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Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

nytimes.com

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Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#141

Post by bduerst »

war1025 wrote: post #75
AgloeDreams wrote: post #14

I kinda felt like this was an article that had a missing Character, like covering the 2016 election but not mentioning Bernie or Comey. The reality is that Walmart's Chinese-sourced non-food goods (including clothing, auto parts, and general household supplies) were priced 50+% cheaper than many non-food (and higher profit) items one could get from a grocery store, once you're at Walmart then, well you're at Walmart.…

I don't think Dollar General targets places without any businesses, at least around Iowa where I have experience with them. They target places where there is some community, but not enough to support a bigger general store (i.e Walmart). There is a Dollar General about a half mile from my house. It is literally next door to the local grocery store. They serve similar but different purposes. Dollar General is where yo…

The entire strategy for dollar stores (Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, etc.) is to out price their local competition - hence why yours is right next to a grocery store.

They carry higher-profit margin goods, which are mostly canned and processed foods, but ditch the lower-margin items like fresh produce. Grocery stores can't compete with them unless they also ditch their healthier foods.

There are entire communities in the U.S. who don't have access to fresh produce but do have access to five dollar stores. There was an interesting planet money podcast on it called "Dollar Stores vs. Lettuce".

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#142

Post by dang »

magashna wrote: post #10
mieseratte wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Red states that vote the most against social programs are the biggest beneficiaries. It's the leech screaming "Leech!" in the mirror

It's not ok to use HN for regional flamewar here, or political flamewar. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and not post like this again, we'd be grateful.

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#143

Post by dang »

wil421 wrote: post #3

Walmart and the like killed local competition. There’s a gas station I stop at from time to time in the country with a Walmart next door. It’s insanely busy. I have family in the country and they accept having to drive to get decent groceries. There are seasonal vegetable and fruit stands but you couldn’t get everything you need. A local ranch sells beef but it would be quite expensive to buy year around unless you w…

The political flamebait in your last paragraph breaks the site guidelines. That's not ok because it leads to flamewars, as it did—wretchedly—in this case.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and edit that out of your posts in the future, we'd be grateful. Your comment was great otherwise.

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#144

Post by dang »

uuri8n wrote: post #133
nullwarp wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah that would be great if we could have afforded it. Not everyone lived in a world where they could "get out and enjoy ethnic food" and some having it local and have the ability to make it yourself was the only option. Your comment comes off very condescending.

To you it comes off as condescending. That’s fine. You have no right to not be offended by someone else’s perspective Which you only superficially bothered to understand on a social media forum that perpetuates shallow explanation and confusion not discourse, and resorted to condemning it versus asking for clarification I grew up in such a community around people who continue to feel entitled to live in the middle of…

We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. Could you please not create accounts to do that with?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#145

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

SilasX wrote: post #122
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many engineers in Europe live on small farms 20+ miles from their employer? Look, engineers can get jobs in the United States without owning a car, too -- but they'd better live in an urban area with public transit, or work remotely (and live in an area where they can still get where they need by transit, bike, or walking). I suppose it's possible that engineers in the French or German equivalents of rural farm c…

>How many engineers in Europe live on small farms 20+ miles from their employer? Not many, because their urban planning is better. Bottom line, car culture is not some fundamental invariant of reality for getting a job, as the original comment was suggesting.

What does living on a farm have to do with urban planning?

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#146

Post by dang »

mieseratte wrote: post #7
wil421 wrote: post #3

Walmart and the like killed local competition. There’s a gas station I stop at from time to time in the country with a Walmart next door. It’s insanely busy. I have family in the country and they accept having to drive to get decent groceries. There are seasonal vegetable and fruit stands but you couldn’t get everything you need. A local ranch sells beef but it would be quite expensive to buy year around unless you w…

[flagged]

We've asked you repeatedly not to use this site for political and ideological battle. Since that's all you're doing, I've banned this account.

If you don't want to be banned on HN, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. Please don't create new accounts to break the site guidelines with, though.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#147

Post by anongraddebt »

AgloeDreams wrote: post #14

I kinda felt like this was an article that had a missing Character, like covering the 2016 election but not mentioning Bernie or Comey. The reality is that Walmart's Chinese-sourced non-food goods (including clothing, auto parts, and general household supplies) were priced 50+% cheaper than many non-food (and higher profit) items one could get from a grocery store, once you're at Walmart then, well you're at Walmart.…

Solid comment.

It'd be interesting to see how much of an effect DG stores in areas with few to no businesses have on mega retailers like Wal-Mart.

My parents are 15 mins. from a Wal-Mart, but 4-5 mins. from a DG that opened two years ago. They've probably reduced their Wal-Mart spend by at least 20% from what it had been for two decades.

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#148

Post by dang »

pstuart wrote: post #9
mieseratte wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Not OP. It's more like they're willfully choosing to suffer. So in that case, enjoy your misery!

Please don't break the site guidelines by taking the thread further into flamewar, regardless of how wrong another comment is or you feel it is.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#149

Post by [deleted] »

uuri8n wrote: post #133
nullwarp wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah that would be great if we could have afforded it. Not everyone lived in a world where they could "get out and enjoy ethnic food" and some having it local and have the ability to make it yourself was the only option. Your comment comes off very condescending.

To you it comes off as condescending. That’s fine. You have no right to not be offended by someone else’s perspective Which you only superficially bothered to understand on a social media forum that perpetuates shallow explanation and confusion not discourse, and resorted to condemning it versus asking for clarification I grew up in such a community around people who continue to feel entitled to live in the middle of…

[deleted]

Re: Farm country feeds America, but try buying groceries there

#150

Post by SilasX »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #145
SilasX wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How many engineers in Europe live on small farms 20+ miles from their employer? Not many, because their urban planning is better. Bottom line, car culture is not some fundamental invariant of reality for getting a job, as the original comment was suggesting.

What does living on a farm have to do with urban planning?

Yes, I should have used a more general term, like "land use planning"; I'm glad that gave you the opportunity for the zinger.

In any case, (literal) urban planning is definitely relevant to determining how many places someone can affordably live without owning a car, and lead to less people being in the kind of boxed-in situation where their best option is to live far out and car-dependent while having to drive far for necessities.

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