Thursday, March 21, 2013

Cheaper Than (Gold Bearing) Dirt?

I was doing my morning Internet ammo scavenger hunt when I came across this gem:


Cheaper Than Dirt earned the ire of many shooters when they pulled online gun sales and raised their prices manyfold in the wake of the Newtown shooting. I bid them farewell based on their new ammo pricing structure alone. However, I am a firm believer in capitalism, so it's their right to sell for what they want, and for what they can get.

People are free to spend their money as they wish. It's that "can get" part of the equation that really irks me. I'm still buying ammo, and I spend a lot of time looking for it. However, I refuse to pay such exorbitant prices. And I hold those who do partially responsible for the ridiculous prices. $1.09 per round for 9mm target ammo is pushing the envelope, even in today's market, in my opinion. I've long held that if people would stop buying products promoted via spam email, the spammers would stop sending it. The same thing applies here.

I'm going to check back on this link in the coming days. I really hope I don't see a sold out message anytime soon. (And yes, with some diligence, you can still buy 9mm ammo for less than $20 for a box of 50.)

UPDATE: In the 24 hours since I wrote this post, Cheaper Than Dirt has RAISED the price by $5.00, to $59.59. (New screenshot)

10 comments:

  1. If you help me out with components and brass scavenging, I'll press you ammo.

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  2. I bet that $1.09 per round of 9mm doesn't include shipping either.

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  3. I find CTD to be an unscrupulous entity and your assessment is correct, they are worthy of scorn for their conduct. Unfortunately, they’ve spent money on “sponsorships” like Ruger did on the Firearms museum. So their treachery is never discussed by gun rights groups. We should put pressure in the NRA to sever ties with CTD and other groups to publicly renounce them. Getting rid of bad actors will help other business out there trying to make honest money. Not snake oil selling hucksters like CTD.

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    Replies
    1. I've was returning their catalogues with "refused" written on them. I seem to have stopped getting them now. :-)

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  4. And they RAISED the price overnight!

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  5. I have heard, but not confirmed, that CTD actually cancelled orders, jacked up their prices and left those with cancelled orders the choice between paying the jacked up price or going elsewhere.

    They are also sponsoring some of our TV programming. We need to let these shows know that is unacceptable.

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  6. What exactly do you want them to do? If they lower prices, they will be out of stock like everyone else.

    If you don't want to spend the time trying to be at the right website, at the right time, to score some lower priced ammo, then CTD has ammo you can buy right now.

    As another dealer put it, "If they lower pricing to pre-panic levels, I'll buy every bit of it and sell it on my own site."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "If they lower prices, they will be out of stock like everyone else." That would seem to indicate the intent is to not sell it.

      As I said, it's a free market, CTD can charge whatever they want. In a free market, shooters can also refuse to pay it. I agree with you that its your choice, your convenience factor. I'll just add that I've purchased around 10,000 rounds of 9mm and 45ACP this year. I never paid anywhere near what CTD charges. I'm willing to pay slightly more than pre-election prices, but for the majority of my purchases I have not had to. When the market doesn't support the price, the price goes down. I refuse to honor CTD's tactics, especially when they are so out of band from the rest of the world.

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