...why can SW sell primers at about $55 per brick (if they would let you have a brick) and we get hosed by the internet "Big Boys"?
Guess it's a combination of 'supply & demand', plus whatever the retailer's 'company policy' happens to be. When I was in Arizona back in 2020-2021, there was a company called 'Shoppers Supply' (picture a Tractor Supply Company store) that sold guns & ammo. All through the panic, if they got any guns or ammo in, it got their standard pre-panic markup (which is the 'company policy' end of things). But they couldn't get a whole bunch in at any given time, because they were competing with everybody else (which is the 'supply & demand' end of things).
If & when demand drops off, prices should come down at the "Big Boys" also. I think I've already seen that starting - when I went to Scheel's to pick up a brick of CCI small rifle primers for a friend a week or so back, they were $84 instead of the $100+ I seem to remember. So maybe things are at least headed the right direction!
As always IMHO, FWIW, YMMV, etc., etc.