SIGforum
Ignorant and/or Lazy Customers

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/230601935/m/2060080584

September 15, 2021, 07:39 AM
Fredward
Ignorant and/or Lazy Customers
The store where I work currently stocks around 11 brands/sizes of 223/556 ammo. We're also mostly packed with customers. Invariably, during our busiest time, a customer wants to price all of that ammo. I am unable to post prices on the shelf near popular calibers, as stock fluctuates wildly. I usually lay out the 8 boxes of 20 rounds on the counter with the price up so the customer can make a choice. Often, a customer wants the price per round on each box. Dude, they're 20 round boxes. Divide the price by 20. If it's an odd size like a 330 round box, I get it but jeez Louise! I know my competitor across town posts that data. He has 3 stores, an entire internet sales division, and 200 employees. He also charges 20 percent more than we do. Always also, What does it cost with sales tax? Dude, it's a 300 dollar item and sales tax is 6 percent. How did these people survive in the world not being able to figure that? If I charged him 7 percent, would he even notice? Just venting, but I dropped out in 7th grade, took a GED at 18, and passed college entrance exams. You'd think.....never mind.
September 15, 2021, 08:38 AM
BigSwede
I would want to know the price of a box, the rest of the math I can figure out.



September 15, 2021, 09:13 AM
Jimbo54
Everybody has a calculator on their phone today. Tell them to use it.

Jim


________________________

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll have to be a horrible warning" -Catherine Aird
September 15, 2021, 10:32 AM
LS1 GTO
^^^

First question, "do you have a cell phone?"

"Good, pull it out and open the calculator" (Then walk them through, Barney style, on how to divide "X" # of cartridges by the "Y" cost of box.

Finally, calmly note to them to repeat for each of the other boxes while you assist the elementary school graduates in the store.Wink (This only works if you are the owner and cannot get fired Wink)






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers



September 15, 2021, 10:34 AM
sigfreund
“Okay, it’s $9.00 for a 20-round box, that’s 18 cents a round.”




6.4/93.6

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”
— Plato
September 15, 2021, 10:39 AM
PHPaul
Preach it, Brother!

One of the MANY reasons I am not the person you want doing retail sales for you.

My Boss: "The customer is always right."

Me: "Even if they're an idiot?"




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
September 15, 2021, 11:01 AM
SR
I worked retail. Our philosophy was be fair, be helpful but don't get frustrated. Of course that was like 30 years ago.

Sometimes I wonder if average intelligence has declined. Also, it was before everyone walked around with a calculator in their hand. So they either didn't do this sort of math or estimated (like did the math in their head).




Speak softly and carry a big stick loaded Sig
September 15, 2021, 11:16 AM
Flash-LB
quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund:
“Okay, it’s $9.00 for a 20-round box, that’s 18 cents a round.”


Say what? I'm sure you're being facetious.
September 15, 2021, 02:06 PM
OKCGene
I asked my College Algebra professor, during a classroom question and answer period, if he could work problem #18.

His answer was priceless and it made me and the rest of the class laugh.

"Yes I can. Next question?"

Fortunately he then worked problem #18 through step by step.

I had some great teachers, and of course some not so great, a few even were worthless. This guy was great, all semester long.
.
September 15, 2021, 02:28 PM
Rey HRH
I don't trust somebody else to do my math for me unless they have been offering it and I've done a few reasonable tests on his calculations.



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
September 15, 2021, 06:25 PM
rburg
Price per round is crazy difficult to calculate. Its why I don't bother. Primers are nearly unobtainable so the price is thru the roof. Powder is crazy, too. Its why I prefer Bullseye because its so cheap I consider it free. Then there is the Boolit. Try finding them sometime. Oh wait, there's a box or two down in the gun room, someplace. Putting them all together is pretty much free because I'm retired/retarded and my time is worthless. Don't trust me to load for you, I might load Bullseye, and a case load of it will blow your prize gun to splinters.

So, cost per round? I haven't a clue, I'm still shooting up ammo I reloaded or bought back in the 1960s and 70s. That was when hunting ammo, the premium stuff was $3.50 a box of 20. Using the "new math" we were treated to above, that means its $.70 a round. Maybe.


