The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: RTFM on December 09, 2015, 07:37:47 AM
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December 2012
Cheaper than Dirt! stops selling firearms
The gun culture 1.0 / 1.5 / 2.0 gets all up in arms (pardon the pun) about the grave injustice Cheaper than Dirt has done to us.
https://www.facebook.com/cheaperthandirt/posts/10151295765484324
Cheaper Than Dirt
December 18, 2012 ·
Cheaper Than Dirt! is suspending online sales of firearms effective immediately. We are reviewing our policy internally, and will continue to be the leader in the outdoor industry with our full line of gear and accessories.
There are a lot of threads here and a ZILLION every where else on gun boards about how they are DONE I tell you DONE - no one in their right mind will EVER buy from them again- They might as well closeup now!
We create threads here on other CTD! issues - $1 per roud of 9mm ball OUTRAGEOUS ! ! !
I'll NEVER buy from them AGAIN! ! ! !
We create threads here on how CTD! Sells P-MAGS for 5X the going price at MidwayUSA or Brownells - There DONE!
I'll NEVER buy from them AGAIN! ! ! !
We create threads here on other CTD! to NEVER NEVER NEVER send me a catalog AGAIN - no more emails.
I'll NEVER buy from them AGAIN! ! ! !
And yet.... they sponsor the shows and the bean counters look the other way?
Is money MORE important then remembering how Cheaper then Dirt! treated us - their patrons as all murderous killers in 2012?
My skin crawls EVERY TIME I have to listen through Michael telling us how the FINE FINE sponsor Cheaper than Dirt! supports us.
Can't wait for Everytown for gun safety to start selling t-shirts here.
I shake my head and wonder how much money the masters make on the front end - for us to forget what they did to us - 3 short years ago.
/rant
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I'll play the devils advocate here and remind everyone that there is no law stating you have to buy from them. And furthermore, what is their reason for suspending firearm sales? Is it because people are on their ass for price gouging? Or is it because of something that involves what happened in San Bernardino?
They are selling everything else as usual, at all the same prices they always have. Selling guns is becoming a larger PITA every day. Especially on line sales to the public through gun dealers. There is more here than this "story" is telling.
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I don't care that they quit selling guns. They're more famous, or infamous, for their price gouging, especially on P-Mags. Screw 'em. As far as them being a sponsor I didn't know that. I guess their money is still good even though their business practices aren't.
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CTD still sells guns
http://www.guns.com/2012/12/28/cheaper-than-dirt-stays-in-the-gun-game/
Cheaper Than Dirt recently shocked the gun community with their post-Sandy Hook announcement that they were suspending future firearms sales online. They would continue to sell sporting goods and shooting supplies online, but only sell guns at their retail location.
The outrage was palpable. It should be mentioned, for those who do not know, that online sales do not circumvent any gun laws or background checks. It is functionally no different than buying from a dealer in person, except you have a larger number of options with wider product availability and price selections. Guns bought online must still be transferred through a gun dealer and the buyer goes through the same process as everyone else. There was, on the surface, no reason for Cheaper Than Dirt to quit selling guns save for the elephant in the room, Sandy Hook.
With everyone’s jimmies thoroughly rustled, Cheaper Than Dirt either changed their position or finally clarified it, saying that their system could not handle the volume of sales they were facing, and it required renovation before they could begin selling firearms online again (which, at the time of writing this, they have not yet resumed).
This isn’t unbelievable, as the massive spike in sales has caused even larger companies’ checkout systems, including Brownells, who sold more magazines in three days than they did in the previous three years. The sales boom caused many customers to purchase products that were already sold out, causing confusion and frustration.
But the other thing that Cheaper Than Dirt did was raise prices. Even before the availability of guns, accessories and in particular, magazines dried up, they raised their prices. Normal prices for PMAGs then were about $12-14, and they had them marked up to $60.
Of course now, they’re one of the few outlets with stock still on shelves. For most people, a buck a bullet for XM855 is not justifiable. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, at a little less than triple the price for 1,000 as of a few weeks ago. It’s prices like $100 for used USGI AR-15 magazines that are just mind-boggling; easily 10 times their normal market rate. They’re also selling 10-round magazines, magazines that are not being threatened by any proposed legislation, at gouging rates.
Especially when there are places that still have stuff in stock. Magazine manufacturers are working around the clock to keep up with demand and there are good companies out there that aren’t forcing high prices onto their customers, just selling on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Still, that’s not going to prevent individuals from buying magazines at market rates and then reselling them locally at ridiculous prices; this isn’t any better for the industry than when a major vendor does it.
