Pandemic Price gouging thread

Outcrydrummer

Outcrydrummer

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Can we start a price gouging thread?
I understand capitalism and can appreciate increases in cost the sellers must pass on.....but jesus....some of these companies are really sticking it to people.

Outdoor limited is a place i use to buy rimfire ammo from and some self defense 9mm every once and a while.

Look at the price on this white box 9mm...........

I just hope when everything smooths back out we remember what retailers held a moral compass when times were bad and which tried to screw people.
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clay_fv said:
I just saw an article today, I believe it was 23% of all money ever printed (US$) was printed this year. Sorry, but prices like this will become the new normal, along with ten dollars for a loaf of bread. Welcome to the coming massive inflation.
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That wouldnt explain how other retailers are still selling close to normal prices for ammo. Inflated, yes. This crap, no.
 
Outcrydrummer said:
That wouldnt explain how other retailers are still selling close to normal prices for ammo. Inflated, yes. This crap, no.
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I haven't seen anywhere even close to 13-15 cents a round for 9mm. I agree that's gouging in the link above, but I believe it's also going to become the new normal. I'll be thrilled if I ever see it for 20 cents a round again, and will buy every box I can! :)
 
Outcrydrummer said:
That wouldnt explain how other retailers are still selling close to normal prices for ammo. Inflated, yes. This crap, no.
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Where are these "close to normal" prices? What is listed above is high, but not all that much higher than I am seeing elsewhere, especially if they actually have it in stock.
 
Gouging aside, I hope I am still in business when all this settles down. I hope other places are, too. Short term gains in the bottom line don’t mean long term stability, and I foresee a good chance a lot of places will go under before this is all said and done.

That could also be part of what drives places like Countrywide/OL. Make what you can now. You may need that extra money when you are out of business in one to three years.
 
B00ger said:
Where are these "close to normal" prices? What is listed above is high, but not all that much higher than I am seeing elsewhere, especially if they actually have it in stock.
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Federal selling online and its not crazy prices. Local shops around me selling ammo for decent rona prices.
Academy sports still gets and sells ammo at decent rona prices.
 
.50 a round is what im seeing locally and online like federal. Its high but not bad for rona.
.80 a round is flat out price gouging
 
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Outcrydrummer said:
Can we start a price gouging thread?
I understand capitalism and can appreciate increases in cost the sellers must pass on.....but jesus....some of these companies are really sticking it to people.

Outdoor limited is a place i use to buy rimfire ammo from and some self defense 9mm every once and a while.

Look at the price on this white box 9mm...........

I just hope when everything smooths back out we remember what retailers held a moral compass when times were bad and which tried to screw people.
View attachment 273224
Click to expand...
You raise prices to lower demand, that is basic economics. If you sell it below market value you both run out and encourage hoarding, which extends the problem even more.

Gouging does not exist. There is only supply and demand
 
Outcrydrummer said:
Federal selling online and its not crazy prices. Local shops around me selling ammo for decent rona prices.
Academy sports still gets and sells ammo at decent rona prices.
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Can you get those prices any time you want, or are they gone in a heartbeat and/or with limits on buying? Every time I check Federal, they are out of stock. Same thing with Academy. Even with buying limits, their stock is gone in an hour or two of the truck coming in.
 
I still think its high, but not enough to make me "angry" at them. I think all retailers are adjusting prices to try to ensure they can re-order in the future. Ammo can be found, with searching, but for those that dont want to put in the leg work, there is paying more as your pay off.
 
shadowsbane said:
Gouging does not exist. There is only supply and demand
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I kinda feel like this also^^^^^^

With primers Selling for $400 @ K...it's not gonna get better soon. If folks think .80 a round for 9mm is high now....what will you think when there isn't Any??

Every high round shooter on CFF knew this was coming and either prepared for it or ignored it. If you are the first, you probably are being entertained by these antics and if you are the other, your solution is to just keep ignoring it.

I have .22 platforms to duplicate every center fire platform I shoot regularly. I shoot 30 rounds of .22 to centerfire. I simply can Not live long enough to shoot all the .22 I have. BUT ain't None of it for Sale!!!
 
shadowsbane said:
You raise prices to lower demand, that is basic economics. If you sell it below market value you both run out and encourage hoarding, which extends the problem even more.

Gouging does not exist. There is only supply and demand
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I see your point but still disagree, respectfully.
 
Outcrydrummer said:
I see your point but still disagree, respectfully.
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Well you're allowed to be wrong.




(That's a joke )

On a serious note, how many people are you helping by being out of product? How many bills are you paying by not having inventory to sell? How many customers do you lose, possibly forever, cause you didn't have a product, but your competitor did at a higher price. Right now I can NOT sell 9mm at $90/500 just as much as i can NOT sell it as $1500/500.
 
shadowsbane said:
Well you're allowed to be wrong.




