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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

#301

Post by darth_avocado »

chongli wrote: post #270
darth_avocado wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I’ve seen that’s as far from the truth as it can be. They in fact consolidate terrible businesses, undercut the good ones and drive them out of the market until only they are left, after which point, they get even worse.

From what I've seen, they take a terrible business and liquify its valuable assets for their investors, freeing up capital to be invested more productively elsewhere in the economy. Of course those investors could take the money and commission a bunch of statues of themselves, but frequently they do something more productive than that. A lot of the negative reaction to them seems to me to be mostly emotional. They'll…

> lot of the negative reaction to them seems to me to be mostly emotional

Mine specifically stems from PE buying up all but one 24x7 emergency vets in a 20 miles radius from me. All of them were thriving businesses. There is only one remaining non PE ones has its days numbered. After monopolizing the emergency vet market, they shut down a few locations, which previously acted as competition for each other, effectively cementing monopolies in those individual neighborhoods as well. Now, you pay $200 to just get your pet checked out and always have to wait anywhere between 6-8 hours in triage if your pet isn’t literally dying, because they are perpetually understaffed and there are no other options. They also recommend unnecessary tests and treatments, present them as “optional” but refuse to treat your pet if you don’t agree to their “optional” treatment plan.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#302

Post by pfdietz »

venturecruelty wrote: post #157
chongli wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

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?

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#303

Post by andrew_lettuce »

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).

That's not true at all! Funds often look for mature companies with predictable cash flow. They can make returns while also squeezing margins under the illusion of expertise and economies of scale and seek to the next fund for a multiple. They're an alternative to the massive headache of going public and getting a liquidity event, not typically the model for your weak and dysfunctional company.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#304

Post by gucci-on-fleek »

dymk wrote: post #29
gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sticker price is legally binding, as it constitutes an offer While I wish that that were how things worked, unfortunately, the US legal system disagrees [0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_to_treat#Case_law

That’s about ads, not sticker price on the shelf, and about a lack of obligation to sell at that price. It does not say that it’s alright to lie and charge a different price at the register.

From the Wikipedia article:

> A display of goods for sale in a shop window or within a shop is an invitation to treat, as in the Boots case, a leading case concerning supermarkets. The shop owner is thus not obliged to sell the goods, even if signage such as "special offer" accompanies the display. […] If a shop mistakenly displays an item for sale at a very low price it is not obliged to sell it for that amount.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#305

Post by tpmoney »

sema4hacker wrote: post #122
regera wrote: post #116

Dollar stores are private equity with a checkout lane. In 2025, Dollar Tree sold Family Dollar to a group of private-equity firms: Brigade Capital Management, Macellum Capital Management and Arkhouse Management Co. https://corporate.dollartree.com/news-media/press-releases/d... It’s a business model cosplaying as poverty relief while quietly siphoning money from the people least able to lose it. They already run on a…

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

If you're a Dell customer, Michael Dell taking the company private again seems to have done wonders for them.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#306

Post by adrr »

DangitBobby wrote: post #159
terminalshort wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what's the problem with that? You get a discount for buying larger amounts of basically everything.

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.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#307

Post by estearum »

teeray wrote: post #290
jeltz wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was investigated, the issue is that the fines are smaller than the profit. I would personally want to see things like this considered fraud and that it can result in prison sentences for executives and other people invovled in the decision making.

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.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#308

Post by andrew_lettuce »

chongli wrote: post #270
darth_avocado wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I’ve seen that’s as far from the truth as it can be. They in fact consolidate terrible businesses, undercut the good ones and drive them out of the market until only they are left, after which point, they get even worse.

From what I've seen, they take a terrible business and liquify its valuable assets for their investors, freeing up capital to be invested more productively elsewhere in the economy. Of course those investors could take the money and commission a bunch of statues of themselves, but frequently they do something more productive than that. A lot of the negative reaction to them seems to me to be mostly emotional. They'll…

They could do this, but there's not enough targets of this type for the money invested in the sector. They've also proven to not have the advertised & applicable expertise to run companies any more efficiently than current management. Nostalgia had nothing to do with it unless that's one of the company's assets. I've been inside on three PE acquisitions, and 5 sales by PE to new funds. The playbook was the same for them all: predictable, decent cash flow, cut expenses, grow enterprise sales, sell on before long term cracks from lack of strategic investment showed. If anything they accelerated the decline of healthy going concerns, but at each sale the insiders did great.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#309

Post by LorenPechtel »

js2 wrote: post #144
mschuster91 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately, this type of conflict can only be adjudicated by courts, which low-income people don't have the time and money for. Here in Europe, we have consumer protection agencies. Get wronged? Shoot them off an email and they'll take care of it. And overcharging at the cash register? That gets handled by the responsible authorities. Again, call them, tell them what happened and it can get real messy real fast.

I was having trouble getting Verizon to unlock an iPhone that had been purchased (not financed) from Best Buy and that had been on Verizon's network for more than two years. Verizon support said only BB could unlock it[^1]. I thought that was poppycock. I filled out a form on the FCC's web site just before midnight. By 8 AM, the FCC had forwarded the complaint to Verizon. By 9 AM Verizon executive relations called me…

Yeah, I've had a similar experience with a phone company trying to hold a number hostage. Yes, the bill was unpaid, but I was not the one liable. (My phone on a company account, the company was going under.) Letter to the regulators, very promptly fixed.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#310

Post by array_key_first »

antonvs wrote: post #192
regera wrote: post #116

Dollar stores are private equity with a checkout lane. In 2025, Dollar Tree sold Family Dollar to a group of private-equity firms: Brigade Capital Management, Macellum Capital Management and Arkhouse Management Co. https://corporate.dollartree.com/news-media/press-releases/d... It’s a business model cosplaying as poverty relief while quietly siphoning money from the people least able to lose it. They already run on a…

> cosplaying as poverty relief Does it really? Who says this, and who believes it?

I mean, it's in the name.
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