As I argued elsewhere dealer margins (on average) are probably very similar to a retail store like Shoups. That tells me the wild price swings seem to be happening at a different point in the supply chain. One possibility is that Deere and others actually stocks stuff in warehouses for faster emergency delivery. Shoup probably gets direct shipments from the manufacturers and if they run out, well, they'll get more when they get more. I have no clue whether that means all that much to the overall cost of supplying parts or not.

I realize that's not your problem. If our supplier is charging us an amount that makes us uncompetitive, then we have to deal with it. You have to do what you have to do to survive. We don't expect pity purchases from our customers.