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Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

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Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#211

Post by rsj_hn »

gkoberger wrote: post #126

I don't think that people in this thread appreciate how prevalent grocery shopping in dollar stores is. In the US, half of shoppers buy groceries from a dollar store. They do it because it's literally all they can afford anything else. There are more dollar stores than Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. "Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General,…

> In the US, half of shoppers buy groceries from a dollar store.

I think you are misreading the (ambiguous) mashed.com text, "More than half of shoppers now visit dollar stores to buy groceries, eMarketer reports, up from 21 percent just a few years ago.". It does not mean that more than half of all grocery shoppers buy their groceries at dollar stores, but that more than half of dollar store shoppers are shopping at the dollar store to buy groceries.

Actual market share of dollar stores in the grocery business is 2.9%, but this is expected to increase to 3.2%

https://www.supermarketnews.com/issues-trends/will-supermark...

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#212

Post by kube-system »

mmaurizi wrote: post #141
gkoberger wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Are you aware that Dollar Tree and Dollar General are different stores with different business models? Dollar General does not price all their items for $1. I don't believe they ever have. And Dollar Tree does not sell groceries (at least not any I've ever been to).

Dollar Tree sells nonperishable and frozen-foods.

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#213

Post by nopassrecover »

asdff wrote: post #130
kingcharles wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've asked my landlord if they would let me buy back the quarters from them since it's such a pain getting them in a coin shortage. They didn't respond. Rent is already in the thousands, really my landlord should just stomach the $8 they get off me from the laundry room a month and just make it free. I'd honestly pay my landlord even higher rent if I didn't have to deal with getting rolls of quarters.

Tangential but I find it interesting that as a general rule US apartment tenants don’t have a washer/dryer eg as a front-loader combo.

I gather from research online it comes back to the practice of generally renting furnished apartments, a preference for wood building construction, a practice of having non-water-proofed wet areas, historical custom (perhaps coinciding with apartments being constructed post-war when these appliances were large and highly expensive?), and the chicken-and-egg problem of there not being a market for smaller appliances and therefore there not being great supply of smaller appliances.

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#214

Post by heartbreak »

vianneychevalie wrote: post #190
tsol wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Dollar stores very often aren’t cheaper than other sources for similar products especially for grocery items (which they tend to have very limited selections of.) Some products are. Especially the unhealthy-- candy and soda is cheaper. I used to get bread there, they'd have the same bread as nicer stores just closer to the 'best by' date. But it tasted fine to me. I would get dishes and cups, silverware, and socks.…

How often do you need to buy dishes, cups and socks?

"Buy once cry once" only works when you have money. If all you can afford are dollar store socks, you're going to be buying a lot of dollar store socks. Being poor sucks.

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#215

Post by jaywalk »

jandrese wrote: post #193
gkoberger wrote: post #126

I don't think that people in this thread appreciate how prevalent grocery shopping in dollar stores is. In the US, half of shoppers buy groceries from a dollar store. They do it because it's literally all they can afford anything else. There are more dollar stores than Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. "Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General,…

The big problem with this is that Dollar Stores generally don't have a produce section. Everything is in a box, bag, or can. This is not healthy. $40/week for a single person isn't an easy food budget, but I think could manage that at my grocery store. It's $5.71 per day for three meals. You really need to optimize for calories. Pasta, dried beans, potatoes, not much meat or dairy, even produce is a bit of a luxury.…

> $40/week for a single person isn't an easy food budget

What? One person can easily get by on $40/week for food.

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#217

Post by jdgoesmarching »

goostavos wrote: post #205
dragonwriter wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They do it because it’s literally all they can afford anything else. Dollar stores very often aren’t cheaper than other sources for similar products especially for grocery items (which they tend to have very limited selections of.) People that shop for groceries at dollar stores do it because: 1. They shop for other things at dollar stores (either for price, or for reason #2, or because its the only place close by…

Classic analysis by someone who seemingly has never been dirt poor. It may be tough to believe, but y'know what'd surprise literally none of the poors if you told them? That they pay more money for less product at the dollar store than elsewhere. Despite their limited ability, they ARE able to look at price tags in different stores and go "hey, wait a minute!" If you're dollar store level poor, it's expensive and str…

Your first sentence sums up the majority of this site on any socioeconomic issue. At this point the term “financial literacy” is exclusively used by armchair poverty quarterbacks.

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#218

Post by californical »

wly_cdgr wrote: post #209
gkoberger wrote: post #126

I don't think that people in this thread appreciate how prevalent grocery shopping in dollar stores is. In the US, half of shoppers buy groceries from a dollar store. They do it because it's literally all they can afford anything else. There are more dollar stores than Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. "Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General,…

A 50lb bag of white rice can be had on Amazon for $88, which translates into roughly 1k calories/$1 delivered to your doorstep for free in two-three days. You can get similar calorie/$ value with pasta, peanut butter, oatmeal. No one who has $40/week to spend on food in America needs to go anywhere close to hungry if they don't waste their money and time driving to dollar stores to buy overpriced non-bulk groceries.…

If someone only has $40 for groceries, how will they be able to come up with $88 for just plain rice?

The answer is that they can’t get those same discounts buying larger scale items.

I agree there are still some cases where people may spend irresponsibly, but it’s a different problem than “cheaper calories exist in large enough quantities”

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#219

Post by mmastrac »

wly_cdgr wrote: post #209
gkoberger wrote: post #126

I don't think that people in this thread appreciate how prevalent grocery shopping in dollar stores is. In the US, half of shoppers buy groceries from a dollar store. They do it because it's literally all they can afford anything else. There are more dollar stores than Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. "Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General,…

A 50lb bag of white rice can be had on Amazon for $88, which translates into roughly 1k calories/$1 delivered to your doorstep for free in two-three days. You can get similar calorie/$ value with pasta, peanut butter, oatmeal. No one who has $40/week to spend on food in America needs to go anywhere close to hungry if they don't waste their money and time driving to dollar stores to buy overpriced non-bulk groceries.…

Ok, so you now need:

A credit card + bank account

A stable address and room to store bulk stuff

A place to get packages where they won't be stolen

$88

Re: Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard

#220

Post by kube-system »

officeplant wrote: post #83
0des wrote: post #53

Earlier 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.

Other countries saved money by getting ride of low denomination coins and swapping the highest used paper currencies to coin because it typically lasts longer. Although recent studies have shown that since we finally improved paper currency's sturdiness the $1 bill is lasting long enough now to be worth keeping around.[1] [1] https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-300

The "worth" of money is more than just the durability of the physical material. The #1 most important factor is its use in facilitating trade. We've introduced multiple Dollar coins into general circulation in the US and they've always failed because people culturally don't like using them, and businesses don't like wasting money accepting them.
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