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We’ve covered anti-gunners’ efforts to go after “ghost guns” and other lawful commerce in any way they can. Most recently, they’re pressuring shippers like UPS and Fedex to only ship serialized frames, and take other anti-gun actions that go a lot further.

Now, we’re seeing that FedEx is falling on hard times, with their stock tumbling last week (UPS stock took a hit, too). This obviously wasn’t caused by their newly restrictive “ghost gun” policies, as that revenue is a tiny fraction of a rounding error to a company like FedEx. But it does signal a tightening economy and possibly a further downturn that could put all kinds of businesses in a difficult position.

This situation leads to another question that relates to the big shipping companies’ newly intensified anti-gun policies as well as other anti-gun policies. Is being picky about your customers and doing things that could alienate a good portion of them something these megacorps — or any going concern — can afford to keep doing?

I don’t know about TTAG’s readers, but from my own experience, I’ve found that during hard times, you can’t really afford to be picky about your work. You certainly can’t afford to shaft customers for political reasons just to please vocal interest groups. Even giants like UPS and FedEx can’t afford to alienate even a tenth of their customer bases if they want to survive a recession.

Banning the shipment of “ghost gun” parts or their predecessor components in whatever percentage of completion they’re in would seem to be part of a bigger story of “go woke, go broke” strategy. They might only be picking on a few of their customers, and the products they’re restricting aren’t a big segment of their business. But when their policy shifts stir up a stink that alienates a bigger portion of the customer base, it can get expensive.

The ironic thing about this situation and this question is that it shows that Democrats can undercut themselves in their zeal to restrict gun rights in any venue they can attack. Democrat monetary policies; government (over)spending, hyper regulation, and loose economic policies weaken the economy. When the public corporations who favor and support them find themselves in a tight spot as a result, and have to choose between going woke and going broke, they have a fiduciary duty to ditch the wokeness.

Are they willing to endanger their bottom lines over an esoteric gun controversy?

To be fair, hard times can also have a similar effect on the other sides’ efforts to get private entities to change policies. Just as with the Dems’ policies, anything that could alienate customers in a down economy, including respecting gun rights, is a luxury fewer companies can afford.

This is something pro-gun people need to keep in mind. If you can ask for pro-gun policy changes while not putting a company in a tight spot, you’ll have a lot more luck than you would asking them to take a controversial public stance or action.

Getting retailers to quietly take down “no guns” signs in order to keep your business can be an easy one for them. Asking them to write a press release or post on social media about their decision to take the sign down…not so much.

We need to be smarter than the anti-gun movement if we want to succeed against them, but fortunately, that’s a pretty low bar.

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41 COMMENTS

  1. Summary: “Get Woke, Go Broke”.
    Slightly longer: Don’t bring politics into your business if your business isn’t politics

    • If you want votes to win elections in November…Instead of chasing around what Gun Control Zealots say and do everyday Gun Control zealots can respond to the following speech and try to justify their beloved racist and nazi based Gun Control for voters. After all Gun Control wins when Gun Control is not defined by its history of rot…

      https://youtu.be/WlItbl9SOAg

  2. Anti-gunners, and their fellow travelers are not of the same mindset as normal people; they are a cult.

    As it happened, Dick’s Sporting Goods found that the loss of revenue from firearms and accessories was not detrimental in the long run.

    The number of gun owners who make every economic and political decision based on “gun friendliness” is vanishingly small, compared to the population at large. Indeed, the number of single-issue voters regarding any issue is insignificant. Over the last two decades, WalMart has done quite well without a serious line of guns, ammo and accessories.

    • Sam I Am,

      I posted my comment before reading your comment: it is plain to see that we are definitely on the same wavelength.

      • “it is plain to see that we are definitely on the same wavelength.”

        Careful, now; a statement like that will get you lotsa hate mail.

  4. “… during hard times … You certainly can’t afford to shaft customers for political reasons just to please vocal interest groups. Even [large corporations] can’t afford to alienate even a tenth of their customer bases if they want to survive a recession.”

    Au contraire mon ami!

    Progressives (a.k.a. True Believers) consider it a badge of honor to take flack (including financial hits) in pursuit of their vision of utopia. In fact it even strokes their incessant need to be victims.

    If you don’t believe me, consider how Progressives (who control virtually all of the “levers” of society at this point) willfully tank pretty much everything that they can control–and would never even think of apologizing for it. Or look at Dick’s Sporting Goods Executive Chairman Ed Stack who willfully diminished/eliminated Dick’s Sporting Goods firearm and ammunition sales.

    • Dick’s wasn’t making much money with “hunting” related items such as guns, ammo, archery etc., so they got rid of them in-store. Dick’s still sells archery and hunting hardware such as stands, rifle scopes, and similar items, online.

