So, y'all still mad at Cheaperthandirt ?

[Flyingswords]

CTD isnt worth my time. They would have to pay me to shoot their ammo.

 

[sonuvaTXgun]

CTD isnt worth my time. They would have to pay me to shoot their ammo.

That's ridiculous. Even during the scare, I was able to score two from Academy for $18 a piece.

 

[benenglish]

I don't do business with CTD.

In fairness, though, I must point out that half of what they've been accused of wasn't their fault. People are mad at CTD for stopping the sale of semi-auto rifles and canceling orders for them. People are also mad at them for predatory pricing.

On that first reason, I heard a short speech by the CTD Social Media director that talked about what happened at the beginning of the rush. When Obama gave his weekend speech saying he was going after guns, orders started pouring in at a pace previously unheard-of. They were selling more guns in a minute than they usually sold in an hour.

The problem was that their web site only checked and updated inventory every fifteen minutes. Every "modern sporting rifle" they had in stock was sold but the web site continued to show them as in stock until it got another update. At the pace orders were coming in, that meant their web site sold hundreds and hundreds of rifles that they didn't have. They had no choice but to stop selling guns online and cancel a bunch of orders.

So, slamming CTD for canceling orders and taking gun sales off their site isn't, IMO, fair. They had a near-real-time inventory count on their web site that was fine for normal sales volume but when the buying got crazy they were caught with their pants down. Yes, I blame them for having a shitty connection between their inventory system and their sales system but they're far from the only big retailer to have problems like this.

Now, as for their predatory pricing once the panic buying was established...yes, they did that. I will continue to shun them for that.

Interesting note - Part of the reason that they haven't taken much of a sales hit is that they've managed, through aggressive use of social media, to reduce the median age of their customers by ~15 years compared to a decade ago. Unlike some gun businesses, they don't just sell to us oldsters who have seen this stuff before. They sell a great deal to 20-somethings who don't have enough experience to remember the last time they charged an ounce of gold for every sheet of plywood as the hurricane was coming ashore.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Idk what level of gouging took place but prices went up everywhere, and there still hanging up there. I still can't find 50rnd 9mm FMJ's for the $13.99-14.99 I used to pay. Hell some places were $25-30 a box and only 2 per costomer. CTD has what I'm looking for as far as in stock ammo at the more reasonable cost of $19.99 with no restrictions on how many. When I find it cheaper with no stupid 2 box limit I will shop elsewhere.

The one example that sticks out in my mind is what they were charging for 22lr. At one point a box of 100 CCI Mini Mags was priced at $79. About 10 times the previous price. But to be honest CTD wasn't the only one with crazy prizes. But they were the most blatant.

I used to buy from Lucky Gunner, but lost all respect for them when they began charging ridiculous prices for their center fire ammo.

And SR9TX, here is some 9mm FMJ for $14.97 with no limit: http://www.ammunitiondepot.com/Blazer-Brass-9mm-124-Grain-FMJ-Ammo-p/5201.htm

 

[TX69]

Idk what level of gouging took place but prices went up everywhere, and there still hanging up there. I still can't find 50rnd 9mm FMJ's for the $13.99-14.99 I used to pay. Hell some places were $25-30 a box and only 2 per costomer. CTD has what I'm looking for as far as in stock ammo at the more reasonable cost of $19.99 with no restrictions on how many. When I find it cheaper with no stupid 2 box limit I will shop elsewhere.

Obvious fanboi is obvious.

My guess on this newbie is that he works at the McKinney store. There has been some interaction with CTD employees at other sites and at a few they ran him off. He might be fishing this site to see if they would want to be a supporter and advertise here. He is using this account to test the waters by pushing the company and listing products and deals.

 

[sonuvaTXgun]

Obvious fanboi is obvious.

My guess on this newbie is that he works at the McKinney store. There has been some interaction with CTD employees at other sites and at a few they ran him off. He might be fishing this site to see if they would want to be a supporter and advertise here. He is using this account to test the waters by pushing the company and listing products and deals.

I'll you're right I'll start calling you detective. Lol

 

[zx9rt1]

I'll never buy from them again.

 

[Southpaw]

I don't do business with CTD.

.......

On that first reason, I heard a short speech by the CTD Social Media director that talked about what happened at the beginning of the rush. When Obama gave his weekend speech saying he was going after guns, orders started pouring in at a pace previously unheard-of. They were selling more guns in a minute than they usually sold in an hour.

The problem was that their web site only checked and updated inventory every fifteen minutes. Every "modern sporting rifle" they had in stock was sold but the web site continued to show them as in stock until it got another update. At the pace orders were coming in, that meant their web site sold hundreds and hundreds of rifles that they didn't have. They had no choice but to stop selling guns online and cancel a bunch of orders.

