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I absolutely love dollar stores. I recently needed to buy a set of crayons for my son and the options were $5 on Amazon, $4 at Target or $1 at the local Dollar

I absolutely love dollar stores. I recently needed to buy a set of crayons for my son and the options were $5 on Amazon, $4 at Target or $1 at the local Dollar Tree (and the pack had 36 crayons, vs 24 from the other sources!). They're not the right place for everything, but for kids' art supplies, cleaning products, party paraphernalia, seasonal decor, etc, they can't be beat. They seem to have a pretty strong stigma for some reason (seems like most professionals wouldn't be caught dead in one) but they shouldn't. Great place to shop!

melling 5y ago
The article claims that Dollar Stores are more expensive. They often sell smaller amounts to meet the price, but unit cost is more
- powerapple 5y ago
  That's not "expensive". Expensive is that I need to pay $1.99 for something and I have throw away half of it because I couldn't use it. I'd rather spend $0.99 for 1/3 the quantity. I am spending less money after all.
  - mnahkies 5y ago
    I think this point is underappreciated. Sometimes it definitely makes sense to pay more per unit/kg for some item for a smaller quantity if otherwise you'd be throwing out an excess
    - alkonaut 5y ago
      At some point I bought a sampler set of miniature colognes from one of the big makers (CK I think). Probably 5 x 5ml or something. Dirt cheap, and perfect for traveling. Turns out 5ml of cologne is enough for years and years if you use it rarely and sparingly (as you should). The huge 50 or 75ml perfume bottles must be one of the products most often thrown out without finishing. I bet CK thought these sampler sets would create incentive to buy one of their larger bottles, not make customers set for life on cologne.
      - celticninja 5y ago
        No sure they are thrown out due to the expense, I know I would never throw one out. But I do end up with 3 different ones on rotation because I don't want the same smell all the time. Smaller ones would certainly be better for variety.
        mnahkies 5y ago
        They effectively have no expiration date as well, so there is no sense in throwing them out. Personally I'm happy with my one scent though and will just keep using that until it runs out Really what I was getting at with my original comment was more about food, and how it sometimes makes sense to take the higher price with a smaller quantity, iff you don't believe you'll be able to consume the larger quantity before it expires
      - grogenaut 5y ago
        the ones i got as gifts always evaporated before i used them all.
      - clairity 5y ago
        > "...if you use it rarely and sparingly (as you should)" yes please, a hint is ok, but stinking of cologne (especially the really musky stuff) is a big turn-off for many women.
  - DangitBobby 5y ago
    Which doesnt apply to deodorant, toothpaste, cleaning supplies... or much of anything that Dollar Tree sells. Unless you are throwing it away for some reason other than that it went bad like you had to buy some because you are traveling, in which case, you are not at all the normal customer.
    - mywittyname 5y ago
      Sometimes it does. If you rarely use bleach, what is the point of buying a 5 year supply for $X when you can get a 2 year supply for $x/2?
      - jabbany 5y ago
        Bleach does go bad though... If left too long it will decompose and lose potency... So not the best example maybe...
    - scarface74 5y ago
      The smell sizes are great for traveling.
- voisin 5y ago
  Could be that they lure people in with lower unit costs on some key, easily comparable items, and then the customer ends up buying a bunch of higher margin items too. That happens to me often - go in for something I know is way cheaper than at Walmart and directly comparable, and end up picking up a few other things that may not be a killer deal but saves a second stop at another store.
  - newsclues 5y ago
    Or perhaps some Dollar Stores also use liquidation inventory to sell lower than normal prices? Doubt that crayons are loss leaders.
  - wombatmobile 5y ago
    That's called a loss-leader strategy. It's the same strategy fishermen use when they invest a small amount of money at the bait store before a fishing trip. As you said, it's a lure. The strategy is not exclusive to dollar stores. > Like other retailers, a dollar store's interior layout is set up so that commonly purchased staples like cleaning supplies and milk are in the back of the store. This requires shoppers to walk through other aisles, resulting in impulse buys. So, people's thoughts and decisions are affected by what is immediately in front of their eyes, despite their considered intentions arrived at through deliberation. We all know that's true because it happens to us, and we've all experienced forgetting something until we walk out of the house, and then returning to inside the house or room before we can remember it again. Our thoughts are significantly dependent upon our circumstances. What's surprising is that the full impact of our non-independence of thought has not been well accounted for by philosophers who speculate about the concept of free will.