      As for guns and ammo, they were very low margin. Dick’s would rather sell high margin — read “overpriced” — stuff, from China and Latin America.

      • LL Bean dropped their hunting line a couple of yeas ago. They still sell the same boots and other gear that is not essentially hunting bur try to buy a hunting vest from them or a blaze orange hat. I am sure they didn’t even notice a blip in their sales. They are no longer a hunting gear store. They also dropped firearms from their store. I am sure Old Leon L. would be spinning in his grave inasmuch as hunting gear was the whole of his sales when founded.

        Another store that was exclusively hunting and shooting, Abercrombie and Fitch were the outfitters for every African safari heading out from the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century. Now they are a fashionable yuppie or whatever clothes store and rapidly fading from the scene.

    • uncommon,

      A major proof of your premise is Hollyweird. Having long ago abandoned any pretense of creativity, and gone to making repetitive, stupid “franchise” flicks, they then went “woke” – Superman is bi, Batman is a black woman, the new “superhero” is a one-legged, autistic, bi-racial, trans-man who is “two-spirit”, or some such s*** . . . and box office returns on these new “woke” franchise properties are in the tank. And, yet, they keep making them. They don’t mind spending a budget of $100 million to make a film that’s lucky to gross $200 million (which means they actually lose money on it, big time), if it lets them virtue signal, so they can get pats on the back at their next Hollyweird or New York cocktail party. Their ideological purity is more important to their egos than actually making money (after all, the pursuit of filthy lucre is an obsession with only the “lower” sorts; they are much too artistic to worry about such trivia).

      Anyone who claims “wokeism” isn’t at LEAST a cult, and more properly a secular religion, is either a propagandist/liar, or so hopelessly naive and indoctrinated they make a Scientologist look sane. Dick’s was never a source that any serious gun owner I know ever considered for their latest purchase, they had a crappy selection, their prices weren’t all that great, and their employees knew f***-all about firearms. No big loss for them to virtue signal and “stop selling assault weapons” (which they hadn’t been, in any serious way, for years), but how many interviews on major media did that Leftist twitblossom CEO of their get???

      Bet he got to go to ALL the “cool” cocktail parties.

      I honestly believe that our (freedom-loving Americans) best bet is to find, patronize, and even start, businesses that cater to the actual needs of people like us. Doesn’t mean they should go the opposite direction, and (for example) not carry Columbia, or North Face, or Patagonia outdoor wear because those companies are proven Leftist idiots, just focus on supporting those companies we know support us. Hire (or train) employees that actually know something about their products (I’m disclosing my age with this, but in the early days, Home Depot, hired contractors and people with background in construction, etc. The last time I was in a Home Depot interacting with their “experts”, I had to explain to one moron in the plumbing department what an “adapter” was, and why you should try to avoid using copper and galvanized iron in same).

      I (reluctantly) often do business with “woke” companies, but I make an effort to direct my business to companies that support me.

      • I have to agree, in the nearly 50 years of buying guns, I only ventured away from my LGS once, to buy a .22 rifle for my son years ago. The clerk at the counter knew absolutely nothing about the gun he sold me. Luckily, I’d researched what I was buying and knew what I was getting.
        For big box stores, firearms and ammo sales losses are just a drop in the bucker.

    • “Progressives (a.k.a. True Believers) consider it a badge of honor to take flack (including financial hits) in pursuit of their vision of utopia. In fact it even strokes their incessant need to be victims.”

      Leftist Scum ™ get hard (and-or) wet at the prospect of thinking they are sticking it to us.

      It’s become clear. This nation will split.

      It just won’t quite happen the way they think it will, and it will be a very unpleasant shock for them to discover it. Watching their desperate flailings to remain cool in summer and warm in winter will be wonderful. The look on their faces when they discover what a steak costs will have them considering their choices… 🙂

      • ‘Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.’
        We’re staring right off into an upcoming cliff as all the lemmings around us keep running straight at it–with gusto. Really hope that I’m wrong…but ready either way.

    • Make no mistake, those in control of almost all of these companies are prepared to steer their ships onto the rocky shore of reality and watch them reduced to splinters.

      Most are indebted to the leaders of the progressive/globalist agenda. Many have taken .gov funds and will willingly fall on their own swords when told to. Make no mistake, those .gov funds are EXACTLY like asking a favor of ‘The Godfather’. Your wish is granted, but one day you will be asked to return the favor, and you MUST oblige, instantly and without any trepidation. 🐴

      Make no mistake, When the lever is pulled, they’re gonna ride their companies down the drain. As ordered.

