This is why Midway will never get my biz again!!!!!

[mikegideon]

My orders with Midway have probably numbered in the hundreds. I still buy a lot of stuff from them, but will agree that it's not as good as it once was. I noticed the jump in shipping like everybody else. They have fewer things in stock these days, but that's life in the gun world. They're not any slower getting things out the door, but will stick you with cheesier shipping to reduce costs.

 

UPS ground is still two days if I order in time for same day shipping. UPS Surepost is 3 days, and Mail Innovations is forever.

 

I'm not one to ever get anything on sale, so the discount structure doesn't really matter.

[serbu50]

I can confirm I did in fact get "the wrong answer" from customer service member #1. I'm still trying to see if my back ordered ammo will ship. The lady this morning said my Fiocci .22 was back ordered until 10-2014!! Hahaha. That's comical.

[Grunt67]

 OP, I feel your pain. I've done business with Midway for years, also, but the shipping charges have gotten totally out

 of hand. Personally, I make it a point to avoid backorders altogether. Usually ends up being a bad experience for me.

 Strange thing, todays business world. When supposedly, businesses are trying to attract customers, stay in business,

 or whatever the situation, customer service has gone the way of the buffalo & high button shoes ( I know most of

 you don't remember that, LOL ). Do some serious shopping around, online, LGS, shows, take your best shot.

 None are all that attractive.

 I intended to order 2 boxes of shotshells from Midway, about $16/box. Shipping was going to be $18. Clicked off

 the site, never placed the order.

[Troutburger]

 

 

Also, I didn't much care for the "Happy Horse Sh*t" email that was sent to us when Midway stopped the FFL discount.  That email had Larry telling us how much better it was going to be with all of the coupons and discounts and free shipping on stuff I don't want. 

 

 

 

Yeah that email had a spin on it worse than something out of DC. 

[BigK]

I've got $500 worth of stuff in my Wish List on Midway. The only reason I kept it is to look those items up on Amazon.

[mikegideon]

I've got $500 worth of stuff in my Wish List on Midway. The only reason I kept it is to look those items up on Amazon.

 

Yep. It's hard to beat their website as a master catalog.

[leroy]

I've bought from Midway since the beginning.... There is 44 mag and 357 mag brass at my house that is marked "Midway"...I've never had a reason not to like their service nor their prices...

 

There are basically 3 places i look for reloading components:  Midway, Powder Valley, and Graf and Sons... I buy parts from Brownells or one of the specialty AR houses like Rainier Arms or BCM... Scopes and red-dots from folks like SWFA or Midway...If they dont have 'em; i dont buy them unless i go face to face with someone like our own David... The trick to buying from these guys is to buy a lot when you order; that will take care of the shipping charges... I also never backorder anything... period....

 

You can rest assured that if ya buy a couple of hundred rounds of anything from anybody, you will pay dearly for it...

 

Everybody here knows that the reloading components and gun parts business has been out of whack ever since the Nobama Regime has started running the political scene... There is no wholesaler, no matter how large, that has a full inventory of anything; or that has not experienced this dammnable panic buying stampede that has been goin on for the last six or so years...

 

Larry Potterfield and company (...nor anyone else for that matter...) is not obligated to sell any of this stuff... We need to recognize that we are receiving a service from those who are in the component and gun parts business... If Midway becomes non-competitive, someone else will take their place... That's how the capitalism thing works... They provide a service and you provide the business... Right now things are a bit skewed; but they will finally settle down....

 

You can rest assured that the "big" ammunition components and gun parts companies could give a damn less if they sell to folks like you and me; they would rather put the components into ammo and sell it to the gubmt or to resellers as part of a "take it or leave it" gun plan ALA what winchester and remington used to do; when they made wholesalers take obsolete or slow selling ammo as part of a package deal in order for the wholesaler to get the guns they wanted...

 

All in all, the gun and ammo business has always been a bit ratty for the wholesalers...I wouldnt beat them up too bad... If ya dont like 'em; vote with your dollars goin to someone else... That is, in fact, the best way to change attitudes in the selling business...

