Manufactured "shortage" by the manufacturers.. So about that "shortage"

[TTSX]

Guns and gadgets is 100% click bait shill BS. Will not watch his crap.

 

[Alexx1401]

Or maybe they have a limited number of machines so make say a years worth of a certain kind of ammo then switch the machine over to whatever is next, wash rinse and repeat.

That is common in manufacturing. What most who have never worked in the business often don't get. They pay taxes on all equipment. Even after its paid for (which is VERY pricey often) they still keep paying to have it. They can't have it sitting unused. When there is a panic rush they can't just run out and buy more machines and hire more people to run them. When they caught up the sales would stop, machines would sit, people laid off. It gets VERY expensive to lay the workers off. The people who refuse to hear this are always the ones who have lived through panic shortages and when shelves fill back up refuse to learn from the past. So when next one comes along and they have none they have to find some "bad guy" to blame.

 

[Flopsweat]

Guns and gadgets is 100% click bait shill BS. Will not watch his crap.

He used to look slightly drunk for every video.

 

[monks]

That is common in manufacturing. What most who have never worked in the business often don't get. They pay taxes on all equipment. Even after its paid for (which is VERY pricey often) they still keep paying to have it. They can't have it sitting unused. When there is a panic rush they can't just run out and buy more machines and hire more people to run them. When they caught up the sales would stop, machines would sit, people laid off. It gets VERY expensive to lay the workers off. The people who refuse to hear this are always the ones who have lived through panic shortages and when shelves fill back up refuse to learn from the past. So when next one comes along and they have none they have to find some "bad guy" to blame.

Not to mention when the end of the year rolls around they are also taxed on the product they have stored. I think they are more likely running a line until they have excess and then moving to load another round until they fill those orders and have excess, etc, etc, etc.....The market has definitely been very volatile for the last decade plus so the suppliers have to be very careful if they don't want to lose their shirts in the deal. There are still shortages of some items and a glut of others. I finally got some large pistol primers the other day after waiting forever. I paid a high price (a mix of inflation and demand) but I'm good to go for a few years worth of reloading. I did the same with blue dot a year or so ago. With the fluctuation of product availability I've just learned to adjust my purchasing. I buy when it's available and when its available I buy A LOT. I also watch prices on the stuff that is available, keeping track of the price per round in my phone so when I see a deal I can snatch it up! That doesn't just go for ammo, how many are caught with their pants down in a magazine ban situation? How many times will it take to learn? I payed attention in 94 when I was young.

 

[Xmark1]

There was a recent spike in ammo prices, I think due to the outbreak of war in the middle east, but I have not seen the shelves at retail running low on ammo or components.

Not like the last couple panic buying episodes.

I don't think people have the extra money this time around to buy a bunch of ammo. They are busy trying to figure out how to fill their gas tanks, etc.

As far as commercial stockpiling goes, business 101 dictates that is a recipe for bankruptcy.

 

[OldBroad44]

Not to mention when the end of the year rolls around they are also taxed on the product they have stored. I think they are more likely running a line until they have excess and then moving to load another round until they fill those orders and have excess, etc, etc, etc.....The market has definitely been very volatile for the last decade plus so the suppliers have to be very careful if they don't want to lose their shirts in the deal. There are still shortages of some items and a glut of others. I finally got some large pistol primers the other day after waiting forever. I paid a high price (a mix of inflation and demand) but I'm good to go for a few years worth of reloading. I did the same with blue dot a year or so ago. With the fluctuation of product availability I've just learned to adjust my purchasing. I buy when it's available and when its available I buy A LOT. I also watch prices on the stuff that is available, keeping track of the price per round in my phone so when I see a deal I can snatch it up! That doesn't just go for ammo, how many are caught with their pants down in a magazine ban situation? How many times will it take to learn? I payed attention in 94 when I was young.

