Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America • Hacker News Board

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#21

Post by jstarfish » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 8:22 PM UTC

pkaye wrote: post #14

Do dollar stores has aggressive pricing? I've found they are a bad deal for many common day goods. Usually the $/qty is pretty bad. One example that sticks to my mind is aluminum foil. Those rolls are pretty small for the price. The main thing I find them good for is things like cleaning supplies, brooms, greeting cards, gift wraps which tend to be marked up elsewhere.

Every store has its loss leaders. Come for the cheap cleaning supplies, brooms and greeting cards, then you start to assume everything else is reasonably priced. Before you know it you're walking out with an armful of overpriced junk to negate your savvier purchases.

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#22

Post by extralego » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:22 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #16

sonofblah wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you think getting minimum wage for doing retail work in an 80deg store is a particularly bad deal then you're probably living in a little bit of a bubble. Is this a joke?

No. It's not a joke. There's tons of jobs out there that pay the same and involve more labor and/or a work environment with a less pleasant temperature. Pretty much any outdoor manual labor job and many food service jobs will meet those criteria.

This was not an act of nature. It was the manager cutting the costs. 80 degrees is not a normal accepted indoor temperature. This is unusual punishment given the context and norms.

Expecting something different from a job outdoors or in a kitchen would, I agree, be a little ridiculous. The wage should of course be adjusted accordingly, but this is just disrespectful.

Middle of the road? Try $8.00/hr.

https://www.job-applications.com/dollar-general-cashier/

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#23

Post by extralego » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:27 PM UTC

stagger87 wrote: post #8

extralego wrote: post #4

These places are just awful. I went in one last summer and the girls working there were drenched in sweat. The management refused to set the thermostat below 80 degrees! And the cashiers had to stock shelves when there are no customers at the cash register so of course they were sweating. Usually when you go in one, the only employees will be somewhere deep in the store and you have to wait a long time until they che…

Sweating is common for manual labor positions.

Since when was “cashier” a manual labor position? “Stocking staff” might be, and is consistently paid a higher wage because of that. These people are hired as cashiers. The “additional job duties” are where the manual labor comes in.

We are literally talking $8.00/hr. before taxes. This looks inhumane to me.

https://www.job-applications.com/dollar-general-cashier/

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#24

Post by GW150914 » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:38 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #6

extralego wrote: post #4

These places are just awful. I went in one last summer and the girls working there were drenched in sweat. The management refused to set the thermostat below 80 degrees! And the cashiers had to stock shelves when there are no customers at the cash register so of course they were sweating. Usually when you go in one, the only employees will be somewhere deep in the store and you have to wait a long time until they che…

Meh. Those conditions are par for the course in jobs like that. IMO it beats working fast food any day of the week. Working at a franchised establishment (like Dollar General or Walmart or Wendy's) is usually pretty middle of the road because they use their scale figure out how to optimize for every last but of productivity and that usually means working employees as hard as they can reasonably work. However, at the…

I’ve worked some spectacularly shitty minimum wage jobs in my life, and never came close to the conditions of a Dollar Store. Being asked to come off the register and restock is normal, but the rest just sounds cruel and weird. 80 degrees indoors is also messed up, not just for staff, but for customers. Given how poor air circulation is in a lot of those places, it must get really stuffy and grotesque too. Then the pay is abysmal.

Almost any job would be better, including being a cashier at a competing store that at least pretends not to hate you. Working in hot weather or bad conditions is acceptable only if you’re being paid well enough to make it worthwhile. $8 an hour before taxes? You can make more doing almost anything else, including McDonalds or begging on a corner, and neither of those things sound like they’d be any more dignity-destroying than what’s been described here.

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#25

Post by loco5niner » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:53 PM UTC

extralego wrote: post #4

These places are just awful. I went in one last summer and the girls working there were drenched in sweat. The management refused to set the thermostat below 80 degrees! And the cashiers had to stock shelves when there are no customers at the cash register so of course they were sweating. Usually when you go in one, the only employees will be somewhere deep in the store and you have to wait a long time until they che…

> And the cashiers had to stock shelves when there are no customers at the cash register so of course they were sweating.

