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Dollar Tree says US$1.25 price point to become new standard
- waynecochran 5y agoAlong these line why is the US still minting pennies? At some point we could just start rounding to the nearest nickel (or dime). Also, why is gas always ab extra 9/10 of a penny? Reminds me of paying 3123 RON for a Big Mac in Romania -- that last digit is just noise at the consumer level.
- luke2m 5y agohttps://gizmodo.com/why-gas-is-priced-in-tenths-of-cents-1697431140 https://gizmodo.com/why-gas-is-priced-in-tenths-of-cents-169... > that last digit is just noise at the consumer level. That’s exactly the point.
- janitor61 5y agoIf they were going to change anything, it would be likely to get rid of both the penny and nickel and use 1 decimal place for prices; the current US nickel already has a melt price/ face value of 124% currently (https://www.coinflation.com/ https://www.coinflation.com/), which is never a good thing
- 4monthsaway 5y agoThat's worth at least a penny for your thoughts
- waynecochran 5y agoMy thoughts are worth only a monatary rounding error I guess...
- MattRix 5y agoWe stopped minting pennies here in Canada in 2012. Pennies are still legal tender, but cash purchases are rounded to the nearest 5 cents. I don’t think anyone here misses the pennies.
- asdff 5y agoSee that's the thing. If we didn't have pennies, companies couldn't ask their customers to fund as much of their tax writeoff every year when they ask them to round up for some random cause.
- tenebrisalietum 5y ago> why is gas always ab extra 9/10 of a penny Same reason things are $.99, $19.95, $299.99 instead of $1.00, $20.00, $300.00. In the US, there's many places that have 2 or 3 gas stations in near vicinity and price competition is fierce. So the $0.01 matters, people will drive to the gas station down the block to save that penny per gallon.
- JumpCrisscross 5y agoGas prices are quoted to fractions of a penny and then rounded to the nearest cent when a card is swiped. For people paying with cash, rounding to the nearest ten cents isn't that much of a leap.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoIt's a problem if it's always rounding up. Throwing away the penny also requires legislation enforcing round to nearest.
- yks 5y agoI dunno, usually it's 2 "upscale chain brand" gas stations with identical high prices and 1 "local brand" gas station nearby with significantly cheaper gas. I don't understand how competition works in the gas station business but $0.01 difference clearly does not matter.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoIf it is 9/10 of a penny, then it is $0.001 per gallon. Fueling a 20 gallon tank is $0.02.
- csa 5y ago> If it is 9/10 of a penny, then it is $0.001 per gallon. Fueling a 20 gallon tank is $0.02. … and some people will drive down the block for those 2 cents, even though they may not realize that it’s only 2 cents. It’s just “cheaper” to them.
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- jaspax 5y agoBuddy, there's no way you paid 3123 RON for a Big Mac, since that's approximately 750 dollars. You probably paid 3123 ROL (the old currency before it was redenominated circa 2005). (You are correct that amounts below 100 ROL were totally meaningless.)
- kingcharles 5y ago[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> why is the US still minting pennies? A lobbying group funded by the producer of the blanks used to make pennies opposes penny abolition [1]. There is no similarly-motivated group promoting it. (Citizens to Retire the Penny exists, but their last news item is from 2019 [2].) When the U.S. eliminated the half cent it was worth 14 cents [3], so there is a good case of nixing the nickel alongside the penny, whenever we get around to it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Common_Cents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Common_Cents [2] http://www.retirethepenny.org http://www.retirethepenny.org [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_Sta...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- spicybright 5y agoNot to mention other countries have done this with little issue.
- jyounker 5y agoThis is a good long-term argument for nationalizing money production.
- thomascgalvin 5y ago> why is the US still minting pennies? > > A lobbying group... It is astonishing how many problems in this country start with those three words.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoThe optics of eliminating the penny during inflation are really bad. The optics would be honest but politically bad. Maybe the next time we have a booming economy and high consumer confidence, we can make pennies seem tacky and get rid of them that way.
- quickthrower2 5y agoThey should abolish coins. There is probably less need for them (who wants to carry them!) now the technology to accept notes in machines. Maybe the people who make the note readers can lobby to abolish coins.
