this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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You're forgetting mass shooters, i.e., the people who don't care if they're identified or if they're getting a good price. Safe to say they're not worried about their credit rating if the plan is to take on a SWAT team in 20 minutes.
Man, I have to break this to you, but if someone wants it fast, ammo from one of these machines is the last place they'd go. You can get ammo faster at a gun store. In and out, five minutes if the place isn't busy.
The only realistic use case for these machines is people out hunting and wanting to only stop in one place on the way home, or as close to camp as possible when on a longer trip.
Guns are harder to get than ammo. Shit, if you shoot regularly, you probably know someone that reloads, and can get a bucket full of ammo at a time, no questions asked.
It's funny though, the idea of someone planning on cooking off a few hundred rounds, obtaining a rifle and magazines, getting all dressed up to go and then, "damn, I forgot to load any of these, better stop at the piggly wiggly and get ammo, or no mass mayhem for me!"
Okay, the mayhem and killing part isn't funny, but the idea that a mass shooter wild use one of these machines is.
Ah, right, I guess that's why other vending machines never caught on. Why spend $2 on a Snickers at work when a quick trip to the grocery store can get you candy for way less?
What you're overlooking this time is vending machines sell convenience, not just single-serving portions. The fact that very few customers really need ammo without leaving the store/mall is indeed why this is a questionable business model and not just a sketchy one.
I'm puzzled, though, by the belief that hunters are more likely to make overpriced, impulse purchases of ammo than mass shooters. I'm even less inclined to buy that than ammo from a vending machine.
hunters and chuds are the two demographics most likely to waste their money on expensive ammo that supposedly kills quicker, usually due to some patented hydrostatic horseshit that doesn’t work (but they paid a former FBI agent to claim it does). there’s little chance this stupid fucking unguarded box supposedly secured by AI will have anything that expensive in it though.
speaking of chuds:
coming in here fucking salivating over the idea of people getting killed with guns (but oops tee hee it’s ok if you pretend it’s a shitty joke every time) was a fucking mistake if you’re presenting as a reasonable gun owner, and it’s painfully obvious this is the schtick you use to start fucking exhausting internet debates with equally fucking exhausting neoliberals. spare me that bullshit.
You have to wonder how much of this is just weird nerds reifying their scifi/video game fantasies. This can't be a valid business strategy.
it’s absolutely the same fash assholes who claim Bioshock as an expression of rather than a scathing parody of their awful fucking objectivist worldview, and have spent decades normalizing doing the exact same shit that got Andrew Ryan’s stupid fucking head caved in with a golf club
You do know you weren't replying to me, right?
That's what I'm saying too, indirectly.
The realistic customer base for these machines is both small and seasonal. The only reason to actively choose them as a source for ammunition is if you're an idiot that can't remember to pack enough ammo for whatever you'll be doing.
The only demographic I can think of that would is hunters that are away from their usual stores. My family, as an example, goes squirrel hunting together sometimes. Not me, I'm not much of a hunter, but I sometimes go along to hang and chill at the camp fire at nights. Nobody has ever run out of ammo, but if they did, and nobody else had any (unlikely), those of us that travel from out of state might just go to the closest place, and get just enough to finish the weekend.
You just don't go shooting without ammo, unless you're specifically going to a range that also sells ammo. Even then, most people bring their own unless the range is fairly cheap on ammo.
Is it possible that some mass shooter would be dumb enough to know how to get the guns, but not the ammo, and use one of these? I guess, humans are pretty fucking dumb on average. But it would only be the really stupid ones. It would be like going to the hobby shop for a model rocket, and not buying motors. Like, the two things are inseparable, they're next to useless without the other.
Why buy/steal a gun and not get the ammo at the same place? If you already had the guns, why didn't you already have ammo? Maybe someone that just inherited the firearms wouldn't have the ammo with it.
These machines are just a weird business plan, like you said.