Everything is, I suppose, relative to one's circumstances. As a retired "Blue Collar" worker, I can assure you $20.00 per lb would certainly put the brakes on my ability to hunt. I have Lefevers I didn't pay that much for, of course I have had them a long time, but I can still sell them (for a profit) if the need arise, once that shot goes down the bbl it's gone forever.
Many, Many duck shooters hunt close to home. As a comparsion a working man would not expect to pay the same price for a cartridge to kill a deer in his county of resident as some rich dude might pay for one to kill some exoctic game on Safari, after traveling thousands of miles, paying a white hunter etc, etc. This price of shot is across the board, for "Any" pre-steel gun, not just the guns of the "Elite".
