quote:

Reminds me of a favorite old quote; People who say money can't buy happiness don't know where to shop.

Nor do they understand that a person can have a Hell of a Good Time being miserable, spending that money.

Charlie.I read it in Jim Hightower's monthly newsletter "The Hightower Lowdown".It was written shortly after the Buda store opened.So has been a few years back.You can pull it up online if you feel so adamant about the falsity of what I read. I know from 1st hand how so many of these deals go down. Industry moving into town + getting a major break on utility svcs.;10 year breaks on taxes,etc.What usually happens is that the companies that are getting the financial break just do the 10 years + then move on to another burg.I have put HVAC + ventilation systems in dozens of these plants over the years;so I do know how this game works.Having seen all this 1st hand over the years I find it very easy to believe.But feel free to prove me wrong.

I have been buying from Cabela's since 1972 I still have that 1972 very small catalog some place.

I don't buy a lot from them any more and only things on sale. They used to be a very stand up company. Sounds like things have changed.

Sears is was another one great for screwing one over on sale prices. My wife brought home a sweater one day that she "Brought on sale" from them.

Who ever crossed out the old price did a very poor job of covering it up. It was the same price as the new price even through the sign said 50% off.

I watch prices when they are rung up. I have left things on the counter when they were not willing to correct it right then and there.

As far as how people dress a would suggest a very informative book "The Millionaire Next Door"

It is very informative on how some very rich people act and how they made their fortunes.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Charlie.I read it in Jim Hightower's monthly newsletter "The Hightower Lowdown".It was written shortly after the Buda store opened.So has been a few years back.You can pull it up online if you feel so adamant about the falsity of what I read. I know from 1st hand how so many of these deals go down. Industry moving into town + getting a major break on utility svcs.;10 year breaks on taxes,etc.What usually happens is that the companies that are getting the financial break just do the 10 years + then move on to another burg.I have put HVAC + ventilation systems in dozens of these plants over the years;so I do know how this game works.Having seen all this 1st hand over the years I find it very easy to believe.But feel free to prove me wrong.

I read all the Hightower "Lowdown" blurbs available on line and, since there was no search feature, could not find it mentioned. However, it likely referred to the following, which, I might add, has no deal for sending sales taxes to Cabela's after the $36 million is repaid. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I REALLY doubt it.

quote:

And in Buda, Texas, Cabela's received a $36 million public-financing deal using a mechanism similar to the one being sought in Nebraska but with a twist.

In addition to the city's help, the state of Texas is set to pitch in $12 million for road improvements and $300,000 for job training, according to Warren Ketteman, executive director of the Buda Economic Development Corporation.

The money will help Cabela's open a 185,000-square-foot store this summer in the town of 2,400 people along an interstate highway and 15 minutes from bustling Austin.

Cabela's has "front-loaded" the deal, said Ketteman, by offering upfront the $36 million that will pay for infrastructure, including roads, water lines and a water tower. That amount will be paid back to Cabela's with sales and property taxes generated by Cabela's and possibly others in a special, 126-acre district.

In addition, here is a complete review of Buda's
Cabela's and the incentives it received.

https://digital.library.txstat...77/3746/fulltext.pdf

No where is any "keep sales tax revenues" mentioned.

I don't know what you read, or what was in the Hightower blurb, but your recall of the details is apparently not accurate.

Randy:

Let me hasten to add, that this is in no way personal, I just can't see the legality of taxing people for private gain. However, that said, I wouldn't doubt ANYTHING that the Texas Legislature came up with. They are all a bunch of idiots and politicians, but, I repeat myself.

Most of the "kickbacks" these type entities receive is in the form of lower or no property taxes. The local governments/politicians get so greedy for the news/credit that they overlook the obvious of making the kickbacks refundable by the companies if they don't stay for x number of years.

Charlie I will concede with your opinion,as common sense tells us that NO polation EVER gives away tax dollars.Perhaps I read it wrong. I DO know about the monetary cuts that I mentioned above through the county taxes + utility services. That did tend to make me believe.

Everybody benefits when a business opens in a community (in general) except in places like NY and CA where they insist on benefitting significantly more than the actual business entity itself. That in a nutshell is how filthy, greedy, wealthy pols like cuomo and schumer operate in liberal states (to name just 2 of the myriad).

We may have another sporting goods casualty coming. Field & Stream (Dick's) last week put everything in their Prosper store on sale; 25% off. Last year Gander Mountain opened a brand new store a few miles away. Less than a year later....GONE!

Last time I went to Field & Stream, the sales people outnumbered the customers about four-to-one. Very reminiscent of Gander Mountain a few months before they closed the doors.

There is a Bass Pro and a Cabela's in the Phoenix area. The stores are about 15 minutes from each other. There is no comparison between the two. The Bass Pro store is head and shoulders above the Cabela's store in all regards, to include cleanliness, staff, inventory, and pricing. It's really quite amazing to go from one to the other. Night and day.

We also have a Dick's store and a Sportsman Warehouse here in the Prescott area, which provide one the opportunity to go directly from one to the other and compare. Both are ghost towns. Prices are high across the board. The same ammo can be found anywhere else in town for less. Bulk Federal & Winchester general purpose shotgun ammo, for example, is .90 cents per box less at Wal Mart than at either Dick's or Sportsman's Warehouse.

