Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices • Hacker News Board

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#751

Post by mbesto » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:05 PM UTC

DangitBobby wrote: post #702

mbesto wrote: post #592

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). 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?

Objectively yes that's the case. However, people are irrational and their irrationality is being exploited.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#752

Post by fsckboy » Fri, Dec 12, 2025, 10:17 PM UTC

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.

>That's probably aimed at reducing consumption.

it's aimed at not encouraging consumption which is slightly different. you can have a "hungry hour" where you entice people with food bargains and sell them alcohol, but you can't have a "happy hour" where you entice people with alcohol bargains.

it is also in keeping with other laws intended to create a competitive/collusion free market (not saying the crafting of those laws was not influenced by incumbents trying to maintain their share)

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#753

Post by fsckboy » Fri, Dec 12, 2025, 10:25 PM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #610

Cyclone_ wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably aimed at reducing consumption.

There's a lot of old laws that special case alcohol in the US; mostly artifacts of prohibition and temperance movements.

>There's a lot of old laws that special case alcohol in the US

yes there are, but the anti happy hour laws are only from the 1970-80s, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, raise the drinking age campaigns.

the previous round of laws like that were from the Temperance, Prohibition, lifting of Prohibition periods.

then before that, yes the Puritan Blue Laws.

Re: Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

#754

Post by hattmall » Sun, Dec 14, 2025, 2:14 AM UTC

the_sleaze_ wrote: post #651

harimau777 wrote: post #624

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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).

They don't even build Costco in close proximity to poor people.