Please do not take my name in vain.

[ET-Ret]

A friend sent me to Cheaper Than Dirt web site to look at pistol ammo prices and I about
passed out. At first I thought it was a joke but I went their and assume they prices are what they want.
My question is could they be charged with price gouging? Be sitting down if you go look.
ET-ret

[TxRVer]

Wow! That's some expensive dirt.

[03Lightningrocks]

I just looked. Two dollars a round for 9mm sounds about right.

[parabelum]

$100 for 50rd box of pmc?
I guess they are banking (pun intended) on whole lots of new gun owners who have no clue what the price should be paying that much. If I can’t find what I’m looking for (at a reasonable price) locally or through online ammo store, I just go to gunbroker. Right now 250rd boxes of Magtech, Fiochi 9mm stuff is going for around $185. Maybe CTD peeps are shopping there and reselling.

[Tex1961]

Unfortunately they have a history of this. They’ve lost a lot of customers over the years because of doing stuff like that.

[chasfm11]

Being a free market guy, I always have mixed emotions about these sorts of situations.

I know that part of the problem with the availability of ammo is that the raw materials have gone scarce for a variety of reasons. Some of it is clearly governments doing it on purpose. Some of the rest was a by-product of the pandemic shut downs. So the price of raw materials may be sky-rocketing. That may not be in the control of either of the makers or sellers of ammo.

The other aspect is that, having lived through the 1970's gas crisis, i know what happens when price controls are applied - only the corrupt can get the product. My parents said that it was the same thing during WWII. There was rationing and controls but the corrupt were the ones who could get things. One could say that in a free fall pricing situation, the rich who can pay the outlandish prices become the corrupt with the product but i don't see it the same way as under rationing. I always have the option, if I have enough money, to pay the price requested.

I also remember that the gas stations who gouged prices in the 1970s were paid back by consumers when the market return. All the ones that I knew who did it, went out of business. The market place can be a powerful consumer tool, too. In the day of mass markets, it is harder, but not impossible, for consumers to extract their revenge on unscrupulous merchants.

Just my $.02 worth.

[flechero]

Unfortunately they have a history of this. They’ve lost a lot of customers over the years because of doing stuff like that.

A long history... sadly many people and gun owners just dismiss it after the crisis and return to them.


Much more sadly are the smaller businesses that don't change their prices during these times and then lose out in good times because they may be 0.50/box higher due to their overhead.

Try to remember those who treat you well now and treat them with your business later.

[LabRat]

A friend sent me to Cheaper Than Dirt web site to look at pistol ammo prices and I about
passed out. At first I thought it was a joke but I went their and assume they prices are what they want.
My question is could they be charged with price gouging? Be sitting down if you go look.
ET-ret

Hey, no condemnation here. Research is research...you need to do it if you want to find out what the market is saying.
I go there too, but only to research. And I have to take a shower after I'm done looking at their offerings.

CTD is just too greasy/slimy for my likes.

LabRat

[ELB]

I’ve always thought cheaper than dirt was expensive even in normal times. But you know, if you need 9 mm ammo and They are the only ones have it in stock, then that’s the price. One could’ve bought 9 mm ammo much cheaper a your ago but chose to buy something else and leave the ammo on the shelf.

When there was a glut of A.R. 15‘s on the market after Trump won in 2016, I didn’t see anybody worrying about the fact that the retailers and the manufactures might’ve been taking a bath, It was just “hey they overproduced, that’s just business, where do I get the best deal. “

[The Annoyed Man]

Unfortunately they have a history of this. They’ve lost a lot of customers over the years because of doing stuff like that.

A long history... sadly many people and gun owners just dismiss it after the crisis and return to them.


Much more sadly are the smaller businesses that don't change their prices during these times and then lose out in good times because they may be 0.50/box higher due to their overhead.

Try to remember those who treat you well now and treat them with your business later.

I sold 400 rounds the day before yesterday of remanufactured .380 90 grain JHP to an elderly couple, for a price of $27.99/50 round bag. At that price, we made a small profit. The problem for a "mom and pop" store like where I work isn’t one of making money on the ammo we sell; the problem is availability to US of the components we buy, out which we have the ammo assembled for us.

Two weeks ago, we got in 5000 rounds of 9mm we had made for us. It was gone in a couple of days. Last week, we got in another 2500 rounds. It was gone in a day. I THINK I heard one of the owners mention that we’re getting another 4000 rounds in some time next week, but I haven’t verified it for sure. But if we do, I guarantee it’ll be gone in 2-3 days.

We haven’t had any .223 available for at least a couple of weeks now. We’re nearly sold out of .300 Blk. I personally bought the last 160 rounds of 7.62x39 ammo we had left. We have a small amount of 12 gauge birdshot left....like maybe just a few boxes. I have no idea when we’ll be able to restock any of this. It’s getting incredibly difficult for small retailers to maintain an inventory to sell. And to repeat in brief what I’ve covered in greater detail in other posts, there are no lead-smelting plants left in the US. Bullet manufacturers are WAY behind in their production demand. (Two weeks ago, Berry's Bullets told us they weren’t taking any more orders until they got caught up. They were 47 MILLION bullets backordered, with a daily production capacity of ONE million bullets/day. Ergo, they are between a month and a month and a half out from beginning to take new orders again.) The same is true for the manufacture of primers, powder, and cases.

What we have is a severe supply-chain problem, exacerbated by panic-buying by people who are desperate not to be left out in the cold by what they (possibly correctly) perceive to be a looming civil war and/or breakdown of civil order. As it is, the big box stores (Academy, Basspro, etc.) are selling out their stock as quickly as they can get it in. If the current situation continues, at some point even they won’t be able to get ammo, if the large scale manufacturers (Federal, Remington, et al) are no longer able to procure brass, copper, and lead stocks, not to mention powder and primers.

The misnomered Cheaper than Dirt is likely not selling at a high price from new inventory. There’s no way they can get what the big box stores are having trouble getting. However big CTD is, they’re NOT as big as Cabelas, Basspro, Sportsman's Guide, Academy, and other chains like them. If I had to bet money on it, I’d bet that they are selling at rapacious prices from old inventory they accumulated when prices were cheap and availability was easier. They’re selling at rapacious prices because they believe that they won’t ever be able to replace their inventory. The big box stores are still balancing current price against future customer loyalty, in the hope that they can operate profitably today and that the supply chain problem will eventually resolve itself in their favor tomorrow. CTD isn’t taking that bet, which for better or for worse, tells me that they’re not in this for the long haul.

CTD has been ruined by whoever took it over some years ago. The last thing I bought from CTD was some Korean mil-surp M1 carbine magazines about 6 or 7 years ago. The very name "Cheaper than Dirt" has become a bad joke, and has been for years now, long before the current supply problems. I can get dirt for free, all day long from my own back yard.

[mayor]

Unfortunately they have a history of this. They’ve lost a lot of customers over the years because of doing stuff like that.

This. I haven't bought anything from or even visited the Cheaper Than Dirt website since the brick and mortar store on the north side of Fort Worth closed. I bought my only AK style from there way back when and would visit the store on occasion. Their prices on some things were always higher.

I'm not a CTD fan.