Firearms Friday: Colt Bankruptcy

Anyone who has served in the military are familiar with Colt. Anyone who has some experience with firearms is probably familiar with Colt as well. Heck, if you ever watched a Western you probably recognize the name. Overall, it is safe to say that the Colt brand remains in the pantheon of firearms manufacturers. However, the question now is how long will the company hold that revered place in the industry?

The fact remains that of the countless veterans with whom I have spoken that remain involved in the firearms community the majority of them refuse to purchase a Colt for the simple fact that there are better firearms on the market (especially for the price). Heck I can even remember the issues I had with my service rifle on the range and thinking to myself at the time “how do they expect this to hold up in the field?” It has become pretty clear that while the name remains near the top of the echelon, the actual firearms that are being produced fall far short of that reputation.

While there is no hard evidence to back up this assertion, it seems as though this is a significant contributing factor to the ongoing financial struggles that Colt continues to face. With contracts being cut and a variety of other options in the civilian marketplace, Colt is finding it difficult to compete and remain financially solvent. The current bankruptcy mumblings have been part of the everyday operations of the company for the past decade and now might finally be the time when the hammer falls.

The poorly structured company has nearly exhausted their resources even going so far as mortgaging many of the patents that the company holds. When the reserves are depleted and the revenue streams begin to dwindle down to a trickle, it won’t be long before the company faces the inevitable. While I don’t want to see the company go under, at some point you have to come to the realization that maybe it is for the best. The products they are putting out into the marketplace are not Colt quality like production runs in the past. It might be time for them to step aside.

Given the power that the name and brand still holds in the mind of consumers, even a bankruptcy will not spell the end for Colt. It is almost guaranteed that the brand will meet the same fate at Springfield Armory and be reborn in a completely different company and corporate configuration. It may not be a bad way to go.

Head on over to The Firearms Blog for additional coverage on the Colt saga... 

Every Penny Is Part Of A Dollar

Over the past couple of weeks I have been taking advantage of a couple of opportunities that were presented to me in order to save a few dollars. Sometimes the numbers added up pretty fast while other times it was only a little here and there. Either way, they are all providing a little bit of a return and putting a few extra dollars back into our account. Actually, by the end of the week, all those small sums added up and turned into a rather nice return.

There were really two parts to this whole operation this week… price matching and a credit card promotion. While it did take some time this week, in the end it is going to save us hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the next year. It just goes to show that if you take a few minutes and put in a little effort, you can make things a little easier.

It started a couple of weeks ago when there were a few items that I had to purchase for the house. Not the cheapest things but not really high priced either. When I had a couple of minutes free in the middle of the work day, I pulled up the Sportsman’s Guide website to see if they had what I was looking for. It turns out that they did so I put the items in my shopping cart, typed in my coupon, and selected the 4 pay plan to ease the payment pain.

Everything went smoothly but I was curious to see if there were any other websites that were offering a better deal. Sportsman’s Guide offers a price match guarantee for 30 days from the time the order is placed. There were a few sites that had the same price, a few that were selling it for more, and a couple that were a dollar or two cheaper. I wasn’t about to call over a couple dollars. And there is was… a $25 difference. With website and item number in hand I called customer service and had the price matched within minutes. However, this was a onetime opportunity to save some money. My other call this week was more fruitful.

At some point during the day on Tuesday I got an email from a company regarding my credit card. The offer was for free transfers of other accounts (normally 3%) with a 0% APR for 1 year on those balance transfers. This particular card has the lowest interest rate so has always carried the highest balance… hence no room for transfers. So I gave them a call on Wednesday to explain the situation and to see if there was some way that I could take advantage of this offer.

It never fails whenever I call them, they found a way to make it work. Now, instead of paying a nearly 20% APR on a couple other cards, we are now paying 0% for the next year and, if needed, carry a 12% APR afterward. The percentages may not mean much at first glance but, over the course of a 12 month period this could potentially save us hundreds upon hundreds of dollars (it will also lower our monthly payments pretty significantly). I am sure that many of you may think that this is boring but it saves me money so I am very interested.

The essential thing to take away from both of these is that there are opportunities to save money / keep money in your pocket if you just pay attention. I am sure there are a number of opportunities that I have missed in the past but, in this instance, I was fortunate enough to catch them. When all is said and done, all it takes is a few minutes from you day and a willingness to work with the people on the other end of the line. It was a great week for saving money.