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Comment by kcorbitt | Hacker News Reader

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Buying from a brand with a reputation is very different than assuming a more expensive item is higher quality.

Hence ... brands, and other forms of reputation generation and management. Sure, these things are never a guarantee of quality, but the brand owners want you to feel that they are.

Sometimes, too, they do turn out to be!

That’s why I prefer wood ones. I can’t say I ever bought one at a pound store, but even a basic one for £5 lasts years.

I had a friend who bought a $1 spatula. He's dead now.

$7? You absolutely did not look very hard. I just checked UK Amazon and found them for £1

I just checked again in America. The cheaper ones seem to have very high shipping costs.

I included shipping. Maybe American amazon is different in some way

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.

My local Dollar Tree offers 12 eggs for a dollar, a loaf of bread for a dollar, a decent sized bag of frozen berries or vegetables for a dollar, 2 pounds of rice for a dollar, a 26oz can of baked beans for a dollar. That's not exactly crap.

> 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.

I think that's what was meant with crap

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.

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.

"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?

I meant the second. I can't say that happens in all cases, but I've specifically checked this for some food items at Dollar Tree, and the ingredient lists differed in those cases.

It was about two years ago when I checked. I noticed an item in the refrigerated section at Dollar Tree, where the item was $1, yet I had just purchased the same item at the grocery for more money. I purchased the item at Dollar Tree and compared the ingredients.

Then I checked one other item, as it occurred to me. It was idle curiousity more than anything else. I know there much be some difference between the item at a dollar store and the item at a non-dollar store, either expiration, item size, item ingredients, or something else.

Interesting, thanks.

My local Dollar Tree has excellent food - sure, no fresh vegetables but there are staples plus name brands that costs 2x-5x at the local grocery stores and other stuff that's not even available at other stores (specifics off the top of my head - Zapp's Voodoo Heat chips, I've never seen them anywhere else besides the dollar store).

Obviously the stock is somewhat inconsistent.

> cleaning supplies

Yikes! Cleaning supplies and medical stuff are things I will _never_ buy from a dollar store. Most of the cleaning chemicals have more fragrance than active ingredients, they never work well but the place smells like you cleaned like mad. I have to assume the medical stuff is just as poor quality, but I have no way of assessing it.

It also bothers me that a lot of the cleaning products are packed in bottles shaped like drink bottles; an illiterate or merely distracted person could be in for a nasty surprise.

We agree on the food, for sure. It never _says_ it's expired, but it tastes ten years old.

One thing I always get at the dollar store is lint traps. The big box charges 3x the price for an absolutely equivalent product. Lint traps and office supplies. I don't think I've ever bought envelopes or binder clips anywhere else.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

> "...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.

the ones i got as gifts always evaporated before i used them all.

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.

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?

Bleach does go bad though... If left too long it will decompose and lose potency... So not the best example maybe...

The smell sizes are great for traveling.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nobody called it "nefarious shopping." It is called "impulse buying," and stores are configured to maximize impulse buys whether through candy at the checkout lane or something else. Stores are arranged in the front decompression zone, the front, the center, checkout, etc. for this reason.

> You don’t know what you don’t know.

We all know and expect soda, chips, chocolate, and other highly fattening snack foods to be in the store, prominently displayed near checkouts, often advertised at a discount on sale.

> It’s not on your list because you didn’t want it when you went to the store.

Right. That's because in our considered state of mind, we reject those dietary choices as unhealthy. And yet, we end up buying it after we are exposed to retail layouts that are designed by psychologists to maximise the profit of the store owner.

> I never understand people who try to make this seem nefarious.

What would you call it?

Or perhaps some Dollar Stores also use liquidation inventory to sell lower than normal prices?

Doubt that crayons are loss leaders.

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.

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.

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

You could just shop in China yourself (AliExpress)

Sure, and wait a month for an empty box to show up

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.

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

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.

I bought a couple of items there and they were great deals. Tried buying a third item and it never showed and the seller said to wait a bit longer and eventually it went over the time limit to get a refund. Seller didn’t respond after that, so I’ve learned my lesson and won’t shop there anymore.

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

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

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.

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