Sticker shock - 2X4's

I am in the wrong business - should buy a sawmill.  Home Depot was charging over six bucks for a simple 2X4X96" stick of what they laughingly call "whitewood". Bought some last fall and these were under $3.00 - more than double the cost in about six months?

Whitewood? Whatever the sawmill is running that day - hemlock, spruce, fir.  Meets the code requirements but more by dint of promise than by being structurally sound.