What the......?"

Bob Mc Alice · Post by **Bob Mc Alice** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:06 pm

Hurry...there is still time to bid on this auction!

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =128745098

When will this insanity end?

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:13 pm

There's a fairly local place that has Varget and nearly every other powder that I asked about. They'll only sell one container of each per person per week. If I didn't have a conscience, I could make myself, and whoever gets all that hazmat money, a bunch of profit.

BlauBear · Post by **BlauBear** » Thu May 14, 2009 12:28 am

People are that scared?! Okay folks, this was all funny at first, but the party is over when the profiteers move in!

Jim T. · Post by **Jim T.** » Thu May 14, 2009 12:27 pm

BlauBear wrote: People are that scared?! Okay folks, this was all funny at first, but the party is over when the profiteers move in!

"Profiteers"? How does that word fit in the context of a free and willing auction??

Now if that bidder had a gun to his head, that would be a different matter. However, we all know that any shot to the head of that bidder would surely be non-lethal!!

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Thu May 14, 2009 12:54 pm

In any situation where there is an abnormally limited supply of a commodity, those who use that situation to profit substantially more than normal are profiteers. In this case, primers/powder are still in limited supply compared to normal and those trying to take advantage of others in this situation are definitely profiteers in my mind. Just last week, I had a guy at the range offer me $75 for the 1lb jug of Varget that I offered to Shakes a couple weeks back. Instead of taking his $75 for what I only paid $27 or so for retail, I just told him what shop I bought it from and that still had some as of a few days earlier. If I had taken his money and made quite a large profit on powder that I probably won't be using until the supply increases again, I would have been a profiteer. I would have been even more of one had I intitiated the deal by putting the jug out on the bench with a $75 price tag on it.

Jim Beckley · Post by **Jim Beckley** » Thu May 14, 2009 4:47 pm

Didn't get it from the horses mouth, but Brunos was supposed to get a shipment in of Varget in 1# cans only and there was 500 of them, don't know if that is fact or fiction. That much for a 8# keg is robbing one without a gun.

Jim T. · Post by **Jim T.** » Thu May 14, 2009 8:52 pm

Thanks for the lesson, Jason.

My veiw on the "supply" situation is this. There is not shortage in the sense that a product is being demanded to then be consumed. In fact, my theory is that the supply/inventory of ammo and components is probably at the highest level in years! I don't think that it is a stretch to assume that most of us are consuming a lot less powder, bullets and primers in comparison to what we consumed just a few years ago. I think this is born out by the attendance at NRA highpower matches last year and is sure to be the norm this year.

The question then is where is all of the loaded ammo, powder, primers and bullets going? I think we have to look no further than our basements and closets? The manufactures are not making any less, in fact, they are going full tilt. We are shooting less. So that leaves us sitting on a s---load of inventory waiting to be consumed in the future. Those without the foresight or patience will breakdown and offer someone what they believe is a "fair" price. I don't think $680 is a "fair" price for an 8lb jug of Varget since I have one and know where I can get (as most of us do) one for a fraction of that price.

So in summation, in this situation I don't tend to dwell on what to call the seller in that auction, but I do know that the buyer is one dumb SOB.

BlauBear · Post by **BlauBear** » Thu May 14, 2009 9:18 pm

Jim T. wrote:
BlauBear wrote: People are that scared?! Okay folks, this was all funny at first, but the party is over when the profiteers move in!
"Profiteers"? How does that word fit in the context of a free and willing auction??

Now if that bidder had a gun to his head, that would be a different matter. However, we all know that any shot to the head of that bidder would surely be non-lethal!!

Gordon Gekko's "Greed is Good" speech (in the movie "Wall Street") was meant as shock theater and not a new moral standard. Profit is right and just, but greed is evil. If that sounds old fashioned, remember that similar excesses in the 1980's had consequences like our current situation, although those were just a warning shot compared to our current problems. I'll happily debate this at length BTB, but let's not hijack this thread with it.

Jim T. · Post by **Jim T.** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:05 am

Not trying to hijack the thread, just answering Bob's 2 questions.

No need to debate.

Facts: The guy posted a starting price of $175, some idiot bid $680. Idiocy reigns over profiteering!

My view is that an auction process (without unreasonable reserves) can never be defined as profiteering.

Was the guy that sold his home in Phoenix at the top a profiteer, or was the guy who bought it and sustained a 50% loss stupid?

End of story.

xpilot · Post by **xpilot** » Sun May 17, 2009 4:42 pm

Ignorance can be cured, stupid is forever.

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