Is Midway going out of business???

[snuffy]

I've been ordering from midway since I got my first computer back in '98. I recently saw that you could review your past orders from them, my record went back to 08-02. I decided to total all of them up. $10,347.84! According to some that have posted, that's chump change.

I too am a loyal midway customer. Their website is awesome, easy to use, and they have a wider variety of STUFF for us shooters.

Recently they have been out of stock on a lot of lee equipment. Just when I happened to be setting up a classic turret press. No big hurry, I'll wait until the stuff I want gets stocked.

Nobody has mentioned their birthday specials. For a couple weeks before your birthday, they give a,(10%?), discount on anything you order up to that day at 12:00 pm. Or is 11:59?

As far as shipping goes, I can't/won't complain. I pay what they ask, because it arrives in 2 business days if ordered before 3 pm. I don't consider it excessive, just expected.

My only real complaint? Those damn plastic peanuts! They seem to put a massive static charge in the package before shipping. I do a Red Skelton pantomime of him trying to get something sticky off his hands! They cling to the "stuff" I ordered, me, and anything they fall on when I do manage to get them off me! BUT a squirt of static guard into the freshly opened box calms them down pronto.

 

[Wildalaska]

Hey WA, if I may ask, what do you supply to Midway?

Marlin parts

WildwhatafrenzytodayAlaska ™

 

[DWARREN123]

Not just MidwayUSA, a lot of places say they are having trouble getting supplies. The suppliers are having trouble getting materials so it goes down the chain.

 

[CPTMurdoc30]

I am starting to go more and more to Midsouth Shooters supply. Prices are better shipping is better. I just ordered a bunch of 308 cal bullets from midsouth and midway was out of 3 of them.

 

[BerettaBill]

I was on the Midway site the other day wanting to pick up some reloading supplies. I formed a cart and had to end up canceling the order becasue a few other things I needed to pick up were of course "out of stock." A few days later I got an email from Midway Customer Service saying that they noticed I was on their site and asked why I chose not to go through with my order. I replied and told them that everything is out of stock and that myself along with several of my family members have been loyal customersfor years but we are having to move our business elsewhere due to the stocking issues. My uncle has been doing business with Midway for 15-20 years long before they even had a website. He is diehard Midway and even he is having to go elsewhere. I even mentioned that I belong to this forum and that many people are grumbling about the lack of availability that Midway has developed. I warned that they are going to lose alot of business if they do not remedy this issue. Surely they have to know that this is an issue. It makes you wonder if maybe they are in fact in financial trouble or even starting to sink and go out of business.

 

[mrawesome22]

I've been wanting a grip for my revolver. It's been out of stock at Midway for 3 weeks. I went ahead and ordered it from Ruger. I'm glad I did. It was cheaper but only because shipping was only $4.99. Midway probably would have charged me double that.

Midway's lack of stock and high shipping forced me into buying somewhere else. It really sucks because I love Midway's site. Things are so much easier to find. I have spent a lot of money at Midway, but I fear those days are coming to an end.

I just priced a 100ct of VMAX at Midway for $15.29. After shipping and $3 "special" charge, it came to $25.59 Give me a break.

 

[flinch444]

You guys will love this story.
I get an e-mail from Midway with a link that offers me special discount birthday prices. I figure I will check it out and see how much I can save, so I pick out some stuff I needed and notice a couple bucks savings here and there on each item, adding up to around 20 bucks saved. I hit checkout and all the items that had special prices, now have the original higher price. I went back and re-did it a couple times and it just refused to give me my B-day prices. I went ahead and placed my order anyway, and when my stuff arrived the invoice said "Happy Birthday". I thought, gee thanks, what a bargan. Lesson learned, I wont be falling for the Birthday scam next year.

 

[Mtn Hawk]

I've placed many orders with Midway and am happy with them, overall. I think, at least in general, their prices are competitive and they often have some great sale prices. Their website is one of the best I've seen for ease of navigation and merchandise info.

Often when I place a fairly large order they are out of stock on an item, or even a few items, but with the huge inventory they carry that's to be expected. I'd rather have to wait for merchandise until I order again than to pay shipping on mutliple orders from different companies who carry smaller inventories, and might not stock what I need.

I've noticed a substantial increase in shipping charges everywhere, not just Midway, most of it I'm sure due to exorbitant fuel prices.

I think Midway customer service is great, and I can't remember ever receiving a screwed-up order or inaccurate invoice, which is something I can't say about every mail-order company I've done business with.

 

[Sevens]

I get an e-mail from Midway with a link that offers me special discount birthday prices. I figure I will check it out and see how much I can save, so I pick out some stuff I needed and notice a couple bucks savings here and there on each item, adding up to around 20 bucks saved. I hit checkout and all the items that had special prices, now have the original higher price. I went back and re-did it a couple times and it just refused to give me my B-day prices. I went ahead and placed my order anyway, and when my stuff arrived the invoice said "Happy Birthday". I thought, gee thanks, what a bargan. Lesson learned, I wont be falling for the Birthday scam next year.

Got the same e-mail in August, near my birthday. Same thing happened to me. Must be some hiccup either in the site or the way my computer is eating that particular cookie. But rather than just "learning a lesson", I called them and explained it to them. Took me 10 minutes... we ran down the 6-digit item number for each thing I bought, and the gentleman on the phone punched it all in on his end.

I got the discount on each and every item.

In the service history I've gotten from them in the past 15+ years, I'd be willing to bet that you could call them, explain that story to them and they might even credit you or refund you the difference after the fact, assuming this wasn't many months or longer ago.

It's not a "birthday scam". It worked for me and saved me some bucks.

