The "disappearing ammo phenomenon" has a huge psychological component to it, and it involves the way people react to a shortage (panic) and even how their long term behavior changes.
This is a true story I lived through and it illustrates how a shortage can be created even when none exists.... and why.
I started work at Fairchild Semiconductor three decades ago. There was a common equipment room where all the company electronics equipment was stored: oscilloscopes, signal generators, meters, etc. And as would be obvious, every piece of equipment had an AC power cord with it that plugged in the back and let you plug it in and use it.
One day, the idiot who ran the equipment room decided that the equipment should go on the shelves and the AC cords should hang on the wall.... but there were several different styles of AC cords (USA, european, non standard).
So each time somebody wandered into the equipment room and grabbed a piece of equipmenet, he had to hunt for a cord.
THE "SOLUTION":
People started keeping cords in their desks. So whenever they carried a piece of equipment back, they were "secure" in the knowledge they had the right cord and wouldn't have to search through the ones in the equipment room.
Instantly a shortage was created: every piece of equipment had a cord.... but now every engineer had five of them stockpiled in his desk. Within a short time, cords became scarce and everybody was complaining that we needed to buy more cords.... when in fact, there were plenty of cords.
The point is: anytime people's "equilibrium" is upset they react and often in stupid ways. In the case of the ammo shortage, people who used to keep a few boxes of ammo on hand are now scrambling to acquire thousands to keep and "feel secure". This means the demand for ammo has been suddenly (and artificially) increased well beyond the actual consumption level and the supply system in place is not sized to provide that much ammo.
You also have gougers buying up all the ammo they can to scalp it on Craig's list and make money which further increases demand.
This is a true story I lived through and it illustrates how a shortage can be created even when none exists.... and why.
I started work at Fairchild Semiconductor three decades ago. There was a common equipment room where all the company electronics equipment was stored: oscilloscopes, signal generators, meters, etc. And as would be obvious, every piece of equipment had an AC power cord with it that plugged in the back and let you plug it in and use it.
One day, the idiot who ran the equipment room decided that the equipment should go on the shelves and the AC cords should hang on the wall.... but there were several different styles of AC cords (USA, european, non standard).
So each time somebody wandered into the equipment room and grabbed a piece of equipmenet, he had to hunt for a cord.
THE "SOLUTION":
People started keeping cords in their desks. So whenever they carried a piece of equipment back, they were "secure" in the knowledge they had the right cord and wouldn't have to search through the ones in the equipment room.
Instantly a shortage was created: every piece of equipment had a cord.... but now every engineer had five of them stockpiled in his desk. Within a short time, cords became scarce and everybody was complaining that we needed to buy more cords.... when in fact, there were plenty of cords.
The point is: anytime people's "equilibrium" is upset they react and often in stupid ways. In the case of the ammo shortage, people who used to keep a few boxes of ammo on hand are now scrambling to acquire thousands to keep and "feel secure". This means the demand for ammo has been suddenly (and artificially) increased well beyond the actual consumption level and the supply system in place is not sized to provide that much ammo.
You also have gougers buying up all the ammo they can to scalp it on Craig's list and make money which further increases demand.
