Also, this is why you don’t buy the Wal-Mart Colt AR or M&P15
19 Responses to “Also, this is why you don’t buy the Wal-Mart Colt AR or M&P15”
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November 24th, 2013 at 9:02 pm
Meh, those red backed blister packs are the same ones Kershaw has in Academy, Gander Mountain and Bass Pro Shops as well as my local gun shop. The products are all the same… I would bet that if you contacted Kershaw about your knife doing that, they would have no problem fixing or replacing it.
November 24th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Wally addicts manufacturers to huge sales volume and then blackmails them by withholding it until its pricepoints are met, effectively taking defacto control without all the messy business of actually, you know, making anything themselves.
Those spray-painted 870’s, 1300’s, and 10/22’s with balsa furniture? Yeah, Wallyworld handiwork. And ask an erstwhile Rubbermaid factory worker in Ohio what happened there.
King of Capitalism or Evil Empire? Tough call.
November 24th, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Your headline speaks of AR’s and yet your link talks about knives. Big difference, talk about your gun blog “bait & switch”…… Must be your version of a Black Friday sale?
November 24th, 2013 at 9:18 pm
I’m talking about product.
November 24th, 2013 at 10:42 pm
1) He needs to learn how to do videos; too long, too disjointed.
2) Walmart leverages sales volume to coerce manufacturers into producing their stuff to a price point for Walmart customers. Shocking. Who could have imagined that? (In the years I did RSO duty at my club whenever a shooter had a lot of misfires with .22LR it usually had come from Walmart. What did you think ammo makers did with their seconds, throw them out?).
3) This, once again, raises the question of quality in other products from Walmart. If the brand name knives are made “China cheaper,” what about the spaghetti sauce, T-shirts and televisions?
4) Do manufacturers realize that they may be risking their brand’s reputation with this sort of thing?
November 24th, 2013 at 11:59 pm
Maybe on some items they cheap out. I bought a ruger 1022 with mannlicker walnut stock and a Henry 22 cal. lever action with a beautiful walnut stock at Wally World. As nice a pair of rifles you would find anywhere. But as always YMMV.
November 25th, 2013 at 1:12 am
Chris:
You are mistaken.
Most major manufacturers of damned near everything now have a cheap-assed version for big-box discount stores.
A GE waffle iron sold at Walmart only has a 90 day warranty, instead of the usual one year, for a reason. They demand a cheaper version, so they get one.
November 25th, 2013 at 1:16 am
Jim: Compare it part by part to one sold to a wholesaler.
I watched a Walmart Remington 700 cut a repair customer … the bolt cover was made of a sharp bit of plastic instead of the usual metal.
They have to cut corners somewhere to meet Walmart’s outrageous wholesale cost demands.
November 25th, 2013 at 2:42 am
Well… I guess now I don’t feel quite as ridiculous as I did 12 months ago when I paid my FFL $1300 for my M&P15. Granted, at the time it was the only AR they had in stock, but ever since that day I always felt like they ripped me off when I was at my most vulnerable… (sigh) The good thing is when I press the flipper on my boomstick it still goes bang!
November 25th, 2013 at 7:14 am
Kristophr, I’m not buyin it. I know the difference between an 870 wingmaster and an express. I’d match my 1022 and Henry levergun against any wholesalers model.
I’m not sayin that someone doesn’t make a model specifically for Wally World, but if you look at Wallys Colt AR6920 & AR6940 I see no difference, same gun same box.
If it’s made specifically for Walmart or any Big Box store it will normally have a specific model number assigned. So as to identify it upon return for warranty work.
November 25th, 2013 at 7:24 am
But they’re not; if they were, Walmart would have gone out of business twenty years ago.
November 25th, 2013 at 9:44 am
Um…Sears PIONEERED this product QC strategy in the US.
Monty Python’s Jabberwocky outlines it with barrels for Mr. Fishfinger.
November 25th, 2013 at 9:51 am
But they’re not; if they were, Walmart would have gone out of business twenty years ago.
Walmart, or a replica of it, will never go out of business; in any society of 310 million (or more) there are plenty of people eager to pursue price with perceived quality over pure quality. Sometimes, perceived quality is enough to satisfy need. Other times, pure quality is all that matters.
To quote a Yamaha motorcycle ad from the ’80s, “Different strokes for different folks.”
November 25th, 2013 at 11:57 am
I don’t think Colt is going to risk pissing off the only customer bigger than WalMart by not staking gas keys or MP-testing bolts…
November 25th, 2013 at 12:04 pm
I work for Wal-Mart, and I have access to a few pieces of info on the guns sold. Mostly Wal-Mart goes through South Sports LLC. However, a lot of the semi-autos today are coming direct. Every Wal-mart that sells guns also can order you guns. You can buy the cheapo Marlin 336W, which is the birch stock, but then you order the deluxe if you like. Right now the 336w at my store is $387, but it is $402 shipped from Buds Guns. They do not make a lot of money off guns. High dollar, low markup. It is there to get you in the store and buying cheap stuff with high markup. That is SOP at most places. The knife sets are pretty well known quantity. I never touch them. See, THOSE are special sell items. Like a lot of black friday sorts of stuff. You get what you pay for.
November 25th, 2013 at 1:16 pm
Yankee trader. Load your wagon with cheap crap and peddle it to unsophisticated poor farm people. Been around long before the Revolution. I’ve read of them as “Tinkers”, too. Out and out frauds. But maybe those were a sub-group.
It’s a mistake to think of Walmart as more than a wildly successful flea market. Caveat emptor.
November 25th, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Congrats to CaptDMO for the MP reference. There was a lot of good info in those movies and TV shows for a mind open to it.
Like WM, big box hardware stores also get lower quality (hence lower priced) volume deals from name brands. My plumber refuses to use the “Delta” brand stuff sold in Home Depot and Lowe’s because of the pot metal & plastic used in them, compared with the steel used in the ones he gets at a plumbing supply store.
When I want a good knife, I get a good knife. Name brand doesn’t matter (although I am fond of Gerber due to the writings of Raoul Duke).
November 25th, 2013 at 4:36 pm
I work in receiving at a Walmart and I can second what roadkill says in regards to guns.
As to the 6920’s im not going to pay nearly 1100 for what is nearly a bare bones AR, unless I’m missing something about magical elf parts inside.
November 25th, 2013 at 9:24 pm
“unless I’m missing something about magical elf parts inside.”
Versus an RRA or Bushhamster? Yes. Yes they do.
And more importantly, the elves check those parts carefully so they don’t lose their contracts with Santa.