i shoot a lot of shot shells every year, prolly around the 10k mark and yeah wally world "specials" are about the cheapest factory shells i know of.
as far as reloading goes, not factoring the cost of my loader ( i bought it about 10 years ago) my time (i find loading therapeutic) and the cost of hulls ( i have thousands stashed in the garage) last time i used a loading calculator i was under $5 a box
so even though my reloads are marginally less than the wally world specials, i feel that my reloads are much better quality than the wally world shells and im saving more when compared to a comparable shell, like a federal gold medal or remington sts or winchester aa's