I guess the question really is 'how much is a ton of it'?
If you are ordering enough to get bulk discounts, it might be worth ordering. I'm afraid there's not going to be an easy answer. Just do some quick price checking.
I ran into a similar situation when I was trying to get bamboo poles last year. I needed 200 of them, and with the local Home depot selling them for 1.29 each, I looked far and wide for bulk deals. After shipping, the best I was able to find only ended up saving $10.00 on the whole order and a 2 week minimum lead time. Despite the "cost" being in the 60 cent each range. Ironically, had I needed 400, the shipping costs would have stayed the same as shipping me 200, and thus would have been a clear value.
I ended up clearing out a couple home depot locations as I fell into $300 in gift cards for Home Depot, and none had more than about 80 on hand.
Anyhow, make sure to check the shipping if you're looking at ordering. A lot of places charge more for shipping to residential locations for this kind of stuff, so keep that in mind.
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