 

leroy

Edited January 14, 2014 by leroy

[mikegideon]

We also have to realize that this isn't easy for the folks in the gun biz. You can have all the demand in the world. That doesn't equate to money in the bank when your supply lines are all screwed up. I'll cut Midway some slack, because I've seen how they prefer to run in normal times.

 

One thing you can count on with Potterfield... He has a formal background in business, and is going to keep his numbers right. When his revenues are down because of holes in his supply lines, he's not going to be dumb enough to lose the business, or damage his employees getting through it. I don't think Larry is getting greedy. I think he's scrambling to work around the bad economy and the war on guns. I hate to blame this all on our big eared, knuckle dragging, imitation president (not really), but that's who created Larry's problems. But, all I ask is a fair price and prevailing shipping rates. If it cost me as much or more to ship from Brownell's, I'm probably not gonna blame Larry. 

[BigK]

I don't blame Potterfield or MidwayUSA for the shipping rates that UPS charge. I blame Potterfield and MidwayUSA for getting into bed so deep with UPS that I have no shipping options with them.

I see lots of companies that let me choose between UPS, FedEx, and USPS and with more than one option from each. I get to choose the carrier and the speed.

[mikegideon]

I don't blame Potterfield or MidwayUSA for the shipping rates that UPS charge. I blame Potterfield and MidwayUSA for getting into bed so deep with UPS that I have no shipping options with them.

I see lots of companies that let me choose between UPS, FedEx, and USPS and with more than one option from each. I get to choose the carrier and the speed.

 

You know that Midway trucks their shipments from Columbia to St. Louis every night, right? None of the other vendors, that I'm aware of, are moving that much product.

[BigK]

I still like MidwayUSA...quite a bit, in fact. I will be the first hold Mr. Potterfield up as a shining example of brilliant entrepreneurship in a niche market. His success was hard-earned and is well-deserved. I even look forward to his commercial on my usual Monday and Wednesday night TV shows on The Outdoor Channel and The Sportsmans Channnel.

My only complaint is that I don't have a shipping option and that is a business decision of his that has and will continue to lose him some of my business. When I shop for gun stuff, I put it in my cart and check the price with shipping on multiple sites before I order. Despite not having a shipping choice, he still sometimes wins my business. Often times when it's within a dollar or so, he wins, even if he loses, b/c he has dozens of other things I want that I can throw into my cart one by one until shipping seem unreasonable.

[mikegideon]

I haven't quite figured out their shipping deal, other than the first scan is always Earth City (St. Louis Metro), and always late. I've had one shipment from them that was scanned in Columbia. That was an overnight that they screwed up, so somebody there drove it over to UPS. I do know that Midway's warehouses are 100 or so miles from Earth city. It may be that Fedex just isn't an option. One thing's for sure... nobody is gonna swing by in a step van and pick up their daily shipments.

[ttocswob]

I've bought a LOT of stuff from Midway, with no real complaints. Stuff's usually here in 2-3 days, Yes shipping is billed separately on backorders, so I don't backorder. And stuff like lubricants, solvents, ORM-D stuff can't go thru the USPS, so shipping is a little more. Lee sizer dies come with Alox, so no USPS there either. And no more C&R discount.

 

BTW, Larry just mailed me a Bushnell BDC 3x9x40 scope for $81 - free shipping. YMMV

[Spiffy]

I don't care to play high shipping if it's like Shooters Connection and here the next day and insured.

[serbu50]

I don't blame Potterfield or MidwayUSA for the shipping rates that UPS charge. I blame Potterfield and MidwayUSA for getting into bed so deep with UPS that I have no shipping options with them.

I see lots of companies that let me choose between UPS, FedEx, and USPS and with more than one option from each. I get to choose the carrier and the speed.

Exactly... If you ordered a $10 flash hider, expect to pay $10 in shipping... that could be $4 with USPS or fedex envelope.

[Oh Shoot]

I don't blame Potterfield or MidwayUSA for the shipping rates that UPS charge. ..

 

You actually believe UPS charges them what they charge you? Their shipping charges are certainly not revenue neutral.

 

Price the same thing yourself from you to them at individual non-account holder rate, and also remember they are paying quite a bit less due to volume contract.

