I'm kind more with Senior Telemaster's point of view with my particular shop. However, he has cut back on what he has on the shelves and his prices have gotten closer to Horizon's. That means he orders more often and the prices are better when he orders. I'm not buying much anyway but I still have to mail order props if I need them. Prices have jumped so much that I would buy a used engine if I wanted another one. I bought a used 91 that is fine piece of work that runs extremely smooth, so that's probably how I'll do things from now on. I put it on the bench and it was probably better tuned than I could do so I left everything alone and enjoyed burning up some fuel with it.
Robert, you have it pretty good. I used to go with friends on a 2 hour drive to Mac Hodges when his hobby shop was open. I would buy fuel by the case as his prices were about 30% cheaper. All of us loaded up on fuel each trip, or placed our orders if we didn't make the next car load going out there. But, 25 miles isn't bad compared to many other people. Just load up when you go.