Unfortunately, $38.95 is probably going to be a typical shop price. I've see the prices a big dealer pays for primers, and they were within $1.00 of the price anyone in a free state could get primers for from one of the big component vendors. I speak in the past tense because the distributors are still generally out of primers. Before the crisis, the going rate was over $23/K for Winchester or Federal. Now, the rate is about $4 more for Wolf (more on them in a bit), and a couple dollars more than that for the mainstream brands. The unfortunate bottom line is that $38.95/K probably represents about a 25% profit margin +/-, which is actually on the low side for a gunshop product that sells in the $40 price range (margins on guns tend to be lower).
Many retail products have very tightly controlled distribution channels and you won't get any where near a dealer price list unless you are in the business (just try getting a dealer price list for current production bicycles, Oakley glasses, SureFire lights or Levis) making it easy to get substantial margins. The industry control on dealer pricing for reloading components is pretty much non-existent, which can make things difficult for a shop since the benchmark "good price" everyone uses as a comparison is the shop's cost.
Primers are still tight - they show up from time to time, but if it's a mail order vendor (many of which wont ship to MA), supplies tend to dry up within a day or there is a quantity limit (which means $22.50 hazmat spread across a small quantity of primers).
The one exception is Wolf primers that have become available in quantity through multiple reputable on-line vendors. I've been using Wolf Small Rifle in my 40 S&W (I have always used Small Rifle since I also load for 38 super and prefer a thicker cup) and have had no difficulty with loading them in my 1050 and reliability has been excellent. Price (prior to hazmat and shipping) is in the $25-$28/K range depending on vendor. I believe Wolf primers are the same ones that were being sold under the PMC name, and are the product of the Murom Apparatus Producing Plant (
http://flame.murom.ru). The individual boxes of Wolf primers have typical retail packaging, but the cases of 5 in which these boxes come have complete contact info for Murom, so I am certain they are the manufacturer.
The other issue is price increases. Every time there is a reloading component shortage, products are invariably a bit pricier once the shortage eases. Prior to the first great primer famine (back around 1992), the price of primers was below $20/K. Nobody offered pricing at that level once the shortage eased. As guru Bane mentioned
http://michaelbane.blogspot.com, once we see general availability of product it is going to be at the "new normal". Shortages also push up prices during the shortage and vendors tend not to drop prices after the shortage eases as long as they are still able to move the goods (notice how the bullet vendors did not drop prices when the cost of lead and copper crashes).
In other words, BOHICA.