why can not a person just contact the company; get the stock price and buy just one share of stock without any ''agent'' or middleman fees?
to kevin R; thanks, l will look into DRIPs.

Interestingly enough, you can just contact the company and buy stock directly. Some still charge a fee, because there are costs associated with ownership transfer. These fees protect your ownership rights. Many Dividend ReInvestment PlanS (DRIPS) are out there.

Because companies sell in bulk. Do not buy stocks now. Buy gold and silver.

Well, u actually can buy stock for possibly no fee when u go through the company. Some of them have transfer agent companies set up for purchases and. now that l think of it l am not sure if u can get in for free or if u have to purchase one share from a brokerage first. Try computershare.com - l used to have one share of Coca Cola stock & it was handled through them. l had to pay a commission to buy that one stock from a brokerage first, but it was bought way back in 1999 so l do not know how that is done now. In most cases, u would not want to buy just one share, though. It is hard to get any return on such a small investment & would not be worth ur time & trouble. Online discount brokerages r really easy to use & the fees per trade run around $7-20. It l think that is reasonable if you're buying in any real quantity.