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Cabela's chaps my hide.

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Yep, let's get up in arms because Cabela's wouldn't sell a third thingy to a member. Folks are even talking civil war lunacy.

i like Cabela's, got oodles of free stuff from that company and will continue to frequent their stores.
Dog gone right, we're not taking it anymore. As soon as Cabela sells us some ammo and guns we taking them over. First Cabela then Bass pro. Then the whole mall!!!! Brouhaha
 
are there really people out there who think they can fight the military? them can put a missile down you chimney and up your butt before you know they are coming. its not like both sides have muskets anymore.these people must have watched RED DAWN too many times.
well the afghanis and iraqis didnt watch red dawn they actually did it and won. you can throw the vietnamese in also
 
But cross that line and hard core gunowners simply won't accept it. And once that line is crossed there's no going backwards. No forgiveness. No second chances. Refusing to ship a black powder gun to a private home is a line not to be crossed. 4473s for a black powder gun is a line not to be crossed.
Especially when it is a complete sham. It's not a real 4473 (they can't use it because BP guns are not firearms and NICS won't process them). It's just a knock-off form with the same basic questions. And there is absolutely nothing they could do if you lied your ass off on the form. No way they could know. And on top of that, there is no reason why you couldn't fill out the exact same form online and still have it mailed to your door.

I'll put up with a lot of bullcrap but I hate security theater.
 
Bass Pro in Auburn NY is still a special attraction. Nothing else like it for hours around.
 
Bass Pro in Auburn NY is still a special attraction. Nothing else like it for hours around.
Agreed! We'd always pay a visit there on our East Coast family visits when my wife's parents lived near there in Scipio Ctr. After NY we'd head to Maine to visit my Mom and sister and The Kittery Trading Post was a mandatory rest stop going in that direction.
 
Years ago when Bass Pro opened in Myrtle Beach the wife and I made the 2hr trip for their grand opening, Was a great experience seeing our first big outdoor store. We bought a lot of stuff and when we checked out was offered a discount if we got their credit card, We did and after sometime we never got a bill or credit card so we drove back down to check and do more shopping. Found out the employee wrote my info down wrong was reason for not getting card or bill for goods. That bunch wanted to charge me late fees for their mistake. I paid my bill and no extra charges and let them keep their card. Thought it was wrong to charge me for their error, they thought different.
 
In my experience much of the problem is what they pay which directly affects the kind of people they employ. I worked at bass pro okc in the early 2000’s part time for a year, mainly to get their huge employee discount. I was in archery and occasionally helped in the hunting dept. I quickly found out I was doing the work of five people. The difference in me and them was I was in my forties and the others were much younger. The hunting/archery manager, about my same age, loved me and said “you are the kind of people we need”. I spoke up one day and said I couldn’t get anybody else to do anything or help customers. His reply was “well, we don’t pay them very much”.
 
A few days ago I posted how we were paid no attention to at Bass Pros in Tacoma.
Well yesterday I got an email from Bass Pros asking how my shopping experience was.
Cant post it here, we are saving the children!
Being we NEVER signed in, they must of scanned my phone and used their data base to email me.
Never had been in that store before, only the Cabela's down the road.

Aint going to either of them again.
 
I had one of their credit cards and thought I was getting a pretty good deal until I figured out how much interest I was paying. No thank you.
 
almost sounds that you were wearing an orange jumpsuit as the job uniform ;)
Lol!!

There were times it felt that way. If I happened to be in the area I would sometimes stop in to see if any of my favorite co-workers were still there. More than one of them said I was smart to bail when I did.
 
I had one of their credit cards and thought I was getting a pretty good deal until I figured out how much interest I was paying. No thank you.
You're absolutely right. When I was there (no idea if it's still the same) Cabela's had their own financial institution for those cards. As such, we were pushed hard to upsell all customers to that card.

One fine day I got to sell a single customer four waterfowl shotguns for a total of $10,000.
I got read the riot act from my superiors cuz I didn't sign the customer up for a credit card too.
 
It wasn't so much the store itself but the credit card and its high interest that left me with hard feelings.
 
Stores take on the personality of the owners. If the owner is mean and nasty, the lowliest clerk will probably be mean and nasty if they don't have a sense of self worth and self respect.
I've noticed there are a lot of old guys, like me, working behind the counter at these stores. We have to work even though we are retired because we didn't get a pension, the ex-wife got the 401K, the company downsized, no one wants to hire old professionals, or any of a dozen other reasons why the new reality is work till you die. They pay minimum wage, the benefits suck, your coworkers might be wankers (see above), and your manager is probably an idiot. If you get a good sales clerk, anywhere, treat them well because they probably don't have to treat you like royalty and are anyway.
There is no training at these places, which is why the clerk at the gun counter doesn't know the difference between a modern and a traditional BP muzzleloader and the clerk at the fly fishing counter has never heard of a Royal Wulff. So if you encounter a clerk who knows something, just know they acquired that knowledge on their own and they are not being compensated for it.
 
I worked part-time at two different gun shops. I learned a lot from both. The first one, had already been in business for something like 35 years. The owner was also the head Gunsmith. There was one other Gunsmith and another guy who worked the counter. The owner took me under his wing and started teaching me the trade. He asked one day if I knew why he had been in business 35 years while other shops had come and closed? I told him it was because he was good at what he does. He agreed, but also gave me a lesson about customer service and making every customer feel important and leave happy. He told me he didn't care if they were buying just a box of .22 shells or a high dollar firearm, he wanted them to feel special and walking out to their truck happy to come back and spend more of their money. He also taught me about treating customer firearms as if they were your own.

The other gun shop owner had also been around a long time. He was big on the sale. He told me the secret to survival in a competitive trade was you have to be a specialist. He then went on to tell me he was a specialist in reloading, muzzleloading, repair, cleaning products, ammunition, optics, etc. In other words, know your trade. He also taught me not to make delivery promises if you can't keep them. If you ask a customer when he needs his firearm back and he says three weeks and you agree, you better keep your end.

Both of those guys are long deceased, sadly. I took many of their lessons into my career. Not just in the firearms trade but in my museum work as well. They still hold true today. I think that is what is lacking when you go into some shops today, especially the big box stores. Customer service, product and trade knowledge, and personal interaction and attention. Most importantly, honesty.

Those are some of the reasons I will make that hour+ trip to Green Top in Virginia, even though there is a Cabela's' and Bass Pro close by. They have been around for decades for a reason.
 
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