So, slamming CTD for canceling orders and taking gun sales off their site isn't, IMO, fair. They had a near-real-time inventory count on their web site that was fine for normal sales volume but when the buying got crazy they were caught with their pants down. Yes, I blame them for having a shitty connection between their inventory system and their sales system but they're far from the only big retailer to have problems like this.
............

While I can't prove this to be true or false, I will say that I find the 15 minute update explanation suspicious. I have shopped at far smaller online vendors and I have seen their inventory update as soon as I placed an order and refreshed.

 

[Mic]

Don't buy from them.
Don't buy from Dick's.
Can't stand the gougers people mentioned in the ammo lines.
Won't ever argue they don't have the right to do what they've done, but they don't have a right to my money.

Midway USA, Academy, and Walmart all proved to be loyal to gun owners during this shit and my respect for them has increased. Especially Walmart, who was pressured by O'commie and crew, but they didn't change anything and their prices stayed relatively close to pre-scare. These businesses now get any money Dick's or CTD ever would have.

 

[Charlie]

I would not ever buy from ctd again. Last transaction I had with them was before obama bought the office.

 

[SR9TEX]

And SR9TX, here is some 9mm FMJ for $14.97 with no limit: http://www.ammunitiondepot.com/Blazer-Brass-9mm-124-Grain-FMJ-Ammo-p/5201.htm

Thanks for the link, I'm going to keep a eye on that site as I'm looking to buy some more in the next week or two. I'm down to 2 boxes

Sad thing is back in FL I was paying $25 for the same stuff.

 

[Southpaw]

Thanks for the link, I'm going to keep a eye on that site as I'm looking to buy some more in the next week or two. I'm down to 2 boxes

Sad thing is back in FL I was paying $25 for the same stuff.

Keep an eye on gun-deals.com as well. There are a few -.30 per round deals if you are willing to buy in bulk.

 

[SR9TEX]

Like I said before I'm 6 weeks new to TX, Getting ready to turn 27 and have purchased just two firearms in the last 2 years. CTD in the FL gun community is viewed different then it is here I guess. Never heard anything neggitive about them untill I moved here.

I remember walking into CTD about a year ago when I visited here.It was nicer then any Gun store I have been to in Orlando just based on what they had in stock so I was excited to check it out.Now since I have been here I have only picked up 2 boxes of ammo there.Looked at a few hand guns and noticed that Academy had better prices on the few I was looking at.
If I find a better deal somewhere else that's where I will go.

 

[SR9TEX]

Keep an eye on gun-deals.com as well. There are a few -.30 per round deals if you are willing to buy in bulk.

Thanks, I have only looked at midway and luckygunner in the past and they had decent prices on 9mm but had nothing in stock. I'm not to internet smart as to where I can find deals on ammo so anyhing I find, I put on my favorite's list

I have family here that like to visit the range atleast once a month so I hope to spend more time shooting then I used to.

 

[Southpaw]

You will figure it all out in time. Have fun and good luck.

 

[benenglish]

While I can't prove this to be true or false, I will say that I find the 15 minute update explanation suspicious. I have shopped at far smaller online vendors and I have seen their inventory update as soon as I placed an order and refreshed.

I've been involved in various IT projects and I found his 15-minute update story plausible.

Smaller and/or newer retailers have it much easier. A young company probably bought some (possibly customized) vertical app that combines inventory and storefront operations seamlessly. CTD is a much older company and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they're stuck with an inventory system that was written before the first WWW standards were published. In cases like that, the web storefront software and the inventory database usually wind up with some sort of middleware written to get them to talk to each other and exchange information. This is often inefficient and slow but it's a usable workaround. It's good enough, in most cases, for the company using it to procrastinate forever from jumping into the incredible pain of completely tearing out an old inventory system and replacing it with something new.

At older companies, their interconnected IT systems have often grown like coral reefs - a layer at a time, over a great deal of time. I know of one very large organization that has grown their software in fits and starts over many decades and their records updates require a full week to propagate through and update all impacted databases. That's an extreme case but it's real. So when CTD said their web store was 15 minutes out of date and that caused them to sell truckloads of rifles that they didn't actually have, I can believe it.

Having heard their explanation and knowing something about how systems design errors can jump up and bite a business, I'm willing to completely forgive them for the canceled orders and removal of online sales.

Of course, for the reasons I previously cited I still won't be doing business with them if I can avoid it.

 

[SR9TEX]

You will figure it all out in time. Have fun and good luck.

Thanks!

 

[Southpaw]

^^^ I see.... Thanks for the insight on that Ben.

 

[Southpaw]

Funny, I just seen this on another site a minute ago:

During times of market panic, magazines can go in and out of stock so quickly that our inventory system (running on a 10 minute update interval) can not keep up. A magazine that shows in stock (especially if the quantity available is very low) may actually be out of stock when you place your order.

 

[Charlie]

If their interconnected IT systems cause them business issues, then they need to fix it or change it, etc. Businesses are still responsible for their "business". A vendor crying about something they can control is their problem, and should not be the consumer's problem. Just my $.02.