      But keep thinking company leadership will become less partisan in business practices as the Marxists gain control. 🤪
      Just look at the social media giants. So much diversity of thought and opinions. 🤪

  6. OTHER LAWFUL COMMERCE?? ARe you sure? Is anybody trying to stop the selling of automobiles, or haircuts or razor bladcs or newspapers, or Big Mac’s ??. What an idiotic start to a statement>So idiotic I cannot bring myself to read the rest of it,.

      • Oh–and BTW–ALSO telling EV owners to NOT charge their cars since the power grid cannot support the strain. And set the thermostat at 80 degrees. For the children…er climate. But if you’re rich and famous, please–by all means, continue to water your beautiful landscaping. Lake Mead only matters to the peons.

  7. I was buying 5.56 on line for about 50 cents a round, counting in the shipping charges and sales tax. Now that credit cards will be tracking ammo, I pay 60 cents per round at the gun shop including tax.

    The crashing economy may cause some local retailers to take down their “No Guns” signs, but the mega corps will not change; they will simply layoff a few more folk while keeping their virtue signaling active and their bleeding hearts bleeding.

  8. How to win this civil war without firing a shot.
    All every working class hero call in sick for three days, them and the rest of us low rate social security recipients spend not one penny on anything.
    Buy no food, no gasoline, use no electricity, do not visit Disneyland, the theater, no smokes , no booze, no restaurants.
    Boycott everything and anything the government makes a penny on, for just 3 days.
    War is hell.
    Now here is Our demands.

  16. As I’ve stated before. If fifty percent of gun owners were to dump Visa, as an example, I bet they would think twice about their BS gun purchase tracking system for the Government.

    • “If fifty percent of gun owners were to dump Visa, as an example, I bet they would think twice about their BS gun purchase tracking system for the Government.”

      Life is more complicated than that. The response below is going to be long…..

      First, 50% of legal gun owners is ~50,000,000 individuals. Let’s posit that only half that number have a credit card (joint accounts). We are down to 25,000,000. The next number is tricky….how many of the 20,000,000 are single-issue pro-gun activists? (note: if there were 50,000,000, or even 25,000,000 single-issue 2A activists we probably wouldn’t need to discuss defending the Second Amendment).

      To answer the question above, our most likely analog is the number of gun owners who have concealed carry permits (yes, even in “constitutional carry” states). That number is likely about 15,000,000 (here’s where it gets tricky: though two people might have a joint credit card, concealed carriers cannot share a permit). It has been estimated that only about half (at most) the number of carry permits actually carry everyday. This puts us at 7,500,000 possible single-issue 2A activists…spread across the nation, with a wide range of buying power. The actual number of committed (single-issue) gun owners is not estimable, but there is some element of 2A activists who would not react to gun restrictions posed by credit card companies (or even FedEx/UPS).

      Internet queries regarding the credit transactions of the four most significant credit card issuers (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover), we come across estimates of transaction volume:
      Visa – ~188,000,000,000 transactions/yr
      MasterCard – ~73,800,000,000 transactions/yr
      American Express – ~8,300,000,000 transactions/yr
      Discover – ~2,800,000,000 transactions/yr

      Looking further, we can find data showing this loose breakdown of the categories of credit card purchases:
      85% for groceries
      39% at pharmacies
      38% for retail purchases
      36% at quick-service restaurants (fast food)
      9% for transit
      Note: “retail” accounts for just a bit over 1/3d of purchases, and guns are buried somewhere in there.

      All considered, the low potential number of dedicated single-issue 2A activists renders a blockade of credit card issuers as likely easily absorbed by credit card issuers; maybe a one-time speed bump.

      • Its neutrino not neutron.
        And once I get all the bugs worked out we wont have to worry about the Universe anymore, perpetually.
        I’ve got the 5hp Briggs and Stratton turning 3000rpm noe ( needed a new plug) and with the spin around on the go faster tightened down I can hit 250,000+/-, add in all the fishing sinkers I’ve found, then flattened out and super glued to the side of the Maytag that should hold in the neutrinos, all I’m waiting on is a good freeze this winter and I can start collecting the neutrinos I need again.
        I just about had it running last winter but some of them damned mezkins run off with my cardboard box full of neutrinos.
        Dont give up hope Humans
        I’m determined to destroy the Universe perpetually for the good of mankind, come high or hell water.

        • Possum,

          Are you sure this neutrino thing you talk about isn’t something you just made up. If the neutrino thing is real, wouldn’t it be something to share with others? I mean, POTG should have all the tools needed to get through tough times.

          Keeping a real neutrino thing a semi-secret is just not polite. Detailing the construction should be wildly popular with those at TTAG who bemoan the preponderance of “political” articles, instead of sticking to just gun.

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