EricW Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Would you be inclined to sell more bullets and/or buy more bullets if you could commit to buying/selling in volume but schedule out your buying/selling. For example: Joe Shooter expects to shoot 20K of 180gr. 40 cal bullets a year. Joe would like to get the 20K price break from his dealer. So, Joe gives the dealer his payment info and gets billed quarterly with quarterly deliveries of 5K of bullets. There would be obviously be penalties for Joe if he didn't keep money in his account. Maybe Joe would have to be established as a good credit risk based on payment history before he qualified. I see this as win-win. Bullet suppliers get to up their volumes and turn what was sporadic ordering into a more constant revenue stream. Bullet purchasers get better pricing in exchange for a guaranteed, long term commitment to purchase - without having to tie up capital in stuff that will sit for a year. Granted, there are some issues to be resolved as economical shipment quantities, but that should be relatively easy to solve. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdragon Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 EricW, On my end it would mean the shooter gets to lock into a certain price. If the commitment was made. Thats what we do with our OEM companys. Ivan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Yeah, it's a good idea, but I'm not sure about delivery. Right now truck-ship is the only economical way to move bullets, and to do that effectively, you have to move a lot of 'em at once. We do a bulk deal that works similarly-- several people go in on an order that meets the bulk amount, say 20K of bullets, but each person only gets ~5K. Do that 4-5 times a year and it works the same except for the poor guy getting the workout shlepping the bullets all over creation to get them to the end users. The factories are cut out of the information loop, which could be important to them-- they seem very batch-oriented in that when they're out of something, they're out of it until they convert the machines back over to make them again, and that can take a while. Work out the shipping details (bullets-of-the-month-club?) and shift the shlepping and order management upstream and I'm all for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted July 14, 2006 Author Share Posted July 14, 2006 I was thinking ordering quanities of bullets that fit into integer # of USPS flat rate priority boxes. When I ordered from Berry's last, I got 15 boxes, 2K to a box. Seemed pretty simple to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhurd Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 I just got a USPS delivery of 10 cases of MGs that is 3750 to a case the rural carrier couldn't fit em in his leetle car I gave him a break and drove to town and got em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpolans Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Hard to believe there are folks that ship bullets any other way than USPS flat rate boxes. Because of the difference in shipping prices, I almost never consider folks that don't use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 MG is doing USPS now? Or did you get those via a 3rd party? Last time I spoke to MG it was UPS or truck. I would love a program like this. Sign me up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpspeed Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 THREAD HIJACK MODE ON MG is doing USPS now? Or did you get those via a 3rd party? Last time I spoke to MG it was UPS or truck.I would love a program like this. Sign me up! I ordered a couple of cases from MG and had them sent to work thinking they would come UPS. They cam USPS. Carrier refused to deliver - too heavy. I had to go pick them up. THREAD HIJACK MODE OFF Eric, I'd like a commitemnt program like that. I order > 8 cases a year but usually 1 or 2 at a time. If they would give me the 8 case price, schdule the delivery of 2 cases every 3 months, I'd be down for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 I would def. like this type of deal. It could be as simple as keeping a credit card on file and they ship either "X" amount each month or even quarterly. That would be a great way to save some money and not have to pay it all up front. Then if you needed more in a certain timeframe you could call the supplier and get the same break so long as you committed to a minumum number of bullets. I work in sales and I sell commercial advertisement. We offer contract pricing for customers that commit to longer terms. They have the option to prepay or even pay as you go. These are the best customers because it is a guaranteed sale. I would think the same would hold true for this type of program. ANY VENDORS READING THIS???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted July 15, 2006 Author Share Posted July 15, 2006 I sure hope someone, somewhere in the industry is reading this. I know that Berrys has earned my loyalty just by giving me club pricing on 20K or more. I'm saving so much with the club pricing, I can afford to stockpile bullets, but I'd prefer to give up say 5% and schedule out the deliveries if possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 MG is definately using the USPS box-- I got some yesterday. The mailman did come to the door to be sure we were home first, before hauling two 67 pound boxes to the door. Using MG as an example, MG pays ~$11/box in postage and insurance. 9mm bullets run anywhere from 2000-4000/box in Under-70-lb boxes. So, say $2.50 - $5/K for shipping. 45 bullets are in the 1500-2000/box range and then the shipping adder is in the $5-$8/K range. Figure a good bulk deal is ~10% off (Montana Gold 8-case price break seems to average ~5-10%), then the extra shipping could be about a wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 EricW, I was just trying to work a deal like this out with a bullet maker recently. Hit a bit of a wall. But, I will try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 I ordered a couple of cases from MG and had them sent to work thinking they would come UPS. They cam USPS. Carrier refused to deliver - too heavy. I had to go pick them up.. The DMM (Domestic Mail Manual) has a policy for just about everything related to mail delivery in the US. It would be interesting to see if the mail carrier is authorized to refuse delivery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 I know that for foot routes they have weight limits; or did 20 years ago. I ran into this when I lived on a foot route and didn't have wheels myself. I complained to the local post master who was able to quote me chapter and verse. Had to buy a buddy a couple beers to haul my stuff home from the PO. In this case is was four boxes of books. Not quite up to lead bullet weights but not light and heavier than I wanted to schlep for a mile on foot. Used UPS for heavy things after that. EricW,I was just trying to work a deal like this out with a bullet maker recently. Hit a bit of a wall. But, I will try again. Wall due to bullet maker reluctance? If so, what kind of fear was there? Price escalation or just "something new and new is bad"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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