Not safe after 10pm

[zoom6zoom]

they told me they couldn't sell any ammo after 10pm due to safety reasons

Yeah, it's not safe to wake the manager up from his nap in the break room so he can drag his ass out and unlock the case.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

The associate in sporting goods leaves at 10pm---good luck finding someone with a key after that as the managers there at that time are more concerned with getting the shelves restocked and displays changed over.

They do have shotgun shells out in the open that you can take to the front and purchase.

 

[KarenTOC]

The Walmarts I used to shop at always insisted that you pay for the ammo at the ammo counter. Since there generally wasn't anyone at the counter, I'd have to chase them down. The up side was that I could pay for anything at the ammo counter. I discovered that, even allowing for the clerk hunt, it was faster to pay for everything at the ammo counter than to wait in line up front. I have no problem with the policy of paying at the ammo counter lol.

 

[mgmorden]

The associate in sporting goods leaves at 10pm---good luck finding someone with a key after that as the managers there at that time are more concerned with getting the shelves restocked and displays changed over.

They do have shotgun shells out in the open that you can take to the front and purchase.

That's been my experience too. I must say though, that of all the possible things Wal-mart does wrong, this isn't something I'd pounce on them over. They go to a skeleton crew at night. Certain parts of the store simply aren't profitable to keep open 24-7, and ammo is one of them. Anything on the lockup in sporting goods - be it ammo, an expensive fishing reel, or a GPS - is basically not for sale during the late-night.

If you go to the deli section late at night you're not going to be able to get prepped food or meat cut either. Just the way it is. I doubt you'll be able to stroll down to most of those "local gun shops" and buy their overpriced ammo at 11:30 pm either, for pretty much the same reason - it's not profitable for them to be selling ammo at that time.

 

[CZguy]

I always get a kick out of having to have a manager escort me to the door while THEY carry an empty gun in a box,...while I on the other hand am carrying the loaded one in my pocket,....and they just did my paperwork using my CHL/CCW.....bright,...really bright.

And there we have a definition of a dichotomy.

I may be the only one to think of this, but why wait until after 10:00 PM to buy ammo to shoot the next day. You could buy a few boxes of shells during daylight hours and just have them at home ready to go.

 

[9mmforMe]

I wasn't waiting to buy ammo at that late of an hour, but I was present and figured I'd pick up a box since I was there. Like I said in the OP, I was more
"tickled" by the clerk's explanation that it wasn't "safe" to sell past 10pm. It wasn't a major deal I just thought I'd post here and see if others had similar experiences.

 

[merlinfire]

I've had it happen to me too. I've picked up bulk .22 packs off the shelf, and have the cashier refuse to sell it to me after midnight. Silly.

 

[A.H. Fox]

Whenever this crowd reads "did not let me buy X" ....hold on....it may be bumpy ride....

 

[John Wayne]

It takes someone making 25 cents an hour more to have a key to open the ammo case. Not having such a person around 8 hours a day saves Walmart $730 a year.

This. Half the time it's hard enough to get someone to open the case during normal business hours. The times I've been to WalMart at night, people are unloading pallets of stuff in the middle of the aisle, and there's usually one cashier checking out a line of about 30 people. Not many people buy ammo late at night, so they don't bother to pay/train someone to sell it.

For those people talking about "Mom & Pop" gun stores, when was the last time you went to one that was open past 10 PM? If they're not open then they're not going to sell you any more ammo than Wal Mart will.

 

[rondog]

It's just a line of BS. Bottom line is, there's no employee on duty at that time in that store that has a key to open the ammo case.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

Calm down, guys. It probably results from the necessity for whatever mighnight clerk that is on duty to have the proper knowledge of what ammo can be sold to whom. Restrictions on pistol ammo (and what exactly QUALIFIES as pistol ammo, since some pistols are .223 and .308, etc) demand that the seller sell to the qualified person. It probably isn't easy to train all clerks on federal ammo laws (and in some cases, even more stringent STATE laws). Store policy results to the lowest common denominator: some clerks are too stupid to learn how to do it properly, so they leave it to the trained clerks who know that section, who probably routinely go home at 10:00PM.

 

[NMGonzo]

Neither can you buy a gps or anything that is locked away EASILY after certain hour of the evening at wally for all that matters.

Skeleton crew for the night, full crew for peak retail hours.

 

[rscalzo]

Walmarts are open 24 hours

No they aren't. Some are, most aren't.

 

[Equestrian]

its that there isnt anyone qualified with a key at that hour. and if they are they real job is usually a different department

 

[Yosemite Sam]

I was trying to buy ammo a few minutes before midnight once and the clerk wanted to wait until 12:00 AM to run the transaction. Probably for business reasons (already closed out the previous day) to make things easy.

I've had different stories as well at the ammo counter. Some made me buy at the counter and just put it in a bag with receipt. Others said they'd walk the "bullets" to Register XYZ and when I'm done shopping to go to that register for my "bullets." I've never been able to take unpaid for ammo in the shopping cart.

