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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

#471

Post by paultopia »

potato3732842 wrote: post #184
paultopia wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A justification for lying to poor people about the prices of things they're trying to buy? Do tell.

I know we're all idiots here because that's what easy tech money does to people but retail margins are razor thin. You can't just make thoughtless trite statements about what they "should" do because a few percent here and there is the difference between red and black and red means prices go up. I'm sure they're happy to not invest in accuracy when it makes them money but there's a pretty wide gulf between being slop…

As another commenter in this thread pointed out, pricing is the bare minimum for retail. We’re not talking about general sloppiness, we’re talking about misleading consumers on the basics of their transactions.

Yes, lots of businesses have thin margins. But the law (such as contract law and the laws against consumer fraud, which are implicated here) sets the things that a business can’t economize on in order to meet those margins. It’s the same as food safety: restaurants also run really thin margins, but they’re not allowed to store the meat on the counter because refrigeration is too expensive. If they do that, they get shut down by the health inspector.

Businesses “should” comply with consumer fraud laws for the same reason they “should” comply with health codes.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#472

Post by guelo »

technothrasher wrote: post #429
jefftk wrote: post #372

> Red Baron frozen pizzas, listed on the shelf at $5, rang up at $7.65. Bounty paper towels, shelf price $10.99, rang up at $15.50. This very rarely happens in MA, because when it does the store has to give you the item for $10 off, including if that makes it free. And they have to post a sign at the register explaining the law, which means when you're invoking it all you need to do is point at the sign. https://www.…

Note that this law is only for certain products. We would have people at the liquor store I used to own point out mislabeling occasionally and claim we owed them the $10 difference from this law. While we tried to work with customers when we made a pricing error, not only does the accuracy law not apply to alcoholic beverages, but it would often be illegal for us to offer the customer the mistaken price. Alcohol reta…

Is alcohol the only exception?

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#473

Post by bawolff »

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?

In theory it helps people who have some sort of trade and just want to do that trade, focus on that, while the business experts from the PE firm handle the business side. Running a business is a skill, and people who want to sell some other skill often don't have it as you can't be good at everything.

Are there other ways of addressing that gap, like hiring experts? Sure, but its not like PE is entirely evil.

Keep in mind there is some selection bias here. You only hear about private equity when its being comic book evil. When things work out or its a non scummy PE company, you never hear about it.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#474

Post by [deleted] »

Full_Clark wrote: post #267
itchingsphynx wrote: post #227

In Australia, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission: - Businesses must communicate clear and accurate prices prior to consumers booking, ordering or purchasing. They must not mislead consumers about their prices. - There are specific laws about how businesses must display their prices. - Businesses must display a total price that includes taxes, duties and all unavoidable or pre-selected ext…

Requirements about surcharge notifications and displaying all-up prices are nice, but the gap here will still be about enforcement and not regulation. The core problem for dollar-store shoppers in the US is about getting the retailers to honor the sticker price, not whether the sticker price shows all state and local taxes. Is the Australian shopper protected simply by a stronger culture of adherence amongst retailer…

[deleted]

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#475

Post by 1123581321 »

bombcar wrote: post #312
1123581321 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subsidiary income would be included in a financial statement.

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

You were talking about subsidiaries, though.

The company owning both Dollar General and the sister real estate would report consolidated income.

If you're saying there's a secret arm's length relationship between a dollar store chain and a real estate holding, structured just to trick the public into thinking low cost retail is low margin, I'm afraid that is not true.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#476

Post by thfuran »

fencepost wrote: post #232
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.

Depending on how much independence the inspectors have they could probably turn a heck of a profit per inspector (thus being able to argue their continued existence to the legislature). Could an inspector manage two per day? If you figure the full cost of each inspector is $150,000/year but dedicated ones could do 8 inspections at $5k each per week, there's well over $1 million/year per inspector (assuming not all in…

>Even Republicans could get behind it!

No, they have no actual interest in saving the government money, especially if it comes at the cost of enforcing regulations on corporations.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#477

Post by hunter2_ »

Cyclone_ wrote: post #438
technothrasher wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that this law is only for certain products. We would have people at the liquor store I used to own point out mislabeling occasionally and claim we owed them the $10 difference from this law. While we tried to work with customers when we made a pricing error, not only does the accuracy law not apply to alcoholic beverages, but it would often be illegal for us to offer the customer the mistaken price. Alcohol reta…

That's probably aimed at reducing consumption.

I assume eliminating the "loss leader" concept is the main effect, since shops shouldn't otherwise price things as losses regardless? In which case it seems like it's meant to maintain some friction / overhead for people wanting to visit the stores, possibly reducing consumption at least for the price-sensitive.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#478

Post by doublepg23 »

cyberax wrote: post #367
joncp wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... 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.

Why is car a luxury? A clunker car worth $2000 will still work fine for years with minor maintenance that can be done by yourself. Oh, yeah. Cities. Cars are expensive when you live in a 100 sq. ft. box. Perhaps that's what is causing problems?

The $2000 daily driver died with covid.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#479

Post by cyberax »

JambalayaJimbo wrote: post #443
cyberax wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is car a luxury? A clunker car worth $2000 will still work fine for years with minor maintenance that can be done by yourself. Oh, yeah. Cities. Cars are expensive when you live in a 100 sq. ft. box. Perhaps that's what is causing problems?

The cost of the car itself is minimal compared to insurance, gas and storage costs.

What "storage"? You put it on your driveway. The minimum liability insurance around here is about $50 a month.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#480

Post by cyberax »

Waterluvian wrote: post #458
cyberax wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is car a luxury? A clunker car worth $2000 will still work fine for years with minor maintenance that can be done by yourself. Oh, yeah. Cities. Cars are expensive when you live in a 100 sq. ft. box. Perhaps that's what is causing problems?

A competently planned city makes car ownership unnecessary.

A competently planned _country_ makes cities that only seem to create generational poverty unnecessary.
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