Is Gander Mountain That Stupid?

[denverpilot]

With that being said, I will pay a little more (not significantly more) to a business who provides better service--whether that business is a big chain or a local shop.

What service does a Glock need? At normal Glock prices, the things are almost a throwaway item if they break.

You toss the thing in the mail and they rebuild it, or you buy the parts and do it yourself in half an hour.

Needing a local shop for anything made by Glock is pretty silly.

I'd agree with you on anything that actually requires a gunsmith, but even those aren't much associated with local stores these days.

Finding a local store that even does gunsmithing is a rare thing and maybe worthy of a few extra bucks on a sale, but generally the gunsmith three blocks away at his house can handle just about anything that comes up.

He'd just laugh if you brought a Glock in and tell you to fix it yourself. He might have pity on you if you needed a sight pusher and charge ya as much as it cost him to buy one, to shove a set of sights on the thing.

Nobody needs service on Tupperware.

 

[JGoodish]

What service does a Glock need? At normal Glock prices, the things are almost a throwaway item if they break.

Customer service. How helpful is the staff, how willing are they to special order, how well do they stand behind the products they sell, and generally how easy do they make the overall business transaction. Most mom and pops don't do a great job at many of those things. For commodity items where it's just a price play, I don't care what the retail price is if the business is willing to match.


JKG

 

[nddons]

And from where Cabelas is located and where Stan lives, he has to make 2 separate trips there to get the pistol. Wisconsin has a 3 day waiting period. The savings of his time and the gas driving there will make it less than a $50 price difference.

Exactly. Cabela's is a hike.

And it's always nice when Raylan Givens knows where I live.

 

[nddons]

What service does a Glock need? At normal Glock prices, the things are almost a throwaway item if they break.

You toss the thing in the mail and they rebuild it, or you buy the parts and do it yourself in half an hour.

Needing a local shop for anything made by Glock is pretty silly.

I'd agree with you on anything that actually requires a gunsmith, but even those aren't much associated with local stores these days.

Finding a local store that even does gunsmithing is a rare thing and maybe worthy of a few extra bucks on a sale, but generally the gunsmith three blocks away at his house can handle just about anything that comes up.

He'd just laugh if you brought a Glock in and tell you to fix it yourself. He might have pity on you if you needed a sight pusher and charge ya as much as it cost him to buy one, to shove a set of sights on the thing.

Nobody needs service on Tupperware.

Actually, the place I plan to buy from is primarily an AR-15 shop. Looking at their web site gives you no clue that they even have a showroom where they sell other firearms.

I brought my AR in to them to gain a little better understanding of the proper way to take it down, clean it, etc. I was prepared to buy an hour of their gunsmith's time, but they wouldn't take my money.

I prefer to work with nice people, and I prefer to buy local.

 

[flyingron]

My local gunsmith isn't going to gripe about where I bought my gun from. I bought one at his store (because he had a good price on a used one that was EXACTLY what I wanted) but his inventory isn't THAT extensive.

 

[JB1842]

Exactly. Cabela's is a hike.

And it's always nice when Raylan Givens knows where I live.

I don't know your address, but there is really no quick/easy way to get to Cabela's from Waukesha.

 

[JB1842]

Actually, the place I plan to buy from is primarily an AR-15 shop. Looking at their web site gives you no clue that they even have a showroom where they sell other firearms.

I brought my AR in to them to gain a little better understanding of the proper way to take it down, clean it, etc. I was prepared to buy an hour of their gunsmith's time, but they wouldn't take my money.

I prefer to work with nice people, and I prefer to buy local.

Midwest Industries?

 

[Henning]

Nevertheless, there are probably some people who think him a ****ing idiot for that.

Of that I have no doubt. All one has to do is look at our society, hell, just look at the airlines or WalMart/Amazon and we can see that the general population would indeed consider him an idiot. However, this line of thinking is also what drives our society, services, and general quality of life into a high speed swirling race down the toilet bowl of low prices. We complain of the effects every day, this board is filled with them, however our actions belie our words and we shop lowest price regardless who or what it ruins, regardless if it is us along with our entire society.

Those who think that supporting his local merchants who support and provide your local economy, but cannot compete on the same economics of scale as their online, globalized, centralized, competition by paying an extra 10% makes him an idiot, well, all I can say is "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

 

[nddons]

Midwest Industries?

Yep. I took my CCW class there.

Any thoughts on the place?

 

[nddons]

I don't know your address, but there is really no quick/easy way to get to Cabela's from Waukesha.

I know, just giving you a hard time.

 

[roncachamp]

Of that I have no doubt. All one has to do is look at our society, hell, just look at the airlines or WalMart/Amazon and we can see that the general population would indeed consider him an idiot. However, this line of thinking is also what drives our society, services, and general quality of life into a high speed swirling race down the toilet bowl of low prices. We complain of the effects every day, this board is filled with them, however our actions belie our words and we shop lowest price regardless who or what it ruins, regardless if it is us along with our entire society.

