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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

#331

Post by HWR_14 »

ingenieros wrote: post #277
vore wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 int…

> Go do a quick search for levels of diabetes and obesity among nations which rely on plant based diets

And none of them rely on just rice and beans. They use spices and herb to make things taste better. You keep reading "rice and beans are soulcrushing" as "vegan food bad". When it's really a) repetitive and b) requires a lot of labor to make tasty. Most Asian saucy dishes are around making rice tastier.

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

#332

Post by HWR_14 »

ingenieros wrote: post #300
vore wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to have a very utilitarian view of food that most people do not have: the average person does not quantify food purely in terms of their nutritional value, and enjoying the taste of it is a pretty big factor for if they want to eat it every day or not! And again, comparing subsisting on "$30 of rice and beans" is a completely different proposition to "nations which rely on plant based diets": people in these…

The op mentioned "$100 is plenty to afford groceries at a grocery store." Surely some of that could go into things like: salt and garlic, no? You also talk about "the average person" which makes me seriously wonder what you mean by this? What is an average person in your world view? I've had the opportunity to live in 3 different continents and I'd be hard pressed to describe an average person to you. Perhaps you are…

At $100/week you can trivially have have chicken every dinner. You made it $30/week to justify rice and beans as the sole meal. Which makes it harder to purchase addons. Especially if that works out to $7.50/person/week for a family of 4. Just over $1.07/person/day doesn't leave a lot of extra money.

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

#333

Post by HWR_14 »

onecommentman wrote: post #303
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…

With an electric pressure cooker, say Instapot ($60 new, 11/23/21), prep time for rice is less than 3 minutes, and beans even less. Just did it. Cooking time from 1 cup beans (no presoak) to cooked is 1 hour, two cups rice to cooked is 20 minutes. Maybe you can do both combined at the same time in an hour. Total time of involvement by chef…about 5 minutes. And the pot keeps it warm until you wake up from your nap. Do…

Rice and beans is a basis. There's also a lot of corn. But it's not that those people are different, it's that preparation takes a real amount of time.

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

#334

Post by HWR_14 »

Auracle wrote: post #302
HWR_14 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither of those are in rural areas. Heck, people I know in urban areas are still excited when the Aldi's come to town.

There’s one in the town of 20,000 next to me (15 minutes away) along with two other grocery stores and a Walmart. There’s nothing in my town of 2,000 of course, though I believe there’s a Dollar-Something in another local town.

I mean, nexuses of grocery stores exist in rural areas. But 15 minutes is pretty close for such a town. 5% of rural people live in a food desert. Meanwhile you probably live in Ohio or Illinois, because if you look at the Aldi map, that seems to be where most rural Aldis are. (WI and FL are the next guesses.) But, with three exceptions in NM and a bunch in Cali, there are no Aldis west of Dallas. That's a huge area.

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

#336

Post by Auracle »

HWR_14 wrote: post #334
Auracle wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s one in the town of 20,000 next to me (15 minutes away) along with two other grocery stores and a Walmart. There’s nothing in my town of 2,000 of course, though I believe there’s a Dollar-Something in another local town.

I mean, nexuses of grocery stores exist in rural areas. But 15 minutes is pretty close for such a town. 5% of rural people live in a food desert. Meanwhile you probably live in Ohio or Illinois, because if you look at the Aldi map, that seems to be where most rural Aldis are. (WI and FL are the next guesses.) But, with three exceptions in NM and a bunch in Cali, there are no Aldis west of Dallas. That's a huge area.

Minnesota, actually.

For what it’s worth I don’t shop there. The one time I did I was unimpressed - that was the first time I’ve ever seen fruit flies in a grocery store. I also needed to go to my regular grocery store after and it was a huge timesuck.

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

#338

Post by HWR_14 »

Auracle wrote: post #336
HWR_14 wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, nexuses of grocery stores exist in rural areas. But 15 minutes is pretty close for such a town. 5% of rural people live in a food desert. Meanwhile you probably live in Ohio or Illinois, because if you look at the Aldi map, that seems to be where most rural Aldis are. (WI and FL are the next guesses.) But, with three exceptions in NM and a bunch in Cali, there are no Aldis west of Dallas. That's a huge area.

Minnesota, actually. For what it’s worth I don’t shop there. The one time I did I was unimpressed - that was the first time I’ve ever seen fruit flies in a grocery store. I also needed to go to my regular grocery store after and it was a huge timesuck.

Also, you're implying (2,000; 20,000) that you live in a rural area (that was the topic.) But there are a lot of suburbs of Minneapolis that seem to fit that bill.

I found Aldi to be perfectly fine, although you had to want whatever random stuff you got outside of a few fresh fruits. No flies at the ones I've been to, but that could just be because it's closer to a distribution hub? MN is the extreme ccorner of the area they serve.

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

#339

Post by erichocean »

MikusR wrote: post #272
koolba wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's the same in the US.

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

#340

Post by Digory »

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #314
Digory wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People that shop for groceries at dollar stores do it because: 4. They only have a dollar. Yes, it's cheaper by the fluid ounce to buy a barrel of Pine-sol at Costco. But if you have $100 for groceries and household expenses this week, you'll pay more per ounce to minimize the cash-flow problem. Their cash-flow constraints and cost of credit both prevent them from economizing. That is how most Americans shop.

Except it's not just a cash flow problem, it's first and foremost a community collapse problem. Poor immigrants buy in bulk and share all the time. Eventually the only way to avoid poverty is effectively cooperating with other people - at work to accomplish tasks worth paying for, social networking to get a job, staying married to provide for children. I am not patronizing anyone here, just acknowledging that their t…

Yes, depopulation of small towns accompanies a lot of this, which means you have isolated seniors and the disadvantaged making up a lot of rural places.

But the economic incentives to leave it all behind for the big city are strong. The internet makes it better, in theory, but there’s an online political divide, too.

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