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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

#701

Post by Dylan16807 »

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.

> the ability to both afford next week’s food this week

At minimum that's everyone on a normal paycheck, paid every two weeks. There are situations where someone couldn't get together a few days' pay at once, but that's a tiny fraction of situations.

And the means to store most food is a two foot square of space in a room somewhere. And then most of the rest fits in the empty fridge space you already have.

And there are deals there that can be useful for your wallet right away. This isn't something where you have to put up a ton of money for months before you benefit.

The biggest issue is probably that costco isn't easy to get to.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#702

Post by DangitBobby »

mbesto wrote: post #592
DangitBobby wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do not offer better "value on the dollar" they offer units that individually cost less but over a year of buying what you need to survive you pay more. That's how items are generally priced; smaller packages, higher unit price (as in, price per ounce). You shouldn't say "screeching" if you want to be taken seriously, it makes you sound shallow and dismissive, incapable of understanding how your narrow outlook is…

> They do not offer better "value on the dollar" they offer units that individually cost less but over a year of buying what you need to survive you pay more. That's how items are generally priced; smaller packages, higher unit price (as in, price per ounce). Does the consumer not have all of the information available to them to make the comparison of the per unit cost between a dollar general and a local grocery?

Is information availability the only constraint keeping people from making optimal choices?

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#704

Post by dylan604 »

gwbas1c wrote: post #698
dylan604 wrote: post #659

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't buy alcohol before noon on Sunday is one of my faves.

Don't want people stumbling into church drunk! (That being said, even though I think it's a silly rule, it just seems to exist to annoy alcoholics who can't plan ahead. I'm not an alcoholic, and I rarely consume alcohol before noon, so I just laugh at people who whine about this law.)

Was at the airport on a trip with friends with the flight leaving before noon. None of the bars could sell. We are not alcoholics, but we were on vacation. Well, we were trying to start the vacation but had to wait until leaving uptight red state

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#705

Post by Dylan16807 »

tlb wrote: post #551
Waterluvian wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A competently planned city makes car ownership unnecessary.

There's no way to plan a city so most people can walk to a Costco. Warehouse stores are an inherently car-based phenomenon.

They don't require everyone to own a car. At the very least, they can run an efficient delivery service. And there's got to be a way to make a 3 hour rental or single taxi drive once a month much cheaper than owning a car.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#706

Post by bittercynic »

CommenterPerson wrote: post #398
ghaff wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a very, very convenient Walmart including a pharmacy so I do go in from time to time especially for standardized purchases. But I don't really like it. And I poked my head into an adjacent Aldi once and retreated. Otherwise not really worth the headache.

I shop at Walmart and Costco. The customers at the Costco appear much better off, but they seem much more arrogant and inconsiderate. They leave carts in the middle of the aisle, talk on phones with their families blocking the way, and so forth. Same behavior in the parking lots. Maybe it's because Costco is always packed. The shoppers at the Walmart definitely look less well off. They are much more respectful and co…

The shoppers at costco vary drastically by location. If you have more than one warehouse reasonably close by, it may be worth your while to try them all.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#707

Post by randerson »

brookst wrote: post #679
randerson wrote: post #641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

Twice a year reporting also makes it easier for insiders to cash out before bad news becomes public.

Almost all insiders file trading plans far in advance as a defense against accusations of insider trading. Twice-a-year reporting actually makes it harder for insiders because they will have to file their trading plans further in advance. And it doesn't stop shareholders from suing insiders if they believe there was actual insider trading.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#708

Post by etempleton »

gruez wrote: post #154
sema4hacker wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I'm not sure why private equity is singled out here, when every time a public company does a bad (eg. Boeing), people crow about how public companies only care about juicing next quarter's earnings.

I think generally it is a complaint against the soullessness of corporatism versus ownership that actually cares about delivering a good product and treating their customers and employees right.

Greed is very high right now. And you can see that in the behavior of all types of companies. Historically when greed is high like this you eventually end up with a Lehman Bros or Enron situation that causes a painful market place correction.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#709

Post by randerson »

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #685
randerson wrote: post #641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

Worth noting, though, that the SOX "burden" came out of Enron and WorldCom. I'd be willing to debate the actual mechanics of the burden and see if streamlining the regulations for modern companies is possible, but I won't accept that the burden is unjustified.

Yes, opaque accounting was a real problem. I would love to see a more streamlined, modern take on SOX. Today's SOX, in practice feels like a box-checking exercise and mandatory funneling of money to accounting firms who don't understand the intricacies of (among other things) modern software development. They forced inefficient processes on my company and weren't willing to discuss smarter solutions. No doubt there are better SOX auditors & consultants than I dealt with. But its part of the reason companies now stay private for longer and prefer secondary rounds for employee liquidity. So now retail investors miss out on the action, while accredited investors have even less transparency than a pre-SOX public company.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#710

Post by bjackman »

sejje wrote: post #202
bjackman wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is like cheating in a golf match against a professional and then saying "I got the same score as my opponent, I am not the villain here".

I don't think it is, so maybe you can help me draw the parallels.

Both groups have the same profit margin (golf score). One group is achieving it by deceive customers (cheating at golf) while the other is achieving it without doing that (being good at golf).
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