Yes. These days manufacturers have to pay stiff "inventory taxes" on any product they have unsold. These got added to the US tax code a few decades back. Some time before 1990, as they were totally transforming the book publishing industry at that time when I was writing my first book. Up until then, book publishers tended to order optimistic amounts of first print runs for books, and would hold them in inventory and sell them over a period of a few years if necessary. Afterwards most book publishers would order smaller first print runs. And most book publishers would dump a book into the remainder market if it was not selling well within two years. Usually the only books that sell well within two years are books by established authors, books by someone already famous, and/or books that fit into a well-known genre/stereotype. It became very difficult for new authors to break in. It became especially difficult for a one-of-a-kind book to survive long enough for its potential audience to even find out it existed. And by then the publisher had dumped it on the remainder market, so the author got no royalties. My first book was one-of-a-kind. The publisher dumped it on the remainder market almost before it was published. And without giving me the option of buying the remainders, in spite of my writing that into the contract. @#$%! In my case, my book developed a following slowly over a period of a decade until publishers started approaching me about doing a reprint and/or a second edition. Which is what happened.

I very much doubt ammo manufacturers are storing warehouses of ammo to manipulate the ammo market. Warehouse space isn't cheap, and ammo warehouse space must be more expensive than most. In fact, the inventory taxes are one of the reasons for just-in-time manufacturing. I think before inventory taxes most manufacturers of most things tried to keep everything in stock. They could afford larger runs because the cost of producing inventory was deducted from their tax bill and inventory wasn't counted as an asset. And now they are mostly willing to let most specific types run out unless they are the most popular lines, because its too expensive to pay taxes on much inventory.

 

[Flopsweat]

Yes. These days manufacturers have to pay stiff "inventory taxes" on any product they have unsold. These got added to the US tax code a few decades back. Some time before 1990, as they were totally transforming the book publishing industry at that time when I was writing my first book. Up until then, book publishers tended to order optimistic amounts of first print runs for books, and would hold them in inventory and sell them over a period of a few years if necessary. Afterwards most book publishers would order smaller first print runs. And most book publishers would dump a book into the remainder market if it was not selling well within two years. Usually the only books that sell well within two years are books by established authors, books by someone already famous, and/or books that fit into a well-known genre/stereotype. It became very difficult for new authors to break in. It became especially difficult for a one-of-a-kind book to survive long enough for its potential audience to even find out it existed. And by then the publisher had dumped it on the remainder market, so the author got no royalties. My first book was one-of-a-kind. The publisher dumped it on the remainder market almost before it was published. And without giving me the option of buying the remainders, in spite of my writing that into the contract. @#$%! In my case, my book developed a following slowly over a period of a decade until publishers started approaching me about doing a reprint and/or a second edition. Which is what happened.

I very much doubt ammo manufacturers are storing warehouses of ammo to manipulate the ammo market. Warehouse space isn't cheap, and ammo warehouse space must be more expensive than most. In fact, the inventory taxes are one of the reasons for just-in-time manufacturing. I think before inventory taxes most manufacturers of most things tried to keep everything in stock. They could afford larger runs because the cost of producing inventory was deducted from their tax bill and inventory wasn't counted as an asset. And now they are mostly willing to let most specific types run out unless they are the most popular lines, because its too expensive to pay taxes on much inventory.

What is the alleged purpose of an inventory tax? If it's to keep people from manipulating prices, that seems a bit extreme.

 

[oremike]

What is the alleged purpose of an inventory tax? If it's to keep people from manipulating prices, that seems a bit extreme.

I think it's all about capitol gains, inventory is worth money, sort of like a savings account. I try to sell down in December so I have not much inventory but order stuff in the last week of the year so that it's paid for this year but not received until the next.

 

[OldBroad44]

What is the alleged purpose of an inventory tax? If it's to keep people from manipulating prices, that seems a bit extreme.

Book publishers used to order enough books in a printing to last several years because the price of the printing of each book depends on amount. For the printer, setting up the press to do the printing is very expensive. So a publisher would order enough books to cover several years of sales, and would store the extra books. If they ordered 50,000 books instead of 10,000, and it took three or four years to sell them, that was fine because the last 40,000 books of the print run cost so little compared with the first 10,000. And there was the advantage that if the book's demand suddenly takes off, there are books available to sell. If the books demand takes off and the book isn't available, people can lose interest before the book can be reprinted. Printers operate on tight schedules, and print runs for books are usually scheduled months in advance.

