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My letter to Cheaper Than Dirt
After having my good money and business rejected by Cheaper Than Dirt yet again today, I decided to ask to speak to the person in charge of their policies regarding sales to California. The salesperson I spoke to was very friendly and wanted to help me out, so she transfered me to someone by the name of Ben Jackson (though she wasn't totally sure about the last name) but he never picked up. She gave me his email address instead so I decided to write him a short note. Hopefully this letter will shake the right tree and make a difference, though I doubt it.
It was likely a waste of time, but who knows. Maybe it'll get through to someone who will realize the massive mistake they're making in turning away these sales.
Hello Ben,
My name is [oldrifle] and I'm a gun owner in California. I was given your email address by a salesperson there and am not sure of your last name or I would have addressed you more appropriately.
I'm a longtime member of the NRA and the Calguns Foundation and have been personally involved in many legislative and fundraising projects to support gun rights both here in California and throughout the country. Over the years I have purchased and built many firearms, including CA compliant AR-15s and AK-47s at my home. ARs and AKs are quite ubiquitous here in California. Just about every gun owner I know has at least one AR-15 and many have several. AK variants are becoming huge in California too, with "build parties" happening all the time in various parts of the state. Yes, it is quite possible to build these rifles in ways that are 100% compliant with both the spirit and the letter of the CA assault weapons ban law. I am sure you are aware of this and have heard it from other CA customers in the past.
For the past few years I've been aware of Cheaper Than Dirt policies regarding selling semi-automatic rifle parts to customers in California. I am among thousands of California customers (and potential customers) who feel it's time for that policy to change. There have been several instances in which I have attempted to purchase parts from your website or catalog that are perfectly legal in California, only to be turned away by your staff. Each time I have spoken to your salespeople regarding this issue, they have been very polite and apologetic. In fact, one of them even told me a few of the salespeople have been trying to convince management to reverse this policy because they believe it is unfair to California gun owners and only hurts your business. It's common for people who work for a business, particularly in sales, to want to see that business grow and not be limited by policies that are holding that business back.
As you likely know, California is the most populace state in the US, outranking Texas by over 12 million people (sorry!). I've also heard from people within the NRA that CA has the most gun owners of any other state, which makes sense due to our huge population. Many of us California gun owners and would-be CTD customers feel that your policies are mainly designed to punish us. I know there is a lot of anti-California sentiment among gun owners in other parts of the country, but our whacky politicians and gun laws (I think NY is actually worse in this regard) should not reflect on the individual CA gun owner who supports the NRA, makes regular donations to pro-gun groups and votes for pro-gun political candidates. Many CA gun owners even got together to hold their noses and vote for a left-wing gubernatorial candidate by the name of Jerry Brown and ended up putting him in office. Why would we do that? Because he is more pro-gun than was his Republican opponent, Meg Whitman. Doesn't that speak to the level of sacrifice we are willing to make to improve gun laws in our state?
Having made the case somewhat for California gun owners, any business must ultimately look at the bottom line. Think about all the sales that you're handing to companies like Midway and Brownells on a silver platter because they happily sell AK and AR parts to CA residents. Why are they able to do it and you aren't? Unless you fully enter the CA market I doubt you will ever be able to fully compete with these two companies. Cheaper Than Dirt has a great website and fantastic deals. Other than this policy, customer service has always been excellent in my experience. There is no reason CTD can't be the number one retailer of guns, gun parts, ammo and accessories in the US.
I think it's time to put old policies and prejudices aside and make a change in Cheaper Than Dirt's attitude towards its California customers. There is no danger to CTD in making these items available to us as they are merely parts and not legally considered firearms. There are no restrictions on selling these parts to CA residents at the state or the federal level, as I'm sure you know. Why limit the growth of your company and turn away what doubtlessly amounts to many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, in sales each year? It doesn't make sense to me, the millions of other California gun owners and, evidently, many members of the Cheaper Than Dirt staff who constantly have to field questions from people like me about why you won't sell a rifle stock or a parts kit to someone in California, even though it's perfectly legal to do so.
Thanks for your time and I appreciate you hearing me out. I look forward to hearing a response.
Sincerely,
[oldrifle]
My name is [oldrifle] and I'm a gun owner in California. I was given your email address by a salesperson there and am not sure of your last name or I would have addressed you more appropriately.
I'm a longtime member of the NRA and the Calguns Foundation and have been personally involved in many legislative and fundraising projects to support gun rights both here in California and throughout the country. Over the years I have purchased and built many firearms, including CA compliant AR-15s and AK-47s at my home. ARs and AKs are quite ubiquitous here in California. Just about every gun owner I know has at least one AR-15 and many have several. AK variants are becoming huge in California too, with "build parties" happening all the time in various parts of the state. Yes, it is quite possible to build these rifles in ways that are 100% compliant with both the spirit and the letter of the CA assault weapons ban law. I am sure you are aware of this and have heard it from other CA customers in the past.
For the past few years I've been aware of Cheaper Than Dirt policies regarding selling semi-automatic rifle parts to customers in California. I am among thousands of California customers (and potential customers) who feel it's time for that policy to change. There have been several instances in which I have attempted to purchase parts from your website or catalog that are perfectly legal in California, only to be turned away by your staff. Each time I have spoken to your salespeople regarding this issue, they have been very polite and apologetic. In fact, one of them even told me a few of the salespeople have been trying to convince management to reverse this policy because they believe it is unfair to California gun owners and only hurts your business. It's common for people who work for a business, particularly in sales, to want to see that business grow and not be limited by policies that are holding that business back.
As you likely know, California is the most populace state in the US, outranking Texas by over 12 million people (sorry!). I've also heard from people within the NRA that CA has the most gun owners of any other state, which makes sense due to our huge population. Many of us California gun owners and would-be CTD customers feel that your policies are mainly designed to punish us. I know there is a lot of anti-California sentiment among gun owners in other parts of the country, but our whacky politicians and gun laws (I think NY is actually worse in this regard) should not reflect on the individual CA gun owner who supports the NRA, makes regular donations to pro-gun groups and votes for pro-gun political candidates. Many CA gun owners even got together to hold their noses and vote for a left-wing gubernatorial candidate by the name of Jerry Brown and ended up putting him in office. Why would we do that? Because he is more pro-gun than was his Republican opponent, Meg Whitman. Doesn't that speak to the level of sacrifice we are willing to make to improve gun laws in our state?
Having made the case somewhat for California gun owners, any business must ultimately look at the bottom line. Think about all the sales that you're handing to companies like Midway and Brownells on a silver platter because they happily sell AK and AR parts to CA residents. Why are they able to do it and you aren't? Unless you fully enter the CA market I doubt you will ever be able to fully compete with these two companies. Cheaper Than Dirt has a great website and fantastic deals. Other than this policy, customer service has always been excellent in my experience. There is no reason CTD can't be the number one retailer of guns, gun parts, ammo and accessories in the US.
I think it's time to put old policies and prejudices aside and make a change in Cheaper Than Dirt's attitude towards its California customers. There is no danger to CTD in making these items available to us as they are merely parts and not legally considered firearms. There are no restrictions on selling these parts to CA residents at the state or the federal level, as I'm sure you know. Why limit the growth of your company and turn away what doubtlessly amounts to many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, in sales each year? It doesn't make sense to me, the millions of other California gun owners and, evidently, many members of the Cheaper Than Dirt staff who constantly have to field questions from people like me about why you won't sell a rifle stock or a parts kit to someone in California, even though it's perfectly legal to do so.
Thanks for your time and I appreciate you hearing me out. I look forward to hearing a response.
Sincerely,
[oldrifle]
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