It seems as if they have doubled in price over the past year. I buy 12 and 20 from academy for $5.99 a box. The cheapest are the federal field and range for $5.49 I think. Ridiculous. What can you do. Reloading does not save enough for a casual shooter because components are up there too. I have a reload setup for 12 but don't mess with it that much. I'll have to get that thing going before dove season I guess. Or I could just start hoarding 12 and 20 like you said to pad myself against future increases which are likely to come the way things are going. I guess the escalation is due to fuel and higher mining and other production costs. Ammo companies getting greedy?