The View From SG Ammo

[45Doll 5,873]

Many of you are familiar with and may have purchased from SG Ammo in Stillwater OK. I am, and I have.  They are a family owned operation and before 2020 were in my top three list of ammo vendors because of pricing and service. I subscribe to their news letter, which I received today. It was the first one in a LONG time. Here's the introduction which gives an honest vendor's perspective on what's happened:

This is just our second newsletter since June 2020, and I wish I had more inventory to advertise but it has been a crazy 365 days since the historic rush to buy ammo started a year ago. Many things that were once normal have changed in this time including price and availability of ammunition. We have been dealing with severe shortages of supply, demand that has been off the charts, countless price increases from most major manufacturers and importers, dramatic increases in copper prices, a US dollar that has lost substantial value vs the Euro, and shortages on primers and powder for the many ammo manufacturers that rely on 3rd party sources for these two key components needed to build ammo. It has been the 'perfect storm' to drive prices way up and make many popular types of ammo totally unavailable. All things considered I think we have some decent deals on some calibers at this time. Keep in mind almost all handgun and shotgun ammo remains extremely limited as do popular rifle calibers. If this newsletter does not promote calibers or types of ammo that you use then future newsletters will as supply allows. We recommend that you stay subscribed even if this product list does not meet your needs, as other products will come in time.  We thank you for your support of our family owned and operated business and will do our best to serve our clients well in these strange times, so please stay subscribed for future SGAmmo newsletters. If you have some spare time please take a few minutes and look over the online catalog at www.SGAmmo.com

Thank you, Sam Gabbert, SGAmmo Owner

You can read the entire letter and the items for sale here. 

[Old Glock guy 1,127]

Damn, that's got to be brutal for ammo suppliers like them.  Let's hope that they and others can remain in business until things settle down. 

[siderman 1,137]

I would say they have been my most go to supplier over the yrs. The owner has even personally responded to me a few times over the yrs. Hope they last the storm, great outfit.

[JC_68Westy 1,024]

I have ordered many times from SGAmmo. I hope they make it through this as well.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

What's with the doom and gloom? 

They probably sold more ammo in the past year than the last.

 

They can't put together news letter aka promotional ads because they can't keep ammo in stock to advertise. 

[raz-0 1,259]

32 minutes ago, JackDaWack said:

What's with the doom and gloom? 

They probably sold more ammo in the past year than the last.

 

They can't put together news letter aka promotional ads because they can't keep ammo in stock to advertise. 

The doom and gloom is because unless they made enough margin to pay for the next year of overhead, they may not have enough revenue to cover their expenses even at insane prices of inventory Durant show up. 

[JackDaWack 2,895]

On 3/22/2021 at 10:12 PM, raz-0 said:

The doom and gloom is because unless they made enough margin to pay for the next year of overhead, they may not have enough revenue to cover their expenses even at insane prices of inventory Durant show up. 

It's been taking them 4- 5 days to ship orders. That would suggest their revenue is doing just fine, better than a normal year if you consider they normal have no wait on shipping. 

If you cant catch up to your shipping demands, your doing something right. 

Distributors can only ship so much weight a day unless they contract more containers.

[raz-0 1,259]

Keep in mind shipping delays may also be related to having staffing issues related to covid. If you had the packing stations in a room where you can now only fit two because of spacing guidelines, you ship less. 

Then there’s just the issue of math for figuring out what your nut is. Weird market conditions like now can be very unforgiving of errors. 

[silverado427 10,679]

I have no problem with SGA. 

[JackDaWack 2,895]

1 hour ago, raz-0 said:

Keep in mind shipping delays may also be related to having staffing issues related to covid. If you had the packing stations in a room where you can now only fit two because of spacing guidelines, you ship less. 

Then there’s just the issue of math for figuring out what your nut is. Weird market conditions like now can be very unforgiving of errors. 

They claim to have empty warehouses, im sure they could find the space if they needed it.

They are supposed to be a very large ammo company. Midway USA shipped me primers in 3 hours..

[raz-0 1,259]

Warehouse is a very loose term. Doesn't mean it is their warehouse. Doesn't even mean they have a warehouse... or shipping people. IT could all be drop shipments of inventory they purchase and store at the warehouse, kind of like lots of businesses do with amazon's warehouse. 

Although the fact they are advertising for warehouse help  implies that isn't the case. Warehouses don't need to be huge to be a warehouse. 

[Sniper 6,372]

6 minutes ago, raz-0 said:

Warehouse is a very loose term. Doesn't mean it is their warehouse. Doesn't even mean they have a warehouse... or shipping people. IT could all be drop shipments of inventory they purchase and store at the warehouse, kind of like lots of businesses do with amazon's warehouse. 

Although the fact they are advertising for warehouse help  implies that isn't the case. Warehouses don't need to be huge to be a warehouse. 

You can make assumptions, or just go verify what they actually have. It's easy to find information on them.

Sure looks like a conventional warehouse to me:

 

[raz-0 1,259]

It looks like what I expected, which is a sizable steel building, but that is by no means a large warehouse. I did look for info on their site, but no images. 