- kingcharles 5y agoI have to wash my clothes at the laundromat. Get annoyed every time I have to shovel $6 of quarters into the machine, one-at-a-time.
- jyounker 5y agoThe simple solution is minting larger value coins.
- asdff 5y agoI've asked my landlord if they would let me buy back the quarters from them since it's such a pain getting them in a coin shortage. They didn't respond. Rent is already in the thousands, really my landlord should just stomach the $8 they get off me from the laundry room a month and just make it free. I'd honestly pay my landlord even higher rent if I didn't have to deal with getting rolls of quarters.
- bruceb 5y agoThe thinking might be that when word gets out, people let their friends come do their laundry for free.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- nopassrecover 5y agoTangential but I find it interesting that as a general rule US apartment tenants don’t have a washer/dryer eg as a front-loader combo. I gather from research online it comes back to the practice of generally renting furnished apartments, a preference for wood building construction, a practice of having non-water-proofed wet areas, historical custom (perhaps coinciding with apartments being constructed post-war when these appliances were large and highly expensive?), and the chicken-and-egg problem of there not being a market for smaller appliances and therefore there not being great supply of smaller appliances.
- jdofaz 5y ago>Also, why is gas always ab extra 9/10 of a penny Others have replied to the why, but it is technically 9 Mills. The thousandths unit was established in the Coinage Act of 1792 as the smallest unit of the dollar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_(currency)#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_(currency)#United_States This is some useless trivia that I know for some reason :)
- RappingBoomer 5y agoi see dollar tree going broke...they used to sell groceries and sundry goods cheaper than the big stores...now they are more expensive with a lot of item as compared to the bigger stores...convenience stores with gas pumps can get away with that--everyone needs gas...but now that dollar store is no longer cheaper than the big stores, and have no gas pumps, what is the attraction?
- tenebrisalietum 5y agoAre you thinking Dollar General? No Dollar Tree I've been in had groceries--maybe candy, but usually it's things like cheap plastic toys, paper plates/plasticware and cheap decorations for birthdays and the current holiday.
- snarf21 5y agoIf you are close to a bigger store, then you have a choice. In lots of the US, the closest grocery and department store could be quite a ways away. They are growing like crazy in these areas. I agree that they are becoming a mix of a grocery store, convenience store and Wal-Mart but I think that is what the rural markets want. If they need something special, that can be saved for a special trip to "town".
- danaris 5y agoHard to understate this. There are rural areas where there's a Dollar Tree in every little town, but you have to drive 1-2 hours to the nearest WalMart—and further to the nearest Anything Else Worth Shopping At.
- tibanne 5y agoSoon $3.50 tree.
- a9h74j 5y agoI am waiting for a big-O notation to properly model hyperinflation.
- Marciplan 5y agoIts transitory
- dukeofdoom 5y agoHonestly, it would probably be better if things sold for $4. We have Dollorama in Canada. Things sell for $4. The jump in quality is noticeable from $1 to $4. The difference between useless junk, and something quite good, or at least good enough. Makes the shopping experience much better too.
- hirundo 5y agoThey should update the price point annually based on some simple algorithm, like the amount they pay an entry level employee per 20 minutes of work. That serves to index the unit price to purchasing power.
- quickthrower2 5y agoA single business can’t make a dent in taming stagflation. They’ll be trying to turn a tide with an oar! If the supplier charges more they’ll have to put the price up. If they put it up too high to compensate staff people will go elsewhere.
- h2odragon 5y agoThey ought to bite the bullet and jump to "Tree Fiddy"
- syshum 5y agoI so want to see that store become a reality
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoThey could run a variety of them under the same brand umbrella. When I was a kid, there were small chains of clothing stores with names like Simply Six and Max 10, all run by the same company (oddly enough, KinderCare).
- ourmandave 5y ago"Actually it's a buck and a quarter staff, but I'm not telling him that." ~ Daffy
- enlightens 5y agoI appreciate this.
