Following layoffs, SilencerCo introduces $200 in-house rebate program
Dodging persistent layoff reports, SilencerCo has announced this week dealers are selling at “unbeatable” prices and the company is offering a credit to cancel out the price of a tax stamp.
“Is the $200 tax stamp keeping you from buying a silencer?” reads the page for the event, which runs from February through April. “No worries – we’ve got you covered.”
The “tax stamp rebate” is a credit good for the SilencerCo web store which includes threaded barrels, muzzle devices, suppressor pouches, and gear, but not suppressors themselves. The rebate codes are good to use through the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the company is preparing to ship their Maxim 9 integrally suppressed handgun and drop new entries in their Summit series of custom packages in coming days.
Mum on layoffs
It is no secret the drums have been sounding about recent layoffs at SilencerCo, one of the biggest names in the suppressor industry. This came after a near decade of phenomenal growth.
Founded in 2008, the Utah-based company was making $6 million by 2012 and the next year, with 75 employees, was named by Inc. Magazine for their “Inc. 500: Fastest Growing Companies” issue.
In April 2016, SilencerCo CEO Josh Waldron told Guns.com the company had expanded to a staff of nearly 300 employees and was shipping a staggering 10,000 suppressors of all kinds every month. Further, the company was building everything– including their innovative Maxim 9 — in-house.
Then came the hat trick of new ATF 41F rules, the election of pro-gun (and seemingly pro-suppressor) Republican President Donald Trump and the rebooted Hearing Protection Act’s promise of suppressor deregulation to add a chilling effect to those buying new cans.
Which, when coupled with the fact that the number of suppressor manufacturers has never been higher– and include new lines from such traditional industry savvy giants as Ruger and SIG adding extra supply to the market– led to a correction in SilencerCo’s staffing.
Though those in the industry warn of a near-instant sellout on available suppressors if the HPA passes, and the legislation in its current form includes refunds on tax stamps paid since its introduction, some would-be buyers are apparently hedging their bets and just not buying suppressors at the moment.
The normally very vocal suppressor lifestyle company went silent (excuse the pun) about layoffs, with Chief Revenue Officer Jason Schauble, formerly of Remington and Tracking Point, not responding to multiple requests for comment on the subject from Guns.com.
However, Willie Vernon, Silencerco’s senior director of products and marketing, did tell Recoil the company was “right sizing for current industry conditions.”
With that being said, high-placed officials inside the ATF are calling for dumping the restrictions on suppressors, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week that a quarter of adults 20 to 69 were suffering at least some hearing deficits.
So it could be said the argument for increased suppressor use has never been louder.
The post Following layoffs, SilencerCo introduces $200 in-house rebate program appeared first on Guns.com.
Source: http://www.guns.com/2017/02/10/following-layoffs-silencerco-introduces-200-in-house-rebate-program-to-spur-sales/
