I just ended the FOURTH phone call of the day from the SAME person. Unbelievably, the same guy sent me FOUR emails today as well!
The first call was to ask "is it there yet?" )It wasn't.
The second was to ask if it was "okay to pick it up at 830pm" when he was told I was only available 5-8pm today.
The third was to call and ask "how about 430pm" again I told him "5-8PM".
The fourth call was to confirm his email where he said he would be here at 6pm.
This is a great example of what some suggested I meant by having coordinated a sale with an FFL. Nope, of course not. But if the OP had done more than wait for "weeks" to finalize the sale, then, again, there would have been less miscommunication and more understanding.
Second, this is EXACTLY the kind of customer that many in retail have to put up with. His kind if business isn't worth the effort. I've been in retail off and on over 40 years, and the above is the kind of thing that has been growing exponentially for a decade. It's entirely a "I WANT IT NOW!" immature shopping experience.
It's also the kind of stuff that clogs the email system, which backs up response time even more, and why so many in business are now bailing out of that communication method because it's extremely labor intensive. "YOU HAVEN'T RESPONDED TO THE LAST THREE EMAILS I SENT TODAY!" is blatantly overdoing it. Pure harassment on the senders part.
Let's not so easily overlook the numbers of FFL's that now remain in the circuit - it was all too readily glossed over. We lost about 200,000 of them, it's now down to less than 65,000. And while some might find ads on one internet brokerage site, the reality is that ads aren't posted in mass media. Very few in the classified, no window posters in 12" letters, etc. It shouldn't be necessary to mention it, most social websites and similar media prohibit the mention of a firearms transfer.
If someone insists I have to boot up my computer or have the instant access to a smart phone (and the $500 a year it costs) then I can only conclude you don't mind seeing sales restricted to only those who can afford it. If your sales and transfers are limited to word of mouth, great, but there is no way someone outside that network of mutual backscratchers gets the word out to new buyers. It's limited, again, by having zero notice to the public. And the public in this case shouldn't have to jump thru hoops if the FFL is really wanting to do transfers, right? His store would be the first one recommended up front. And that only happens if he advertises thru mass media.
A quick drive by of the major LGS in my area - NO notification of whether they take on any FFL internet transfers. In fact, the one guy locally who does for me doesn't even advertise he IS an FFL. His inventory and visible business would seem to be C&R based. There are no modern firearms whatsoever in the store.
On the other hand, walk into the other LGS locally and it's been my experience that the store clerk mentioned by the OP works there - they brusquely avoid the conversation and steer it toward generating an immediate cash sale. If you buy, sell, and trade guns all day it's no wonder an FFL will be happy to handle your business, but the public walking in unannounced aren't getting those privileges extended to them. With the loss of 200,000 kitchen table FFL's, the average guy no longer has a friend who knows someone. He has to deal with a storefront dealer and that operation want's a bigger piece of the pie in an intensively competitive shopping environment.
For all he knows you would email him and call half a dozen times daily until it arrives, only to show up and hour early and hound him. Which is exactly what happens in the retail environment I work: "The part will be here at 3PM." At 11:30, the customer arrives, leaves disappointed, and demands you call him when it arrives, all the while not paying attention to the long line of customers who will take up so much of your time that a return call isn't going to happen.
What I'm reading are a large number of consumers demanding they be handled with Nordstrum class service from a business that can't deliver chauffered pick up and delivery at an appointed hour. It's entitlement elitism, and it's what is making the retail industry more difficult daily for those with some experience still left in it - because we somehow dodged the ACA getting us fired to be replaced by two part timers with little to no training or motivation.
If you want to suggest that your specific situation is the norm, it's not, and the industry isn't reaching out to the internet buyer who's unknown to them. It's a restricted access system now, just what the BATF wanted, and suggesting there's no problem means that some of you are getting used to the pot getting warmer.
200,000 less FFL's is now affecting the market, and there very much is a industry wide reluctance to handle internet transfers.