- janmo 5y agoIn Europe we also have 1 Euro shops that now sell for 1.10€
- 0des 5y agoThis was inevitable, but rather than maintain the status quo or even introducing shrinkflation, they should have made the jump to 2 dollars. 1.25 is maintenance, and effectively we are still getting what a dollar used to get. 2 dollars would get us a bit more time (inflation is not going to stop) and the ability to introduce a (relative) more premium product assortment. I only mention this premium product range because the dollar stores near me now sell things such as headphones and phone accessories.
- snarf21 5y agoExactly right. Just like the US should get rid of all coins < $0.25.
- metalliqaz 5y agoBut then how would the coin suppliers stay in business?
- jvalencia 5y agoOffer $5 & $10 coins
- 0des 5y agoThis isn't a Chuck E. Cheese, paper notes are just fine. Nobody asked "what about the guy who makes the yokes" when John Deere took his first spin.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- fanniemae 5y agoPaper notes are extremely expensive to maintain because they can't stay in circulation long before they're worn out and need to be replaced. We really should be using $1, $2, $5 and $10 coins
- tyingq 5y agoI suppose their employees would then be justified asking for a 25% raise?
- birdman3131 5y agoThis is Dollar Tree. They are known for only hiring part time to the tune of ~15-20 hours a week so they don't have to pay any benefits. (At least they are here in Fort Smith, AR. It may be a local manager policy.)
- VWWHFSfQ 5y agothey can be justified all they want
- lotsofpulp 5y agoIt is a free country, anyone is justified to ask for any raise anytime they want.
- goldenkey 5y agoIt is a free forum, we can post the most obvious insights anytime we want.
- nickff 5y agoBut not snark, according to the HN guidelines: >" Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. "
- smt88 5y agoNot much is still a dollar there, and they use that gimmick to charge people more than other stores anyway[1]. 1. https://boingboing.net/2021/08/17/this-chart-reveals-that-dollar-stores-are-more-expensive-than-other-stores.html https://boingboing.net/2021/08/17/this-chart-reveals-that-do...
- abeppu 5y agoBut also as you shrink stuff, the proportion of it that goes to packaging increases, right? Like, even if you aren't trying to trick people, smaller containers of stuff perhaps should be more expensive per unit net weight. If you go to a normal retailer that sells multiple sizes of the same product (dish soap, tooth paste, whatever), the larger size will typically be cheaper per oz basis.
- hahamrfunnyguy 5y agoThis isn't a very good comparison. It singles out certain products that are probably the worst deals in the store. I am a very value contentious person and there's so many things that are great values at Dollar Tree. To name a few: 1. Dishwasher pods 10/$1.00. The best deal I've found anywhere. 2. Seeds packs 4/$1.00 - local hardware store sells the same seeds for $1 a pack. 3. Office supplies - 10 packs of ballpoint pens, 8 packs of steno-sized paper pads clipboards, poster board, foam core 4. Pasta and beans are cheaper than most of the grocery stores around here. 5. Kosher salt and other spices 6. CA (superglue) in various bottles add pack sizes. 7. 100% cotton t-shirts 8. Mylar balloons and other party supplies 9. Ziplock bags, sandwich baggies, etc. 10. There's often random bulk buys that get orders of some name brand thing in that's a really good price ($1 for a $5 or $10 item, for example).
- AdmiralAsshat 5y agoBeen a couple years since I've stepped foot in a Dollar Tree, but by and large I don't recall very many things actually still being under a dollar, except maybe candy?
- kumarsw 5y agoThey have been selling for a dollar for 35 years. I'm really curious how their inventory has changed over this period. One 2020 dollar is 40 cents in 1985 dollars, but the cost of consumer goods has decreased significantly since 1985. So I wouldn't be surprised that their package sizes have not changed much. Related trivia: Between 1886-1959, the price of a bottle of Coke was a nickel [1]. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/11/15/165143816/why-coke-cost-a-nickel-for-70-years https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/11/15/165143816/why-...
- jklinger410 5y agoI would trust a private inventory and accounting audit of the dollar tree for insight into inflation more than almost any government funded study.
- melony 5y agoGlobalisation happened, massive economies of scale in manufacturing.