> The idea is to have no stock room so they don’t have to hire stocking staff, and make the cashiers do it when they aren’t actively checking people out.

What's wrong with cashiers stocking shelves? Seems perfectly reasonable to simply keep working while you are on the clock.

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#26

Post by loco5niner » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 10:01 PM UTC

extralego wrote: post #23

stagger87 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweating is common for manual labor positions.

Since when was “cashier” a manual labor position? “Stocking staff” might be, and is consistently paid a higher wage because of that. These people are hired as cashiers. The “additional job duties” are where the manual labor comes in. We are literally talking $8.00/hr. before taxes . This looks inhumane to me. https://www.job-applications.com/dollar-general-cashier/

Seems like DG is pretty straightforward as far as informing potential employees what is expected.

As far as the hourly rate, that should be motivation to work on their marketable skills (work/study).

Sounds like a great high-school job, and if you're still working a high-school job at 35, something is wrong.

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#27

Post by readflaggedcomm » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 10:54 PM UTC

pkaye wrote: post #14

Do dollar stores has aggressive pricing? I've found they are a bad deal for many common day goods. Usually the $/qty is pretty bad. One example that sticks to my mind is aluminum foil. Those rolls are pretty small for the price. The main thing I find them good for is things like cleaning supplies, brooms, greeting cards, gift wraps which tend to be marked up elsewhere.

Dollar General and Family Dollar are general stores, like used to be common in days of old. They are not "dollar stores," which refers specifically to stores where all or almost all merchandise costs about one dollar. This is a point of confusion on every article about Family Dollar and Dollar General, because most people commenting apparently never go there.

The bargains vary. Some of the standards at both mentioned general stores and Dollar Tree (a widely-known dollar store chain) meet Walmart's prices, e.g. for ammonia, which beats any other grocery store by nearly a third.

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#28

Post by palferrari » Sat, Aug 18, 2018, 3:58 AM UTC

loco5niner wrote: post #26

extralego wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when was “cashier” a manual labor position? “Stocking staff” might be, and is consistently paid a higher wage because of that. These people are hired as cashiers. The “additional job duties” are where the manual labor comes in. We are literally talking $8.00/hr. before taxes . This looks inhumane to me. https://www.job-applications.com/dollar-general-cashier/

Seems like DG is pretty straightforward as far as informing potential employees what is expected. As far as the hourly rate, that should be motivation to work on their marketable skills (work/study). Sounds like a great high-school job, and if you're still working a high-school job at 35, something is wrong.

who do you suggest should work there during the day while school is in session?

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#29

Post by extralego » Sat, Aug 18, 2018, 6:00 AM UTC

loco5niner wrote: post #26

extralego wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when was “cashier” a manual labor position? “Stocking staff” might be, and is consistently paid a higher wage because of that. These people are hired as cashiers. The “additional job duties” are where the manual labor comes in. We are literally talking $8.00/hr. before taxes . This looks inhumane to me. https://www.job-applications.com/dollar-general-cashier/

Seems like DG is pretty straightforward as far as informing potential employees what is expected. As far as the hourly rate, that should be motivation to work on their marketable skills (work/study). Sounds like a great high-school job, and if you're still working a high-school job at 35, something is wrong.

Never seen somebody younger than me working at a Dollar General.

My point is that something is definitely wrong.

But to blame this on the workers is immoral, heartless, definitely a sign you have something wrong with yourself.

So I’m assuming that isn’t your point.

They are doing the work. They paying is someone else’s job.

Who said this is a “high school job”? What’s that?

Re: Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America

#30

Post by scarface74 » Sat, Aug 18, 2018, 1:22 PM UTC

Why do they frame it as only “poor middle America”. I use to live in apartments that were going for $1700/month for a three bedroom (now $2100 a month less than 3 years later) and there is a Dollar Store in the same complex as a Publix across the street. The city had a median household income of $100,000.

Suburbia welcomes dollar stores just as much as rural America.