Powder Valley price hike

[5MilesBack]

I ordered powder on the 9th. Two days later I get a "free shipping" email and called to to see if I could apply it to that order.......nope. They said it was already processed and shipping. Early on the 12th I got a ship notice from UPS. As of today it still just shows "label created". Could have saved $30.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Yeah with the hazmat fee I wish they'd allow a few bricks of a given major brand. I mean I get the idea of spreading out the opportunity and hold back the scalpers but they also need to realize they're mail order.

On that note, they are now listing Fiocchi bricks with an allowance of 2 so you can get 3000 primers in one order going that route. I'm not jumping on it at this time, no experience with them, but figured I'd mention it.

 

[newbie_123]

FYI They also have boxes of 5000 of the Unis Ginex large rifle primers with a limit of one.

I don’t personally have experience with this brand but I know some guys who have done fine the ginex pistol primers

 

[jfk69]

I ordered powder on the 9th. Two days later I get a "free shipping" email and called to to see if I could apply it to that order.......nope. They said it was already processed and shipping. Early on the 12th I got a ship notice from UPS. As of today it still just shows "label created". Could have saved $30.

Funny. I ordered the same day as you and got the same bullshit.

 

[wind gypsy]

Probably need to go back to the box store and see if they still have 8#ers of h4350 for $320 on the shelf..

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Probably need to go back to the box store and see if they still have 8#ers of h4350 for $320 on the shelf..

If they have it and you use that powder I'd absolutely grab it, best price I've heard of in a while.

 

[wind gypsy]

If they have it and you use that powder I'd absolutely grab it, best price I've heard of in a while.

I do use it a lot but i've already got quite a few years worth of inventory and I'm still burning H4350 that I paid $22/lb for almost a decade ago. I guess that is a fair sign that stocking up doesn't hurt!

Would be a lot cooler if they had varget, xbr, or H4895 at that price!

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I do use it a lot but i've already got quite a few years worth of inventory and I'm still burning H4350 that I paid $22/lb for almost a decade ago. I guess that is a fair sign that stocking up doesn't hurt!

I stock for a few years too, but seems like prices keep on climbing so doesn't hurt if you got the bank roll and we're not talking decades of stockpile. Always stings seeing the price tags on something older in my inventory...

 

[eoperator]

Probably need to go back to the box store and see if they still have 8#ers of h4350 for $320 on the shelf..

Lgs had a pile of retumbo on the shelf today $65/lb

 

[FredIII]

Seems a shortage of nitrocellulose is going to cause problems for supply.

 

[ddowning]

View attachment 656333

Does anyone know what is causing this??? The real reason, not speculation. Seems maybe we should start a coop and order directly from adi.
Edit to add: It looks like I will be a permanent convert to VV unless their pricing follows Hodgdon. I hope they have the production capacity to force hodgdon out of the clouds. I just remembered that Hodgdon has acquired nearly every reloading powder company except VV. I wonder if the price hike is related to a near monopoly or actual production costs. If actual cost, how does VV do it?

 

[Ganderzone]

Free hazmat today, use code fho126 . Made me feel a little better pulling the trigger on 8# of Arcomp.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Does anyone know what is causing this??? The real reason, not speculation.

vista outdoors conglomerate put out a press release that global demand for powder would be driving up prices. There are multiple wars going on right now.

 

[Ganderzone]

I believe there is some truth to what pods8 said, similar things happened in early 2000's during gwot. I also know that during election years business's react on speculation and unfortunately this has some effect as well. I do not believe there is one single factor, more like multiples combined. Add in inflation of the dollar with the previous two statements and I think you have a pretty good formula for the problem. It sucks and with the direction it's going the shooting sport is definitely fading away, people just can't afford to shoot like they use to....

 

[FredIII]

Does anyone know what is causing this??? The real reason, not speculation. Seems maybe we should start a coop and order directly from adi.
Edit to add: It looks like I will be a permanent convert to VV unless their pricing follows Hodgdon. I hope they have the production capacity to force hodgdon out of the clouds. I just remembered that Hodgdon has acquired nearly every reloading powder company except VV. I wonder if the price hike is related to a near monopoly or actual production costs. If actual cost, how does VV do it?

You realize Hodgdon just bottle powder. They bought other brands that did the same. The shortage of nitrocellulose is the problem. Dont hold your breath that VV is going to save us from inflation of price.
Think saintmarks! They sell to Hodgson and it's bottled with a name you recognize, that's not it's birth name example h110 /win296 same powder only difference was lots and the name. I have 45# cans of SM 846 which is basically blc2 just a different name same maker blaaaa blaaaa blaaaa.
Point is get ready for the ass rape powder prices.

 

[ddowning]

You realize Hodgdon just bottle powder. They bought other brands that did the same. The shortage of nitrocellulose is the problem. Dont hold your breath that VV is going to save us from inflation of price.
Think saintmarks! They sell to Hodgson and it's bottled with a name you recognize, that's not it's birth name example h110 /win296 same powder only difference was lots and the name. I have 45# cans of SM 846 which is basically blc2 just a different name same maker blaaaa blaaaa blaaaa.
Point is get ready for the ass rape powder prices.

Yes, I understand that hodgdon makes zero powders. They are the supplier to the reloading consumer. If I had the $$$ to go directly to the powder makers I would. I'm sure I would also have to get around some contractual business arrangement that hodgdon has with them. The real question is this. We are at least 4th in line when we buy powder. That mean we are paying 4 profit margins along the way. Is one excruciatingly high? We don't know.
I do know of another popular shooting product that cost approximately $350 to manufacture. Add on marketing expense, projected warranty cost, profit, etc. Dealer cost was around $1500. Retail price (actual, MAP) was $2499. That's a significant gross margin. It's still hard to tell if the actual net profit is 200% or 2% without more info.

The other problem we have is the conglomerates. There is very little competition. Vista and feradyne have bought up what were dozens of smaller companies 20 or 30 years ago. It stops being about the brand and pride. Hell, they have eliminated several brands. It is all about $$$$. What happens to customer service and product development when it is all about $$$. If someone comes up with something revolutionary they just buy it up and control the tech. Then they don't have to compete against it over the long term. Instead of building it out as a great product, they figure out how to maximize profit. We then end up with a consumer market where good, better, best=junk, barely serviceable, and serviceable. We can clearly see it in the hunting industry in the parts where there are still a bunch of small companies competing vs the parts where the large conglomerates bought up all of the competing small companies.

This country needs some regulation. We are very close to a situation where Vanguard owns the controlling interest in everything. I'm all for capitalism, but we need real capitalism, not chrony capitalism where we tax the hell out of the middle class and hand it to big business as special interest government grants.

 

[Ddubs20]

They'll keep raising prices and taking our money as long as we let them. I've stopped buying Vista outdoors products since they sold to a foreign company.