We’re Not MidwayUSA or Walmart

I just got off the phone with a guy that was interested in our service but didn’t quite understand it. That happens a lot. When your company does something completely different from everyone else, people often have a hard time digesting it and adapting it to their existing world models. In our case, a different way to buy ammunition online.

This particular guy wanted to know how many rounds of 9mm ammo he would get for $50 in our Self Defense line. This is a common question too because it isn’t readily apparent when you sign up. While we do have the price per round there on the page, it doesn’t calculate the number of rounds you would be getting at the time of sign up. So I did the math and told him what his $50 would work out to in the number of rounds.

Then he wanted to know if we could beat the price he usually gets at Midway USA for a specific brand of ammo.

I had to tell him that our service doesn’t work like that.

I explained to him that our service is for people that want to put away a set amount of money each month and get a package with a mix of brands – we can’t guarantee he would get the exact brand he wanted to buy from Midway USA.

I ended up admitting that our service probably wasn’t for him and his best bet is to buy exactly what he wanted online from a company like MidwayUSA.

That hurts. It is hard to turn away a potential customer but I know it is the right thing to do.

And to be perfectly honest, we can’t compete on price with the big boys like MidwayUSA or Walmart. (Actually, we get the Walmart comparison a lot.) But honestly, who can compete with Walmart on price? They are a huge company with tons of buying power. We can’t be cheaper than Walmart for the same brands they sell.

But we can be different. We can be more convenient and give our customers more selection both in calibers and brands. Which is what we do.

Sure you can go to Walmart and get the bottom of the barrel cheapest stuff out there. That’s cool. Or instead, you can go with AmmoSquared, and not only do you get to sock away a little bit of money at a time, but you get a mix of brands that average out to the price per round we list on our site. Good quality rounds too – stuff you won’t find at Walmart.

Our customers love getting a variety of ammo. In fact this month in our 9mm Service Grade category, we shipped our customers a mix of at least a half dozen different brands: Fiocchi, Federal RTP, Federal American Eagle, Speer Lawman, Aguila, Winchester Service Grade, Magtech, and Swiss Ball ammo. Actually, that is eight different brands that we pulled from to fill each outgoing ammo customer that had 9mm this month (our most popular).

So while we can’t compete with MidwayUSA or Walmart, the reason folks sign up and stay with us is that they get a different buying experience entirely: they can put away a little month each month in a way that they don’t even notice it, then they get a box with an interesting mix of brands and calibers without having to spend time looking locally (Walmart, LGS) or buying online.

It all happens automatically. There is nothing else like it. We’re proud of that fact and will never be Walmart.