I've been asked by new clerks to show ID (proof I'm 21+) which I'm ok with, but once and only once did the clerk type in my driver's license #. That ticked me off more than a little bit, but I was still polite.

 

[Zombiphobia]

take it from an ex employee that a lot of people there work very hard to keep away from real work.

I've noticed this. Well, with the graveyard shifts anyway. I've had wal-mart employees take over 4 hours to process a sale once. And bring out the wrong box, and try to disassemble my rifle to fit inside a shotgun box.
That has nothing to do with not selling ammo after 10pm, I'm aware, but it was still an astonishing display of incompetence.

 

[Spec ops Grunt]

Wal-Mart corooprate policy

While I was at work today, I went on the company computers and checked Wal-Mart's firearm policy.


Here's the highlights of what I found

• Make sure all firearms are unloaded
• Maintain trigger locks on all firearms
• regularly audit firearms inventory
• Customers should never be allowed to handle a firearm and ammunition at the same time in the store
• The only ammo that is required to be in the totally thief-proof glass case is any ammo that can be used in a handgun
• Handgun ammo can only be sold to those 21 or older
• Non handgun ammo to those 18 or older
• Crossover calibers: It depends on if the associate has a read on what its going in. (I just hit rifle)
• Firearms that are sold are to be escorted to the front by a manager
• AMMUNITION IS TO BE SOLD ANYTIME THE STORE IS OPEN

Couldn't find anything about whether checkout has to be at the back counter, I will try to find that out when time permits. The above is corporate policy, only superseded by any applicable laws.


Also, corporations and governments really are two sides of the same coin when it comes to transparency and finding certain information. It was a PITA to find the above information, the corporate website layout is horrendous and the search engine is really outdated.

 

[Surefire]

If a gangbanger wants to get ammo, they would go in before 10 p.m.

Sounds like a stupid regulation.

Forbidding sales after a certain time does nothing. The perps will simply adjust and buy before then.

 

[Spec ops Grunt]

Also, my suggest course of action is to go over the kids head.


Of course, he probably heard that lie from his boss, and so on.

 

[9mmforMe]

Thanks Spec Ops. I will definitely go over the guys head next time.

 

[Dookie]

By this point, I've had a long day, and am a true believer that "the customer is always right (or should be)." So, based on principle alone and because I was in a bad mood, I wasn't giving up.

Never worked in customer service I see. Customers are just as dumb as the people behind the counter, the difference is that the clerk can refuse service to anyone and doesn't care if you don't buy anything.

She made the phone call, and told me she was instructed to walk the ammo up front with me. I told her to forget it and walked away. The next day, I picked the ammo up, finished my shopping, and paid for it all up front.

They are idiots.

So all you had to do was get the rest of the stuff you needed then head back to the gun counter, but because you didn't want to pay in the back you came BACK to walmart during the day. You sure showed them It must have been a bad experience to put up with walmart during the day.

Our walmarts sell to us whenever we want. Only a couple sell guns but all sell ammo. May not be the best customer service but they are fast and polite.

 

[altitude_19]

but why wait until after 10:00 PM to buy ammo to shoot the next day. You could buy a few boxes of shells during daylight hours and just have them at home ready to go.

Stow that narrow minded crap, if you please. Not everybody has your oh-so-convenient-and-conventional sleep schedule. Who do you think is manning your local military installation at 0300? I shop at night at 24 hour businesses the same way you do it during the day because I SLEEP during the day the same as you do at night.

I get awful tired of the guy who THINKS he knows the rules (he's usually just repeating what he heard through the grape vine after nobody bothered to actually look it up). My latest and greatest was at Cabela's. I took a revolver in for fitting some grips. I carried it concealed into the store. After making sure the grips I wanted would fit, the clerk walked MY GUN outside with me. I was amused enough by this idiocy not to argue. When we were outside, he said "Now just wait until you get in your car to load this" and handed it to me. I loaded it in front of him then and there. He started out with an "I said" and I quickly countered with "I heard you" and walked away.

 

[Blackbeard]

In Illinois anyone selling ammo has to have a valid FOID card. I doubt the checkers up front all have their FOIDs, though I've never tried checking out up front with shotgun shells. Usually there's only one or two people in the store who can sell ammo, and I've never seen them there at night.

 

[gabepossenti]

I took a revolver in for fitting some grips. I carried it concealed into the store. After making sure the grips I wanted would fit, the clerk walked MY GUN outside with me.

I don't think it's very wise to draw a weapon from concealment inside a store. In fact, I'd say it's just a plain old bad idea. If you need work done on your weapon, then you should carry it into the store in plain sight, and check in with it at customer service. If you've got a concealed handgun on you, it should stay concealed unless you are using it.

 

[altitude_19]

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with it. Skittishness aside, I told him I had it on me and that I would be taking it out, I cleared it in a safe direction, and handed it over for the fitting. We never had a problem until he tried telling me when I could load MY weapon after he had handed it back to me.