I'd sure like to get some 22lr reasonably ... I bought a used 10/22 to build using a Troy t22 sport stock to plink with buddies and can't cause I can't find any ...
"Gougers" and "flippers" provide a valuable service. Any limited resource is going to be distributed in limited ways. You can provide the product at regular pricing, but limit it to one box per customer. That doesn't help the guy who needs 10 boxes right now. And it will still sell very quickly. You can make it regular price, first come, first served. That rewards people whose schedule allows them to be there when the shelves are stocked, or who are just lucky.
I prefer raising prices as the best way to distribute the limited supply. The downside is that it limits those who can't come up with the price, but it allows those who need or want it the most to obtain it. It also destroys speculation, because the price then reflects the real value.
The guys who buy it up and sell it for more provide me with a a valuable service. Because of them, I was recently able to purchase 1000 rounds of ammo I could not find on any retail shelves anywhere. Yet I still needed the ammo. I found it for sale, happily paid the price - the REAL value of the ammo at this moment in time - and we both walked away happy.
Are people who sell their house for 25% more than they paid just a few years later "gouging" just because the market price for houses went up? It's sad for me to see people who love freedom when it's about gun rights, but hate it when it's about economic rights. There's nothing bad going on here at all. There's a shortage, there's a lot of reasons for it, but it is what it is. Live in the world as it is, or cry because it's not the way it used to be or that you think it should be. I'll choose to operate in the world as it is.
Of course, if I DON'T sell it and put it away to increase my I am a hoarder. If I shoot it up I am wasting it. Huh. What an ethical quandary this is.
You know, I used to think that since it's yours you could do whatever you wanted with it including selling it for any price another consenting adult was willing to pay. Thanks to this forum, I now know just how wrong that would be.
Collectivism will sure sneak up on some folks if they ain't watchin'.
So here's the ethical conundrum for y'all out there. I managed to get a case (5k) of a medium-quality .22lr yesterday from an online source at the normal retail price. Before the inevitable screams from those who think a box of 50 is a lot, BEFORE the shortage I bought a case of 5k every 3-4 months as I could afford it and through rotation had managed to put back my comfortable stock such that I haven't slowed my shooting (50-100 rounds a week) in the last year and a half, and because I HAVEN'T bought much .22lr (I've bought 600 rounds of higher end stuff I use for target and hunting) in the last 19 months, that ammo I would have bought is available in the general supply. Additionally, I have given away some .22lr to friends, and sold some for it's current retail price to acquaintances, so my foresight in putting some away when it was plentiful has increased the supply during the shortage by my small amount.
Of this case, 1k is spoken for for family who will get it at what I paid for it. I'd have no problem keeping the remaining 4k because I will shoot it (actually it goes into stock and I will shoot my oldest stuff first) and it represents about 6 months. I COULD sell some of it to people I know at a hair more than I paid for it to account for my troubles, or I COULD sell some here at 25-50% markup over what it cost me to get to my door because if I just offered it at what I paid for it, some other flipper (see, I include myself in that!) would just buy it and I'd see it advertised a week later for double what I sold it for.
Nothing wrong with some entrepreneur making a buck off it. Oh, except that if someone is going to make a profit off it I'd rather it be me. If I could somehow be assured that the person I was selling it to was a new shooter who intended to go out and shoot it but was having trouble getting any I'd be inclined to sell it for less, but given that everyone has a sob story when they want something from you and there are folks out there who would pimp out their mothers to make or save a buck, I am not inclined to go that route.
Of course, if I DON'T sell it and put it away to increase my I am a hoarder. If I shoot it up I am wasting it. Huh. What an ethical quandary this is.
No ethical quandary at all. You have no moral or ethical obligation to help the market along.
Yep, whereas the hoarders who have had ammo for years could be INCREASING supply. Instead, the complainers further hurt supply. I know I'm sitting on mine.I know, I was being tongue-in-cheek.
But on the flip side, whereas I might have been more inclined to let some go at a little profit for my troubles, the few bucks I might make isn't worth having to listen to the complainers.
So many different descriptors! Can i be a rationer?
Wow, 32 pages let it die.
I have been reading INGO posts for a year before I signed up. What a great forum, there is a lot if good info and people here.
Only three are necessary if you're participating in the market. Producer. Distributor. Consumer.
Sounds like he's disgusted that the gougers are creating an artificial shortage just to benefit from it.You're disgusted that supply and demand determines prices?
I think that's your problem.
In what freaking world does the fact that a year ago supply and demand was at a certain level have a damn thing to do with what it is now? In an economic sense. I'd love to hear you explain this in simple economic terms.
If I want to buy some CCI Velocitor at double retail (which I am more than willing to pay because I want it, PM me if you have some) who are you to tell me that INGO shouldn't allow me to?
Are the buyers scum too? Honest question.