# Has this retail method ever been used?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-retail-method-ever-been-used/703315>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 2, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-retail-method-ever-been-used/703315 "2014-11-02T00:19:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Mrdeals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-retail-method-ever-been-used/703315/61 "2014-11-09T06:17:31Z")

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> [@Bill\_Door](#):
>
> What, out of the back of his pole barn? Does that seem to be a sweet deal even on paper? It seems like a terrible deal on paper, and probably even worse in real life.

If i ended up with a million units of Saran Wrap it really wouldn’t be hard getting rid of them. Of course not at full retail price, but with my network of distributors and “seconds” buyers it would be a matter of a 10 minute phone call to get rid of 10 truckloads…one of my major suppliers just bought 100TL of canned peas from a major cannery and then they called me and asked if i wanted to buy one of the trucks. There is an entire industry that basically is just warehouses passing trucks around, really weird stuff actually if you dig into it.

Of course if this supplier is going to buy all 10TL they will want a good deal, so maybe i would only make $0.03 on each unit, but if this was a nightmare venture i would take a loss just to get it over with.

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-retail-method-ever-been-used/703315/62 "2017-01-14T04:22:34Z")

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> [@ftg](#):
>
> Goldman-Sachs has infamously done this with [Aluminum](http://www.cnbc.com/id/101724273). They (via a recently acquired subsidiary) bought a bunch of Al cheap, and are stockpiling a large chunk of it to drive up prices to sell at a later date.
> 
> The win-win for G-S is that they are also a commodity trading company. So demand changes for their Al tells them in advance how to bet on the market. Of course, that would be wrong so they would never, ever do that.😉
> 
> Saran Wrap? Pffft. Go with fuels, metals, grains, etc.

**[U.S. Seizes $25 Million Worth of Aluminum Linked to Chinese Billionaire](http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-seizes-25-million-worth-of-aluminum-linked-to-chinese-billionaire-1484303409)**  
“14% of global inventory” parked and shuttled

(earlier article: [Giant Aluminum Stockpile Was Shipped From Mexico to Vietnam](http://www.wsj.com/articles/giant-aluminum-stockpile-was-shipped-from-mexico-to-vietnam-1480588228)

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-this-retail-method-ever-been-used/703315/63 "2017-01-14T13:13:19Z")

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It is too bad nobody had the foresight to stockpile Saran Wrap while it was [still actually made with saran](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saran_%28plastic%29). They could now bootleg the good stuff.

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