Trusting a wal-mart checkout monkey to answer a question with an accurate answer is like trusting a McDonalds employee to get your order right.

 

Trusting a wal-mart checkout monkey to answer a question with an accurate answer is like trusting a McDonalds employee to get your order right.

"Splenda is in the bag" Famous last words of a McDonald's Employee

or I say "Is my straw in the bag...." Damn Neil, don't ask just look and check your order.

 

Trusting a wal-mart checkout monkey to answer a question with an accurate answer is like trusting a McDonalds employee to get your order right.

Oh, I know. I'm just prodding for different clues to maybe one day get the real answer. You never know what dummy might have accidentally overheard the big wigs yammering in the back of the store.

Heck, even the guy who was supposedly hired over a year ago to head up the gun sales has no clue why they haven't started selling them.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/15/business/15walmart.html

April 2006

The company said it decided last month to remove firearms from about 1,000 stores in favor of stocking other sporting goods, in line with a strategy that is intended to increase sales by paying closer attention to local differences in demand.

"This decision is based on diminished customer relevancy and demand in these markets," the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Jolanda Stewart, said.

One issue is that Board of Directors of Wal-Mart has been infiltrated by liberal progressives and Sam Walton decendents who are very far removed from normal life that decision are being made at time to cater to liberals in society.

Just like Sears was taken over years ago, Kmart was corrupted, and Target (well Target was always a POS company)

But as times and winds change profit is the ultimate litmus test and Wal-mart saw they were losing out on a lucrative market to make a buck on the small margin business.

http://theweek.com/article/index/214734/why-are-more-walmart-stores-selling-guns-again

In an effort to fire up slumping sales, Walmart is bringing guns and ammunition back to many of its U.S. stores. Here, a quick guide to the retailing giant's decision:

What is Walmart doing?
It is "quietly" reintroducing shotguns, hunting rifles, and bullets in about 500 of its nearly 3,600 locations.

Wait, hadn't Walmart stopped selling firearms?
Not entirely. It stopped carrying firearms in all but 1,300 of its U.S. locations in 2006, citing low sales. And it remains the largest seller of firearms and ammunition in the U.S. Walmart did stop selling handguns in all stores except Alaska outlets in the 1990s.

Why now?
The move comes "as part of a larger push to restore 'heritage categories' of merchandise such as fishing rods and bolts of sewing fabric that it removed in an attempt to go upscale," says Miguel Bustillo in The Wall Street Journal. That attempt "backfired" and sales at Walmart's U.S. stores have slumped. The chain also says it realized the appeal of guns may have been "broader" than it thought.

How are gun-control advocates responding?
An anti-gun coalition in New York City is pushing Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reject the retailer's plan to open up stores in the Big Apple. The city needs to "take a hard stand against Walmart's decision and make it clear that any corporation that looks for new markets to sell guns and fosters a culture of violence is not welcome in New York," says Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, as quoted in The New York Observer.

 

That's why I go to the Kannapolis store, even though both Concord stores are much closer.

 

I am one of those register monkeys that you speak of as a part-timer at Walmart. Here's the deal as I have seen it.

The decision of whether or not a given store will carry guns is ultimately left up to the local store manager. There are corporate guidelines to determine if a particular store meets the criteria but if it does the final decision is up to the manager. Now I have no doubt that there are several store managers across the nation who want nothing to do with "evil firearms" but there are others who will consider it as a business decision. That gets tricky because bonuses are determined by overall profitability of not just your store but the others in your district. Carrying guns isn't just as easy as slapping up a couple of cases and putting prices on them. Yes you need the cases on the floor but you also need sizeable secure storage in the back. There are probably a couple legal certs you need then you also would at least like to have some mature, level-headed people in sporting goods to ensure that the guns are handled properly. All these things cost money - sometimes pretty big money - and thus have an impact on not just the profitability of your store but potentially of your region. And believe me, no manager wants to be the goat that dragged down the region numbers costing his fellow managers thousands in bonus cash.

You probably are aware that Walmart makes its money on volume not individual product profit. The store probably will make less that $10 on the sale of a 10/22 for example. (As an aside, I was rather floored to learn that Walmart makes only $20 on a $1000 big screen) It takes a lot of volume to make up tens of thousands of an investment at $10 a whack, especially when you consider that you can make very similar profit dollars with a stack of plastic bins in the middle of the floor for a couple of weeks and do it with much less hassle.

Viewed in this light, you begin to see that the the choice of carrying guns is a tough one for a 2A advocate because there are several business cases against it. Ultimately, most managers just don't because of the hassle or because their market probably won't support the needed volume. Most business executives do not spend much time explaining their decision-making to the guys in maintenence and this is why most register monkeys haven't a clue why they don't carry guns. It really does just come down to "the manager said no".