The inventory tax is reasonable in theory. Without it, manufacturers could turn their year end profits into inventory, write off the costs of production of that inventory, but not have to in any way count as profit the cash that inventory represents. The devil is in the details.

In book publishing, the inventory tax tended to quash stuff that probably was going to take a while to catch on. That included probably a large fraction of the real innovation. New authors. Books by people not already famous because they were a movie star or former president. And the one of a kind stuff. Or the first book that establishes a new field or genre. Tolkien's books took so long to catch on that they were actually out of print and off copyright by the time they became popular. They spread through college kids passing around much used copies. Now fantasy mimics of Tolkien is a whole genre. Likewise for the Harry Potter books. J. K. Rowling ran up a lengthy string of publishers who rejected her before she found a publisher. They were children's books that included good and genuine evil. Life was not fair. Harry Potter was in every way better than his cousin, but was treated like cr@p by his adopted parents and his cousin, a lazy fat self centered mean bully could do no wrong in the eyes of his parents. Even after Harry finds out he is a wizard and gets to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry some of the teachers were mean. Some were unfair. And some were genuinely evil. And some of the kids are evil. And some beloved mentors arent what they seem or are but can make horrible mistakes. Worst of all for a children's book, death was real. And some of the beloved characters died. Basically, JKR broke all the conventions with respect to children's books.

JK Rowling gave the most entertaining and insightful commencement speech I've ever heard. One I've listened to repeatedly. Its upon receiving an honorary degree at Harvard. Its on failure. She had written the first two entire Harry Potter books and was struggling as a single mom with lousy or stressful jobs and still writing when a British publisher took her on. She didn't have enough to buy her own place to live and be half way comfortable until Scholastic bought the American rights to Harry Potter.

 

[Flopsweat]

Book publishers used to order enough books in a printing to last several years because the price of the printing of each book depends on amount. For the printer, setting up the press to do the printing is very expensive. So a publisher would order enough books to cover several years of sales, and would store the extra books. If they ordered 50,000 books instead of 10,000, and it took three or four years to sell them, that was fine because the last 40,000 books of the print run cost so little compared with the first 10,000. And there was the advantage that if the book's demand suddenly takes off, there are books available to sell. If the books demand takes off and the book isn't available, people can lose interest before the book can be reprinted. Printers operate on tight schedules, and print runs for books are usually scheduled months in advance.

The inventory tax is reasonable in theory. Without it, manufacturers could turn their year end profits into inventory, write off the costs of production of that inventory, but not have to in any way count as profit the cash that inventory represents. The devil is in the details.

In book publishing, the inventory tax tended to quash stuff that probably was going to take a while to catch on. That included probably a large fraction of the real innovation. New authors. Books by people not already famous because they were a movie star or former president. And the one of a kind stuff. Or the first book that establishes a new field or genre. Tolkien's books took so long to catch on that they were actually out of print and off copyright by the time they became popular. They spread through college kids passing around much used copies. Now fantasy mimics of Tolkien is a whole genre. Likewise for the Harry Potter books. J. K. Rowling ran up a lengthy string of publishers who rejected her before she found a publisher. They were children's books that included good and genuine evil. Life was not fair. Harry Potter was in every way better than his cousin, but was treated like cr@p by his adopted parents and his cousin, a lazy fat self centered mean bully could do no wrong in the eyes of his parents. Even after Harry finds out he is a wizard and gets to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry some of the teachers were mean. Some were unfair. And some were genuinely evil. And some of the kids are evil. And some beloved mentors arent what they seem or are but can make horrible mistakes. Worst of all for a children's book, death was real. And some of the beloved characters died. Basically, JKR broke all the conventions with respect to children's books.

Thanks. Isn't that just a one-year gain? From then on, they have to pay taxes on the profit from the "extra" books the next year/years. And if they don't profit on them, they've wasted money. The devil must be in the details.

