This is what I was told by a friend of mine who works at our WM, they get thier stuff from a Warehouse less than a mile from the store, the ammo does not come on the regular truck now, they have a guy bring over whatever they are getting in a van and it put into the locked managers office until after 7AM, then it is put out. But I have yet to see or get any Win 555 or M22. They only thing I have not seen that said instock or limited was some .243 this week that I was trying to get.
Your friend is greatly misinformed of the situation. That's being polite about it. This is so far from the truth that you'd need the Hubble Space Telescope to see it.
Ammo goes on truck with every other case of merchandise, its not marked as ammo unless it comes in factory box saying Federal etc., truck goes to store, truck is scanned in, stuff in truck now hits app, truck is unloaded, ammo put in security lock up until 7am, clerk gets ammo out at 7am and stocks the shelf.
Are employees buying it? Maybe. They either shoot or need resell money.
Are employees calling friends/relatives? Maybe. They're just like you and me.
Are employees being paid under the table to make calls/texts? God damn right they are. I know I would both as a clerk and as a customer.
Are employees selling more than the limit of 3? Maybe. Wouldn't you tip a guy to sell you more? I know I would.
Here is something everyone needs to think about:
Ammo gets sent to the store's trailer.
Ammo gets scanned by the guy loading it, but the guy doesn't throw it on yet.
Trailer gets full and the guy forgets to put it in. He's in charge of loading more than 3 trailers at the warehouse.
Store manifest shows the ammo is on the trailer when it gets there when they scan the trailer in.
App is updated, and ammo shows in stock, then some stores scan each item as it's unloaded, app is updated again hours later and ammo is showing no longer in stock.
Some Ammo that they "did" receive is now put in cabinet at 7am.
People standing in line or looking at their app thinking ***?! some ammo is there but not the other stuff that showed up earlier etc... All of this happens from time to time. Also there could be some employee rule breakers like I mentioned above.
Previously not loaded Ammo shows up on another truck days later, but may or may not be scanned again on the trailer. So app may get updated again or may not be depending on clerk at store. Most likely its scanned again which will update the app.
This happens quite a bit with .223 and .22lr rimfire ammo. It doesn't get to ride the lines at most warehouses do to it being rimfire. There have been accidents of rimfire breaking open and discharging and shooting people. True story. .223 isn't rimfire but not everyone knows this, they see .223 and actually in their mind they think they see .22 ammo. Same with 22-250 etc... this is a fast paced environment when working with walmart.
Another ammo tidbit is that not all stores get full cases of 1 type of ammo. Its separated by a special warehouse that deals solely in ammo/supplies which are for store use only. They sometimes use the factory boxes to repackage ammo and also place more ammo of a different type inside. Going green is good for the environment.
Also the ammo is also packaged into other nondescript boxes when there is only a few items going to a store. I'm sure you've all seen a clerk open a plain looking gray colored box and see 1 box of something come out. A shoebox size for a 20rd box of tula ammo for instance.
What I'm saying is you might have ammo show up that you didn't see on the app do to the packaging mentioned above.
Also you might see it show up on the app again, when scanning trailer in to store's dock door, but when they scan the "factory" box UPC when unloading it, it doesn't show the inside contents correctly, so the app is updated again +/- depending and ammo not seen is then taken out of inventory on app as well.
Lots of factors at play here and should be considered. Its possible but it's not always this: "OMMA GHERD THEY'S TEKKEN OAWR AMMERNICHIN!" "THEY'S LYON TO US".
Please. I've heard this in line at the stores and outside of walmart as well.
Some stores might have a policy that they will not scan the shelf or go look for your ammo even if you say its in stock. Know why? They have better things to do and they're always running understaffed. They know you're pissed off, they don't really care, because you NEED that ammo, if don't get it at the time you want, they know you'll be back, and honestly how many of you won't shop at walmart anymore because of not getting your ammo? Probably nobody boycotts them because of it. why? We are like crack addicts who need their fix and will keep coming back regardless of whatever, just for the chance to score...
Who in their right mind wants disgruntled and pumped up people hovering around the ammo counter for hours waiting on it to come out? What clerk appreciates everyone hovering around them like a pack of dogs waiting to be fed? What clerk/manager wants a bunch of people hanging around them openly carrying or concealing their firearms? All of these questions I bet nobody has stopped to consider how it might impact/worry a clerk/manager or other customers.
Just my 2cents.