(That's a joke )

On a serious note, how many people are you helping by being out of product? How many bills are you paying by not having inventory to sell? How many customers do you lose, possibly forever, cause you didn't have a product, but your competitor did at a higher price. Right now I can NOT sell 9mm at $90/500 just as much as i can NOT sell it as $1500/500.
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I get that and i understand what your saying.
My thought is that ita going for .50 a round right now give or take.
At .80 a round they are trying to catch the new guys without any knowledge and take em for a ride.
 
Outcrydrummer said:
I get that and i understand what your saying.
My thought is that ita going for .50 a round right now give or take.
At .80 a round they are trying to catch the new guys without any knowledge and take em for a ride.
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Please show us where it is in stock for 50 cents a round? I will happily buy a pallet at that price. Not kidding at all. Might even buy two pallets.
 
Can we start drinking again?

Price Gouging! The Drinking Game...

Rules are simple: Throw a rock and pick whichever of the multitude of "Price Gouging" threads you happen to land on. - For every post complaining that someone/some company is over charging, take a drink - For every post that champions the free market, take 2 drinks - For every post that says...
carolinafirearmsforum.com carolinafirearmsforum.com
 
I can see both sides. There's nothing wrong with raising prices to hold onto some inventory and stay in business. But there's also the companies that try to take advantage of the customer who either doesn't know better, or the person who's desperate. The later isn't illegal, but it does feel shady to me. Ideally, those who knew better bought a stash to put back while prices were low, and are adjusting their shooting habits to reflect the limited supply.

The guys who shot up everything they had and then decided they needed to go buy more are in a world of hurt right now because they didn't put in any critical thinking. I haven't bought any 9mm in nearly a year. And if things keep on the way they are, I might not for another year. During that time, I'm only going to shoot enough 9mm to stay proficient with my carry gun and no more than that.


Now the smart thing to do....

Get yourself a smoothbore musket. You can make your own powder at home. Fire it off with a flint. You can dig those out of the ground if you have to. Any hard object that will fit down the barrel can become a projectile. Rocks, marbles, bolts, you name it. No one will ever stop you from shooting again.
 
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cubrock said:
Please show us where it is in stock for 50 cents a round?
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Federal online
Local gun stores
Academy

Nothing stays in stock long but its out there. I reload so i dont buy factory ammo normally but i have bought over 500 rounds of factory ammo for friends at those prices in the last two weeks.
 
If you believe the listed price of a product is unnecessarily high and you refuse to buy it, are you being gouged?

Seems to me that folks have a choice. If you are willing to pay $1/cartridge for 9mm or sink $400 into 1K primers, the responsibility for that lies with the consumer, not the supplier.

I could use more SRPs right now, but I will not pay the current market price for them and I damned sure will not pay $0.40 a piece for them, neither will I pay $0.80 per round for 9mm.

Now...if folks, enough folks, are willing to pay that kinda money for ammo and/or primers, I can assure you suppliers will continue to keep with current prices.

I can tell you if vendors costs for primers are say, $50 for 1K primers or $0.50 per round for 9mm, they will not sell primers for $50/1K or 9mm for $0.50/round and stay in business very long.
 
Outcrydrummer said:
Federal online
Local gun stores
Academy

Nothing stays in stock long but its out there. I reload so i dont buy factory ammo normally but i have bought over 500 rounds of factory ammo for friends at those prices in the last two weeks.
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So, it isn't in stock right now at 50 cents per round. I can show you plenty of out of stock prices lower than what is the actual going rate. Doesn't mean they set the market price. Market price is the price at which you can generally buy an item at any given time. 50 cents per round is not market price for 9mm right now. God bless those places selling it at that price, but they are, by definition, under market price.

Ammoseek is a good marker for market price. You can find lots of places selling the same thing in a similar price range. Those that have it lower than that price either sell out within minutes, or they didn't have it in stock anyway and will eventually cancel your order (like Optics Planet). I can also tell you that I could set up this weekend at Fayetteville with 15 cases of $35 a box brass cased 9mm, be the cheapest dealer there, and sell out before the end of the day on Saturday. $25 a box sure isn't market price at the shows right now.
 
Outcrydrummer said:
I just hope when everything smooths back out we remember what retailers held a moral compass when times were bad and which tried to screw people.
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Capitalism is about business.
Morality? Not so much.

I’ll buy from anyone at anytime who has what I want at a price I am willing to pay.
I don't care what religion they are, what gender they are, what political party they are a member of, or what they plan to do with the money if it was a legal sale.
Morality ain’t a part of the equation.
 
