I seem to remember awhile back that there were some really inexpensive tuners on reverb.com. I have started a uke club at our church and We have several kids involved. Is there anyway to know if this deal happens again?
Tuners can be really inexpensive on Amazon or eBay in general... often so cheap that when you need a new battery, it's actually cheaper to just buy a new one with the battery included.
They have had that sale at least 2x in the past year or so that I know of. They were $1 each shipping included and you were able to purchase more than one.
Why not write them and ask? They were pretty responsive last time I had a question for them.
You're right, if you are buying those 2032 batteries locally they can be $3-5 each. I've started buying them on eBay direct from China. The last few I've bought were 10 batteries for about $5, shipping included. At those prices, I usually keep 10 or so on hand at any time.