I have to agree, the cost of spokes has gotten out of hand lately. They took a big jump around 2008 or so and have been steadily climbing in price since then.
Most of the shops that had spoke machines near me are gone, the few that are left sell department store bikes and don't do repairs.
I generally order only box lots, or what ever it takes to make a particular price point or to save shipping. Worldwide Cyclery is reasonable and around $52 per 100 for DT spokes right now, other sources are wholesale only but a few of them no longer stock all the sizes and a few have been sold out.
Knowing what they wholesale for, that's still too much. There's no doubt some are taking advantage of the current boom in sales. Not more than 5 years ago I stocked up on spokes, I bought 6 and 10 boxes of 100 of each of the sizes I use the most in both DT straight stainless as well as standard galvanized spokes. I got a deal then but ended up paying around $.10 per spoke or less. The bad part is that I should have bought more, I'm nearly out of many of the most popular sizes and that source is no longer there. Several good sources have gone away in recent years.
Collectors have pretty much cleaned out the older bike shops that had inventory on hand and the few that remain have either learned to sell online themselves or they want eBay type prices on things on their shelves.