When I go to the LBS, I pay the prices and don't complain. Often when I'm buying the parts, I'm asking a few questions to make sure I do the job right, and I figure that advice is part of the cost I'm paying. The LBS owner and his chief mechanic are both available via Facebook and are available in an emergency (although I've only done tat once).

We've lost two LBSs this past year, I don't want to lose another one. So I patronize them and don't worry if the cost is a bit high.

One other thing... It used to be that there was a pretty high level of standardization among bike parts that, in recent years, has gotten less so. When you have proprietary parts, it becomes harder to keep them in stock and the piece price of each one can realistically be higher. I worked for a company that built convertible tops. There were certain shoulder bolts that were unique to our designs, and when we went to the fastener supplier, they would have to set up to do a run of the bolts for us. In production, we would order thousands of them. When we were buying older versions of the bolts for sparing and repairs, they would still have to do the setup, but the run would be for a few dozen and the real cost of the bolts could exceed $50. I could see where someone would think we're ripping them off by charging that much, but that was the cost to us, without any profit or anything.

So yeah, maybe the parts cost you $30, but they probably cost the LBS $15 or more from the supplier, plus they are there to answer questions, get the bolts immediately, etc. If you don't like that, go to the net. But I can understand why the costs would be that much, and frankly sometimes I'm surprised they don't charge more.