Looking forward to the day where we start printing 1000$ bills again.
Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
111–120 of 341 posts
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
by charging huge markup on per unit cost by reducing quantity. 3 pills of Tylenol for example for $1 instead of a bottle which may have dozens for $6 . The brands create special mini-sized packages specifically for dollar stores. Big business.
Also great for someone with an occasional sweet tooth and insufficient willpower to have junk food at the house. Sometimes I just want 4 Oreos and I’ll happily pay a huge per-unit markup to avoid eating the whole box.
ever so often I get that crazy look from the store assistant when they offer me (something like) double what your're buying for a few pence more and I say no thanks - typically I'm holding my belly whilst saying no
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#113They have been selling for a dollar for 35 years. I'm really curious how their inventory has changed over this period. One 2020 dollar is 40 cents in 1985 dollars, but the cost of consumer goods has decreased significantly since 1985. So I wouldn't be surprised that their package sizes have not changed much. Related trivia: Between 1886-1959, the price of a bottle of Coke was a nickel [1]. [1] https://www.npr.org/sec…
Likely through shrinkflation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation Next time you’re at the supermarket check if the bacon brands you remember are still a pound. I bet many of them are now 12 ounces.
When you go to the grocery store now, at least locally, seems that there are more varieties in package sizes of the tiny 7.5 oz cans of coke vs the full size 12 oz cans. If you want the tiny cans a six pack or a full case is available, if you want the large cans you have to get the entire case of 12, no six pack sold. If you convert the price per ounce you get a pretty raw deal on the tiny cans. IIRC the 12 pack was only like a dollar less for the 7.5oz cans vs the 12oz 12 pack.
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#114Along these line why is the US still minting pennies? At some point we could just start rounding to the nearest nickel (or dime). Also, why is gas always ab extra 9/10 of a penny? Reminds me of paying 3123 RON for a Big Mac in Romania -- that last digit is just noise at the consumer level.
They should abolish coins. There is probably less need for them (who wants to carry them!) now the technology to accept notes in machines. Maybe the people who make the note readers can lobby to abolish coins.
I have to wash my clothes at the laundromat. Get annoyed every time I have to shovel $6 of quarters into the machine, one-at-a-time.
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#115Along these line why is the US still minting pennies? At some point we could just start rounding to the nearest nickel (or dime). Also, why is gas always ab extra 9/10 of a penny? Reminds me of paying 3123 RON for a Big Mac in Romania -- that last digit is just noise at the consumer level.
Buddy, there's no way you paid 3123 RON for a Big Mac, since that's approximately 750 dollars. You probably paid 3123 ROL (the old currency before it was redenominated circa 2005). (You are correct that amounts below 100 ROL were totally meaningless.)
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Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#116They should update the price point annually based on some simple algorithm, like the amount they pay an entry level employee per 20 minutes of work. That serves to index the unit price to purchasing power.
A single business can’t make a dent in taming stagflation. They’ll be trying to turn a tide with an oar!
If the supplier charges more they’ll have to put the price up. If they put it up too high to compensate staff people will go elsewhere.
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> don't support paying you a wage that keeps up with inflation Your employer doesn't care what inflation is. They care about what they have to pay on the market to get you, and they care what you produce. Going to them and talking about inflation is making an irrelevant argument. Inflation isn't part of the equation that determines how much they pay you. Tell them your market value, and tell then your productivity. B…
If a business is unable to grow at a rate that is faster than inflation, that would mean it's shrinking in real terms. Why am I sticking around in a firm that is shrinking dramatically? Either the industry is dying or the business is being poorly managed. Working longer hours and throwing additional value on that fire doesn't seem like a great plan. You are probably better off spending your effort looking for a new j…
> If a business is unable to grow at a rate that is faster than inflation, that would mean it's shrinking in real terms.
But - again - you aren't paid a salary based on how well the business is doing. When a company's profits double do you think they double everyone's salaries? Of course not - surely you know that? You're paid based on what the market for you is, and what you produce and how valuable it is to the company.
Like inflation, the size of the business isn't part of that equation.
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#118This was inevitable, but rather than maintain the status quo or even introducing shrinkflation, they should have made the jump to 2 dollars. 1.25 is maintenance, and effectively we are still getting what a dollar used to get. 2 dollars would get us a bit more time (inflation is not going to stop) and the ability to introduce a (relative) more premium product assortment. I only mention this premium product range becau…
I think you're thinking of this from the wrong perspective. To me, an extra 75 cents don't really matter. I'd pay it without blinking.
But to many people in the US, going from $1 to $2 would literally double their expenses for the month and hurt an already tight budget.
"Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General, where he can make $40 stretch into a week’s worth of groceries and the occasional can of motor oil for his Chrysler 300."
If you went from $1 to $2, all of a sudden Kyle only gets to eat every other day. Half of all shoppers in the US buy groceries from a dollar store, and they aren't doing it because the Dollar General has the freshest produce in the area.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/20/growing-n...
https://www.mashed.com/224027/think-twice-before-buying-food...
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't a Chuck E. Cheese, paper notes are just fine. Nobody asked "what about the guy who makes the yokes" when John Deere took his first spin.
Paper notes are extremely expensive to maintain because they can't stay in circulation long before they're worn out and need to be replaced. We really should be using $1, $2, $5 and $10 coins
I live in New Zealand which has NZ$1 and NZ$2 coins: they truely suck because the value is enough to care about but the coins don’t fit well into your pocket. I also hate similar value coins in €, £, AUD. $1 notes are awesome.
2 NZD ~= 1.40 USD.
Note that NZ’s smallest coin is 10 cents - it is good not having pennys nor nickels.
Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
But then how would the coin suppliers stay in business?
All the zinc that goes into pennies is worth $9 million per year, based on a back of the envelope calculation. Last year, zinc suppliers/miners sold $17.3 billion of the metal, and will do even more this year. $9 million is less than a rounding error there.
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