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I like this reasoning. To take it further, is anyone truly needy enough to shop at a dollar tree? I’m not sure how we would get good data, but I suspect everybo

I like this reasoning. To take it further, is anyone truly needy enough to shop at a dollar tree? I’m not sure how we would get good data, but I suspect everybody has what they need at all times based off of the fact that I’ve never known anyone that is starving.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
I'm not especially needy, but I enjoy Dollar Tree shopping for a few reasons. One, it's literally the closest store to my home with any inventory. It's around the corner in my backyard. So that's a plus. Two, I was introduced to this mode of shopping when I told my friend I needed to purchase a greeting card. Of course, cards cost $4-5 retail and she protested, saying the Dollar Tree would have cards for $1 and under. I found this to be true; they have two-for-ones, and they even have packs of ten. So I pick up all my greeting cards there. There are other items that are ideal to source from the Dollar Tree. When you want some tacky, simple holiday décor. When you want books full of glittery stickers or markers for a kids' project. Crystal Geyser spring water, or a simple sore-muscle cream that only contains capsaicin. I don't think choosing where to shop is a question of being needy, but judicious about value vs. cost vs. effort. I do plenty of thrifting and big-box shopping as well. There are certain things where I simply insist on purchasing new/retail and you won't catch me pulling it off the shelf at a thrift.
- sdsd 3y ago
  You've misunderstood the person you're replying to. He's not saying that dollar tree is for poor. He's intentionally making a logical fallacy - 'no one needs to go to the grocery store [in this case, dollar tree] since whenever I visit my friends' houses, they always have food!' >Or as he puts it: I suspect everybody has what they need at all times based off of the fact that I’ve never known anyone that is starving. He's making fun of the guy in the original comment, who questioned whether anyone needs to shoplift, because his personal friend circle didn't include people who had to shoplift out of necessity.
bdcravens 3y ago
I regularly buy products there. For instance, if I need something for cleaning my car, they often have smaller-sized products (like Armor All wipes in packages of 10 vs the big canister at larger stores). When I was packing up my old house, I bought cheap products for the bathroom after all our good stuff was packed up. I've bought cheap batteries there when I was traveling, shipping tape, etc - all kinds of stuff when I really don't care about the quality or quantity.
imgabe 3y ago
This is just bad. You are not making the clever joke you think you are. For one thing, shopping at Dollar Tree is not an antisocial behavior that harms other people, so you do not need to justify it by saying you needed to do it. You are free to shop at Dollar Tree whether you "need" to or not if it pleases you to do so. The equivalency you're trying to draw between shoplifting and shopping at Dollar Tree isn't there.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- jrflowers 3y ago
  Wait can you explain the clever joke?
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > For one thing, shopping at Dollar Tree is not an antisocial behavior that harms other people Clearly, anyone who believes “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” would disagree. A fair number of the people who would readily acknowledge that there is ethical consumption under capitalism, and even those that see consumption under capitalism as presumptively-but-not-categorically-ethical would also disagree. [0] [0] for some reasons they might, https://time.com/6273646/dollar-stores-osha-labor/ https://time.com/6273646/dollar-stores-osha-labor/
  - imgabe 3y ago
    People believe all sorts of crazy things.
    - dragonwriter 3y ago
      “Having ethics beyond ‘whatever acts of trade are legal are ethical and ‘harmless’ regardless of their context and actual consequences’ is crazy” is, well, I’d describe that as a crazy thing that, apparently, some people believe.
      - 3y ago
mushbino 3y ago
Almost 10% of children in the US are food insecure, 60% of Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency, and 40% can't afford a $400 emergency. We also have a homeless population of 500,000 and rapidly growing. Do you happen to live in a place that's considered to be a bubble?
- prepend 3y ago
  There’s certainly people who need food. I’m not arguing that starvation doesn’t exist. I’m arguing that most shoplifters aren’t starving. And if they were, they wouldn’t shoplift food from dollar tree as the food is all in small packages. People who starve don’t become stupid and would likely shoplift more expensive, nutrient dense items.
  - jrflowers 3y ago
    I like this reasoning. The act of stealing from a dollar store indicates that a person is not starving because a starving person would plan out a more efficient theft at an establishment that carries larger items.
    - prepend 3y ago
      More like there are two piles of food: one large and easy to access, one small and harder. Which is a starving person more likely to take? Starving people are just as rationale as the next person, there’s no reason to think they stop making decisions the same way a non-starving person would. I made no logical statement about whether stealing indicates you’re starving or not. I said that starving people are less likely to steal from the dollar store. Logically, these are very different things.
      - jrflowers 3y ago
        >Which is a starving person more likely to take? This makes sense, the answer is certainly not “the one that’s in front of them at a store that’s likely in the part of town that they live in.” The first thing a starving person does is sit down and do a SWOT analysis of various foodstuffs that factors in location, transportation, and nutrient value. After they finish their individual analyses they compare notes with other members of their criminal cohort and split up territory based off of who is hungry and who is saving up for a Lamborghini Urus.
prepend 3y ago
I’m not sure how that’s relevant as shopping at dollar tree isn’t a crime. I’m nothing thinking that shoplifters are Jean Valjean stealing bread. If you’re starving, then there are many better ways to get food than stealing from a dollar tree.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

