Is Walmart employee telling the truth ?

[SFLEFTY]

That's not too bad for the Mini-Mags. Walmart of course has distribution centers all over, so MMMV compared to other stores, but we've had the best (least bad?) luck getting those lately. Still it's gone from a little better to bad as ever in the last month. We're pretty set on FMJ pistol ammo, but serious stuff is still short. Your comment about hoarders etc., can I get away here with just saying YEAH. Like you, we're convinced the same people are still getting there first. It's become a game/addiction for them, they can't stop! So sad for the good customers like you guys, and there are many I would "ride the river with".

[Stockrex]

Stockrex, what you're missing is the fact that just because it's out-of-stock on the shelf and is "on order" in the system doesn't necessarily mean you'll be getting any in anytime soon. The distribution center can have it on order, but if the manufacturer doesn't have any to send out, or doesn't have enough to send out to allow the DC to fill all the orders for each and every store it's not going to get filled. When supply is limited the larger/higher volume stores being serviced by a certain DC will get priority on product shipments over the smaller/lower volume stores. That's just the way it is.

I was an area manager for Meijer's for a number of years (Michigan based regional chain similar to Super Wal-marts) and just because the computer says something doesn't necessarily make it so. I couldn't begin to count the number of times I had to substitute an alternative product for an advertised item because our ad allotments never came in. And naturally there are more than a few thousand times where something showed as being ordered and was scheduled to arrive on a certain day on a certain truck but didn't.

Maybe in a perfect world all would go as planned and everything would run like clock work, but we live in the real world and in the real world things don't always work as well as they should.

Jim,
I luv Meijer, their HQ is here in town :-).
I agree with your on all points, yes, just cuz the shelf is empty does not mean it will on the next truck, but it could be.

I do not have any sales/retail experience, heck, I don't even sell on craigslist as I don't "like" to deal with the fruits and nuts out there.
I do, however, have many years in the brains behind the distribution/reporting and few fam/friends in the corp top tier.

As a customer, I appreciate the retailer's ability to set and meet expectation. Couple of years back, I was at Dickssporting and enquired about a xyz rifle and the sale guy did his magic and told me: it SHOULD on the truck next Wednesday, call me on the next day to confirm and I will hold it for you.
A month back, I was at Ace Hardware for some urea fertilizer for my steps, sold out, but the sales guy went to his old green monitor and came back and reported, we will get 20 bags on Tuesday around lunch, it should be on the truck.

Texas/sflefty:
Once again, my apologies, I am not trying to argue or challenge anyone, just wanted to point out that there a method to the madness.
Truck full ammo just does NOT show up at walmart's distribution center unannounced, the driver does not walk in a santa suit and shout "Surprise! We have ammo!"
Random quantity of ammo is not thrown into random trucks. That just does not happen.

[J.Baker]

Stockrex, what you describe with the rifle from Dick's and the fertilizer is how it usually works when the supply of the product is readily available at or to the dirstributor or distribution center. Ammo right now is not readily available to either which makes it all but impossible to know if/when you might get some in.

Even most of the major distributors in the industry (Jerry's, Elliot Brothers, Lipsey's, Graf's, etc) don't have a clue when they're going to be getting ammo shipments from the manufacturers, much less what will be on them and/or how much of any given product. However, since they regularly deal directly with the manufacturer they can at least call them and get a rough idea from their sales people, but there's still no 100% guarantee as production schedules can change as quickly and easily as a woman's mind.

As for Meijer's, I was with them for just shy of 5 years as a manager. I'm really glad I got out when I did because it was right before they started making some major changes that essentially cut the number of employees in half. I walk into the one I worked at now and it just amazes me that there are no employees to be found anywhere, and from what I hear they've even eliminated about half of the department manager positions by combining departments so I probably would have been out of a job anyway if I had stuck around.

Needless to say I really don't care to shop there anymore with the way things are now.

[Jamie]

Jim,
Truck full ammo just does NOT show up at walmart's distribution center unannounced, the driver does not walk in a santa suit and shout "Surprise! We have ammo!"
Random quantity of ammo is not thrown into random trucks. That just does not happen.

None of the people that posted work in a distribution center and as a retail employee we have no clue when anything will show up at a center. Sure someone at the distribution center level level or higher knows but they are not going to call every employee in the company to tell them what is coming in or out. What we do get is a list of what is on the truck on the day the truck is due here. Usually there is a "pick list" for product but sometimes time frames keep the truck from getting a 100% load or the product planned for that load got delayed because another truck breaks down. It happens constantly and we don't tell customers what is on the truck because the truth is, when we open the doors on it, we may be missing product from the list for one of 100 reasons. And yes, we have had random ammo show up on trucks.

Even if we are talking about footwear, when we scan a tag our systems do NOT tell us when the next truck with those shoes will be arriving. Plain and simple, we don't know.

[Hillbilly]

Thanks for all the input Folks,.Who would have ever thought that 22 shells would ever get place on the endangered species list ?

[sha-ul]

Walmart has it. But they really don't know when or what the shipment will hold.

You just have to be there when it's there before it's bought out by the hoarders and they're welfare dollars(aka: kids) lol

My local Wally is out of .40 ammo, why? Because I'm the only one who buys it, it seems, and they don't order much so they don't stock much. The lgs/sporting goods store that's VERY proud of what they carry in all their departments, had 50rnd Blazer 22LR for $4.99, so I bought some for the heck of it.
Show up to work this morning and a fella had CCI Mini-Mag 100rnds for $25, bought one of those too. Paid too much, but it was in front of my face. Not hoarded, not hidden. The math is a lil off, but it's better ammo than the Blazer.

My local Wally world has 40 coming out the ears.
9? not so much, 22? fuggaboutit
There is 5.56& 7.62, some, 270, 7MM Mag, some 454 casul (!)

[walker 300wsm]

This is my break on this. I go too a local pawn shop for my .22lr ammo. He gets it in consistently on the same day of every week, and it is decently priced for the federal rounds. I am paying about $12 for 100rnds. he is NEVER out, and always sells me as much as I want. So how can these BIG GUYS like wally world not be getting ammo, when my local pawn shop is getting them like crazy ? I went there today and bought 2 boxes of .300wsm rounds for a price I am not even going to mention because you all will think I was lying LOL. Check out your smaller shops yall. They have more pull right now than the bigger guys. I dont know how or why, just check them out.

[SFLEFTY]

Not hard to explain. He is not sharing what he gets with maybe 3000 stores, in Walmart's case (could be more), and he doesn't have 100 people a day seeking that one ammo. Sometimes big isn't good. You are lucky to have a "discount" pond shop, don't think they are here.