 

[Alexx1401]

There was a recent spike in ammo prices, I think due to the outbreak of war in the middle east, but I have not seen the shelves at retail running low on

Recent spike in ammo?? Really? It is amazing how many seem to only notice the price of ammo. There has been a spike in EVERYTHING. Its called print money by the boatload to give away. You can only do that for so long before you get a massive wave of inflation. Media keeps pretending its not happening to protect the admin but how anyone who has to buy anything can miss this???
The "unrest" is causing a LOT of buying now at least here and I can't believe we are some outlier where I am. Last gun I bought store was BUSY both times going in to paper and going back to pick up. All those guns are going to need to be fed.

 

[OldBroad44]

Right. And the inflation rate is much higher than the government claims. In addition, shipping has gone way up, increasing the prices above and beyond what has happened because of the loss in value of the dollar.

Don't figure on putting your money into some other currency, either. Every other country with a major currency has done stuff more stupid with their currency than ours has.

 

[Flopsweat]

Right. And the inflation rate is much higher than the government claims. In addition, shipping has gone way up, increasing the prices above and beyond what has happened because of the loss in value of the dollar.

Don't figure on putting your money into some other currency, either. Every other country with a major currency has done stuff more stupid with their currency than ours has.

The price of oil seems to affect the economy more than anything but Democrats. Who of course are constantly driving up the cost of oil.

 

[Provincial]

I bought bricks of CCI .22LR Standard Velocity in Mid-October for the same price I paid not long after the Newtown shooting. Adjusted for inflation (using an online calculator, probably based on government numbers) each brick would have cost about $10.00 more than what I paid, so I did get the ammo for less, when accounting for inflation.

Since then, the cost of a brick has gone up by $10.00, so it is now exactly adjusted for inflation!

 

[Provincial]

Thanks. Isn't that just a one-year gain? From then on, they have to pay taxes on the profit from the "extra" books the next year/years. And if they don't profit on them, they've wasted money. The devil must be in the details.

The inventory tax is form of property tax. For individuals, property tax applies to real property, and not cars, boats, clothes, jewelry, and other "personal property" mostly because real property is the largest asset individuals own, and it is easy to track.

Businesses also have to pay taxes on "personal property" in the form of equipment and inventory. The reasoning for this is that these items are used to produce income, and the Government deserves it's "cut." Never mind that the Government also collects tax on the income ("profits") of the business.

The inventory tax is a "wealth" tax, meaning that it is taxing the value of a material item owned by the business. If the item is held in inventory beyond the end of the current tax year, it is taxed again in the next tax year. If held for a fairly long time, the tax will exceed any profit from the eventual sale. This is why producers dump inventory, such as publishers selling into the "remainder" market.

It is misleading to say that the Inventory Tax is paid by the business. In reality, the business has to pass the cost on to the consumer, or eventually go broke. So this is yet another hidden tax on consumption. a way for Government to take money out of consumer's pocket without them realizing it.

 

[Provincial]

Book publishers used to order enough books in a printing to last several years because the price of the printing of each book depends on amount. For the printer, setting up the press to do the printing is very expensive. So a publisher would order enough books to cover several years of sales, and would store the extra books. If they ordered 50,000 books instead of 10,000, and it took three or four years to sell them, that was fine because the last 40,000 books of the print run cost so little compared with the first 10,000. And there was the advantage that if the book's demand suddenly takes off, there are books available to sell. If the books demand takes off and the book isn't available, people can lose interest before the book can be reprinted. Printers operate on tight schedules, and print runs for books are usually scheduled months in advance.

The inventory tax is reasonable in theory. Without it, manufacturers could turn their year end profits into inventory, write off the costs of production of that inventory, but not have to in any way count as profit the cash that inventory represents. The devil is in the details.

