What the Great Ammunition Shortage Says About Inflation

[Pyromancer]

In fairness everyone elses 12G went up, too. Ammo that was easily $60 a flat is now $90-$100. So even Walmart is going to go up with that kind of a spike in the base cost of the
ammo. Although usually those 100rd bricks of 12G they sell are cheap but who knows. A lot of it is semi-crap, too. (depending on load etc).

The other day someone asked about Mini Mags. Walmart used to be like $8.99 or something. Now they're up to like 10.56 or something I think. TSUSA is selling right around $11 w/prime.

The 100 rd bricks of 12 gauge are $30+ now. They used to be about $23+ at Walmart i think.

I personally think the trump slump and walmart getting out of the ammo game (mostly), helped keep prices down and availability up. At least for the first 3-6 months of the covid panic. Excess warehouse supply and manufacturers shitting themselves on losing that yuuuge walmart contract satisfied the initial demand surge. Once the warehouses/walmart order got absorbed though it was game on.

 

[drgrant]

The derp is strong with you. The conversation is about inflation and pricing in the market. Many things put pressure on pricing, inflation is one of them, availability is another of many. Any major retailer can have an effect, the biggest (by nearly double) will have a profound effect - regardless of your small minded "but I couldn't find any so they dont matter" mindset.

Lol there is no derp, I just dont think WalMart has the pressure you think they do. Particularly not when the market is in a period of high
demand and supplies are thin.

Now, when the channel is fat with product, I would actually be pretty inclined to agree with you. Walmart is likely going to directly influence pricing at that
point, because the product exists and the consumer can actually choose walmart vs (whoever) and in turn influence the pricing in a visible way.

 

[EJFudd]

I personally think the trump slump and walmart getting out of the ammo game (mostly), helped keep prices down and availability up. At least for the first 3-6 months of the covid panic. Excess warehouse supply and manufacturers shitting themselves on losing that yuuuge walmart contract satisfied the initial demand surge. Once the warehouses/walmart order got absorbed though it was game on.

COVID first became a 'thing' in the USA in late-January 2020. I would put the Great Ammo Crisis of 2020/2021/2022? as starting in late-March/early-April of 2020 (about two months in), although other folks no doubt see it starting earlier or later depending on their own personal experience. By April, I was in trouble (availability & price-wise) on a couple "oddball" calibers for revolvers I had just recently purchased.

As it turned out, the Great Walmart Evil Ammo Sell-Off sale in mid-December 2019 was quite a plus for me. My only regret is that I didn't see COVID coming at us in the way it did or I would have taken mucho greater advantage of that sale. The fact that I left so much on the table just shows that I am not very good at seeing the future.

 

[Rate_of_Twist]

Lol there is no derp, I just dont think WalMart has the pressure you think they do. Particularly not when the market is in a period of high
demand and supplies are thin.

Now, when the channel is fat with product, I would actually be pretty inclined to agree with you. Walmart is likely going to directly influence pricing at that
point, because the product exists and the consumer can actually choose walmart vs (whoever) and in turn influence the pricing in a visible way.

Awesome, a succinct reply free of emojis.

At no point was the argument ever when supply is at its worst, period. The point being made was a major retailer the size of walmart would absolutely serve as a faster return to normal in both price and supply given the scale of the operation. What normal looks like on the other side remains to be seen, but left with just poorly run LGS and distributors a return that that normal will be slower, more regionally effected, and more chaotic.

 

[Tartakovsky]

Supply has returned for most calibers and yet prices are higher now than in April of 2020 when ammunition was far more scarce.