Not paying attention
How is this possible:
For the second time in eight weeks, Alliant Techsystems is laying off workers at its Federal Cartridge ammunition plant in Anoka because of the end of an orders backlog, officials announced Thursday.
About 70 to 80 workers will be affected. In November, 40 to 50 workers were let go. Federal Cartridge will have about 900 workers after the job cuts.
The cutbacks are somewhat of a blow to Alliant Techsystems, which has prided itself on steady employment and sales growth. Federal Cartridge makes police and hunting ammunition sold through Wal-Mart, sporting goods stores and to dozens of police departments around the country.
Huh? Are they not paying attention to ammunition demand? Have they not been to a gun show? It makes no sense.
January 27th, 2009 at 10:12 am
If you recall, there was a shortage of that a while ago because the purchasing methods of the government agencies. The supplier has basically caught up with that demand and their “surge” is over.
Even with the rise in demand for weapons that we’ve seen (like a 30 minute wait to get into a gun show), an ammo supplier would be wise to realize that isn’t going to translate into a huge increase in demand for ammunition. Most of those weapons are going to fired on less than 5 occasions. .gov, on the other hand, has requirements for usage and can predict how much they will use / require for future purposes.
The layoffs are not a surprise to me.
January 27th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Jon is probably right. Wonder if the layoffs were planned months ago depending on who got voted into office?
They will still have 900 workers…so it isn’t like they are shutting down.
I’m still running my ammo factory and adding capacity! Going to but dies for .308 and 30-06.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Could be they got a heads up from the Feds about something or another.
It’s better to cut some folks ahead of the curve then after the down curve of legal private citizen demand.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Wal-Mary might not be placing orders – mine’s pretty depleted of ammo despite that demand – there are no piles of the usual white-box or Federal, shelves are empty there.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Or perhaps everyone is buying Winchester White Box instead. 😉
January 27th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I can’t find .40 ammo anywhere but online. then it is on back order…
Lack of demand ehh…
January 27th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
kirk, FOS Ammunition has it. I haven’t shot any of their .40 stuff but I went through 500 rounds of their .45 ACP and just received another 1000 rounds of it. I’ve been pleased with the quality and value.
[Full disclosure: The owners of the company are shooting buddies of mine.]
January 27th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
As the resident cynic, I’d offer that the layoffs are probably more in the line of a new funding mechanism for executive bonuses…
January 27th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
From what I’ve seen, the biggest chunk of demand for ammo is mil-surp .308/7.62, .223/5.56, and Combloc 7.62×39.
Folks aren’t stocking up to go plinkin’
January 27th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Dude, I can’t get any pistol ammo at wal-mart around here; I don’t know if they’re not stocking it, or selling it as fast as it comes in, but I can’t get 9mm or .45 at either of the tuscaloosa stores. academy is a little better, but no whitebox, generally.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:22 am
It’s possible (the layoffs) cause they have jacked up the price of ammo so much people are buying less or reloading their own. Ever price a box of 9mm now days at Wal-mart? It ain’t cheep ammo anymore.