So, is it gouging?

[TheGrimReaper]

He is gouging you. Wholesale Large rifle are about 26.00/1000

More than I'll pay.

[fredj338]

So I'm wondering is it him that's gouging? Is it his supplier that's gouging? Is it really gouging? The guy still has bills to pay even if he can't get stock to sell, so maybe he has to make what he can on the stuff he can get to sell? I don't know. I'm not a business man and certainly not an economist, so I don't really know what to think of it. I did however pass on the $60 Federals. I have about 1400 in the shop and usually shoot less than 200 rounds a month, so I'm gonna wait until I need them worse of else find some cheaper. I did buy a lb. of RL-7 for $29.95. Same price as the last can I bought back when I got the 1000 primers for $37.

It's not gouging, its capitalism. Gouging is when you must have smoething you can not do without & a seller takes advatnage of that, food, water, meds, etc. You do NOT NEED ammo or magazines, you want them. So a lot of people are whining because they didn't see this coming & many of us did. Everything was available in Dec, now everything is in short supply as people play catch up.
This will alst all year IMO, maybe well into 2014. It will get even worse if the libs win the house in 14. So educate your libertarian & conservative friends. We must keep the house to neuter PBO, or we are really going tog et screwed.

[unique]

Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair.

I had to look up the meaning of pejorative, it means a word that connotes negativity and expresses contempt or distaste.

So for me gouging would occur only in the case where someone needed that ammo to feed/protect their family, otherwise the higher prices are annoying but somewhat understandable.

However, I expect real genuine gouging will occur in the near future and perhaps a lot of folks understand that and so they are trying to stock up now but that means what is happening today really is gouging but then again why didn't these folks see this coming earlier but if they did then the panic would have set in earlier and then some of the people that have stuff now might have been shutout and they would be now crying out against gouging but where does it end...I will tell you as it is very simple.

Protect thyself because no one else will.

[jonk]

Let me put this another way.

If you saw a gold coin being sold for $1600, bought it, and next year the price was $2000 and you wanted to sell, would you sell at the price you paid for it?

It is immaterial what the seller paid for the primers, ammo, or guns; the question is, what is the current market price? We all want to find deals, but I can't knock the sellers for getting what they can for what they are selling. I've got a 2007 car I might sell, blue book price on it is $5500, that's what I'm starting at. And, like most gun store owners, I'm willing to haggle. I'm NOT asking $5000 because that was the blue book price for a similar 6 year old model 6 years ago, I'm asking TODAY'S price.

[johnnybar]

As stated....We humans, I included, are very good at figuring out how poor our condition is and miserable at figuring out other's...woe is me syndrome.
Lets see:
-We've decided that the family owned "John Q Gun & Ammo" shop over by Betty Lou's cafe must have the same pricing abilities as Walmart, Academy and Natchez, or they are thieves.
-If we threaten local shops with future boycott, they will magically have the ability to cut prices by two thirds.
-We weekend commandos need our fun fodder at whatever near wholesale price meets our needs, while these shop owners obviously only need bread and water.

Have I missed anything guys? Oh yes:
-It's all their fault in the first place...those stinkin' shop owners...who needs 'em!

And here's the grand finale:
- John Q's wife said what! "Let them eat cake!"? OFF with their heads!

In reality, a little out of the box thinking is overdue. If the ammo shelf is so bare, save it for self defense and pick up that bow, a truck load of guys and their 3d targets, and go have some 3d course fun for free. Maybe a little bet to liven things up! Fun doesn't have to go bang!

[oldtoolsniper]

I guess it really depends on which side of the counter you are on.

I will say this from being in a country and witnessing the collapse of their entire economy a bottle of whiskey and a pack of smokes was worth way more than a sack of play money. The individual at the door to his shop whom was armed still had his shop while everything and I mean everything around him was stripped to the ground.

Don't worry though our Government will regulate us to safety after all 32 ounce sodas kill!

These comments may cause cancer in lab rats and California.

[sirgknight]

Just last week I paid $85 for 5,000 wolf primers from Wideners.....$127 including hazmat and shipping. I only purchased what I actually needed. I could have ordered 50,000 and turned around and made a pretty nice profit but I don't want to be a part of the problem. Your gun store wanted $299.75 for 5,000 primers, albeit Federals. Some call it gouging, some call it supply and demand; I call it GREED.

[uscra112]

Gouging can ONLY take place when a supply MONOPOLY exists. If the Government shuts down every manufacturer of primers except Remington, and then Remington raises prices far beyond cost of production and distribution THAT is gouging. If the LGS raises his prices during a famine, that is not gouging, that's just a response to market signals, so long as you have the right to buy somewhere else. And you do.

This cry of gouging from the grasshoppers who failed to prepare for a famine makes my blood boil. It's that kind of short-sighted thinking that politicians like Obama play upon to get elected. Yes, I really meant to say that. If the shoe fits. . . . .

/rant off

The wise are prepared for these eventualities. Just be thankful it's just ammo and components, and not food and water, grasshoppers. Learn a lesson from this, you will. If you will not, help you any more I cannot.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Check out Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell or Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.

