Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

Sometimes working in the gun shop hurts....a LOT

Scheels is ok, but the fact that the employees live on commission ruins it for me. I'm sure you and most of your co-workers are fine, upstanding citizens, but I have worked on commission before and there is always going to be a little extra pressure to make the sale that does not exist in Cabelas or Sportsmans, etc.
 
Employees cant buy used guns at sticker price or discounted price until 90 days?

That's kind of crappy that a guy who didn't set the price couldn't pay sticker price for one if that is the case.

RE scheels - i'm surprised on the negative feedback. Cabelas has been down the shitter for a while, sportsmans has been gone around me for a decade, Scheels offers actual quality gear in a brick and mortar store that my wife also enjoys shopping at.. Whether its hunting, shooting, fishing, or if i need a new pair of shoes, they have nice stuff. I'm interested in how the commission works, is it just by department? I don't recall folks putting their name or code on anything ive ever bought there. Never felt pressured to buy anything other than exactly what I want but I don't go looking for advice from scheels employees either.
 
Scheels is ok, but the fact that the employees live on commission ruins it for me. I'm sure you and most of your co-workers are fine, upstanding citizens, but I have worked on commission before and there is always going to be a little extra pressure to make the sale that does not exist in Cabelas or Sportsmans, etc.
We get paid pretty decent base and our commission is really small (1%).....since we have ESOP (employees and Scheels family are the only owners of the company) we are much more concerned about long term success and relationships. We also have great leeway to do what it takes to make folks happy if at all possible. The big difference between us as gun shop employees vs the other retailers is the training we do continually that they do not do. We do quite a bit of range time (usually more than 10x) throughout the year with manufacturers of firearms and optics. All of that is paid for by the company to try and give us current knowledge and enrich our base. I'm sure there are folks that are more money motivated but I hope we are generally more interested in making sure folks get what suits their needs and makes them successful.
 
Employees cant buy used guns at sticker price or discounted price until 90 days?

That's kind of crappy that a guy who didn't set the price couldn't pay sticker price for one if that is the case.

RE scheels - i'm surprised on the negative feedback. Cabelas has been down the shitter for a while, sportsmans has been gone around me for a decade, Scheels offers actual quality gear in a brick and mortar store that my wife also enjoys shopping at.. Whether its hunting, shooting, fishing, or if i need a new pair of shoes, they have nice stuff. I'm interested in how the commission works, is it just by department? I don't recall folks putting their name or code on anything ive ever bought there. Never felt pressured to buy anything other than exactly what I want but I don't go looking for advice from scheels employees either.
The idea behind the policy is to ensure fair valuations. No valuation is done by a single person. Usually it is at least 2 salesmen and then has to be approve by an on duty assistant manager in guns. It is a bit annoying but we want to make sure to take care of customers first. We also can't buy new guns at discount if they are rare/extremely hard to get/one ofs for the same reasons.

As for commission, we can only take commission on what we are trained and qualified for (for me that is guns, accessories, ammo, optics and hunting related to a firearm). We in guns make less in commission than any of the other shops.
 
I like the spirit behind it! Sure, you’ll miss some opportunities at guns you may buy otherwise. It also sounds like some pretty cool perks for working the gun counter
 
The big difference between us as gun shop employees vs the other retailers is the training we do continually that they do not do. We do quite a bit of range time (usually more than 10x) throughout the year with manufacturers of firearms and optics.
This. I had a good pal who worked for scheels for a couple years and managed the dog training section or whatever. He was always going on range days and often going to scheels events and fishing with pro anglers to learn products, tactics, etc. I don’t know if Cabela’s, BPS, or Sportsmans do that, but I feel like more often than not the folks at scheels have a good idea of what they’re pedaling, compared to some of the brain dead bums I’ve talked to at other stores.
 

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