Some more (outrageous) news from the industry today - Colt is trying to blackmail dealers into joining their "2015 Stocking Dealer Program".
For those that aren't familiar, Stocking Dealer Programs are put in place by manufacturers to incentivize dealers to sell their products, such as "buy 4 pistols from group A and four from group B, and get a pistol from either group for free, along with some accessories". However, these programs are completely optional to join, since many smaller dealers wouldn't be able to meet these buy-in requirements.
What Colt is trying to do is a little different. Most likely prompted by recent financial troubles (e.g.
http://www.wsj.com/…/gun-maker-colt-launches-exchange-offer…), Colt's new Stocking Dealer Program doesn't contain any free goods, and is MANDATORY if you wish to purchase any Colt products after August 1st, 2015. That's right, they are actually going to blacklist dealers that don't purchase enough of their products.
Not only that, it requires the purchase of ten fairly high-dollar pistols and rifles between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1 of this year. Although this might not seem like a lot, it completely alienates a lot of the smaller dealers that don't sell a lot of Colt products in the first place (since they're somewhat overpriced) but still want to have access to their products.
So to wrap it up, Colt is requiring any dealer who wants to continue selling their products to purchase ~$8,000 worth of firearms before August 1st, or they will be blacklisted and unable to purchase any Colt products from any wholesaler in the industry for an unknown amount of time into the future. How about that?