Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices • Hacker News Board

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#311

Post by chongli » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:05 AM UTC

excalibur wrote: post #176

jahsome wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, that is an utterly hilarious question to be posing on this website of all places.

That's a good point. Private Equity is a fairly broad umbrella term that encompasses a variety of investment strategies and business models. The type of Private Equity that most here are referring to is the type that buys up existing businesses, squeezes as much money as possible out of them, and throws their desecrated corpses in the gutter. These "investors" are a blight on society, this activity should be criminal…

Just like crows! People hate crows even though they play a valuable role in ecosystems.

I would argue that moribund businesses who maintain a competitive moat but are otherwise extremely unproductive and inefficient are the real blight on society. If PE firms can liquidate those businesses and open up the market while freeing up capital for more productive investment then I fully support them.

I would love to hear some counterexamples though. Productive and innovative businesses with really solid fundamentals (balance sheets) that were acquired and dismantled by PE.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#312

Post by bombcar » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:05 AM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #297

bombcar wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially since it’s advantageous to adjust suppliers that you own to maintain tiny margins (who owns the land they rent, for example)

Subsidiary income would be included in a financial statement.

Not if the landlord is a side entity and not a subsidiary.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#313

Post by DangitBobby » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:05 AM UTC

adrr wrote: post #306

DangitBobby wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dollar stores are crowding out grocery stores in areas that only have the clientele to support one grocery store. They sell only higher margin, long shelf-life shit food, whereas real grocery stores have to carry produce which cuts into margins considerably cause it goes bad. So it's easier for them to stay open. And they create food deserts there. They are a fucking scourge for small towns.

Source that they are replacing grocery stores? Dollar stores are closing and not expanding . 99 cents stores went bankrupt, rest have been closing hundreds of stores. Also dollar stores carry produce just grocery at least largest ones do like dollar general. They are designed to compete against grocery stores and wallmart’s neighborhood markets.

There have been a few articles about this over the past couple of years, usually in reference to one study or another. Here's one that references a USDA study:

https://substack.perfectunion.us/p/dollar-stores-are-killing...

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#314

Post by andrew_lettuce » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:06 AM UTC

pfdietz wrote: post #302

venturecruelty wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do I travel to the alternate universe where private equity apparently makes things better instead of worse?

You stay in this one. If PE wasn't producing value it would disappear. What, you think people dump money into PE because they want to twirl their villainous moustaches?

Most people would say that extracting wealth and concentrating it into an ever shrinking group of elites is making the world worse. They do this both from the companies you and I might work for, but more importantly from the markets that have no defenses.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#315

Post by phyzome » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:06 AM UTC

securingsincity wrote: post #98

Massachusetts has a quite prominent law against this. "When buying groceries—food and non-alcoholic beverages, pet food or supplies, disposable paper or plastic products, soap, household cleaners, laundry products, or light bulbs—you must be charged the lowest displayed price, whether on the sticker, scanner, website, or app. If the lowest price you saw for an item is $10 or less, and that lowest price is not what yo…

Yup. My local Star Market was pretty bad about this, so I started paying close attention to prices on the shelf and at the register. Pretty soon I was taking home free items every shopping trip. (I also reported them to Inspectional Services when aisle scanners were broken or prices were particularly egregiously missing or wrong.)

Some of the cashiers had to have it explained to them with much pointing to the sign that hangs on every register; others knew the drill and called a manager over right away.

After about 6 months they started shaping up. Maybe the store manager got fed up, or maybe corporate stopped having them skimp on sticker hygiene.

From the article:

> In one court case in Ohio, Dollar General’s lawyers argued that “it is virtually impossible for a retailer to match shelf pricing and scanned pricing 100% of the time for all items. Perfection in this regard is neither plausible nor expected under the law.”

...but in my experience, they're perfectly capable of doing the right thing, given appropriate incentive and enforcement. In particular I noticed that this really varies from store to store, even in the same chain.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#316

Post by phil21 » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:07 AM UTC

doctor_radium wrote: post #143

securingsincity wrote: post #98

Massachusetts has a quite prominent law against this. "When buying groceries—food and non-alcoholic beverages, pet food or supplies, disposable paper or plastic products, soap, household cleaners, laundry products, or light bulbs—you must be charged the lowest displayed price, whether on the sticker, scanner, website, or app. If the lowest price you saw for an item is $10 or less, and that lowest price is not what yo…

So this means I would get the app-only sale price, without using the app? While doing some research into state retail pricing laws a few years ago, I discovered how tough Massachusetts is, being one of the last holdouts mandating ticketing on all items, and only relenting in exchange for price scanners every so many aisles. Living in Pennsylvania and annoyed by stores tying their best prices to their apps, I fanciful…

Probably doesn’t apply for most app pricing, since those are typically advertised as “digital coupons” or the like in the fine print.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#317

Post by geodel » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:08 AM UTC

joncp wrote: post #221

Waterluvian wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying in bulk is about having the ability to both afford next week’s food this week and have the means to store it. Not to mention the annual subscription. Responding to a comment about dollar stores preying on the poor with, “that’s why I shop at Costco” is… a choice.

... and a car to haul all that stuff, and time to drive to the nearest Costco. It really is a luxury that a ton of people can't afford.

Indeed. And I say this as Costco member. There are lot of factors that make Costco memberships work. And a lot of people won't be able to make much benefit out of Costco membership.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#318

Post by andrew_lettuce » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:08 AM UTC

pclmulqdq wrote: post #277

collingreen wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, the "it's actually good for customers" response is "they should have paid more"? I love it.

Nobody in this comment chain was saying it was good for the customers. The GP was saying that they clear out room for new businesses, and if brick-and-mortar-fabric-superstore were still a viable model someone would be doing it.

How the hell does consolidation, monopolization, externalizing costs and extreme leverage "clear the room for new businesses"?

Even on HN playing the role of PE apologist is not going to fly ...

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#319

Post by no_wizard » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:09 AM UTC

chongli wrote: post #146

sema4hacker wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has private equity ever done anything good for anyone outside of the investors?

Private equity are the crows of the economy. They pick off weak / dysfunctional businesses and open space for fresh competition (or for other markets to open up).

If only it actually played out that way[0][1][2][3]

Whatever legal and theoretical role they play in the economy does not match the actual, real role they are playing: PE firms are by and large, economic vampires. They have a well documented history of sucking the life out of a sector at the expense of workers and consumers alike

[0]: https://www.wired.com/story/megan-greenwell-bad-company-priv...

[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/10/slash-and-b...

[2]: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/private-eq...

[3]: https://doctorow.medium.com/the-long-bloody-lineage-of-priva...

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#320

Post by esseph » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 12:11 AM UTC

estearum wrote: post #307

teeray wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Corporate fines should all be percentages of profits.

Pretty trivial to make profits "not exist" though if you planned to engage in fraud and wanted to de-risk it.

They're a publicly traded company. If they drop profits substantially, I imagine shareholders etc would leave.