 

[CrustyFN]

I don't do a lot of business with Midway because I get better prices other places. My thought is that the backorders are more than normal because of the end of fiscal year and tax time. The company I work for always has sales the first of the year to try and reduce inventory. That and the fact that a lot of us are hording components because of everything going on around us.
Rusty

 

[outerlimit]

Their prices are terrible, but they have oddball gear that few others stock. Most of my Midway purchases are rare and expensive rimfire ammunition. Nobody else carries Lapua Speed Ace, and that's my favorite for small game hunting.

Holy God, never thought I'd see $10 a box .22lr ammo.

 

[DIXIEDOG]

I have ordered quite a bit from them in the past but the darn shipping charges makes me think they have major shares in UPS. I will give them credit I have gotten all the items I've ordered undamaged and in a timely manner.

 

[Sachem]

Interesting thread. I recently wanted to pick up some new brass and only wanted 100 because I wanted to see if I liked them before committing to a larger purchase.

Went to check out my Midway order and found the S&H totaled $11.00 on a $17.00 purchased (round numbers). $3.00 of the $11.00 was some special handling charge. Others have indicated it is charged for "small" orders. So my $17.00 order became $28.00.

Needless to say I canceled what I was doing and ordered elsewhere. Same item for less with $4.00 shipping. Total cost $20.00.

I wish everything in life was that easy.

Take care,
john

 

[markr]

Are they closing?

I don't know, but they just sent me a mailer about the size of a small town paper with all shooting and reloading stuff. Tons of components. Probably cause I just bought something recently.

 

[outerlimit]

I remember when you used to be able to order small parts stuff from them and have it shipped 1st class mail for $1 or so. Those were the days... when I ordered a Wolff guide rod & recoil spring kit for one of my guns a couple years ago it cost like $1.40 shipping.

Now anytime you need a small part for something it's like $10 shipping. As a result I don't order as much anymore.

 

[Moccw]

I live by Columbia MO. They arent closing when you drive by midway, they are doing a huge expansion, could explain high prices..

 

[markr]

Shipping:

I just bought one of those "One book, one caliber" manuals for 5$.

Shipping = $5

Total = $10

??? Weird. Maybe they are making money on shipping the way some people do on E-bay

 

[The Lovemaster]

Okay TSR, you hinted in another thread that you got a response from Midway. Tell us please, enquiring minds want to know!

 

[Wiskers]

Larry Potterfield`s Reply

Larry Potterfield`s response to me on this post 03/08/08, so gentlemen you could say this is "right from the horses mouth" ,& no punches pulled. We all can`t have our own way, & we don`t know everybodies situations, & we all have to feed our families, I believe that "The Man" is trying to do his best or he wouldn`t have Emailed me an answer.

Wiskers

Thanks for taking the time to drop me a line and send me this link. No, MidwayUSA is not going out of business. As one of the posters that lives around here mentioned, we are actually adding on to our warehouse to hold more inventory. And while we do drop ship powder since we are too close to the interstate to keep it here, we have millions of dollars in inventory as I type this. So the guys speculating on us following the lead of so many companies and drop shipping the bulk of their product offerings is just that: speculation. We built our reputation on fast shipping, and drop shipping a lot of items would destroy that reputation in my opinion. That’s one of the best parts about owning a company…it’s my opinion that matters, so while I have number crunchers that work for me that tell me how much money I could save by doing business this way, you will never see MidwayUSA go down this path. As for the out of stock items, yes, far more is out of stock than I would like to see. A lot of that ties back to the fact that there are a lot of ammunition/component shortages right now. I personally believe this is due to wartime demands, an influx in new reloaders, an uncertain political climate and a meteoric rise in raw material costs over the last year, driving prices crazy. I am trying to resolve these issues and stop disappointing customers. As I type this, it’s about five till nine on Friday night. My wife is about to make me stop for the night. I will be back in tomorrow morning. I believe a lot of guys out there think I just sit in a swimming pool filled with money, planning my next hunt. I should post my wife Brenda’s email so she could talk to those fellas about all she has to put up with! I spend a lot of time planning the next direction we will take, what new products we can offer, and how I can use technology to make the organization better. That’s who I am, and why MidwayUSA works the way it does. One more thing-yes, I did create the NRA Round Up and thanks to my great customers, we will top four million dollars in total donations this year. I am both very proud of this, and very grateful to my customers.



Thanks for Your Business,



Larry Potterfield

President/CEO

MidwayUSA

NRA Benefactor Member

 

[38 Super Auto]

Wiskers, I am glad to see Larry takes the time to respond to our concerns...

This thread reminds me. I sent a letter to Larry a few months ago and gave him detailed prices from another online supplier with lower prices. I asked him to price match. When I looked at B/O status of many other suppliers' bullet molds, I realized he makes a good point. Larry P's response is below:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Years ago we offered a Price Matching Policy, but we have discontinued it. There are a lot of companies out there that advertise on the internet that offer a lower price than MidwayUSA, and there are a number of ways they can do this. The two most common ways are by not having the item in inventory (you order it from them and they order if from the manufacturer) or they do not offer the backing of 30 years in business satisfying customers if there is a problem with your order. I will tell you straight up we will not be the cheapest place to buy things. Because if we were, we would be compromising service and I refuse to do that. I have almost 13 million dollars in inventory. That’s how I can ship 99 percent of the orders in the same day, but that costs a little more. The products are the same; it’s the service that is the difference when you deal with MidwayUSA.



Thanks for Your Business,



Larry Potterfield

President/CEO

MidwayUSA

NRA Benefactor Member