Just what is the mark up on gun safes?

Question

I know the reasoning behind having a gun safe and the guilt trip / reasoning of "How much would an incident cost?" But, that doesn't help. When there is little money to be had... a gun safe is too expensive. Oh, I suppose only the rich should be able to own guns...? Well, I went past a small, tall safe in K-Mart marked "Close out. $89" and it literally took me 2 or maybe, maybe 3 minutes to wake up and run back to it. Gone! Yes, that fast. It was gone. But, that brings up: How much mark up is there on these that they can dump one for $89? I need that once-in-a-life opportunity to knock a second time. There are just no inexpensive but good safes available. I don't care how ugly it is but it would be better (security and for the gun itself too) than the trigger locks I now use.

Answer 1

Mak I would offer the following for you; I live on some small acreage in north central Texas. As a collector and gunsmith I have different size safes for long guns, collectibles, and handguns. I've spent several thousand dollars on the full thickness fire proof ones and I've spent 99 dollars on a walmart special. I even have two that I found on craigslist.



There's the thought of theft prevention, keeping them away from kids, protecting firearms from a house fire, and long term storage for rust prevention. All are valid points and I had to look at the ultimate needs for me. Putting a $ 9000 collectible in a 99 dollar safe just won't cut it, but by keeping several plinkers and common long guns in that 99 dollar safe I know that my insurance will cover their loss.



I would suggest look at your firearms, decide the need for a safe and then make an investment for that need, not what someone is trying to sell or market for a living. It's easy to get swayed by a $2000 safe at Cabelas or Academy, but if you shop at a gun show or even a Tractor Supply you can find a comparable safe for close to half that cost.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

like all other merchandise, typically 3% (clearance) 7% (sale) and 15% regular price.



markup from what they can get form the supplier. more expensive stores may either markup more or they have more middlemen between the manufacturer and retailer.



typically the manufacture cost/sale is 30% of what it costs at the local gun store.

so say the coast $80 to make and they sell it at $100.

before it gets to a store near there's countless shipping, and typically 3 middlemen in between manufacturer and you local gun store. those 3 middlemen each take a little cut, increasing the cost of the safe. by the time it gets to your local gun store the price has tripled to $300.



you cna save money if you cut out the middlemen and get it cheap from a wholesaler. typically a $100 safe will cost you $135-$150.



now sometimes safes are sold below the MSRP - like that $89 safe you saw. that is due to the store made an investment on that safe, they need to move merchandise or they'll loose money. they'd rather sell it at a ridiculous low price and lose a few hundred bucks than loose than thousand + a day per day that safe is in their store.

Answer 5

SM is right about matching the price of the safe to the intended purpose.



If you are just trying to limit access to children/nosy family, you could even just get $10 trigger locks.



For $89, it was most likely a very light weight sheet metal gun locker, not a true safe.



If you are trying to protect high dollar guns and other items from theft and fire, invest in a good one. Used is a viable option.



I want to get a digital code lock for a closet and make it into my gun room. It will keep honest people honest, and I don't have a need to protect valuable guns. It wil be bigger than any gun safe and only about $100 for the lock. Even a padlock could work

Answer 6

I purchased a steel locking gun rack from some place in TX. I don't remember the name or where it was located. It works pretty good. I eventually got a gun safe and store the cheaper/less used guns in the gun rack. It was around $70 about 10 years ago.

Answer 7

There is a big difference in a gun safe, and a gun cabinet. There is also a big difference in a real fire rated gunsafe (90min-3hr rating) and a gunsafe.



A simple gun cabinet, like the stack-on cabinets available for $100-200 at most shops (like K-mart) are just cabinets, they don't offer any fire protection, and don't offer much in the lines of theft protection. Safes are a different animal, and often include fireproofing, as well as amazing levels of security.



If you think about what is involved in a safe, the high prices make sense. There are a few contributors that make safes somewhat different than standard inventory products at most stores.



I won't necessarily go into "inventory cost", but sufficed to say, that safes aren't high sale volume items, so when a store buys one, they don't plan on it leaving any time soon. Holding inventory costs money. So there's one strike.



Because safes are a low volume item, they're expensive to produce. The inherent cost of designing, building, maintaining customer service, replacement, etc etc is all spread out over a small number of units, so the overhead cost of each unit is high. There's another strike.



Steel prices are high, and there isn't much involved in a safe except hardened steel. There's another strike.



Earning a UL certified fireproofing rating is an expensive process. Fireproofing materials aren't cheap, and the research to prove that you pass the standards costs a lot of research dollars. Again, another strike.



Theft-proof ratings, like fireprofing, also takes research dollars. Safes are generally rated by the time it would take a skilled "cracker" to enter the safe, using conventional "safe-cracking tools". A 5min cabinet in general can be entered in a few minutes by anyone with a crow-bar and a hammer. A 5hr safe requires much more effort. Designing, testing, and certifying your safe designs for theft protection costs money. Yet another strike.



Then you have to consider that safes are HEAVY. Transportation for inventory, distribution, even just handling around the shop and warehouse is a real obstacle. If you've ever moved a real safe into your house, then you'd realize the challenge that handling safes represents. There is a very high infrastructure cost to produce and distribute safes. Yet another strike.



Customer service for safes is a highly disciplined industry as well. When someone purchases or inherits a used safe, it's often common that they'll desire back up keys or request the record for the combination. Cheaper safes come with a sticker saying "do not forget this combination, it is not recorded ANYWHERE". Finer safes come with "in case you lose or forget your combination, contact customer service", as well as a registration system service to help provide identification reference in case someone DOES call asking for duplicate keys or combinations. All of this customer service and databasing increases overhead costs. Another strike.



High quality fireproof safes also come with internal waterproofing measures so that when firemen enter to put out a fire, your safe (which usually falls through the burning floor into the basement) doesn't get flooded. This flooding can destroy your items/guns just as fast as the fire would have. Fireproof waterproofing is not cheap. Another strike.



Safe manufacturers have the responsibility to provide legal liability for their products. Almost ALL safe manufacturers will replace your safe for free in the event of a fire and/or theft, plus liability for the protected items inside the safe if it can be proven that the safe failed to live up to their guarantees (like a 3hr fire safe burning up in 20min). These insurance policies aren't cheap. You guessed it, strike.



I'm not a baseball fan, but I'm pretty certain I just pitched a no-hitter against cheap safes.



Frankly, you get what you pay for in safes. My kid cousin breaks into his dads gun cabinet ($200 Stack-On 2 door) all the time with a key that came from their truck topper. I can enter my brother-in-laws $800 safe in a matter of minutes by removing the faceplate, removing the batteries, and executing the combination reset. OR, I can use the key to my office file-cabinet to force the manual over-ride lock (2 out of 5 of my file cabinet keys work in his safe). His safe also only weighs 400lbs, and he has it bolted to a wooden platform. This makes EVERYTHING very simple, why open it when I can steal the whole safe faster?, I can be in and out in about 10min with a dolly and a friend. I have 3 modes to steal all of his protected items in less than 10min, again, that's an $800 safe...

Answer 8

Either will fire in a rifle with either caliber sizes. Generally, the 5.56 mm round is referred to as a cartridge used in military style rifles, such as the M-16, and those rounds are usually supplied in FMJ (full metal jacket). The .223 rounds come in various loads.

Answer 9

3

Answer 10

The difference between what the merchandiser paid and what they expect to sell it for.

Answer 11

50 % K-MART DOES THIS EVERY,JAN. CALL WALMART,,THEY DO ALSO,,,,,WOKED AT AK-MART