    - the_lonely_road 5y ago
      I disagree with your characterization of this being non-independence of thought. You don’t know what you don’t know. It’s not on your list because you didn’t want it when you went to the store. You saw it, and now you know about it, and now you want it, so you buy it. I never understand people who try to make this seem nefarious. You walk past 10,000 things you didn’t think about and don’t want so you just walk past it without picking it up. There obviously some small exceptions, like filling the checkout lane with candy because they know kids are going to harass the parents, but in general it’s about the first strategy. Show people things they want that they didn’t know they wanted when they walked in so they will spend more money in your store.
- dataviz1000 5y ago
  I was thinking about this the other day. Instead of raising prices on junk food, they are making the packaged size smaller. This might not be a bad thing in the US because of the obesity problem. Since people will be eating less unhealthy food they might save on health care costs.
- II2II 5y ago
  I agree with the claim that dollar stores are sometimes more expensive, but asserting the unit cost is higher is an over generalization. One of the nice things about dollar stores, in my part of the world, is they don't play games with sale prices. Sale prices make it easy to cherry pick prices seen at other retail chains once or twice a year then claim they are cheaper. In many of those cases, the product is only cheaper per unit because they force you to buy the product in larger quantities (e.g. by taping or shrink wrapping multiple units together). That may be fine if it is a product where you can plan ahead, has a long shelf life, or is something you use in quantity. It is not so great when it increases waste since it is a "just in case" product or you won't be able to use it before it expires. If your aim is to reduce waste (or resources or money), you may be better off buying the product when or as it is needed. At any particular moment in time, the unit price at a dollar store may very well be lower than that of other retailers.
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    Another result of this, especially with food, is that it probably causes you to gorge in order to keep things sold in too large amounts from going bad. Now you don't have any of the thing you like, so you go buy another oversized package which will lead to you gorging again in a week or two.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  Like any retailer, buyer beware! Some things at dollar stores are great deals, many things are not. You just need to know your prices. “Dollar General” and “Family Dollar” stores tend to target poorer buyers who make poor pricing decisions from many points of view for a variety of reasons, ranging from poor access to transportation to poor financial literacy.
Bostonian 5y ago
I like them too, but the article notes that their prices per unit are usually a bit higher than at other stores.
- tjoff 5y ago
  I guess (we don't really have them here) that while they might never be the cheapest option they will most often be a cheap option. And where every other store is cheap on some stuff and absolutely ripping you off on others it is kind of nice to know with greater confidence that you are not being ripped off. Also, if a 10x pack costs 90% of a 24x pack at the regular store a dollar store might be decently priced for a 8x pack. Which is fantastic if you only need and want ~5.
dopidopHN 5y ago
Your whole country is exotic to me, and I formed my opinion on things as a old adult. For me dollars store are the reliable place to buy toxic stuff, cleaning supplies and in general non-food item. I like that it’s small and to the point. The food there make me sad, though. It’s almost exclusively crap.
- busymom0 5y ago
  > The food there make me sad, though. It’s almost exclusively crap. It depends upon what type of food you are looking for. If you are looking for branded things like pop, chips, chocolates/candy etc, then they are very good deal.
  - middus 5y ago
    I think that's what was meant with crap
    - InvaderFizz 5y ago
