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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

#661

Post by thekid314 »

dylan604 wrote: post #657
b3lvedere wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once i had a very amusing discusson with a store that sold laptops. I wanted to purchase a laptop at the advertised price. The sales person told me i was in luck, because all their laptops came preinstalled with Microsoft Office for a little extra money. I told him politely i did not want to buy Microsoft Office, even for such little extra money. I just wanted the laptop. Semi-flabbergasted he told me this was not po…

I was really waiting for this to be a Windows bloatware where Linux laptops are cheaper since there's no unnecessary Microsoft license at all. So you are principled in not wanting to use Office, but unprincipled enough to go ahead and use Windows?? That's a bold position on HN. Linux or death!!!!

This will be the year of Linux on the desktop!

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#663

Post by latexr »

avsteele wrote: post #653
latexr wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m having a hard time parsing your comment. > Article Context-free raw #'s What does this mean? > no comparisons to traditional grocery stores AFAIK. So? The article is very specific from the beginning it was an investigation on two specific chains . That different stores may also do it does not invalidate the point. > Dad journalism Did you mean “bad journalism”, or is “dad journalism” a term with meaning (like “ar…

> Article Context-free raw #'s "Dollar General stores have failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022" Is this a lot or a little? There no context for national chain > Dad journalism "Bad" Typo, sorry > You should not update on this article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_inference > (…) a national report found that (…) The article's thesis is that these stores…

> Is this a lot or a little?

Seems to me that failing any inspection is bad. 4300 in three years and in half the country is clearly a lot. That’s almost four failed inspections per day, double the number of mass shootings (which is also too high and even one is bad).

Also, the paragraphs immediately following what you quoted provide more context. Over 50% error rate is obviously a lot, as is failing 28 inspections in a row.

> The article's thesis is that these stores are uniquely bad.

Is it? Seems to me the thesis of the article is how this broken system is punishing poor people even further: “As the cost of living soars across America, the customers bearing the burden are those who can least afford it”. Which parts specifically make you believe that the thesis of the article is that these stores are uniquely bad?

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#664

Post by mindslight »

dmurray wrote: post #510
mindslight wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or omitting to update a sign by mistake No, in this case the shop is legitimately offering an item for sale, and then forgetting to change the price they are offering it at. It's quite disingenuous for a shop to put up signs, and then act like those numbers aren't legally binding, while the real prices are hidden away in a database somewhere. If they want to have their database be the authoritative copy pricing inf…

> If they want to have their database be the authoritative copy pricing information, then they can just not put up price signs to begin with. This one really does vary by jurisdiction, but no, grocery stores generally must display prices by law.

Sure, but the point of those laws is to diminish the ability for merchants to obscure prices, as a deliberate public policy goal.

Such places are likely to have more proactive regulations against price discrepancies well, rather than common law "freedom".

Still I can imagine a few ways for a store to post prices without being in the territory of forming binding offers - keep stock only accessible to employees, post obnoxious signs everywhere stating that the prices are for informational purposes and that no offer is implied, require membership for entry with appropriate terms, etc.

Or rather than continuing to run the complexity treadmill trying to escape regulation, stores can just accept that they're bound by laws that were settled quite some time ago, and that their business includes making offers to sell items.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#665

Post by asd »

websiteapi wrote: post #415

in 2025 I'm surprised you can't just scan everything on your phone yourself and get the up-to-date price. are there laws stating things must be a posted price? seems easier for everyone to have something you can scan that show you the latest price, or auto updating tags.

Looks like Dollar Tree just rolled out a feature where you can do a price check on items by using their App.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DollarTree/comments/1ndmniz/downloa...

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#666

Post by knowitnone3 »

b3lvedere wrote: post #552
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.…

Once i had a very amusing discusson with a store that sold laptops. I wanted to purchase a laptop at the advertised price. The sales person told me i was in luck, because all their laptops came preinstalled with Microsoft Office for a little extra money. I told him politely i did not want to buy Microsoft Office, even for such little extra money. I just wanted the laptop. Semi-flabbergasted he told me this was not po…

but you re-installed Windows which is the definition of bloatware and malware.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#667

Post by [deleted] »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #173
sema4hacker wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> Has private equity ever done anything good for anyone outside of the investors? If it's not publicly traded, it's super secure from any public accountability. And while I'm increasingly hostile toward the shareholder model, we do get one transparency breadcrumb from this (gov managed) contrivance: The Earnings Call Earnings Calls give us worthwhile amounts of internal information that we'd never get otherwise - inf…

[deleted]

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#668

Post by knowitnone3 »

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.…

so if I find one that is has the wrong price and get $10 off, I could potentially "buy" all of them for free?

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#669

Post by reenorap »

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…

Private equity is even more insidious than you can imagine.

How it works is that PE will buy a profitable company, and then strip out everything it can, and then load on the debt. In exchange for loading on the debt, the banks will give preferential treatment to the other companies in the PE fund's portfolio. In addition, they will force the company to purchase services and even entire companies from the PE company's fund portfolio. Then, after a year or so, PE will IPO the company and sell to retail suckers. Mutual fund companies will hold their nose and buy into the IPO even though everyone knows it's a shitty company. The reason why is because the PE company will give early access to investment in their other more promising companies. So PE companies will make a lot of money by stripping every part of the company out, maximizing and leveraging its portfolio of other companies so that banks and mutual fund companies will dump money into them. It's literally like harvesting a farm animal and carving absolutely everything of value off of it, as well as leveraging other companies to dump into it with the promise of access to other companies in its portfolio.

And then they turn around and dump the carcass into the hands of retail suckers, either through their mutual funds like Fidelity or straight onto the markets.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#670

Post by tlogan »

This is definitely illegal in California: California Business and Professions Code Section 12024.2 BPC. It can result up to one year in jail.

I’m not sure how this article is true but seems like as a push to pass a similar law in North Carolina and New Jersey.

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