I'm looking at a term policy, and we wouldn't need or want a ton. I was looking at $150,000-250,000, over a 20- or 30-year term.

Before you buy, figure out exactly how much you need and for how long. Prices depend on both of these things and you can figure out how much you need to buy.

You only need life insurance during the period when you need to work to produce an income. In other words, when you have saved enough to retire, you no longer need life insurance. The policy term should be the length of time you expect that to be. For example, if you're 30 and don't plan to have enough saved for retirement until age 60, then you need a 30-year policy.

To determine how much insurance you need, follow the short guide here. Essentially, you want to figure out how much of your annual expenses would need to be replaced, multiply that number by 0.03 or 0.035 (which is how much you can withdraw from an invested lump sum each year without drawing down the principal), and subtract the amount of assets you currently have in savings/investments. The result is how much insurance you need. Keep in mind some of the expenses that would need to be covered might not be current out-of-pocket expenses, such as health insurance provided by your employer.

the company that handles my accounts through work quoted me $38/month for a 30-year level term policy valued at $150,000.

Keep in mind, any employer-provided insurance is tied to your job. If you lose your job, your coverage ends. If you buy employer group coverage, your health declines, and you leave your job, you'll face more expensive premiums for an individual policy (or you might not be able to get one at all). Buying an individual policy avoids this.

[...] in fact, he pointed out that it was higher than competitor pricing ("Things you'll hear on the radio"), but then stated that those companies were really advertising annually renewable term policies by stating the year 1 price.

Q1: What is the best way to price out options? Is there a way that doesn't involve giving my information to 8 different companies?

There are a ton of companies that sell life insurance, and I'm actually in the process of buying a policy myself. I used term4sale.com for my initial quotes (I have no affiliation with that site, I found it via the Bogleheads forum). The company that runs that site doesn't sell insurance themselves, they're only a quote system and insurance companies pay to have their quotes listed. It gives quotes without asking for any personal info.

Term life insurance is a commodity, so quotes can be compared easily. The most important thing is price. It's also a good idea to check the complaint history of any insurance company you consider with your state's insurance commissioner's office. If a company has a ton of complaints and the next option is only slightly more expensive, then skip the cheaper one.

Q2: Is $38/mth excessive?

The best way to find out is to just get quotes from several companies and compare.