These are very basic books, then you can work up to Mises and Rothbard.

[JRLesan]

Zanders sporting goods is a VERY large wholesale distributor. Go to their online catalog, select a product (ammunition, firearms, reloading, whatever) and then 'hide' the out of stock items. Not much to choose from, is there? They are not the only wholesaler out of merchandise in the firearms industry. Now, if the distributors have nothing, the retailers have no source for resupply and are basically out of business. Raising prices is not gouging: it's survival.

[MtGun44]

I have recommended Basic Economics by Sowell before. Folks want to complain, not learn about
what is actually going on.


+1 on USCRA112.

Bill

[johnnybar]

Just last week I paid $85 for 5,000 wolf primers from Wideners.....$127 including hazmat and shipping. I only purchased what I actually needed. I could have ordered 50,000 and turned around and made a pretty nice profit but I don't want to be a part of the problem. Your gun store wanted $299.75 for 5,000 primers, albeit Federals. Some call it gouging, some call it supply and demand; I call it GREED.

Put gas in the tank and drive! If no one else has them within $172 worth of gas................well? If you made it there and back on $172 in gas, congrats, you saved 75 cents. I'm not sure if this is a young/old thing or what. But remember these days and prepare in the future or get those arrows re-fletched.

[opos]

In order to have "gouging" you need a "gouger" and a "gougee" but if there is agreement on the price...you have a deal...no one forces anybody to buy anything...someone said they are not being gouged because they won't buy at inflated prices...that's the deal....if you think you are being gouged...walk away...if you buy...you agree to the price and now it's a deal. I still think a new car should cost $4000 (price of my last new car)...now they charge $30,000...if I buy one I'm agreeing to the price and it's a deal...If I think I'm being gouged...I don't buy...that's why my old Suburban just turned 200, 000 miles and is 17 years old.

[w0fms]

There are 3 LGS's by me and lets say the one who is livid online about "not gouging" is the one charging the most for the same stuff presently as the other stores have (who have also raised prices, but more modestly).... I agree there is no such thing in a free market... but then again I also am not obligated to shop there after all the insanity settles down (this time)..

[fredj338]

Just last week I paid $85 for 5,000 wolf primers from Wideners.....$127 including hazmat and shipping. I only purchased what I actually needed. I could have ordered 50,000 and turned around and made a pretty nice profit but I don't want to be a part of the problem. Your gun store wanted $299.75 for 5,000 primers, albeit Federals. Some call it gouging, some call it supply and demand; I call it GREED.

Not really. Consider the store may not get more primers for say a month or three. If they sell everything out at a disc, how do they keep the store open? So they are just planning for the worst. Now if they never get their primer prices down when things get better, find another store. Some are limting amounts you can buy instead of raising prices, also acceptable. again, they have to keep the doors open & pay the bills.

[David2011]

I do not believe even "necessities" should be protected. The market establishes price. For example, I do not see fuel as a necessity.

Haven't been through too many hurricanes, have you? At that point fuel keeps food edible and medicine safe. It allows you to escape while in heavy traffic where a Honda Civic may get 5 miles per gallon or worse because of the heavy traffic. Most states have laws in place to prohibit price hikes on plywood and other building materials as well as fuels during emergencies. Prior to those laws he price of plywood would skyrocket as a storm approached. I firmly believe in capitalism and have some concerns that this sort of price control has some Marxism in it with government telling business how they have to price goods. I also realize that fuel and building materials ARE necessities for evacuation, preservation of property and protection of food and medicine and hiking the price in a threatened area as a storm approaches is gouging. Just my opinion. . .

David

[dakotashooter2]

I hear some dealers crying they don't know what they will do because they can't get any stock....but they just sold 6 months worth of stuff in a month. If they were surviving on what they were selling before theoretically, they should be able to survive that length of time on the added sales (and markup) they got.

100 years ago if a farmer had a good crop he stashed some money away for the inevitable bad year/s. Now days if someone has a windfall they tend to spend it right away leaving nothing for the eventual bad times..........

[thehouseproduct]

I hear some dealers crying they don't know what they will do because they can't get any stock....but they just sold 6 months worth of stuff in a month. If they were surviving on what they were selling before theoretically, they should be able to survive that length of time on the added sales (and markup) they got.

100 years ago if a farmer had a good crop he stashed some money away for the inevitable bad year/s. Now days if someone has a windfall they tend to spend it right away leaving nothing for the eventual bad times..........

Great thought unless you're a small guy who works off lots of special orders....

[Wis. Tom]

100 years ago the Federal Reserve was created, and yes, you could stash money away then. Now, try stashing money away from this govt. regime, and try to get away with it. Tax is not your best friend, and if you make a profit, shame on you as you did not make it, the govt. made it. That's what the govt. says.

[wingnut49b]

I am constantly surprised at the number of shooters that hate socialist policies in the government, but don't embrace capitalism in the marketplace when it hurts their wallet.

Stock up when there is supply available. There isn't right now. So sell. Do both at market pricing. If you choose not to make money in the firearms market, that's fine. I don't either. But let's not criticize the people that do. And you won't stay in the market long if you ignore market forces.