 

You know the flip side of the coin here is the Galax VA Wal Mart has the or one of the largest sporting goods/firearms selections of any location in the world. They have reloading supplies, quite a selection of (none I would buy) guns and archery equipment, because the brains in Lonoke realized that hunting IS the sporting goods market in SW VA. But ploitics and PC come in to play.

 

I am one of those register monkeys that you speak of as a part-timer at Walmart. Here's the deal as I have seen it.

The decision of whether or not a given store will carry guns is ultimately left up to the local store manager. There are corporate guidelines to determine if a particular store meets the criteria but if it does the final decision is up to the manager. Now I have no doubt that there are several store managers across the nation who want nothing to do with "evil firearms" but there are others who will consider it as a business decision. That gets tricky because bonuses are determined by overall profitability of not just your store but the others in your district. Carrying guns isn't just as easy as slapping up a couple of cases and putting prices on them. Yes you need the cases on the floor but you also need sizeable secure storage in the back. There are probably a couple legal certs you need then you also would at least like to have some mature, level-headed people in sporting goods to ensure that the guns are handled properly. All these things cost money - sometimes pretty big money - and thus have an impact on not just the profitability of your store but potentially of your region. And believe me, no manager wants to be the goat that dragged down the region numbers costing his fellow managers thousands in bonus cash.

You probably are aware that Walmart makes its money on volume not individual product profit. The store probably will make less that $10 on the sale of a 10/22 for example. (As an aside, I was rather floored to learn that Walmart makes only $20 on a $1000 big screen) It takes a lot of volume to make up tens of thousands of an investment at $10 a whack, especially when you consider that you can make very similar profit dollars with a stack of plastic bins in the middle of the floor for a couple of weeks and do it with much less hassle.

Viewed in this light, you begin to see that the the choice of carrying guns is a tough one for a 2A advocate because there are several business cases against it. Ultimately, most managers just don't because of the hassle or because their market probably won't support the needed volume. Most business executives do not spend much time explaining their decision-making to the guys in maintenence and this is why most register monkeys haven't a clue why they don't carry guns. It really does just come down to "the manager said no".

Thanks for the input Tigard. It's makes a lot of sense...not exactly sense that I like to hear, but I can see it (all the more reason I despise "business" math--it often defies logic just because the equation says so). The stores being tied together regionally appears to be true since pretty much all Charlotte-area stores seem to stock the same stuff (or lack of). So that would explain why the Charlotte stores don't have guns: the big wigs for the area are too scared to make the investment.

 

I am one of those register monkeys that you speak of as a part-timer at Walmart. Here's the deal as I have seen it.

The decision of whether or not a given store will carry guns is ultimately left up to the local store manager. There are corporate guidelines to determine if a particular store meets the criteria but if it does the final decision is up to the manager. Now I have no doubt that there are several store managers across the nation who want nothing to do with "evil firearms" but there are others who will consider it as a business decision. That gets tricky because bonuses are determined by overall profitability of not just your store but the others in your district. Carrying guns isn't just as easy as slapping up a couple of cases and putting prices on them. Yes you need the cases on the floor but you also need sizeable secure storage in the back. There are probably a couple legal certs you need then you also would at least like to have some mature, level-headed people in sporting goods to ensure that the guns are handled properly. All these things cost money - sometimes pretty big money - and thus have an impact on not just the profitability of your store but potentially of your region. And believe me, no manager wants to be the goat that dragged down the region numbers costing his fellow managers thousands in bonus cash.

You probably are aware that Walmart makes its money on volume not individual product profit. The store probably will make less that $10 on the sale of a 10/22 for example. (As an aside, I was rather floored to learn that Walmart makes only $20 on a $1000 big screen) It takes a lot of volume to make up tens of thousands of an investment at $10 a whack, especially when you consider that you can make very similar profit dollars with a stack of plastic bins in the middle of the floor for a couple of weeks and do it with much less hassle.

Viewed in this light, you begin to see that the the choice of carrying guns is a tough one for a 2A advocate because there are several business cases against it. Ultimately, most managers just don't because of the hassle or because their market probably won't support the needed volume. Most business executives do not spend much time explaining their decision-making to the guys in maintenence and this is why most register monkeys haven't a clue why they don't carry guns. It really does just come down to "the manager said no".

But why not just put a sign up about the firearm order catalog that walmart has. If you dont want to give any space to firearms at least use the catalog sales. I wish they still had the catalog online. Catalog sales of ammo and reloading supplies with ship to store to do away the hazmat fees would be a big seller in my area as I have to drive 50+ miles for reloading supplies Randy