In book publishing, the inventory tax tended to quash stuff that probably was going to take a while to catch on. That included probably a large fraction of the real innovation. New authors. Books by people not already famous because they were a movie star or former president. And the one of a kind stuff. Or the first book that establishes a new field or genre. Tolkien's books took so long to catch on that they were actually out of print and off copyright by the time they became popular. They spread through college kids passing around much used copies. Now fantasy mimics of Tolkien is a whole genre. Likewise for the Harry Potter books. J. K. Rowling ran up a lengthy string of publishers who rejected her before she found a publisher. They were children's books that included good and genuine evil. Life was not fair. Harry Potter was in every way better than his cousin, but was treated like cr@p by his adopted parents and his cousin, a lazy fat self centered mean bully could do no wrong in the eyes of his parents. Even after Harry finds out he is a wizard and gets to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry some of the teachers were mean. Some were unfair. And some were genuinely evil. And some of the kids are evil. And some beloved mentors arent what they seem or are but can make horrible mistakes. Worst of all for a children's book, death was real. And some of the beloved characters died. Basically, JKR broke all the conventions with respect to children's books.

JK Rowling gave the most entertaining and insightful commencement speech I've ever heard. One I've listened to repeatedly. Its upon receiving an honorary degree at Harvard. Its on failure. She had written the first two entire Harry Potter books and was struggling as a single mom with lousy or stressful jobs and still writing when a British publisher took her on. She didn't have enough to buy her own place to live and be half way comfortable until Scholastic bought the American rights to Harry Potter.

I had the honor to attend the 2023 Commencement Ceremony of Oregon State University. The guest speaker was OSU graduate Dr. Charity A. Dean, whose story of overcoming adversity is a tribute to the dedication of our Nation to the principle of opportunity. If there is a video of her speech, I would like to know, because it needs to be shown to every young person in the United States.

 

[arakboss]

Easy fix for buyers is to not buy ammo at prices you don't like. If the "shortage" is manufactured by a group of ammo supplier conspirators, it will teach them a lesson.

 

[OldBroad44]

I had the honor to attend the 2023 Commencement Ceremony of Oregon State University. The guest speaker was OSU graduate Dr. Charity A. Dean, whose story of overcoming adversity is a tribute to the dedication of our Nation to the principle of opportunity. If there is a video of her speech, I would like to know, because it needs to be shown to every young person in the United States.

Here you go. This is the entire OSU commencement. Dean is presented with an honorary degree, then given an intro. Her speech starts at 27.36 in the English Recording section.

Ceremony Archive | Commencement

commencement.oregonstate.edu

 

[Provincial]

Here you go. This is the entire OSU commencement. Dean is presented with an honorary degree, then given an intro. Her speech starts at 27.36 in the English Recording section.

Ceremony Archive | Commencement

commencement.oregonstate.edu

Thanks!

Were you there?

 

[OldBroad44]

The inventory tax is form of property tax. For individuals, property tax applies to real property, and not cars, boats, clothes, jewelry, and other "personal property" mostly because real property is the largest asset individuals own, and it is easy to track.

Businesses also have to pay taxes on "personal property" in the form of equipment and inventory. The reasoning for this is that these items are used to produce income, and the Government deserves it's "cut." Never mind that the Government also collects tax on the income ("profits") of the business.

The inventory tax is a "wealth" tax, meaning that it is taxing the value of a material item owned by the business. If the item is held in inventory beyond the end of the current tax year, it is taxed again in the next tax year. If held for a fairly long time, the tax will exceed any profit from the eventual sale. This is why producers dump inventory, such as publishers selling into the "remainder" market.

It is misleading to say that the Inventory Tax is paid by the business. In reality, the business has to pass the cost on to the consumer, or eventually go broke. So this is yet another hidden tax on consumption. a way for Government to take money out of consumer's pocket without them realizing it.

Actually, prices of most kinds of books are not very flexible . And list prices are marked on the books or book covers. So publishers who buy rights to a book and publish it figuring one price cannot raise the price if the book remains in inventory multiple years and they have to pay inventory tax multiple years. Instead they just lose money on the book. Publishers and book sellers may discount the book below marked list price. But customers don't want to pay more than marked list price. Nor can publishers just start out charging more for the book. Most people wont pay enough more fir books to make that possible. Publishing books is a very low profit business. So basically the publishers can't afford to buy books that are going to take more time to catch on. The inventory tax changed the entire sociology of the field.