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Walmart Rationing Ammo?

Magix

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I stopped by the local Walmart and they had a shipment of 40 boxes of 9mm ammo...FINALLY. I've been checking for the last two months and I thought I was dreaming when I saw it there on the shelf.

I planned on buying 10 bricks when the employee told me there was a store limit of 2 boxes! WTH? Why would Walmart even care who they sell the ammo to? I understand there's a ammo shortage but there's no good reason why a company like this would want to ration the ammunition. They sell the prodoct and get the same amount of money no matter who or how many people buy it. This is completely irrational business behavior IMHO. :banghead:

So I only got 100 rounds of practice ammo from them after checking for two months. That's just sad. (But at least it was well priced)

Anyone else have this experience? Anyway to get around it?
 

sv_libertarian

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They are doing it because everybody is buying it in such large quantities that a small handful of people get all the ammo and everyone else is left griping about how there is no ammo... then they rush out and buy all they can, thus adding to the problem.

The way around it is to shop like a civilized person, not someone in a war zone. Or to order it in bulk online and wait for it.

Strangely enough, some stores want the largest number of their customers to get a limited supply product. Keeps people happy leaving the store.
 

Magix

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I guess I understand the idea of keeping customers happy, but I'm not. I didn't even want to buy it all, just enough to head over to the range and spend part of my day. 100 rounds lasts about an hour at most. I hope the shortage ends soon. I heard it might in 2-3 months, but I'm not holding my breath.
 

sv_libertarian

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If they make you happy, half a dozen other customers could be unhappy. Pick one. They've tried a free for all, now they are restricting supply. And there is more in the pipelines, it's slowly getting back to normal. Cheer up, in another year everyone who has cases and cases and cases of ammo will be dumping it cheap.
 

Magister

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Somehow I just dont think we'll swimming in ammo this time next year SV... but I sure hope Im wrong!

Magix, the walmart up here in Bellingham has large stocks of 9, 40, and usually 45 every time Ive gone in. Sometimes Ive gone in 3 times a week and its been ammo on top of ammo every time. $8.97 for the 9mm. 45 was $14.95 or so last I checked. Just last week they had about 40 boxes of .380!!! The store started a 6 boxes per customer per day thing a few months back, but that sure didnt stop the .380 from going fast! Sucks to hear about a 2 box limit... local sporting good store here is doing that too. Doesnt matter what caliber either. ALL ammo is rationed there.
 

HankT

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Magix wrote:
I stopped by the local Walmart and they had a shipment of 40 boxes of 9mm ammo...FINALLY. I've been checking for the last two months and I thought I was dreaming when I saw it there on the shelf.

I planned on buying 10 bricks when the employee told me there was a store limit of 2 boxes! WTH? Why would Walmart even care who they sell the ammo to? I understand there's a ammo shortage but there's no good reason why a company like this would want to ration the ammunition. They sell the prodoct and get the same amount of money no matter who or how many people buy it. This is completely irrational business behavior IMHO. :banghead:

So I only got 100 rounds of practice ammo from them after checking for two months. That's just sad...

Maybe you could roll on over to K-Mart and buy your ammo there. Or Sears....or Target....or J. C. Penney....or Big Lots.

Or Montgomery Ward...

You know... those masters of completely rational business behavior.....

:p
 

44Brent

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Gun owners are commonly afflicted with a lack of regarding basic economics.

There aremultiple ways that products are rationed, and ALL products are rationed:
  1. Price rationing. If a product is priced properly in the marketplace, there are no shortages because there is an equilibrium between supply and demand.
  2. Non-price rationing.
Walmart has chosen to use non-price rationing and sell at prices that do not represent an equilibrium between supply and demand.

So, the person who is complaining about Walmart's non-price rationing, actually was able to purchase two boxes at prices below what the market will support.

If you want to buy more ammo, be prepared to offer more money to another seller.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing
 

spike89

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FYI, I was at Poulsbo Wally-world this morning and there were a couple boxes of .40S&W (I think it was Winchester).

They had the "limit 6 boxes" signs up, which was funny because there wasn't 6 boxes of anything on the shelf save for the scads of 12gauge shells.
 

computerizedfish

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I think it is based on your areas ammo consumption. Here in Vancouver, WA the Walmarts have a 2-6 box limit, but when I am in Pullman, WA they were willing to sell me the whole shipment of 9mm at one time. If only I had the money to buy it. I had to settle for 20 boxes =]
 

sv_libertarian

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Cool, I hope someone else was able to get ammo too after you finished congratulating for buying up nearly everything in sight. THAT is why there is a shortage, which of course is making the liberals and anti gunners laugh at the weak point in gun ownership. No ammo, guns are pretty useless. They don't even have to get a good rumor going, we are our own worst enemy.
 

ChinChin

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Magix wrote:
I guess I understand the idea of keeping customers happy, but I'm not. I didn't even want to buy it all, just enough to head over to the range and spend part of my day. 100 rounds lasts about an hour at most. I hope the shortage ends soon. I heard it might in 2-3 months, but I'm not holding my breath.
They're restricting purchases because some people are taking advantage and bum-rushing the local area walmarts when they discover they get ammo in; buying up pallets full and then selling it online for 15-20% more than retail.
 

antispam540

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Bill in VA wrote:
sv_libertarian wrote:
Cool, I hope someone else was able to get ammo too after you finished congratulating for buying up nearly everything in sight. THAT is why there is a shortage, which of course is making the liberals and anti gunners laugh at the weak point in gun ownership. No ammo, guns are pretty useless. They don't even have to get a good rumor going, we are our own worst enemy.
Waaaaah!!! You snooze and you lose. It's simple economics...supply and demand, junior.There's no rationing at my Walmart and the shelves are getting fuller with each passing day. Not that it's any of your crybaby business, but I buy in bulk not to hoard but to: 1. save money, 2. save time, and 3. because when I go to the range I don't take a piddly 50 round box. I generally run through several hundred rounds at a time. LastSaturday I ran through 450 rds of 9mm, 120 rds .223, 20 rds 7.62x54R, and and 330 rds of .22LR. If you want to wait and buy at your leisure, do so, but don't piss and moan when you wait and find the shelves bare. Either that, or learn to reload. Otherwise, maybe you need to find a hobby better suited to children, then, like Parcheesi.
This is why the world sucks. We have some people, on one hand, thinking of other people and trying to do the socially responsible thing. On the other hand, we have people who say things like "tough luck, sucks to be the loser, I'm just out for myself".

It's called the prisoner's dilemma - if everyone cooperated, we'd all win, but the closer we get to all cooperating, the higher the reward for the one asshole who looks at it and sees an opportunity for his own advancement instead.
 

Bill Starks

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The fix for this is the following: Take several individuals in with you when you buy ammo. Each one buys the max allotted amount.

This works well for other stores and items as well.
 

HankT

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antispam540 wrote:

This is why the world sucks. We have some people, on one hand, thinking of other people and trying to do the socially responsible thing. On the other hand, we have people who say things like "tough luck, sucks to be the loser, I'm just out for myself".

It's called the prisoner's dilemma - if everyone cooperated, we'd all win, but the closer we get to all cooperating, the higher the reward for the one @#$% who looks at it and sees an opportunity for his own advancement instead.
Hmmmm, more like the tragedy of the commons concept by Garrett Hardin
 
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