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:
Countless times I have been in the fine gun room and still have never been approached. There is a line between walking on a car lot and getting attacked by a salesman and being ignored. Also, the only time I go to Cabela’s is after I have court in McKinney, so I’m in a suit and don’t look like a hobo.

This was a common thing at Cabelas in Lacey, Wa. So bad I wrote the manager - twice. Nothing changed. The most annoying was when there was a guy buying a rifle in the little office with theee cabelas guys yuk-yuking it up while people milled around on the floor. More than once I opened cases in spite of the signs because I was ignored. To hell with them. I was given a 50$ gift card and it took me three months to find something I wanted. Turned out to be a hammock.

Tough for someone making $10/HR to really give a shit. You get two choices in that industry. A kid in transition between jobs/college or a retired curmudgeon.


When was the last time a counter jockey told you anything of value besides where the shitter was and when the next truck load of 22 LR shows up?

quote:

Originally posted by 16Bore:
Tough for someone making $10/HR to really give a shit. You get two choices in that industry. A kid in transition between jobs/college or a retired curmudgeon.


When was the last time a counter jockey told you anything of value besides where the shitter was and when the next truck load of 22 LR shows up?

Mark me as old fashioned. I was taught to give ANY job you took your best efforts. Perhaps that attitude is why they are still in low paying jobs.

Back when we started hiring two tier employees, I learned there is no such thing as a $10 best nor a $20 best. Sorry employees that whined "If I was making more money, I'd be a ball of fire" are lying. If a man is a POS at $10, he'll be a POS at $20. He may have learned some tricks to cover up his ass or he may have joined a union to protect him but he is still a POS.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:


Mark me as old fashioned. I was taught to give ANY job you took your best efforts. Perhaps that attitude is why they are still in low paying jobs.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing.....busted my ass during college summers doing construction, paving, excavation, etc. for $5/hr to the point of the lifetime laborers on the job being like "slow down". I guess that's why some of us get to pay 40% tax eventually while baristas and counter people get to complain about us not paying our fair share.

I just love the general atmosphere in this country right now....basically a big fuck you to those who hold hardworking, successful people in contempt.

Yup, just read what the whiners say about tax reform.

quote:

Mark me as old fashioned. I was taught to give ANY job you took your best efforts. Perhaps that attitude is why they are still in low paying jobs.

Put me in that same category. I was taught to give your best effort no matter what the job.

If you didn't like it, look for something better, but do the best you can until you find it.

10-4 norton. I used to pump gas in college (full service days) .I worked on a carpentry crew that most had an attitude that a "broom dont fit their hands".I have cleaned restrooms,("women are the worst);I have dug ditches until I got mt my certification to weld pipeline. Sorry,this is NOT a tout of my performance. Some of us do what we need to do + follow our sense of values. My 3 grown sons have that same protestant work ethic values + I honor that.I also claim credit.

Likewise, I too agree with the above. I worked as a janitor at 14, worked gunshows every weekend for what is now SWFA from 15-18. I helped build fences in college and went building the day after I got my BBA in finance.

Like Norman, I am not touting anything in my past, but you have to do what you have to do. I suppose it also is in response to Crazy that I don’t judge on appearance, but would’ve liked some help. Actually, I was interested in a Sabatti and glad they did not help me!

I am going to say something in defense of the underpaid gun salesman everywhere.

It's a crappy business - we want people selling $400-$1000 guns most of which are tacticool to be highly educated on irrelevant (from sales perspective) sporting firearms - nice wood and steel rifles and shotguns.

Cabelas gun room is a joke. Bass pro does not engage in that money losing venture. Hopefully they go away.

The only way small retail businesses survive in the age of Amazon, wall mart, internet etc is customer service. I expect little of it in big box shops - their business model is to be price competitive and survive (or slowly go bankrupt) to Amazon.

I pay up and buy fishing gear and firearms locally cause I am getting customer service. I am paying for expertise especially in fishing gear. In guns I have all I need and I mainly pay for gunsmithing services.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:


The only way small retail businesses survive in the age of Amazon, wall mart, internet etc is customer service.

Mike

That's also why you should only use private physicians. Hospitals couldn't care less about their employed docs or patient care (other than for ratings). The bottom line is the only concern for these massive hospital systems. You can thank the gov't elected by people that want free healthcare for ridiculous over-regulation.

I had a part-time job in a bank when I was going to college. I also mowed lawns. I think I hold the distinction as the last white guy to mow other people's yards, judging by what I see today.

The bank job was interesting; and an eye-opener. I was making nothing. I was the "messenger". They would give me a bag of cash, six figures many times and tell me to take it to "that" branch. Because I was a flunky two vice-Presidents liked to rub my nose in it. One told me to go get him a dozen donuts in the middle of a thunderstorm. He didn't want the donuts as much as he wanted to show the tellers in the branch that I had to do what he said. He's still waiting for those donuts.

Another VP had me clean out the basement in the "main branch". I had to get the sleeping New Mexico Aggie basketball players out of the basement so I could clean it. That's where they slept all day, while being paid three times what they paid me. The VP was so impressed with the job I did that he had me re-organize the storeroom, and clean the trash storage area. That was my bonus I guess.

Paybacks was when I graduated and got my first job. I discovered my starting salary was about 25% higher than those two VPs were making. (Two of the basketball players went on to the NBA.)

I agree, you are either a good worker or your not. More money doesn't suddenly light a fire under your ass.