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Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

theguardian.com

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Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#31

Post by jrmg »

modzu wrote: post #23
jrmg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think this is true. Even if pricing in the shelves is accurate, in my experience Dollar General is typically a little more expensive than a normal mid-range supermarket (or e.g. Amazon) for most things.

then why do poor people shop there? is the idea dollar general is strategically misleading them to see prices advertised lower than a normal supermarket but in fact they are higher? i didn't think the article was making that strong of a claim at all. it seemed more like, operations are minimal and staffing short (which in theory enables lower prices) and they linked the staffing issue with simply just not being on to…

1) Misleading advertising? Yes. Obviously this is true if you accept both that their prices are generally higher, and that they’re advertising low prices.

2) They’re in more convenient locations - often on the drive home already - and are smaller so are faster to get in and out of when you’re hurrying to or from work.

3) If you’re _not_ working, they’re probably cheaper to _get to_, especially if you can’t drive, because they’re closer.

I’m not as up in arms about this as some - in some respects this is just a new iteration of the corner store or bodega, which have always been a little more expensive than supermarkets (and often a little disorganized…) - but it is the truth.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#32

Post by tokai »

firefax wrote: post #24
aimor wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the default is a dollar" There is no default price.

It's called "dollar tree" for a reason, historically prices were and are a dollar unless otherwise noted.

They went up to $1.25 in '21 I think. It was extensively cover by the press.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#33

Post by mistrial9 »

aimor wrote: post #18
firefax wrote: post #10

I had a clerk flip out on me a while back at a Dollar Tree because I wanted a charge for a dollar -- it rang up as 1.25. They rolled their eyes and told me not everything is a dollar, and I maintained that absent pricing stickers indicating otherwise, the default is a dollar. When I pointed out another way to look at it is it's a twenty five percent price discrepancy, someone came out of an office and literally screa…

"the default is a dollar" There is no default price.

I can't cite details, but I believe that case law has settled this many times.. When a customer enters a commercial business, there are implied contracts that are enforceable.. I am thinking of restaurants first. I believe it is the responsibility of the goods and services provider to show prices accurately and honor them, and variations of that are well-understood in court. These kind of transactions are common for thousands of years in the West.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#34

Post by _fat_santa »

I experienced this first hand maybe a year ago when I randomly walked into a dollar general to get something, their prices often times are pretty close to the "regular" versions of the product, but packaged specifically for dollar stores.

I get why people shop at them in rural places because that's the only shop within 10-20 miles but in cities it makes no sense. Had prices been 20-30% cheaper but in a smaller size it would still be a ripoff but an understandable one, but often times I saw products that were priced just 3-5% below their standard counterparts while giving you maybe 30%-50% of the product.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#35

Post by spwa4 »

jlund-molfese wrote: post #25
nlh wrote: post #3

“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.”” Sorry—-what? Isn’t that one of the fundamental basic jobs to be done and expectations of a retailer? You put physical things on display for sale, you mark price…

I used to work at Best Buy replacing pricing stickers before the store opened. We had a sheet of new stickers for changed prices every time and had to scan every sticker in the store to make sure they were all up to date. It makes sense they’re all switching to e-ink tags though, probably saves a ton in labor and the occasional mistake.

That's because those stickers constitute an offer of sale for a given price. If a customer comes in, takes the item, throws down the cash to an employee and leaves, that's a 100% bone fide legal sale.

That's also why messing with price stickers is a crime.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#36

Post by pilotneko »

modzu wrote: post #23
jrmg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think this is true. Even if pricing in the shelves is accurate, in my experience Dollar General is typically a little more expensive than a normal mid-range supermarket (or e.g. Amazon) for most things.

then why do poor people shop there? is the idea dollar general is strategically misleading them to see prices advertised lower than a normal supermarket but in fact they are higher? i didn't think the article was making that strong of a claim at all. it seemed more like, operations are minimal and staffing short (which in theory enables lower prices) and they linked the staffing issue with simply just not being on to…

Dollar General and Family Dollar are smaller stores that are generally the only option within a reasonable travel distance. Here in the South, you might be able to catch a bus to Wal-Mart, but it’ll take 2-3X more time (1 hour instead of 20 minutes), so people go with the closer option even thought it is more expensive. No guarantees that Wal-Mart will be cheaper either.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#37

Post by spwa4 »

analog8374 wrote: post #9

Happened to me yesterday. Haagendaz ice cream. $4 on the shelf, $5 at the register.

If it says $4 on the shelf and you pay $4 at the register and walk out with the goods, that's a 100% legal sale and not theft. Not even if it was a mistake on the part of some employee (and it's not the employee's fault either, by the way)

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#38

Post by itsdrewmiller »

_fat_santa wrote: post #34

I experienced this first hand maybe a year ago when I randomly walked into a dollar general to get something, their prices often times are pretty close to the "regular" versions of the product, but packaged specifically for dollar stores. I get why people shop at them in rural places because that's the only shop within 10-20 miles but in cities it makes no sense. Had prices been 20-30% cheaper but in a smaller size i…

Every store has some stuff that is overpriced compared to peers and some stuff that is underpriced. Dollar stores make their money more on drastic understaffing (leading to the issue in the article) and national scale than they do on being a consistently worse value. They have the cheapest freeze dried strawberries by weight you can get anywhere other than making them yourself.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#39

Post by itsdrewmiller »

JSR_FDED wrote: post #2

23% of items are rung up at a higher amount at the register than what it says on the shelf, yet North Carolina law caps penalties at $5,000 per inspection, offering retailers little incentive to fix the problem. In other words, regulatory capture at its finest, over the backs of the poorest in the country.

It’s not regulatory capture unless the regulatory body itself is controlled by shady grocers. This is just garden variety insufficient regulation. Although if they inspected every day it would probably still be profitable for the state.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#40

Post by nkrisc »

jrmg wrote: post #21
nlh wrote: post #3

“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.”” Sorry—-what? Isn’t that one of the fundamental basic jobs to be done and expectations of a retailer? You put physical things on display for sale, you mark price…

It’s virtually impossible for them because they’re not considering hiring more people to do it. Dollar General stores often run with one overworked staff member doing everything in the store, from stocking to working the register (which is why the register is unstaffed so much and you have roam the store to find someone to ring you up…)

“Because of conditions of our own making, it is virtually impossible to comply with the law, thus we shouldn’t be held accountable to it.”

It’s the same BS when Meta and others say they can’t moderate posts because there’s too many.

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