’s Warehouse.
That’s great insight. Thanks for posting. It helps me see both sides of the picture. IMO, the Just-In-Time cycle will end up doing us a world of harm in national emergencies and crisis.
All we ever did to Japan was burn down a few cities and drop a couple of atomic bombs.
They gave us Just-In-Time inventory and Karaoke.
There is no justice. :o)
I think all pens should be registered so that the govt knows who is writing what. After all, some words, put together can cause riots. Let’s register all pens.
I will say it before and will say it again: Anyone elected to office should have to take a course on the Constitution, or at least read it ina supervised setting.
But isn’t that what I said?
I like these guys:
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/
Here are some others. Sometimes closer is cheaper because of freight charges.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/section/sl.aspx?s=6781&gif=Y&rp=section
http://www.jgsales.com/
http://www.outdoormarksman.com/
http://ammoman.com/
Just returned from a trip to my local Walmart. One 50rd. box of Winchester 9mm target ammo is all they had left. I’ve got what I need (I hope) to tide me over for now, so I left it there thinking some poor newbie with a brand new Glock but no ammo will need it more than me. Then, I proceeded to the range where I encountered many new faces. Mostly fathers and daughters. In some cases, both were learning new skills toghether. To do that, you need ammo. I welcome new shooters to the community. So should you all. Lots of young women out there with newly acquired snubbies who’ll need that ammo for protection if things break bad. If you’re already sitting on several hundred rounds, lighten up and leave something for the new folks. Kinda’ like casting bread upon the water. Some dreary Saturday morning you may come running into that store desperately looking for one...just one 25rd. box of Hornady TAP, or anything ‘cause you’ve got nothing, and find someone left one on the shelf for you. Think about it.
“Walmart is pure anti-gun. The one where I live has gone from selling a full line of rifles and black-powder pistols to just ammo to now having a few skanky-looking boxes of ammo in a locked case to which no employee has the key. Screw them”
The WM’s here in CA lost their state firearms dealer license, and hence CANT carry firearms. They got caught doing some no-no and selling improperly to an undercover agent, and whoops, there went the license. They still sell ammo, when they have it.
Because this thread was scaring me (more), I went out earlier today to the closest store that sells ammo (a local hardware store).
In the calibers I need there was no problem finding cartons on the shelf. I had four brands of 9mm Luger to choose from, many 22lr blocks and cartons, and my trusty Wolf 7.62x54r (for Mosin-Nagant).
There definitely were empty spaces on the shelves, but I couldn't read most of the designations leaning over the counter. I did notice there was plenty of 45 Auto available -- even the 250 blocks.
There was also plenty of .223 sitting right on the counter but I don’t know much about AR-15 ammo. It is possible that in another week this will be all gone.
I generally agree with that, just so it doesn't get left there for the brown shirts to confiscate.
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