      I would have assumed the crap they meant the sad looking meats and cheeses in the refrigerators. Dollar Stores are hit and miss. I needed some emergency earbuds for a trip. Wow, I didn't know you could manufacture earbuds that sounded that bad, even at the $1 price point. I am by no means an audiophile either.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - IncRnd 5y ago
    That's a list of crap food, which might be what was meant. However, if you compare the ingredient list for a seemingly identical item, the ingredients (contents or quantity) will many times differ between a dollar store and elsewhere.
    - taftster 5y ago
      "seemingly identical item" - Can you give a more specific example of this? Like if it's two different brands of "chicken noodle soup", then I'd assume the ingredient list could/would change. But are you saying that a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup in the dollar store is different from the Campbell's can at Walmart? e.g. the same brand ingredients change?
herbst 5y ago
You could just shop in China yourself (AliExpress)
- GhostVII 5y ago
  Sure, and wait a month for an empty box to show up
  - herbst 5y ago
    AliExpress has escrow. You are essentially less likely to be screwed than with Amazon (no escrow, and still many shady sellers) I also never had empty or wrong products show up, and I shop nearly everything that is made in china anyway directly from ali. And assuming it would happen, I just get my money back thanks to escrow.
    - eisa01 5y ago
      I was still screwed, couldn’t get a refund on a 10 USD USB-C headphone adapter that hissed with my iPad. They claimed they couldn’t hear it on the video I submitted, and there was no possibility to protest or submit a new recording
      - kube-system 5y ago
        I too have been screwed by Aliexpress escrow. It’s worthless and protects the seller first. I got a combined shipment that was missing an item. I sent a message telling them that one item in the shipment was missing. They responded by saying that the tracking number showed delivered, closed the case, and gave me no way to respond. I buy from Chinese sellers on eBay instead, their buyer protection actually works.
      - herbst 5y ago
        I got my money back each time so far if the item was broken or different than advertised. No questions asked. Prolly they are more careful with European customers? Maybe because I spent relatively large amounts already? No idea
mrfusion 5y ago
Agreed. The cheapest I could buy a plastic spatula on amazon was $7? Bought one for a dollar instead. Seems to work fine.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  That might be one of the easiest use cases for me to justify spending more on quality, not that I would trust Amazon to sell quality, but from a reputable brand or retail store. I am assuming that a plastic spatula will degrade when heated up, and a lower quality plastic will have a higher probability of degrading and depositing plastic into the food being cooked, which then gets ingested of course.
  - paul_f 5y ago
    It could be quite difficult to tell the difference between the two spatulas. They might be identical. Just because it costs more is no guarantee of higher qualify.
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      As goes with everything in life, nothing is certain. But I operate under the assumption that there is a higher probability that a reputable brand known for selling higher quality goods is actually selling higher quality goods and performing the necessary quality control measures to ensure it. Of course, one also has to remain informed on which brands are decreasing their quality and cashing in on their reputation.
      - gruez 5y ago
        Well GP was talking about amazon, so there's a fair chance that the $7 was also low quality chinese junk,and if you wanted higher quality stuff you'd need to shell out $15 at least.
      - tshaddox 5y ago
        Buying from a brand with a reputation is very different than assuming a more expensive item is higher quality.
okareaman 5y ago
They are great if you stay away from certain things like batteries, which are usually drained or near dead.
axiolite 5y ago
Travel supplies are the big draw for me. Most stores charge about as much for a mini tube of toothpaste (or mouth wash, whatever) as a full-sized, name brand mega sized one. Dollar Tree will usually sell you a multi-pack of minis for $1, cheaper than the bulk purchase. AND the more expensive will usually have ANTI-features like a flip-top instead of basic screw-on lid... No thanks, I prefer the toothpaste to stay in the tube, I'm not buying it to repaint the interior of my bag... Toothbrush at Walgreens: $3 Toothbrush at a gas station: $8 Toothbrush at Dollar Tree: 4 for $1 They also have the added advantage of often being conveniently located. Little store around the corner, instead of fighting through traffic, going miles to the central big-box retailer everyone does their big shopping trips at.