I'm not especially needy, but I enjoy Dollar Tree shopping for a few reasons. One, it's literally the closest store to my home with any inventory. It's around the corner in my backyard. So that's a plus. Two, I was introduced to this mode of shopping when I told my friend I needed to purchase a greeting card. Of course, cards cost $4-5 retail and she protested, saying the Dollar Tree would have cards for $1 and under. I found this to be true; they have two-for-ones, and they even have packs of ten. So I pick up all my greeting cards there. There are other items that are ideal to source from the Dollar Tree. When you want some tacky, simple holiday décor. When you want books full of glittery stickers or markers for a kids' project. Crystal Geyser spring water, or a simple sore-muscle cream that only contains capsaicin. I don't think choosing where to shop is a question of being needy, but judicious about value vs. cost vs. effort. I do plenty of thrifting and big-box shopping as well. There are certain things where I simply insist on purchasing new/retail and you won't catch me pulling it off the shelf at a thrift.

sdsd 3y ago
You've misunderstood the person you're replying to. He's not saying that dollar tree is for poor. He's intentionally making a logical fallacy - 'no one needs to go to the grocery store [in this case, dollar tree] since whenever I visit my friends' houses, they always have food!' >Or as he puts it: I suspect everybody has what they need at all times based off of the fact that I’ve never known anyone that is starving. He's making fun of the guy in the original comment, who questioned whether anyone needs to shoplift, because his personal friend circle didn't include people who had to shoplift out of necessity.

bdcravens 3y ago

I regularly buy products there. For instance, if I need something for cleaning my car, they often have smaller-sized products (like Armor All wipes in packages of 10 vs the big canister at larger stores). When I was packing up my old house, I bought cheap products for the bathroom after all our good stuff was packed up. I've bought cheap batteries there when I was traveling, shipping tape, etc - all kinds of stuff when I really don't care about the quality or quantity.

imgabe 3y ago

This is just bad. You are not making the clever joke you think you are. For one thing, shopping at Dollar Tree is not an antisocial behavior that harms other people, so you do not need to justify it by saying you needed to do it. You are free to shop at Dollar Tree whether you "need" to or not if it pleases you to do so. The equivalency you're trying to draw between shoplifting and shopping at Dollar Tree isn't there.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jrflowers 3y ago
Wait can you explain the clever joke?
dragonwriter 3y ago
> For one thing, shopping at Dollar Tree is not an antisocial behavior that harms other people Clearly, anyone who believes “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism” would disagree. A fair number of the people who would readily acknowledge that there is ethical consumption under capitalism, and even those that see consumption under capitalism as presumptively-but-not-categorically-ethical would also disagree. [0] [0] for some reasons they might, https://time.com/6273646/dollar-stores-osha-labor/ https://time.com/6273646/dollar-stores-osha-labor/
- imgabe 3y ago
  People believe all sorts of crazy things.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    “Having ethics beyond ‘whatever acts of trade are legal are ethical and ‘harmless’ regardless of their context and actual consequences’ is crazy” is, well, I’d describe that as a crazy thing that, apparently, some people believe.
    - 3y ago

mushbino 3y ago

Almost 10% of children in the US are food insecure, 60% of Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency, and 40% can't afford a $400 emergency. We also have a homeless population of 500,000 and rapidly growing. Do you happen to live in a place that's considered to be a bubble?

prepend 3y ago
There’s certainly people who need food. I’m not arguing that starvation doesn’t exist. I’m arguing that most shoplifters aren’t starving. And if they were, they wouldn’t shoplift food from dollar tree as the food is all in small packages. People who starve don’t become stupid and would likely shoplift more expensive, nutrient dense items.
- jrflowers 3y ago
  I like this reasoning. The act of stealing from a dollar store indicates that a person is not starving because a starving person would plan out a more efficient theft at an establishment that carries larger items.
  - prepend 3y ago
    More like there are two piles of food: one large and easy to access, one small and harder. Which is a starving person more likely to take? Starving people are just as rationale as the next person, there’s no reason to think they stop making decisions the same way a non-starving person would. I made no logical statement about whether stealing indicates you’re starving or not. I said that starving people are less likely to steal from the dollar store. Logically, these are very different things.
    - jrflowers 3y ago
      >Which is a starving person more likely to take? This makes sense, the answer is certainly not “the one that’s in front of them at a store that’s likely in the part of town that they live in.” The first thing a starving person does is sit down and do a SWOT analysis of various foodstuffs that factors in location, transportation, and nutrient value. After they finish their individual analyses they compare notes with other members of their criminal cohort and split up territory based off of who is hungry and who is saving up for a Lamborghini Urus.

prepend 3y ago

I’m not sure how that’s relevant as shopping at dollar tree isn’t a crime. I’m nothing thinking that shoplifters are Jean Valjean stealing bread. If you’re starving, then there are many better ways to get food than stealing from a dollar tree.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]