Those who think that supporting his local merchants who support and provide your local economy, but cannot compete on the same economics of scale as their online, globalized, centralized, competition by paying an extra 10% makes him an idiot, well, all I can say is "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

So what's considered a "local merchant"? If Cabela's and Gus's Guns Emporium are nearby they both seem pretty local to me. So why should I buy my Gen 4 Glock 23 from Gus for $550 when I can get it from Cabela's for $499.99?

 

[JB1842]

Yep. I took my CCW class there.

Any thoughts on the place?

I bought handrails for my AR from them. Good quality at a decent price. I've seen other products they have and liked what I see. I need to contact Bushmaster to see if they will fix my AR, but if they can't help, I plan on contacting them.

 

[Henning]

So what's considered a "local merchant"? If Cabela's and Gus's Guns Emporium are nearby they both seem pretty local to me. So why should I buy my Gen 4 Glock 23 from Gus for $550 when I can get it from Cabela's for $499.99?

If they are local, yes, however one also has to look at the general practices still to decide which to support. I do no support WalMart, firstly I don't support a system of management that uses welfare programs to supplant payroll. Second off I met a very kind and astute man with a vision to provide a competitive retail base for American Manufacturers that would allow them to compete on price with cheap Chinese crap. He had a vision of how to support American prosperity and he laid it out to me as I fueled his 182. That was Sam Walton; I don't shop at WalMart because I won't support his sellout progeny that **** on all his work to cash it all into their pockets. I bet Sam felt the same way about that as Henry Ford did when Edsel took the company public after he died.

 

[ateamer]

If they can get people to pay $600+ for a $425 gun, they aren't stupid.

 

[cirrusmx]

If they can get people to pay $600+ for a $425 gun, they aren't stupid.

exactly. maybe the retailer that is selling the gun for 425 is the "stupid" one. Individuals had their own particular reasons to behave as they do. This is exactly what makes a market work.

 

[EdFred]

Talking about guns, what a farce this Michigan handgun registration crap is when you move to Michigan. Local PD has no idea what they are doing with it.

Must be your local department. For me, I have had no issues.

 

[Gerhardt]

I met a very kind and astute man with a vision to provide a competitive retail base for American Manufacturers that would allow them to compete on price with cheap Chinese crap. He had a vision of how to support American prosperity and he laid it out to me as I fueled his 182. That was Sam Walton; I don't shop at WalMart because I won't support his sellout progeny that **** on all his work to cash it all into their pockets. I bet Sam felt the same way about that as Henry Ford did when Edsel took the company public after he died.

A few notes about Sam Walton.
* He had tons of $ even when alive but was tight. The old stories about him driving his old pickup were 100% true.

* Did I mention he was tight? He didn't want to pay employees above minimum wage. His wife was on his ass for years to pay more, but he just didn't see the need. They finally reached a compromise by letting them participate in a company profit-sharing plan.

*In the 70s, before Wal-Mart was the behemoth it is, he had no problem selling cheap import crap. That's one of the ways they thrived. It wasn't until the mid-80s that he started the "Buy American" rally. And by the time he died that had already begun to fade.

* If he could see what Wal-Mart has become today I'm sure he'd be giddy. I worked at a couple of the stores in his hometown while I was in high school and college. He'd come in all the time and lead the mini-meetings we'd have before opening the doors. His thing wasn't about being a responsible corporate citizen, treating people fairly or even being the best company around. His goal was to beat his competitors, especially Kmart. He said on more than one occasion he'd like to drive them into bankruptcy.

* He didn't pay us squat, but touted WM stock all the time. Told us to buy as much as we could and we'd become rich. I saw all the growth that was going on (and growth is expensive) and didn't think it was sustainable. Thought the bubble would burst. Cashed out my profit sharing, which was held in WM stock, when I quit after graduating college in 1989 and used the $8,000 to buy a house. Just to show myself how stupid I am, every now and then I tally up how much that would be worth today if I'd kept it.

 

[N747JB]

I buy new guns from my local dealer, they are a full line sporting goods store that is family owned and they all know my name when I go in, whether it's for cleats when the boys were playing ball or a new pistol! Their prices are competitive with the other stores and they KNOW what they are talking about vs some big box retailers. I don't buy many guns, so I guess I don't mind if it's $20 bucks higher.

 

[Henning]

exactly. maybe the retailer that is selling the gun for 425 is the "stupid" one. Individuals had their own particular reasons to behave as they do. This is exactly what makes a market fail.

FTFY

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Must be your local department. For me, I have had no issues.

It was, I went to a couple gun shops in the area and they were confused about it what they PD wanted. They cleared it up today for me, I just got the run around for a bit, but I'm good now. Still not thrilled to have to register a gun with the state.

 

[flyingron]

Then buy it from Cabelas, or take them up on their price match guarantee. I don't see the dilemma.

If that store will price match, that would be nice. Officially Gander's price match does not apply to firearms or ammo.