That’s why we like what SKD Tactical is doing with their “ASSHOLE-PROOF PMAGs.” They’re more expensive than your standard Gen M3 PMAG at $40, but “These mags will not be made available at our normal price so they can be flipped to take advantage of the current buying frenzy. Nor will we be profiteering off of this current panic like some vendors in our community. In order to make these mags ‘ASSHOLE-PROOF,’ we will sell them at or near current market pricing, and donate the difference from our normal price to either the National Rifle Association or the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.” In addition, they have have set a five magazine limit per person.
Naturally, they are out of stock.
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Okay, full disclosure. I bought my fair share from CTD. I have NOT purchased anything from them since the madness after Sandy Hook. Because they don't carry anything that I needed that I couldn't get somewhere else.
Being in sales, I can't blame them. The capitalist system sells product for the maximum that the market will bear. Guess what, even at $80-$100 a piece, they couldn't keep a P-Mag in stock. Is it gouging, is it exploitative? Maybe, but that doesn't make them evil, it makes them capitalists. Given the opportunity, I would, and I bet most everyone here, would do the same thing.
You have to consider, we were facing the real possibility that these were items that we may never be able to buy again on the open market. In some places, that came true. I think what really pissed people off was that they had their heads in the sand and didn't stock up when they could. They got caught with their ass in the wind and now were stuck paying top dollar.
So blame CTD all you want, but what they did was exactly the kind of entrepreneurial opportunism that built this country.
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This news is three years old!
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I think the point is that we have spent three years hating on Cheaper Than Dirt for their price gouging, but now those we choose to spend time with, Outdoor Channel and Down Range, are excepting their money and support and encouraging us to support them.
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Let me ask a rhetorical question or 3.
If you worked for an advertising agency and one of their clients was CTD and you were giving the assignment to produce their ad campaign for the next period, would you refuse if it meant losing your job?
If you were not given that assignment, would you quit anyway because your company was accepting CTD money to help them sell their products?
If you were the owner of that advertising agency and CTD was a very major part of your business, would you refuse to accept CTD money to help them sell their products if the loss of revenue could mean your company would go out of business?
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An answer or two answers to your question or three:
1. Many people producing advertising would not dig in deep enough to find that the name and some business practices do not match;
2. This is not a life essential or critical business or business deal. It is the type of business where there is shopping opportunity, and it is up to the consumer to check it out.
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The way I see it they can spend all the money they want to advertise to me but I am still not going to buy anything from them anymore.
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The way I see it they can spend all the money they want to advertise to me but I am still not going to buy anything from them anymore.
Simple enough, who gives a crap where CTD spends THEIR money ?
It's where you spend YOURS that matters.
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Simple enough, who gives a crap where CTD spends THEIR money ?
It's where you spend YOURS that matters.
Yep.
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Simple enough, who gives a crap where CTD spends THEIR money ?
It's where you spend YOURS that matters.
Ok well enough put Tom to quell my ire -
I'll go take a (another) cold shower.
Thank you for letting me rant everyone.
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When they first sponsored NRA AR show I tried to like them but decided I wanted something a little better than dirt.
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Ok well enough put Tom to quell my ire -
I'll go take a (another) cold shower.
Thank you for letting me rant everyone.
Ahh, come on, that's what the internet forum was invented for . ;D
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When they first sponsored NRA AR show I tried to like them but decided I wanted something a little better than dirt.
There is something to be said for quality in marketing. Cheaper Than Dirt has never appealed to me as I went through their mailings and online presence. Even when I felt comfortable with their pricing, they just were not appealing to me. There then came a time, when due to time constraints and lessening patience, I dropped them from my regular place to compare, because I knew their structure and my interests did not match. Obviously there are people they appeal to, or they would not still be around.
Michael, Marshal, and others with Outdoor Channel, I understand they are a sponsor, and you are dependent on their help to produce what we like. Michael has made some of this known to us back when Ruger was not viewed well by some on here, but there is also a time when we as consumers need to be honest, and I don't feel that anyone on this thread is going overboard with claims or charges against a sponsor. If our conversations here cost the Outdoor Channel a sponsor, maybe new opportunities will be opened by sponsors who approve of our attitudes and wishes.
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Ok well enough put Tom to quell my ire -
I'll go take a (another) cold shower.
Thank you for letting me rant everyone.
To add to what Tom said.........
I look at it this way:
If most of the core viewers are people like us who obviously "get it" (when it comes to companies like CTD), and have open disdain for their practices and refuse to do business with them (which is the right thing IMHO).....but CTD continues to stay operational, then the money has to come from somewhere.
I suspect the majority of their income comes from the patronage of weekend-warriors, fudds, and mall ninjas, etc.
So, I don't spend my money with CTD (never have)...but I'm willing to let the ignorant pay them to pay for something I like.
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With all of the badmouthing CTD gets, it doesn't seem to have had much effect. They are still selling away. I'll admit I've purchased stuff from them over the years. But always at as good or better prices than I could get the same thing for elsewhere. And I can't complain about their service either. Everything came, and came quickly.