One of my clients in Hawaii has a patent on a gun cleaner and she's looking to sell it to gun shops. She called the ATF and asked to purchase their database of gun dealers. They told her they could print a copy and mail it to her for $29. Question: Wouldn't it cost more than $29 to print a list of everyone in the US with a gun dealership, and mail it to Hawaii? How is a "printed" database going to be very useful? It's not for many reasons. She asked if she could have it on CD, and they said they would have to check and call her back. They called back, and told her: "We can send it to you on CD, but it will cost you $59 and you will have to provide us with the CD." Crazy, isn't it?
If you figure labor, paper, ink, and the postage and handling on that shipment it would cost more than $29 to send it to Hawaii.
