Bud’s Gun Shop is my go-to resource when I need to figure out a fair price for a gun or if I’m looking to pick a new one up. Even with shipping and transfer fees they have a tendency to beat out the local competition. Turns out a few other people have the same opinion, and the result is that Bud’s currently has five times more orders for guns than they did the February following the 2008 election. You know — the month after Obama was sworn in, an event many blame for sky high firearms and ammo prices. They sent out a letter to those waiting on orders explaining some things, and one of our readers was nice enough to forward it on so we could share with all of you.
This notice is being sent to all customers who recently placed an order with www.budsgunshop.com and may not necessarily apply to your order.
If you are not already aware of what is going on in the firearms industry, there is no doubt you soon will be via the media. Our sales in the month of February were over FIVE TIMES what they were back in February 2009 following the last presidential election…and you may recall those were some pretty crazy times ! We did plan for 2012 to be another challenging election year….but we admittedly did not plan for this level of volume, and definitely not this early in the year !
Although your order may not have experienced a delay, we would like to apologize to anyone who has, or is currently, experiencing a delay in shipping. Our order volume unexpectedly skyrocketed in February, far beyond our capacity to process and ship. We immediately began the process of expanding our facilities, adding additional staff, and working extended hours…but those efforts are just now starting to pay off.
The good news is that we are starting to get back on top of things. We are currently shipping out more orders each day that what we are taking in, so it is now just a matter of clearing the backlog that was created in February. Since Monday we have been able to ship out 300 more guns than what we sold during that same time….so the backlog should be cleared shortly at this rate. We are shipping oldest orders first (first in – first out) so clearing this backlog will cause some newer orders to ship closer to the “7” in our advertised “3 to 7 business days” terms. Many repeat customers were so use to us shipping in 3 days they started to get concerned when their order had not shipped in 5 days…even though we were well within our “3 to 7 business days” terms. Also, “business days” refers to Monday-Friday only, as neither UPS or USPS pick up packages at our warehouse on weekends.
We sincerely apologize if you experienced a delay and assure you we are continuing to do everything we possibly can to prevent future delays. We have also suspended all cancellation fees for any delayed orders. If you orderhas been delayed, and you prefer to cancel your order at this time….we will be glad to accommodate that request with absolutely no fees….we need more guns anyway !
We appreciate the business and commit to do a better job next time if given the opportunity.
Kind Regards,
Team Buds
So, the synopsis is that Bud’s is experiencing the firearms warehouse equivalent of a DDoS attack — firearms were being sold faster than they can fill orders and now they have a backlog. But why?
The obvious answer is that the upcoming election (and crappy Republican field) is scaring the firearms buying public into purchasing more firearms. And while that’s a satisfying answer and in line with what we’ve been seeing on other fronts, that’s not the whole picture.
Some other factors that are playing into the apparent spike in demand include the longer trend of firearms becoming more popular and mainstream (a begrudging thanks to Top Shot and Sons of Guns for that), the impending sense of doom for our society felt by more and more people, and the fact that people (especially the internet generation) feel comfortable buying their guns online.
Or it could be a fluke. We don’t know — we’re too close to the events to get a good critical read on what’s going on. But all signs point to increasing popularity and ownership of firearms among the American population, despite the attempts from the other side of the aisle to downplay and dismiss those signs.