 

- OS

Edited January 15, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[BigK]

You actually believe UPS charges them what they charge you? Their shipping charges are certainly not revenue neutral.
 
Price the same thing yourself from you to them at individual non-account holder rate, and also remember they are paying quite a bit less due to volume contract.
 
- OS

I tried to ship a ball cap to my wife's grandpa in PA last Christmas in a box it barely fit in without crushing it. Those crooks tried to charge me over $11, almost as much as we paid for the hat. I walked out and went to the post office and the same box at USPS was less than $5.

Maybe they skim a some off the shipping fees, but UPS is ridiculously high to begin with.

[mikegideon]

I tried to ship a ball cap to my wife's grandpa in PA last Christmas in a box it barely fit in without crushing it. Those crooks tried to charge me over $11, almost as much as we paid for the hat. I walked out and went to the post office and the same box at USPS was less than $5.

Maybe they skim a some off the shipping fees, but UPS is ridiculously high to begin with.

 

Seems like it happened all of a sudden too.

[Trekbike]

I don't have an invoice handy but doesn't Midway also include insurance on the shipment? UPS covers $100 as their normal coverage, if you want more than that then you pay extra?   I know most of my orders are more than that because I collect a wish list if I can wait for the stuff.  I then wait until they are offering a discount when you buy X amount of dollars of stuff so for me Midway usually ends up the lowest.  YMMV.

 

I did quite a bit of shopping for my recent TGO build and I was on a bunch of sites trying to bundle as much stuff together taking into account shipping charges.   At the end of the day Midway, at least on the stuff I was buying, came out several times the cheapest option including shipping because they had the highest quantity of items available without having to go to multiple sites and pay multiple shipping charges.   

 

As others have said anything classified as a chemical gets extra charges so I try to limit those types of purchases unless I can't find it elsewhere.

 

For me, Midway or Brownells still get the bulk of my business.  

Edited January 15, 2014 by Trekbike

[TrickyNicky]

I tried to ship a ball cap to my wife's grandpa in PA last Christmas in a box it barely fit in without crushing it. Those crooks tried to charge me over $11, almost as much as we paid for the hat. I walked out and went to the post office and the same box at USPS was less than $5.
Maybe they skim a some off the shipping fees, but UPS is ridiculously high to begin with.

But again, not the same as shipping through them with a high volume account. For instance, the company I work for has a mail order division. Now every once in a while I have to fulfill a mail order(not my department). When I do that I use our mail orders FedEx account. I've mailed items in excess of 20lbs with let's say 8"x12"x36" dimensions and had it come out cheaper through their (mail orders) account than when I ship a 6lb 10"x10"x10" box. Volume really does save you a LOT of money with them. Now keep in mind these are examples, not reall shipment prices but you get the idea.


Also kind if funny how people tend to overlook the handling in shipping and handling. Packing materials cost money, so does the guy responsible for using them correctly to keep your package safe.

For the volume they ship, FedEx is probably one of their cheaper options. The alternative to high shipping charges is higher prices on goods. Really this is better, for me anyway, I can add a few more items to the cart and make $12.00 shipping make sense, I can't go into their system and lower prices.

[Oh Shoot]

I don't have an invoice handy but doesn't Midway also include insurance on the shipment? UPS covers $100 as their normal coverage, ...

 

Quit thinking counter pricing and services. You'd be amazed how little big outfits pay for shipping compared to what you'd pay. I saw it when I was with FedEx Ground. FedEx and UPS constantly bid against each other for contracts from companies of x size in any part of the country, and even more against the national biggies.

 

I was talking to the shipping manager at the big knife works place that used to be in Sevierville, damn if I can remember the name of it (edit: United Cutlery), they were paying like a third of retail counter pricing and about half of individual account pricing. And that was with only couple hundred boxes per day, max.

 

I assure you, these big places use shipping as an additional cost center. There are any number of the mail order companies for all those cheap Chinese household items you get the catalogs from that make almost all their profit from the shipping differential.

 

Even I can beat counter prices with my FedEx and UPS personal accounts by about 20% or more.

 

- OS

Edited January 16, 2014 by Oh Shoot