Is it "unethical" for a gun shop to raise prices during a shortage?

There is a line somewhere between shops charging a little more to cover for their trouble getting supply and places like Cheaper Than Dirt trying to sell Colt 30rd aluminum mags for $125 a piece or Beta C mags for $700 a piece. Where exactly that line is depends upon who you ask.
 
Maybe you should rephrase your question to:

"Is it unethical to follow the principles of basic economics and instead ignore the supply and demand curve?"
Click to expand...
His question was legitimate: there is no ethical reason that a dealer MUST raise prices of an item just because they CAN. Obviously they can, assuming they don't care if they alienate their customers and send them to internet ammo sales.

The point is I don't want to hear whining about "support your local gun store" when they are gouging every chance they get.

And FYI: when ammo supplies get tight, our local range stops selling ammo to their regular customers to make sure they have enough ammo for their "walk in rentals" who they gouge for range time, targets, ammo, gun rental etc. It's not unusal to see three guys walk in and rent a range for an hour, rent three guns and buy ammo for them and at the checkout get hit for over $150.

The LGS doesn't care if walk in regulars have any ammo.
 
Last edited:
The local shop I deal with tells me there is more to it than we know.
He buys a lot directly from the manufacturers and they are asking for 15% upfront, no refund if the law sours the deal.
 
The local shop I deal with tells me there is more to it than we know.
Click to expand...
Basic problem is that the government is forcing ammo makers to fill military contracts which eats up their production facilities. They may not know from one month to the next what they can ship in civ ammo.
 
At this point there isn't a firearm or any related item that I need. Having said that I don't have a problem with someone trying to make a profit. Is there a little bit of greed involved? Absolutely! Unethical? Without question.
Click to expand...

Unethical to make a profit?

Since when...capitalism is based on making a profit.

Oh, that is right...we are a socialist country now.
 
Profit isn't a dirty word....

However...

How some of these places are making a larger profit leaves a bad taste that I'll remember if/when things return to normal though.

Not that they'll miss my business that much - it's just a drop in the bucket.
 
It's funny that when there is an oversupply of an item and there are sales and rebates to move those items, nobody cpmplains about that. Let the supply dry up with an increase in prices to follow and everyone screams about how unfair that is.:confused:
 
It is like all the sheep-dips who complain about price gouging of generators after a storm.

Ever wonder why there is not a warehouse full of generators in every state, just waiting for the next storm/earthquake/power-grid-screwup?

Stockpiling all those generators would cost a lot of money. The retailer can't pass that cost on to the customer during normal times, because his competitors do not maintain a huge warehouse, and they don't have that cost. During normal times, customers are super-price-sensitive, and this drives markups down into the 10%-20% range, which just barely covers operating costs.

So when the disaster hits, the prepared retailer can bring in all his carefully stored stock of generators. He is providing a valuable public service. Of course, he has to fully cover the cost of warehousing in this one moment, which means those generators might be 50% to 100% more expensive than the normal everyday price... Oh! But Wait! If he tries to raise prices, he will be flayed in the press, and the local AG will bring charges... so forget it. why bother warehousing generators in preparation for a disaster. Screw it. When the ones on the shelf are gone, they are gone. The public in need will just have to wait for the resupply truck. Too bad.

During the last power outage, I would have paid twice the normal price for a generator. But there were none to be had at any price. Thanks media... thanks Politicians.
 
I don't particularly care how much they gouge, I am set. The prices will return to a more normal range at some point.

If someone pays hundreds of dollars for a brick of .22 LR, then they are certified idiots and can't blame anyone for forcing them to do it. :rolleyes:
 
Simple human nature..BUT, shop around..they still have competition and if you don't absolutely have a need---WAIT.
Now, the other side of the coin..I'm sure some of the folks griping would have no trouble trying to sell a gun they purchased years ago and heavily used for more than they paid for it. Used gun prices (even before the hysteria) have always amazed me. Was at a gun show (private stuff-no dealers) this past weekend and in many cases I saw crusty used stuff with price tags higher than they are new (now) at the LGS.
We all want to fetch the highest prices we can when we sell stuff (and most of us want less government intrusion)--bit hypocritical to want to have limits on your purchase prices but not your selling prices.
 
A comment in another thread got me thinking - is it unethical for a gun shop to raise their prices during an actual shortage?
Click to expand...

When it comes to pricing, I see the ethics card getting played quite a bit by the folks on the consumer side of the issue. When they don't like price increases and feel the reason for the increase isn't warranted, they claim the issue of ethics when they have not other grounds to complain about not being able to buy that which they maybe should have had already.

Unlike the storm analogy, this is not a physical disaster, but like the storm analogy, this is something that folks could have (and many did) plan for. They want other people to store all the necessary good for them (like generators, ammo, or mags) to be ready when they need them at no additional cost instead of forking over the money an incurring the hardship and expense of storing for themselves. So they get caught with their pants down and when nothing illegal is being done, resort to claiming or questioning ethics.

The "shortages" right now are artificial. It isn't like the whole of the orange crop in the US was just killed in a freeze and now there are no oranges left. There is plenty of ammo and guns out there, but in private hands. Ammo and gun companies are running at full speed in most cases, producing as much as they possibly can produce and it is just being purchased by Johnny-come-lately hoarders (aka panic buyers).

We saw this in 93/94 and 2008/2009. There is no reason people should have been caught flat footed in 2012/2013. If it is a question of ethics, then the question should be as to why folks are skating by and not preparing for such a crisis before it happens.

Ethics is most definitely a 2 sided issue.
 
The "increase" in the payroll tax wasn't a "new" tax; it wasn't actually an increase, either, but rather reflected the expiration of a temporary reduction in the payroll tax that was enacted at the end of 2010, as a way to help middle- and lower-class workers in hard times.
Click to expand...

I know about that, I am talking about the new tax, IIRC, it is $63 per person on the payroll to fund Obamacare. Regardless of which one, they have an impact on the gun store owner and these costs have to be recouped through price increases

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/obamacare-pre-existing-condition-fee_n_2273005.html
 
Thanks for the link, BigD -- I'd missed this. According to that article, it's a fee that will be added to to the cost of health plans for both employers and individuals, to offset the cost of covering folks with preexisting conditions (who are now unable to get insurance) -- so not technically a tax, but an increase in insurance premiums: a nice little gift to the big insurance companies, in other words. Sure wouldn't want them to make less money, now would we? :rolleyes:

(And health care is actually a good example of something that should be considered a necessity, and where price-gouging really is unethical... :cool:)
 
We saw this in 93/94 and 2008/2009. There is no reason people should have been caught flat footed in 2012/2013. If it is a question of ethics, then the question should be as to why folks are skating by and not preparing for such a crisis before it happens.
Click to expand...

I lived through both of those, and dammit if I didn't get caught by this one. I had let myself get low on several types of ammo... 9mm and 5.56... which of course are the hardest to find right now.

I was so busy at work I was not paying attention to my supplies. I was down to 250 rounds of 9mm FMJ and 380 rounds of 5.56. I thought that over the Christmas Holidays I would get another 1000 rounds of each. But then the tragedy happened, and now I am stuck....

I use to get 9mm for ~12 per 50... and I would gladly pay twice that today. But I just can't find any.
 
To the OP - NO! In fact, it would be un-American not to sell his guns for what he can get for them.

Ask yourself this - Were you willing to pay twice the going price for an average AK when there were gobs of them, just to keep your LGS in business???
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top