When I used to work at Les Schwab tires, we used to be able to get blems all the time. From our warehouse, drop shipped from Interco, or whomever we had and acct with.
But the issue was there was never a full set of tires most of the time.
I've noticed that also. The cheapest tire I've found to run is military take offs. I bought a set of goodyear wrangler rt 2s for $200.