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Outcrydrummer said:
Can we start a price gouging thread?
I understand capitalism and can appreciate increases in cost the sellers must pass on.....but jesus....some of these companies are really sticking it to people.

Outdoor limited is a place i use to buy rimfire ammo from and some self defense 9mm every once and a while.

Look at the price on this white box 9mm...........

I just hope when everything smooths back out we remember what retailers held a moral compass when times were bad and which tried to screw people.
View attachment 273224
Click to expand...

They've got some .40 cal for .60 per round. And that's the cheapest I can find anywhere. Period.
 
B00ger said:
Where are these "close to normal" prices? What is listed above is high, but not all that much higher than I am seeing elsewhere, especially if they actually have it in stock.
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Academy and less frequently Bass Pro has limited quantities in the $0.25-$0.30 per-round range. Other big-box sporting goods stores probably do too, but those are the ones near me.

It is somewhat like Walmart during the previous shortage. Supplies are trickling in and at least some of the big players have long-term contracts or prices from the manufacturers have not increased much. Smaller dealers are either increasing their prices for more profit or so there will be some ammo available for people who are desperate OR manufacturers or wholesalers are shanking everybody.
 
As a dealer/FFL, I have seen the price from suppliers and distributors, be lucky if you run across it at 50¢ around. Most places that do have ammo to sell dealers put stipulations like you have to buy three of our crappy shotguns or x amount of other stuff to get ammo at 60-70¢ a round. Remember most shops cannot compete with prices of box stores.

Vista Outdoors (owns Federal,Speer, CCI etc.) bought Remington Ammo. Vista is 1 year and 1 billion in stock backordered.
 
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Brian K said:
You think it's bad now, wait till Harris wins.
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She already won...once Biden gets Scalia-ed, she's in. She knows it. That's why she's been super quiet and behind the scenes. Democrats can be the most patient bunch of people sometimes.
 
charliedeltajuliet said:
As a dealer/FFL, I have seen the price from suppliers and distributors, be lucky if you run across it at 50¢ around. Most places that do have ammo to sell dealers put stipulations like you have to buy three of our crappy shotguns or x amount of other stuff to get ammo at 60-70¢ a round. Remember most shops cannot compete with prices of box stores.

Vista Outdoors (owns Federal,Speer, CCI etc.) bought Remington Ammo. Vista is 1 year and 1 billion in stock backordered.
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Also a dealer/FFL. My experience is the same as @charliedeltajuliet's . I WISH I could routinely find it at 50 cents per round wholesale right now. I've had to make more than a couple out-of-state road trips to secure it for 50 cents or more per round, just to have some to sell. And, I haven't marked the ammo up to account for the 15 hour days that has taken from me to get it. Just my normal mark-up. Even with that, I usually am cheaper than other dealers at the shows and often sell ammo to some of them. Crazy times.
 
Brian K said:
You think it's bad now, wait till Harris wins.
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One source of mine predicts $100 a box 9mm hardball if/when Biden/Harris get in on inauguration day. I hope he is wrong, but he has called the retail price game pretty well since March. I am very tempted to sit on what I can get between now and then and play wait-and-see. Best case scenario, I have a lot of overpriced ammo to shoot up.
 
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Ammo is a loss leader for places like Walmart and Academy too. What matters to them isn't that they make money on the ammo, is that they get you in the store. Hopefully after it sold out, so you buy other things (clothing/high profit accessories) to make sure the trip isn't wasted.
 
I was talking to a friend yesterday. Her husband and she have a friend that bought a 380 and couldn’t find any ammo for it. She asked the husband to try to find some. Husband stops by a small gun shop in Ayden (she did not say the name) and finds 2 boxes......$50 each. Husband calls friend and tells her. She says buy them. She paid $1/round for 380.
 
I mean I despise it as well. But that's how it works.

If a store has what I need I will buy it at a price I'm willing to pay. Regardless of what it is.

I'll say what I have said in a few other posts.

At least ammo CAN be found at ANY price. Whereas last time common ammo was as scarce as hens teeth.

Just this morning at my daily stop in gas station/hardware/feed and tack/country store. They had PMC xtac .223 20 round boxes and they were putting on tags at $25.99 a box😯. They have always been high enough I don't think I've bought ammo there ever but wow!

But at the same time I was happy to see that they HAD ammo to sell.

So capitalism at work. If you "need" it, at least it can be had. Better than needing it at it being unobtanium everywhere.
 
amnesia said:
This is why I am shooting less and planning on messing with the car more. I need to see this all play out over the next year.
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I’m shooting a LOT less. Been busy having fun burning gas instead of powder.
 
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