- echelon 5y agoAnd now globalization has equalized global workforces with purchase and compensation parity. Costs must rise. Money is to be made on trade and labor cost deltas, but those eventually, almost thermodynamically, equalize.
- Retric 5y agoComparative advantage is still in effect. It just comes down to stuff like economics of scale, language, local laws, etc rather than simply ultra low wages. An interesting long term effect of this is there is a second whiplash as stalled first world economies eventually benefit from the world catching up to them.
- jbay808 5y agoThat's one thing. Also, China is no longer buying US treasuries, which for a long time contributed to reducing US inflation via underpriced imports.
- jmoak 5y agoThey were so close to being called: The Dollar "Three".
- waynecochran 5y agoPregnancy tests still a dollar? I went to dollar tree a lot when I was first married...
- nostrademons 5y agoPregnancy tests are like $0.25/each if you buy the cheap strips in bulk: https://www.amazon.com/AccuMed-Pregnancy-25-Count-Individually-Detection/dp/B071YNWRPP https://www.amazon.com/AccuMed-Pregnancy-25-Count-Individual...
- vgeek 5y agoDollar Tree can't be beat for things like cleaning supplies, commodity-type CPG items like soap and seasonal decorations-- but those items likely aren't where they make their money (they average a 30% GM, imported trinkets will have higher margin but lower volume than consumer staples). I've spoken to managers at multiple locations and the consensus top category by volume is candy, followed by paper goods. After that, the responses tend to vary. Things like food are already a bad deal when compared to standard retailers-- they are typically smaller quantities at a much higher price per unit, and the products they carry are more processed so as to reduce costs and increase shelf-life. Then when a 1:1 comparison is made, they are often 30-50% more expensive (e.g. can of chunk light tuna for $1 vs $0.65 or less at Aldi). Going the route of 99 Center or the fast growing Five Below chain where they sell items for under $3 or $5, but with better quality items would have been an interesting approach, but that probably encroaches too much on their "up-market" Family Dollar locations? All being told, I wonder the price elasticity of candy and hyperprocessed foods are.
- jliptzin 5y agoSure, if you have time to wait on a huge line. Every time I find myself in a dollar store there’s one cashier serving dozens of angry people lined up to checkout. Whatever deal I might be getting isn’t worth my time to actually wait to pay.
- tombert 5y agoI think this is highly variable between stores. When I lived in Dallas, the line to check out at Dollar Tree was ridiculous, but the one I live near in Brooklyn typically has multiple lines with a few cashiers working. I don't think I've ever waited more than 15 minutes, and typically I wait less than five.
- qubitcoder 5y agoIf I have to wait in line at all, it's 99% a no-go. Add convenient self-checkout with wireless payments, and you've got my business. I wouldn't normally stop at CVS, but find myself doing so regularly. Why? Because there's no line. I can walk immediately to the items I need, then quickly scan them, tap my watch and walk out. It's easy, fast, and efficient. Nowadays, waiting in line is a frustrating anachronism. The exceptions would be higher end stores like Publix that actively guide customers into the fastest checkout lines. But when purchasing a smaller quantity of items, self-checkout is most certainly preferable.
- pengaru 5y agoLoosely related anecdote: For the past ~two months the IKEA nearest to me (Covina, CA) has been constantly out of stock for a table [0] I'd wanted, priced at $199. Earlier this month I received a notification of it being in stock. That afternoon I made the trip to go pick one up, out of stock, shelves largely barren. Asked staff WTF? They'd received _one_ and it was immediately sold. Still out of stock at that location today, but now when I check the site it's $229 (+15%), yay. [0] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/norden-gateleg-table-birch-90423887/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/norden-gateleg-table-birch-9042...
- mongol 5y agoI read elsewhere that IKEA have huge supply chain problems. Perhaps related to the container shortage that was recently discussed here. Googling found me this: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/14/ikea-warns-supply-chain-disruptions-are-likely-to-last-into-2022.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/14/ikea-warns-supply-chain-disr...
