Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

Post by buellerbueller » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:24 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #148

thanhhaimai wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is exactly why I only shop at Costco. While other retailers try to get me to buy more stuffs, Costco try to make sure I'm satisfied enough that I'll renew my yearly membership (their main profit source). The incentive structure aligns very well.

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.

Post by bee_rider » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:27 PM UTC

opendomain wrote: post #620

cbdevidal wrote: post #559

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is even though Dollar Tree prices are honest because they all are the same $1.25 (excluding the new “More Choices” $3-5 items) they’re still ripping you off. I always shop on a per-unit basis e.g. dollars per pound or cents per ounce, since that’s how I actually eat food. I need a certain amount of calories and a certain quantity of food to survive, and the less I pay per unit, the lower overall cost. On a…

SO what do you buy for food and where do you buy it? With your focus on calories per dollar, do you also get supplements? Which ones and where? Why are you so focused on this?

Post by calmworm » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 5:44 PM UTC

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…

Post by order-matters » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 6:03 PM UTC

harimau777 wrote: post #624

cbdevidal wrote: post #559

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is even though Dollar Tree prices are honest because they all are the same $1.25 (excluding the new “More Choices” $3-5 items) they’re still ripping you off. I always shop on a per-unit basis e.g. dollars per pound or cents per ounce, since that’s how I actually eat food. I need a certain amount of calories and a certain quantity of food to survive, and the less I pay per unit, the lower overall cost. On a…

That sounds like it's basically the grocery equivalent of the boot theory of poverty. Poor people have to pay more in the long run because they can't afford to buy in bulk.

Post by brookst » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 6:07 PM UTC

randerson wrote: post #641

ineedasername wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'll bet 1 share... I won't be your counterparty on that bet, you've already won: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/09/15/trump-wants... One of the reasons cited? All the work it takes. Which is just an insane response. If your business is so poorly run and organized that reconciling things each quarter represents a disproportionate amount of effort, something is very wrong. It means you definitely don't kn…

I rarely agree with Trump, but I'm a former exec at a public company and he's not wrong. You need a horde of lawyers and accountants and investor relations and SOX compliance people and auditors etc for the earnings reports. SOX adds burdensome processes at every layer of the organization. Your CFO and CEO will be preoccupied by earnings. It's a real disincentive for a small/medium cap company to go (or stay) public.…