melling 5y ago

The article claims that Dollar Stores are more expensive. They often sell smaller amounts to meet the price, but unit cost is more

powerapple 5y ago
That's not "expensive". Expensive is that I need to pay $1.99 for something and I have throw away half of it because I couldn't use it. I'd rather spend $0.99 for 1/3 the quantity. I am spending less money after all.
- mnahkies 5y ago
  I think this point is underappreciated. Sometimes it definitely makes sense to pay more per unit/kg for some item for a smaller quantity if otherwise you'd be throwing out an excess
  - alkonaut 5y ago
    At some point I bought a sampler set of miniature colognes from one of the big makers (CK I think). Probably 5 x 5ml or something. Dirt cheap, and perfect for traveling. Turns out 5ml of cologne is enough for years and years if you use it rarely and sparingly (as you should). The huge 50 or 75ml perfume bottles must be one of the products most often thrown out without finishing. I bet CK thought these sampler sets would create incentive to buy one of their larger bottles, not make customers set for life on cologne.
    - celticninja 5y ago
      No sure they are thrown out due to the expense, I know I would never throw one out. But I do end up with 3 different ones on rotation because I don't want the same smell all the time. Smaller ones would certainly be better for variety.
      - mnahkies 5y ago
        They effectively have no expiration date as well, so there is no sense in throwing them out. Personally I'm happy with my one scent though and will just keep using that until it runs out Really what I was getting at with my original comment was more about food, and how it sometimes makes sense to take the higher price with a smaller quantity, iff you don't believe you'll be able to consume the larger quantity before it expires
    - grogenaut 5y ago
      the ones i got as gifts always evaporated before i used them all.
    - clairity 5y ago
      > "...if you use it rarely and sparingly (as you should)" yes please, a hint is ok, but stinking of cologne (especially the really musky stuff) is a big turn-off for many women.
- DangitBobby 5y ago
  Which doesnt apply to deodorant, toothpaste, cleaning supplies... or much of anything that Dollar Tree sells. Unless you are throwing it away for some reason other than that it went bad like you had to buy some because you are traveling, in which case, you are not at all the normal customer.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    Sometimes it does. If you rarely use bleach, what is the point of buying a 5 year supply for $X when you can get a 2 year supply for $x/2?
    - jabbany 5y ago
      Bleach does go bad though... If left too long it will decompose and lose potency... So not the best example maybe...
  - scarface74 5y ago
    The smell sizes are great for traveling.
voisin 5y ago
Could be that they lure people in with lower unit costs on some key, easily comparable items, and then the customer ends up buying a bunch of higher margin items too. That happens to me often - go in for something I know is way cheaper than at Walmart and directly comparable, and end up picking up a few other things that may not be a killer deal but saves a second stop at another store.
- newsclues 5y ago
  Or perhaps some Dollar Stores also use liquidation inventory to sell lower than normal prices? Doubt that crayons are loss leaders.
- wombatmobile 5y ago
  That's called a loss-leader strategy. It's the same strategy fishermen use when they invest a small amount of money at the bait store before a fishing trip. As you said, it's a lure. The strategy is not exclusive to dollar stores. > Like other retailers, a dollar store's interior layout is set up so that commonly purchased staples like cleaning supplies and milk are in the back of the store. This requires shoppers to walk through other aisles, resulting in impulse buys. So, people's thoughts and decisions are affected by what is immediately in front of their eyes, despite their considered intentions arrived at through deliberation. We all know that's true because it happens to us, and we've all experienced forgetting something until we walk out of the house, and then returning to inside the house or room before we can remember it again. Our thoughts are significantly dependent upon our circumstances. What's surprising is that the full impact of our non-independence of thought has not been well accounted for by philosophers who speculate about the concept of free will.
  - the_lonely_road 5y ago
    I disagree with your characterization of this being non-independence of thought. You don’t know what you don’t know. It’s not on your list because you didn’t want it when you went to the store. You saw it, and now you know about it, and now you want it, so you buy it. I never understand people who try to make this seem nefarious. You walk past 10,000 things you didn’t think about and don’t want so you just walk past it without picking it up. There obviously some small exceptions, like filling the checkout lane with candy because they know kids are going to harass the parents, but in general it’s about the first strategy. Show people things they want that they didn’t know they wanted when they walked in so they will spend more money in your store.
dataviz1000 5y ago
I was thinking about this the other day. Instead of raising prices on junk food, they are making the packaged size smaller. This might not be a bad thing in the US because of the obesity problem. Since people will be eating less unhealthy food they might save on health care costs.
II2II 5y ago
I agree with the claim that dollar stores are sometimes more expensive, but asserting the unit cost is higher is an over generalization. One of the nice things about dollar stores, in my part of the world, is they don't play games with sale prices. Sale prices make it easy to cherry pick prices seen at other retail chains once or twice a year then claim they are cheaper. In many of those cases, the product is only cheaper per unit because they force you to buy the product in larger quantities (e.g. by taping or shrink wrapping multiple units together). That may be fine if it is a product where you can plan ahead, has a long shelf life, or is something you use in quantity. It is not so great when it increases waste since it is a "just in case" product or you won't be able to use it before it expires. If your aim is to reduce waste (or resources or money), you may be better off buying the product when or as it is needed. At any particular moment in time, the unit price at a dollar store may very well be lower than that of other retailers.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  Another result of this, especially with food, is that it probably causes you to gorge in order to keep things sold in too large amounts from going bad. Now you don't have any of the thing you like, so you go buy another oversized package which will lead to you gorging again in a week or two.
Spooky23 5y ago
Like any retailer, buyer beware! Some things at dollar stores are great deals, many things are not. You just need to know your prices. “Dollar General” and “Family Dollar” stores tend to target poorer buyers who make poor pricing decisions from many points of view for a variety of reasons, ranging from poor access to transportation to poor financial literacy.