Shit it must be a conspiracy, you should never order ammo from any of these companies having shipping issues again. 

 

 

[Sniper 6,372]

3 minutes ago, raz-0 said:

It looks like what I expected, which is a sizable steel building, but that is by no means a large warehouse. I did look for info on their site, but no images. 

Ammo is a specialty business, just how big should the warehouse be?

Have you ever seen the size of a box of ammo?

Remember, inventory needs to be turned over, so how much would he want just sitting there, collecting dust?

They have quite a few employees for a specialty business:

[silverado427 10,679]

3 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Ammo is a specialty business, just how big should the warehouse be?

Have you ever seen the size of a box of ammo?

Remember, inventory needs to be turned over, so how much would he want just sitting there, collecting dust?

They have quite a few employees for a specialty business:

Do you think they get a employee discount.

[raz-0 1,259]

2 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Ammo is a specialty business, just how big should the warehouse be?

Have you ever seen the size of a box of ammo?

Remember, inventory needs to be turned over, so how much would he want just sitting there, collecting dust?

They have quite a few employees for a specialty business:

Like I said, it seems in the range I expected. My point was that just because they have a warehouse, they don't necessarily have the space to spread out their shipping department to meet guidelines. Lots of places are achieving that by a combination of spreading out physically where they can and spreading out in terms of hours with added shifts they might not normally have. It still doesn't mean they have the shipping throughput. Even if they do, the carriers might be limiting the finished boxes out the door. 

There's lots of ways it can go, but anyone who thinks this situation isn't going to be tricky to navigate as a business is being foolish. 

[JackDaWack 2,895]

23 minutes ago, raz-0 said:

It looks like what I expected, which is a sizable steel building, but that is by no means a large warehouse. I did look for info on their site, but no images. 

Shit it must be a conspiracy, you should never order ammo from any of these companies having shipping issues again. 

 

 

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy, I was just pointing out that many other ammo companies aren't sending out messages of some doom and gloom nature. 

In fact they keep saying how they are fulfilling a record demand for ammo..

If the second picture is their shipping department I can see why there would be an issue. lol

[Redeye65 161]

45 minutes ago, silverado427 said:

Do you think they get a employee discount.

LMAO!

I was thinking the same thing, also said to myself, bet they can get .45 auto.  

[raz-0 1,259]

27 minutes ago, JackDaWack said:

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy, I was just pointing out that many other ammo companies aren't sending out messages of some doom and gloom nature. 

In fact they keep saying how they are fulfilling a record demand for ammo..

If the second picture is their shipping department I can see why there would be an issue. lol

Some companies try to keep in mind that part of maintaining a good customer relationship is good communication. I'm sure the revenues are high, the profits may be too, but I guarantee you this stuff is major stress for them. 

As for shipping, I know of at least one place that has started having issues with volume because their shipping staff is starting to drop with repetitive stress injuries from the volume being pushed through. Shipping is an area you can usually hire temps and get them productive quickly, but likely they don't move as much product as fast as your experienced people. 

It's a hot mess. 

[Sota 1,191]

6 minutes ago, Redeye65 said:

LMAO!

I was thinking the same thing, also said to myself, bet they can get .45 auto.  

https://www.sgammo.com/product/45-auto-acp-ammo/50-round-box-45-auto-acp-230-grain-fmj-steel-case-tula-ammo-ta452300-limit-

so can you, for now.

also I see certain types of ammo aren't suffering from a china bat virus bump.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

1 minute ago, raz-0 said:

Some companies try to keep in mind that part of maintaining a good customer relationship is good communication. I'm sure the revenues are high, the profits may be too, but I guarantee you this stuff is major stress for them. 

As for shipping, I know of at least one place that has started having issues with volume because their shipping staff is starting to drop with repetitive stress injuries from the volume being pushed through. Shipping is an area you can usually hire temps and get them productive quickly, but likely they don't move as much product as fast as your experienced people. 

It's a hot mess. 

I'm not "attacking" SG ammo per say. 

They are open about the fact shit is crazy.. its the posters here saying things like "I hope they stay in business" that peaked my comment. 

[Sota 1,191]

best part is, they got some shit on there I'd NEVER heard of!

200 Round Box - 4mm Randz Courte Rimfire Sellier Bellot Cartridges - SB4RC

now I want a gun that shoots it

[contigo100 11]

i ordered from them last week and they shipped out super fast. I got my order in a few days. I have ordered from them for many years and don't have any issue with them. The owner upgraded my order one time when he ran out of the product i had initially ordered. i will be ordering again soon.

[Sniper 6,372]

1 hour ago, raz-0 said:

There's lots of ways it can go, but anyone who thinks this situation isn't going to be tricky to navigate as a business is being foolish. 

My guess, it's tricky for him to navigate as he's probably a small fish in a big pond. All suppliers are having issues getting inventory, and I'd bet the big retailers have more leverage with the manufacturers than a little specialty supplier. They're all fighting for a small slice of limited pie.

[Sota 1,191]

that would explain some of the, bizarre, ammo he's had come through lately.