Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bnnbloomberg.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 341 posts

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

#271

Post by raydev »

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,…

> grocery shopping in dollar stores

> Dollar General

Dollar General has never been a "dollar store" in the way you're thinking.

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

#272

Post by MikusR »

koolba wrote: post #27
kumarsw wrote: post #13

They 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.

In EU stores have to provide price per kg or another relevant unit.

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

#273

Post by quickthrower2 »

pessimizer wrote: post #256
nopassrecover wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

I'm not sure I've ever even met someone who rented a furnished apartment. I just think it's because it's weird to have a washing machine in your kitchen for Americans, and nobody has managed to find the right marketing tone to make this feel normal. Also, for landlords to tolerate this, put hook-ups in, or simply offer it as a feature, you'd have to start with upper-middle class people wanting one and have it trickle…

In Australia too almost never is a washing machine or dryer in the kitchen. Almost all houses and apartments will have a laundry room, away from the kitchen, even if it is just a 1 square meter closet with the washer and dryer stacked in there.

Coming from the UK, where the washing machine is always in the kitchen and having a laundry room is seen as extravagant, I think this is great because washing machines are noisy and shaky and sometime leaky. Having a separate wet room with drainage for this is a good idea. It means you can wash/dry at any time too (e.g. even if you are eating in the kitchen/diner area and want some peace!)

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

#274

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

boppo1 wrote: post #188
thisisnico wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily, let's say it's a 2008, you can easily find 300 junkers now worth almost nothing.

Are these any good? I might need a car on the cheap soon.

If you're mechanically inclined and have a place to do the work, pretty much any old American (due to parts availability) car is "good enough." Buying your own tools is almost always far less expensive than going to a mechanic. Time is the real cost!

It's easier now than it has been to learn how to keep cars running.

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

#275

Post by tyingq »

chrisseaton wrote: post #154
willcipriano wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The business isn't doing any better if it grew by 6.2% this year, the currency they are receiving and paying you with has reduced in value by 6.2%, so it is breaking even. I'm not saying this in a "capitalism is bad" sort of way, I'm saying this in a "capitalism is good" sort of way. Wages are up in the majority of sectors, unemployment is falling, if your company or industry can't do 6% this year you likely have oth…

> if your company or industry can't do 6% this year you likely have other options that can That's the right argument to make. Not inflation as you were saying before. Talking about inflation to motivate pay rise is a logically unsound argument. 'Inflation is up 2%' - so what? 'I can get 2% elsewhere' ok we can talk.

>Talking about inflation to motivate pay rise is a logically unsound argument.

I get the rest of what you're saying, but I don't see how it's logically unsound.

To me, it logically unsound if a company raises prices to match inflation, and all of it's costs other than employee salaries raise at roughly the inflation rate. Why are salaries solely exempt as a cost subject to inflation?

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

#276

Post by tamaharbor »

rudolph9 wrote: post #269
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,…

I don’t think you appreciate that everything at “Dollar Tree” actually costs a dollar or at leas did.

They have a higher priced section now. Not everything is $1 at Dollar Tree any more. At least here in Colorado.

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

#277

Post by ingenieros »

vore wrote: post #266
ingenieros wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But it's also boring and soulcrushing to have everyday" It's also rich in vegetable protein and a great source of fiber. Geez, when I think of "boring and soulcrushing" meals I think of SOYLENT not a nutritious meal enjoyed by tens of millions across LATAM on a daily basis.

Just plain rice and plain beans every day? I think there is a lot of work that goes into preparation you're willfully ignoring for in making it less boring and soulcrushing.

This is precisely why I avoided using adjectives such as savory or delicious. Taste is entirely subjective and varies widely from individual to individual. Nutrition on the other is based on scientific fact, hence why I chose to use terms such as: nutrients, fiber, protein.

Btw, I find the term "souldcrushing" to be an insult to the millions of individuals who rely on such food staples for their daily nutritional intake. Go do a quick search for levels of diabetes and obesity among nations which rely on plant based diets and then come back and talk to me about soulcrushing.

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

#278

Post by chrisseaton »

tyingq wrote: post #275
chrisseaton wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if your company or industry can't do 6% this year you likely have other options that can That's the right argument to make. Not inflation as you were saying before. Talking about inflation to motivate pay rise is a logically unsound argument. 'Inflation is up 2%' - so what? 'I can get 2% elsewhere' ok we can talk.

>Talking about inflation to motivate pay rise is a logically unsound argument. I get the rest of what you're saying, but I don't see how it's logically unsound. To me, it logically unsound if a company raises prices to match inflation, and all of it's costs other than employee salaries raise at roughly the inflation rate. Why are salaries solely exempt as a cost subject to inflation?

Why does your employer pay you at all? To get you to work for them.

So how much do they pay you to work for them? As little as it takes to convince you to work for them and not someone else.

So how much does it take you to convince you to work for them? Just a little more than anyone else will pay you.

So your pay depends on how much anyone else will pay you.

Where does inflation enter that logic?

You can say 'my costs have gone up by inflation I want to be paid that much more' but can you see how your costs don't figure into what they pay you? If you said 'this company will pay me more' than that works. But just 'inflation' doesn't.

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

#279

Post by tksb »

ingenieros wrote: post #259
HWR_14 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure where "poor people should subsist on only rice and beans" became a valid idea. Sure, I mean, it's a cheap meal. But it's also boring and soulcrushing to have everyday. You're also aside the fact that rice and beans takes a good amount of time to prepare, which is a problem if you're working 16 hours a day - making rice takes 30 minutes and that is coming out of your sleep. But most importantly, only havi…

"But it's also boring and soulcrushing to have everyday" It's also rich in vegetable protein and a great source of fiber. Geez, when I think of "boring and soulcrushing" meals I think of SOYLENT not a nutritious meal enjoyed by tens of millions across LATAM on a daily basis.

If you believe that anyone counting cents is aware or concerned with it being "rich in protein" by your standards then count yourself among the disconnected. Survival is first.

"Geez"

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

#280

Post by heartbreak »

Jach wrote: post #260
heartbreak wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A 50lb bag of white rice can be had on Amazon for $88 There's an obvious problem with cost per unit tricks like this. You have to be able to front the money to buy the big bag of rice. If your food budget is $40/wk, how are you going to spend $88 on a bag of rice? With your non-existent savings account? By eating plain rice and literally nothing else for > two weeks?

I'm picking your response, but it's typical of an archetype that's bothersome in a different way to the GP's archetype of pointing out that volume discounts exist. When you're poor, your food budget isn't a crisp reliable $40/wk that you give like an API call to the store for a constant amount of the same food with $0 left. No, the amount varies up and down, as does the kind of food you get that week, as does the amo…

All good points. I was using GP’s $40/wk for the sake of argument, and “savings account” more as a figure of speech than to literally refer to a savings account (for the reasons you pointed out). I do contend that, for people who have such a small amount available for food every week, saving any amount of money (let alone $1k/mo) is extremely difficult. Life is a never ending barrage of unexpected financial hits, especially when you’re already living frugally.
Post reply on HN