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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

#741

Post by angmarsbane »

cbdevidal wrote: post #738
account42 wrote: post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. For staples that's definitely sensible but surely there are also times where you need one-off items where any extra amount would just be waste?

Not usually but yes at times DT makes sense. And yes there are times when some cannot always afford bigger quantities. But we’re not talking about 50 pound bags at Costco here; The price per pound for a ten pound bag of something at Walmart vs a six ouncer at DT is substantial.

We used to buy raspberries, blackberries, blueberries etc at Dollar Stores. They wouldn't last a week in the fridge which is why they were at the Dollar Store, but we were eating them same-day or next day so spoilage wasn't a concern. Really helped the berry budget with toddlers.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#742

Post by angmarsbane »

brookst wrote: post #676
the_sleaze_ wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly right and the reason that Costco shoppers are un-intuitively among the richest groups in the country (average $125,000 household income).

Costco is great for wealthy families, less so for less wealthy. People living in small apartments have no place to put 36 rolls of paper towels and 12 jars of pasta sauce. Having a large home is a prerequisite for shopping at Costco.

We live in an apartment but use Costco to stock our freezer with meat and seafood. We also use it for gas, cat litter, eggs, and cheese (lasts a long time). Basically for perishables that only need to be stored so long.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#743

Post by angmarsbane »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #717
bee_rider wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any reason to assume they are “so focused” on it? Keeping an eye on unit or per-weight prices is somewhat conventional and pretty easy—at least I think most major grocery chains around here include that info right on the sticker.

At least where I'm at they're legally required to include that info and they appear to comply maliciously whenever possible. Sometimes it's slightly wrong. Often the unit of weight changes between items of the same sort. It's absurd.

I've been using Gemini or Chat GPT in store to quickly calculate the cost-per when two like items use different measures ex. ounces vs. lbs.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#744

Post by burnt-resistor »

phil21 wrote: post #380
zdragnar wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have yet to visit a co-op that had cheaper than grocery store prices. Every single one focused on quality over cost savings.

This was not always the case. 30 years ago the customer base for bulk co-op places were lower-middle class/poor folks who had a decent amount of financial acumen. You'd go there with your own containers and buy staples by the pound. Or special order that 50lb bag of oats or flour for 1/4th the per-lb price of the local grocery store. They slowly morphed into bougie health nut/conspiracy hippie stores during my lifeti…

Davis Co-op c. 2000 was legit cheap and good. I lived across the street from it for some time.

I can do without the "health/wellness" aisle of mystery fluid bottles almost entirely. Whole Paycheck Foods and a lot of independent grocers also have this fad and it's depressing that borderline Miracle Mineral Solution nonsense is allowed through under-regulated "supplement" exceptions. More power to those who benefit from ever-so-slightly-helpful / placebo vitamins-supplements but it seems like mostly from snake oil of a century ago.

Anyhow, there are/were more decent grocers. Like Lundari's 30 years ago in the SF Bay Area. The status quo isn't the only available option.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#745

Post by ineedasername »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #628
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…

There is a huge difference between reconciling things for your own business strategy and reconciling things in accordance with federal public company reporting standards for publicly traded companies. These standards are different than IRS reporting.

That doesn’t change anything: there isn’t anything in the reporting requirements that I can look at and say “that’s useless I wouldn’t want to know that about my business”

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#746

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

ineedasername wrote: post #745
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #628

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a huge difference between reconciling things for your own business strategy and reconciling things in accordance with federal public company reporting standards for publicly traded companies. These standards are different than IRS reporting.

That doesn’t change anything: there isn’t anything in the reporting requirements that I can look at and say “that’s useless I wouldn’t want to know that about my business”

There are entire classes in graduate school (I am an MBA dropout) that specifically focus on Management Accounting used to make internal decisions that are different than the accounting that you have to do for public accounting.

I don’t care about the GAAP depreciation guidelines when I’m deciding something if my own internal metrics show that I can get twice the useful life out of equipment

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#747

Post by brookst »

randerson wrote: post #707
brookst wrote: post #679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Wait, where in this proposal did you see a change in requirements around planned selling? My assumption, perhaps unfair, certainty supported by trends in US lawlessness, is that the whole scheme is to change reporting but not windows for planned sales.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#748

Post by brookst »

angmarsbane wrote: post #742
brookst wrote: post #676

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco is great for wealthy families, less so for less wealthy. People living in small apartments have no place to put 36 rolls of paper towels and 12 jars of pasta sauce. Having a large home is a prerequisite for shopping at Costco.

We live in an apartment but use Costco to stock our freezer with meat and seafood. We also use it for gas, cat litter, eggs, and cheese (lasts a long time). Basically for perishables that only need to be stored so long.

Which is great, but you receive a fraction of the benefit wealthy households do.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#749

Post by EGreg »

Ylpertnodi wrote: post #568
EGreg wrote: post #523

Both Family Dollar and Dollar General declined interview requests and did not answer detailed lists of questions from the Guardian. Instead, both sent the Guardian brief statements. “At Family Dollar, we take customer trust seriously and are committed to ensuring pricing accuracy across our stores,” the company said. “We are currently reviewing the concerns raised and working to better understand any potential discre…

> “it is virtually impossible for a retailer to match shelf pricing and scanned pricing 100% of the time for all items. Perfection in this regard is neither plausible nor expected under the law.” I don’t knnow about 'expected', but 'not plausible' is up to the company to get their shit together. My spouse works in retail - nobody has time on the shop floor to change label prices all day. Some prices change by a few c…

Why not let people scan QR codes like restaurants do for menus?

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#750

Post by xingped »

gruez wrote: post #190
xingped wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see you're not terribly familiar with Costco. Membership fees account for the vast majority of net operating income for Costco and they keep markups on items at no more than 14% over cost (15% for Kirkland brand). So yes, Costco does make most of its profit by ensuring customers are happy and continue to renew their memberships every year.

>Membership fees account for the vast majority of net operating income for Costco This is financially illiterate because you're mixing revenue ("membership fees") with profit ("net operating income"). While it might be tempting to assume that membership fees is pure profit for them, it's not, because people only buy memberships because they're useful for something (ie. shopping at their stores). Therefore you can't s…

Oh gee aren't you cute. Costco's entire cost of doing business are covered purely by their sale of goods. The memberships are pure icing on the cake. It's not wrong to look at it this way.
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