We all know that Wal-Mart was far from the first big retailer to use its size and sales volume to negotiate ways to enhance their own competitive advantage in the firearms marketplace.
Sears, Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penny, Western Auto, K-Mart - the list could go on and on. They all contracted with the major manufacturers for special runs of some of their more popular existing models. Quite often these were sold under one of the retailer's proprietary trade names, like "Revelation" or "J.C. Higgins". In most cases, there were minor differences, almost always strictly cosmetic, from the standard specs found on the maker's regular production models made in order to allow both the manufacturer and the retailer to sell them at a lower price point profitably, but I know of no instance where any of them were true "factory 2nds" by any stretch of the term.
It's my understanding from several dealers I know that the major advantage of the Big Box outfits' volume purchasing power is that it makes it possible for them to sell things like a Marlin M60 or Ruger 10/22 profitably for less money than most any independant dealer can even buy one for. I've been shown the jobber/wholesaler catalogs and price lists that back that up, too.
The regular little guys have no practical way to access those Economies of Scale, and they've gotta eat and pay their creditors just like the rest of us. The unit price you pay is going to pretty much always be higher when you're buying two or three at a time than it'd be if you're buying 500, whether it's rolls of toilet paper or cases of ammo.
Just the way I see it, but if we all don't keep doing enough of our business with the local folks to at least keep them viable, even if it costs us a bit more, we'll live to see a time when we'll sorely regret it.
Sears, Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penny, Western Auto, K-Mart - the list could go on and on. They all contracted with the major manufacturers for special runs of some of their more popular existing models. Quite often these were sold under one of the retailer's proprietary trade names, like "Revelation" or "J.C. Higgins". In most cases, there were minor differences, almost always strictly cosmetic, from the standard specs found on the maker's regular production models made in order to allow both the manufacturer and the retailer to sell them at a lower price point profitably, but I know of no instance where any of them were true "factory 2nds" by any stretch of the term.
It's my understanding from several dealers I know that the major advantage of the Big Box outfits' volume purchasing power is that it makes it possible for them to sell things like a Marlin M60 or Ruger 10/22 profitably for less money than most any independant dealer can even buy one for. I've been shown the jobber/wholesaler catalogs and price lists that back that up, too.
The regular little guys have no practical way to access those Economies of Scale, and they've gotta eat and pay their creditors just like the rest of us. The unit price you pay is going to pretty much always be higher when you're buying two or three at a time than it'd be if you're buying 500, whether it's rolls of toilet paper or cases of ammo.
Just the way I see it, but if we all don't keep doing enough of our business with the local folks to at least keep them viable, even if it costs us a bit more, we'll live to see a time when we'll sorely regret it.
