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Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

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Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#401

Post by cf141q5325 »

marcosdumay wrote: post #399
cf141q5325 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not just a belief. The ratio is something in the region of 100x. Its also not just a precious metal thing, most markets function that way due to long and short positions. The paper market is always quite a lot larger then the actual one.

> due to long and short positions Those cancel each other. The important number is how it compares to the net amount. I don't think anybody does fractional reserves of commodities.

I dont think that is the case and fractional reserve seems to be the name of the game for some of the ETFs. Would love some numbers regarding the long/shorts if you have them.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#402

Post by dragonwriter »

dukeyukey wrote: post #397
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to sound hyperbolic but I feel once the US Dollar crashes entirely to the degree that it no longer serves as a "default currency" of sorts, that society will have broken down far enough that even the gold will be relatively worthless and the predominant goods of choice will be cans of dog food and beans.

It's possible another power will peacefully take that place, kinda like how the US Dollar usurped the British Pound without a war between those countries.

The pound wasn’t really displaced peacefully (WWII being rather the polar opposite of peace), even though the replacement happened to be from a friendly power.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#403

Post by Symmetry »

mistrial9 wrote: post #327
Symmetry wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe you that the inflation rate for housing or education is at 100%. If you mean that there's been 100% inflation since some point in the past then, well, yes that's true but it's also true of every other good. But when we say that Argentina has 100% inflation it means that the nominal price of goods doubles every year.

> inflation rate for housing or education is at 100%. not per year, but .. there are residential housing listings here in California that have doubled in not very long.. I think the point is, that price increases are not uniform.. and it is related to structural forces of money, as well as markets

It's not uniform. The inflation of housing prices in SF over the last decade has averaged somewhere around 6% leading to a ~100% increase, way higher than the roughly 2% average inflation. But comparing a ~100% increase over a decade to a ~100% increase over a year is very misleading

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#404

Post by dukeyukey »

dragonwriter wrote: post #402
dukeyukey wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible another power will peacefully take that place, kinda like how the US Dollar usurped the British Pound without a war between those countries.

The pound wasn’t really displaced peacefully (WWII being rather the polar opposite of peace), even though the replacement happened to be from a friendly power.

Compared to

> "society will have broken down far enough that even the gold will be relatively worthless and the predominant goods of choice will be cans of dog food and beans.

it absolutely was peaceful, especially in those two countries.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#405

Post by landemva »

ericmay wrote: post #355
olalonde wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. If you want to buy a pad Thai in Thailand, US dollars are probably going to be more widely accepted. On the other hand, if you have savings in an inflating currency, you might want to convert them to a medium that holds value well in the long term, rather than US dollars. That does include S&P500 stocks but those are not bearer instruments and not easily accessible, especially in foreign countries.

Well you can sell the stock and convert it into dollars and then use those. That's something I can do easily today if I wanted regardless of the country I'm in so long as I have the Internet and an ATM. Gold you can't travel with (weight and loss due to theft and also probably actually illegal) and is also not accessible, and Bitcoin you can't buy a coffee with. Other available crypto currencies just do worse jobs th…

> Gold you can't travel with (weight and loss due to theft and also probably actually illegal)

Which country? Last week I travelled on planes in USA and may have carried 35 pounds of silver coin, about a pound of gold coin, and >$10k cash. No problems other than being careful putting bag in overhead bin.

Travelling in/out of countries like Turkey with metal in carry-on has always been easy. One time the screener was curious and wanted to see some coin, but no problem.

Diversified bearer instruments are a prudent way to proceed into the coming government chaos in next ten years.

> Well you can sell the stock and convert it into dollars

How well did that work the entire week after 9/11?

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#406

Post by lotsofpulp »

noduerme wrote: post #295
arcticbull wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I had an hour, I'd like to expound on the significance of Americans buying precious metal at a loss through a giant vertical monopoly. Costco occasionally sells gold below spot if Reddit is to be believed. Most of the time it's right around spot. These 1oz bars were going for $1900 give or take, which is spot give or take. It's fairly common to see a small ~$50 ish premium on small quantities like this, around 2…

Costco's not a monopoly by the current definition, but they do occupy a very cozy spot between wholesale and retail, and they do vertically control everything Kirkland from mayonnaise to roast chicken. We have a strange situation right now, in the US, in which any company with at least one major competitor is considered good for the free market; and it takes a hell of a lot of work to show that those two competitors…

>But they don't actually need to be price-fixing with each other in a classical way.

Because they operate with 2% and 3% profit margins.

How much better do you think the prices can get for buyers?

>they do vertically control everything Kirkland from mayonnaise to roast chicken.

No, they do not. They hire other businesses to make everything that is branded Kirkland. They do not own any factories or poultry farms.

If anything, Costco spreads horizontally. They sell groceries, car tires and batteries, medicines (pharmacy), clothing, electronics, etc.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#407

Post by lotsofpulp »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #394
noduerme wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for reading what I was actually saying. Yes; flocking behavior is sufficient to explain how two or three supposed competitors can simulate a free market while profiting from monopolistic behavior. And it's also a fantastically nifty adaptation to allow any one entity to skirt the legislative hammer.

Cronie Capitalism does help as well. When the gov puts it thumb on the scale and clears a clear-enough path, only a fool wouldn't follow the path of least resistance.

Suppose the government did put its thumb on the scale here, how would it impact consumers? Will they now be able to shop for lower prices at a business that earns 1% profit margin or less instead of the 2.6% profit margin that Costco has managed to climb to?

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#408

Post by lotsofpulp »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #261
addicted wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the vast majority of gold being purchased at Costco is by Indian and Chinese immigrants who buy gold culturally and not as a response to global financial events and movements.

Why do Indian and chinese buy "gold culturally"? Would it be the same reasons african americans rejected the covid shots in greater numbers than the rest of the US population? Maybe they perceive something "culturally" , or maybe something historically....which has not been forgotten?

The Indians and Chinese buying gold are most likely much older and not as well educated or trusting of brokerage accounts and ETFs.

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#409

Post by maerF0x0 »

icepat wrote: post #301
uptown wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would you sell the bullion to to cash out?

Somehow when I was about 13 I ended up buying about 2k worth of silver in various places when spot was about $15 USD. One place was even an antique coin shop in my hometown. When spot went up to $20 a bit later, the same vendor bought it all off me at market price. Precious metals are a strangely easy thing to liquidate. One of the strangest financial anecdotes of my life. To this day I wonder what the vendor thought…

They must charge a spread or fees?

Re: Costco gold bars are selling out within hours

#410

Post by ericmay »

landemva wrote: post #405
ericmay wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well you can sell the stock and convert it into dollars and then use those. That's something I can do easily today if I wanted regardless of the country I'm in so long as I have the Internet and an ATM. Gold you can't travel with (weight and loss due to theft and also probably actually illegal) and is also not accessible, and Bitcoin you can't buy a coffee with. Other available crypto currencies just do worse jobs th…

> Gold you can't travel with (weight and loss due to theft and also probably actually illegal) Which country? Last week I travelled on planes in USA and may have carried 35 pounds of silver coin, about a pound of gold coin, and >$10k cash. No problems other than being careful putting bag in overhead bin. Travelling in/out of countries like Turkey with metal in carry-on has always been easy. One time the screener was…

Yea I read the Sovereign Citizen too
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