Unhappy ammo seeker
September 15, 2021, 08:32 PM
Sailor1911
When I took the CPA exam, no calculators allowed! Yes, I can make change for a $20 in my head! Big Grin




Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

“If in winning a race, you lose the respect of your fellow competitors, then you have won nothing” - Paul Elvstrom "The Great Dane" 1928 - 2016
September 15, 2021, 08:39 PM
sigfreund
quote:
Originally posted by Flash-LB:
quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund:
“Okay, it’s $9.00 for a 20-round box, that’s 18 cents a round.”


Say what? I'm sure you're being facetious.


Ya think?
If someone cannot figure out something so simple for himself, why not just make your deal seem better than anyone else's?

Yes, I was being facetious because it would be unethical to take advantage of someone who was so ignorant that way. Wink




6.4/93.6

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”
— Plato
September 15, 2021, 10:58 PM
Kept Bum
Sooooo isn't there a saying "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it ?



_____________________________

"It does not require many words to speak the truth.".....Chief Joseph


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September 16, 2021, 12:04 AM
Excam_Man
quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
^^^

First question, "do you have a cell phone?"

"Good, pull it out and open the calculator" (Then walk them through, Barney style, on how to divide "X" # of cartridges by the "Y" cost of box.

Finally, calmly note to them to repeat for each of the other boxes while you assist the elementary school graduates in the store.Wink (This only works if you are the owner and cannot get fired Wink)


Confused

Second question, "do you know how to figure cost per round"?

Cuz the teacher above doesn't know how to explain it to you. Big Grin

**(cost divided by # of rounds)**




September 16, 2021, 07:30 AM
Fredward
And if you want to make it easy, round that 11.99 up to 12 bucks. Duh.
September 16, 2021, 12:36 PM
pedropcola
Your shop sounds awful. On the other post you say you would charge a transfer fee on a warranty return and in this thread you quite clearly say you won’t post prices on popular calibers because “the prices fluctuate wildly”. Do they change throughout the day? Do you have an ammo runner on the floor of the stock exchange?

The rest of your post I agree with. Figure out the math yourself I agree with. Not posting the fucking price because it’s too much work? WTF? Sounds to me like you guys buy ammo and increase the prices as you see fit regardless of what you paid for it and then tell customers we can’t post a price because of “wild fluctuations”. Ever heard of paper and a sharpie? Cross out the old price and write the new one daily. It’s not rocket science.

Reminds me why I hate dealing with most gun stores. Ignorant and lazy is right. It’s you. You bitch about a customer wanting to buy ammo and knowing what the price is because your dumbass shop won’t post a price and you think you get to bitch about that and we should agree? Post the fucking prices and your entire bitch goes away (other than the math stuff which I agree with).

A store that won’t post prices because it’s too difficult but complains when a customer asks what the prices are? Is this really your bitch?

Not to mention you stock 11 brands but put 8 out on the counter with a price. Do we just have to guess what the other 3 are priced at? Sounds like your across town rival is the shop to do business with.
September 16, 2021, 02:35 PM
Fredward
The price is posted. The PRICE PER ROUND is not. Ammo comes in almost daily from different sources. Yes, the price varies widely, and there are perhaps 120 calibers on display. Yes, PPR can be posted and updated several times weekly. Of course, this entails labor, which involves expense, which raises the prices. When you're selling, for example, 223 at 11 bucks a box, there's simply not enough money in it to justify the expense. But hey, people want what they want, not what they're willing to pay for. Every day I hear "What's your best price?" for a gun marked up 20 bucks over cost. People bitch and whine when their preferred ammo is not in stock, apparently totally unaware of the supply chain issues. All kinds of customer service can be provided-but most people want the lowest price. The same applies to all retail. How many people pay the extra 25 cents a gallon to have gas pumped?

Anybody ever see the Price Per Cookie posted on a bag of Oreos?
September 16, 2021, 02:57 PM
frayedends
To be fair I didn’t get that your prices are posted since you said you can’t post prices. But then you say you lay them out with the price up. So is the price on the box? Your original post is somewhat confusing. I any case I assume you are just venting and aren’t dumb enough to take the (not so serious) advise of people telling you to talk down to customers.

Personally I’d recommend you add a tv monitor displaying all prices and price per round. It could be edited in minutes every day with round price automatically calculated. You could just point customers to the screen.




These go to eleven.
September 16, 2021, 04:07 PM
Loswsmith
quote:
Originally posted by Fredward:
Anybody ever see the Price Per Cookie posted on a bag of Oreos?


It's $.18 a cookie right?


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