- wwalexander 5y agoYeah, there’s three or four items I’ve been meaning to buy for about half a year that haven’t come back. Sometimes I’ll get the stock notification but it will disappear quickly, and they don’t let you place pickup orders for items with less than 5 units in stock.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoDo Canadians have Toonie Town stores?
- taterbase 5y agoSlightly off topic: The New Yorker had a really interesting article about dollar stores and how their presence can potentially harm communities rather than help. https://archive.ph/O7EbO https://archive.ph/O7EbO
- zwieback 5y agoAh, so I was wrong. I've been watching how much cooler things at the Dollar Tree were getting and predicted that eventually I'll buy my next car there. I guess I was wrong... If they bump up the price of those fruity Tootsie Rolls I'll cry.
- ajb 5y agoTangentially related, I always find these stores amusing: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5521128,0.0516247,3a,75y,157.64h,69.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRIVvMd_KOOPUhiW5hXJKuw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5521128,0.0516247,3a,75y,157... For those who don't want to click on the link: There is a store called "99p Plus Extra", and 3 doors down is another one called "98p Plus Extra". It would be interesting to know whether they both started as pound stores.
- nayuki 5y agoIt looks like The Simpsons parodied real life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2tv_CGuVPM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2tv_CGuVPM ; https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Thirty_Minutes_Over_Tokyo https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Thirty_Minutes_Over_Tokyo
- werber 5y agoDollar tree is really interesting to me, they get remaindered books from all over the spectrum I would have heard of if it weren’t a stop on my walks. My most recent find was “when you die you won’t be scared to die”.
- lgbfjb 5y agoLet's Go Brandon!
- sabhiram 5y agoLooking forward to the day where we start printing 1000$ bills again.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoThe folks who want your bank to snitch on you each time you have a transaction $600 or larger aren't going to let you have such a large denomination bill that they can't track. Wouldn't be surprised if at some point they try to do away with the $100.
- gkoberger 5y agoI don't think that people in this thread appreciate how prevalent grocery shopping in dollar stores is. In the US, half of shoppers buy groceries from a dollar store. They do it because it's literally all they can afford anything else. There are more dollar stores than Walmart, Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. "Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General, where he can make $40 stretch into a week’s worth of groceries and the occasional can of motor oil for his Chrysler 300." Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/20/growing-number-americans-are-relying-dollar-stores/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/20/growing-n... https://www.mashed.com/224027/think-twice-before-buying-food-at-dollar-general/ https://www.mashed.com/224027/think-twice-before-buying-food... EDIT: Of course not all things cost $1, but it's certainly weighted in that direction. You don't go to a dollar store for nice things; you do it because it's the only option for you. A lot of the responses seem to want to debate how poor people are making choices, and I think that misses the point.
- selimthegrim 5y agoIsn't that the motor oil that's not rated for cars after the mid-80s or something?
- kube-system 5y agoDollar Tree motor oil is API SN rated. It is basic oil that will work in many basic late model vehicles.
- Jach 5y agoIt was probably thrown in to give a sense of the variety available, but just about every grocery store or even gas station has cheap motor oil available. It's not like you need very much of it very often. It's just a bad article with bad quotes. I'm sure a huge number of people on HN remember weeks as a poor student and having to hack $10 to last a week or more. $40 a week, that's a luxury!
- fortran77 5y ago
- sabujp 5y agoWhat this also doesn't mention is shrinkflation and quality reduction, so for many items you're probably paying closer to $1.50 - $1.75.
- wly_cdgr 5y agoReminds me of the 99c DREAMS stores in Brooklyn. "Everything 99c and up!"
- tmaly 5y agoI am always reminded of that song by Adam Sandler: Toll Booth Willie
- keyboardCowBoy 5y agoBrandon's inflation is really just getting started. Anyone on a fixed income and low income earners are really going to get hurt. Hold on.
- claviska 5y agoI always thought the “Dollar Store” was a poor name given the fluctuation of the dollar over the years. Then again, it’s a damn successful business. I wonder how much the name actually had to do with it becoming established vs. the price point.
- jonnycomputer 5y agoShould have done $2. Math is easier, and its good for another 20 years.
- anamax 5y agoMotel 6 used to be $6.
- pmdulaney 5y agoMotel 6