Bostonian 5y ago

I like them too, but the article notes that their prices per unit are usually a bit higher than at other stores.

tjoff 5y ago
I guess (we don't really have them here) that while they might never be the cheapest option they will most often be a cheap option. And where every other store is cheap on some stuff and absolutely ripping you off on others it is kind of nice to know with greater confidence that you are not being ripped off. Also, if a 10x pack costs 90% of a 24x pack at the regular store a dollar store might be decently priced for a 8x pack. Which is fantastic if you only need and want ~5.

dopidopHN 5y ago

Your whole country is exotic to me, and I formed my opinion on things as a old adult. For me dollars store are the reliable place to buy toxic stuff, cleaning supplies and in general non-food item. I like that it’s small and to the point. The food there make me sad, though. It’s almost exclusively crap.

busymom0 5y ago
> The food there make me sad, though. It’s almost exclusively crap. It depends upon what type of food you are looking for. If you are looking for branded things like pop, chips, chocolates/candy etc, then they are very good deal.
- middus 5y ago
  I think that's what was meant with crap
  - InvaderFizz 5y ago
    I would have assumed the crap they meant the sad looking meats and cheeses in the refrigerators. Dollar Stores are hit and miss. I needed some emergency earbuds for a trip. Wow, I didn't know you could manufacture earbuds that sounded that bad, even at the $1 price point. I am by no means an audiophile either.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- IncRnd 5y ago
  That's a list of crap food, which might be what was meant. However, if you compare the ingredient list for a seemingly identical item, the ingredients (contents or quantity) will many times differ between a dollar store and elsewhere.
  - taftster 5y ago
    "seemingly identical item" - Can you give a more specific example of this? Like if it's two different brands of "chicken noodle soup", then I'd assume the ingredient list could/would change. But are you saying that a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup in the dollar store is different from the Campbell's can at Walmart? e.g. the same brand ingredients change?

herbst 5y ago

You could just shop in China yourself (AliExpress)

GhostVII 5y ago
Sure, and wait a month for an empty box to show up
- herbst 5y ago
  AliExpress has escrow. You are essentially less likely to be screwed than with Amazon (no escrow, and still many shady sellers) I also never had empty or wrong products show up, and I shop nearly everything that is made in china anyway directly from ali. And assuming it would happen, I just get my money back thanks to escrow.
  - eisa01 5y ago
    I was still screwed, couldn’t get a refund on a 10 USD USB-C headphone adapter that hissed with my iPad. They claimed they couldn’t hear it on the video I submitted, and there was no possibility to protest or submit a new recording
    - kube-system 5y ago
      I too have been screwed by Aliexpress escrow. It’s worthless and protects the seller first. I got a combined shipment that was missing an item. I sent a message telling them that one item in the shipment was missing. They responded by saying that the tracking number showed delivered, closed the case, and gave me no way to respond. I buy from Chinese sellers on eBay instead, their buyer protection actually works.
    - herbst 5y ago
      I got my money back each time so far if the item was broken or different than advertised. No questions asked. Prolly they are more careful with European customers? Maybe because I spent relatively large amounts already? No idea

mrfusion 5y ago

Agreed. The cheapest I could buy a plastic spatula on amazon was $7? Bought one for a dollar instead. Seems to work fine.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
That might be one of the easiest use cases for me to justify spending more on quality, not that I would trust Amazon to sell quality, but from a reputable brand or retail store. I am assuming that a plastic spatula will degrade when heated up, and a lower quality plastic will have a higher probability of degrading and depositing plastic into the food being cooked, which then gets ingested of course.
- paul_f 5y ago
  It could be quite difficult to tell the difference between the two spatulas. They might be identical. Just because it costs more is no guarantee of higher qualify.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    As goes with everything in life, nothing is certain. But I operate under the assumption that there is a higher probability that a reputable brand known for selling higher quality goods is actually selling higher quality goods and performing the necessary quality control measures to ensure it. Of course, one also has to remain informed on which brands are decreasing their quality and cashing in on their reputation.
    - gruez 5y ago
      Well GP was talking about amazon, so there's a fair chance that the $7 was also low quality chinese junk,and if you wanted higher quality stuff you'd need to shell out $15 at least.
    - tshaddox 5y ago
      Buying from a brand with a reputation is very different than assuming a more expensive item is higher quality.

okareaman 5y ago

They are great if you stay away from certain things like batteries, which are usually drained or near dead.

axiolite 5y ago

Travel supplies are the big draw for me. Most stores charge about as much for a mini tube of toothpaste (or mouth wash, whatever) as a full-sized, name brand mega sized one. Dollar Tree will usually sell you a multi-pack of minis for $1, cheaper than the bulk purchase. AND the more expensive will usually have ANTI-features like a flip-top instead of basic screw-on lid... No thanks, I prefer the toothpaste to stay in the tube, I'm not buying it to repaint the interior of my bag... Toothbrush at Walgreens: $3 Toothbrush at a gas station: $8 Toothbrush at Dollar Tree: 4 for $1 They also have the added advantage of often being conveniently located. Little store around the corner, instead of fighting through traffic, going miles to the central big-box retailer everyone does their big shopping trips at.