Apparently last night I opened the door for all manner of weirdness.

I did this by sending out a typical TDS email.  In this email was another of my “what’s going on” statements and attached to it was a discount code.

Other than some spelling and grammatical errors even my woman who chides me regularly for my lack of professionalism saw nothing wrong with it.

 

Within an hour or two I had a couple folks respond.  Actually I had quite a few folks respond, most taking advantage of the discount.  The couple I’m talking about obviously read something into the email that either wasn’t there or somehow I and most everyone else overlooked.

 

I could just leave it alone but there are some points brought up that I feel of value to address.

 

So here’s the first and oddest response.  This was sent to the blog by a guy who I can’t find any record of ever buying from me.

 

Nice post; But if 2011 is a "bad" ammo year then you must remember where 2008-09 and 2010 went. Prices (and your profits) went through the roof; back fence; and all other known places...
So please call a "spade a spade". And don't ask us to feel sorry for you.
5 years ago a brick of .22 went for $9.99. Now it is hard to find for less then $20. And we all know that your "mark up" is the same as it was back then.
So why not "post" this email?

 

My first thought is this guys fairly pissed off, and somehow at me.

After re-reading what I sent out I really don’t see how he got that I wanted folks to feel sorry for me.

If that came across in the email, I apologize!

Folks that know me and TDS know that I will bitch and whine like a little girl (a very ugly little girl), but under no circumstance will I ask or want anyone to feel sorry for me – period.

The day I want your sympathy I’ll make it damn clear.

If your wanting to contribute to the TDS operational fund, by all means send small unmarked bills and Ill remember you fondly in my non-existent nightly prayers.

 

What I meant to state in the original email was that SUMMER is traditionally slow in the firearms industry.  This summer combined with the state of the mess with the economy it’s pathetically slow.

Shops are closing.  So are bakeries, factories and even whole sections of local governments.

Last I looked were all running scared.  So I guess sympathy all around – take yours and pass the rest to the next guy.

 

The rest of his response flat pissed ME off.

 

He is right about a couple things.  But dead wrong in who he’s addressing them to.

 

During the “Obama Wave” things were flying off the shelf.

In March of ’09 we sold more product than we sold the prior 6 months combined.

April thru October we went flat.  Why?  Easy answer, you remember it well – there wasn’t anything to sell. 

Nothing to sell combined with the spike in folks realizing that their layoffs were going to last longer than anyone could have believed.  Decisions were made easy back then – feed the kids or buy non-existent bullets.

 

Yeah there were a ton of manufacturers, distributors and shops jacking the prices.  TDS was NOT one of them.

If you bought from me during the whole hording fiasco you remember the rationing - limits to the number of boxes you could buy.  You also remember that prices stayed in line.

Not once was TDS mentioned in any blog or forum in a negative way.  Not one time.

People remember that crap.  Screw folks on the price and next thing you know your names all over the internet.  “Cheaper Than Gold” is a case in point – folks remember and it’s taken about a year for them to recover.

 

For the record, TDS has had the same markup since the day we started.  Let me restate that – the markup on products sold here at TDS is the same as it was the day we started.

 

I cant count the number of emails I’ve sent out telling you that we got a good deal from the distributor and are passing it on.  Golden Saber is a perfect example.  Everyone’s got it for 20 to 25 a box, were selling it for 17 and you can use discount codes on it.

 

I also can’t count the number of warnings I’ve received for selling things below MAP.  There are guns we can’t buy from the manufacturer because I refuse to list them for what they insist on.

 

Yep once upon a time you could buy a .22 brick for under 10.  Hell I remember gas for well under a buck – gonna blame the station making 3 cents a gallon for the current price?

From January to July Federal (ATK) has increased the price of ammunition (doesn’t matter what ammo) an average of 30%. 

There has been since the beginning of time a price increase in January and one in July every year without fail.

Next time you walk into a local shop and see a price on something realize that that product was sold at least twice before it landed on the shelf.  Do the math.

 

Realize that if you see somebody selling “carry ammo” at insanely low prices, its probably trade in rounds.  Often in this world you do get what you pay for.

 

And for you Walmart quoters, the folks that email me daily telling me the local Walley has XYZ for some ungodly low price – realize this – ammunition at Walley is a “lost leader”.  In human speak they sell it at a loss.  We putz around in the back corner of the store leaving your woman to fill a cart.  Here’s your prize.

The day TDS is able to put in an order with Winchester for white box crap in quantities that they do, we’ll sell it that cheap as well.

One corporate Walmart order for one product alone will be 86000 boxes if only one case goes to each store.

 

So now I’ve spent about an hour of my life I’ll never get back, but at least I feel better and indeed did post his response.

 

The majority of the other responses dealt with the shipping cost they ran into when they started an order.

 

That’s far easier to address.  Items have a weight associated with them and when you check out the system communicates with UPS realtime and returns the cost of the total weight to your zip code.

We don’t charge for handling and have no control over the rates UPS charges.

I know it aint cheap, but there’s nothing we can do about it.  We could eat shipping but then we’d end up raising product prices.  We could buy far more product so maybe we’d get a better price but then we’d have to sell more to raise the money to buy that huge load and then we’d get more emails and then I’d have to spend more time responding like this and then……………