Pre pandemic I was buying Federal American Eagle and Remington green and white box for $9 per box - and I'd occasionally find it for $8 per box. Those were local Walmart and Academy prices.
That's $0.18 per round at the $9.00 per box prices point.
Walmart took itself out of the game and Academy is $19 per box.
The average inflation rate since then has been around 5.25% with a total price increase of around $16.6 percent, which equates to $10.48 per box and about $0.21 per round.
*That* should be the new normal. And it pretty much is, it just hasn't trickled down to the local store level yet.
And it won't *if enough people are dumb enough to keep buying it at price gouging prices*. It's not inflation keeping it high, it's plain old greed and a *free market* with too many dummies willing to pay way too much.
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Right now you can get 115 gr brass cased ammo from Norma, PMC, S&B, MagTech, and Fiocchi, for around $0.21-$0.22 per round in larger lots and $0.24-0.26 per round in boxes of 50 on line.
Apples to apples Federal AE 115 gr is out there for $0.265 to $0.28 per round in 50 round boxes ($13.25-13.99).
Buying on line means eating some shipping but 5 boxes ships for $11.50 to me from Mid South. That brings the total to $16.29 per box, but still beats the local gouge by $3.70 per box of 50.
However I didn't see that shipping charge increase until I put 20 boxes in the cart, and then it was $13.50 - just $0.29 per round shipped. At 10 boxes it was $0.303 per round.
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My advice, based on:
- the actual math of inflation rather than the myth;
- where the current local price should be;
- where the price currently is on line; and
- the remaining excessive local gouge;
is to buy on line in lots of 500 or so and leave the over priced stuff on the shelf until they figure out their high prices are reducing sales volume and costing them profits.
That's how prices come down in a free market economy. But it takes a fair number of prospective buyers with both brains and discipline.
