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Comment by paulpauper | Hacker News Reader

by charging huge markup on per unit cost by reducing quantity. 3 pills of Tylenol for example for $1 instead of a bottle which may have dozens for $6 . The brands create special mini-sized packages specifically for dollar stores. Big business.

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Also great for someone with an occasional sweet tooth and insufficient willpower to have junk food at the house. Sometimes I just want 4 Oreos and I’ll happily pay a huge per-unit markup to avoid eating the whole box.

ever so often I get that crazy look from the store assistant when they offer me (something like) double what your're buying for a few pence more and I say no thanks - typically I'm holding my belly whilst saying no

Imagine if bartenders offered alcoholics 20% off if they bought two

That’s sorta what happy hour is.

Sometimes beers come in multiple sizes and I’m pretty sure the price grows sub-linearly with volume.

With often same great sized packaging only with smaller amounts inside. Very wasteful. Deodorant, chips, pills, etc all look like a normal sized bottle but in reality is a smaller size for dollar stores. I have also heard things like canned goods of say a brand of soup they have special made for places like Costco that demand higher quality ingredients where the dollar store would get lower quality versions. Perhaps cheaper meat or less of it. Still tastes like the original just that it’s not actually nutritionally the same.

This reminds me of an argument I had a few Thanksgivings ago with an aunt who loudly proclaimed that the $0.49 can of black beans from the bargain store is exactly the same as the $3.49 can of black beans from the supermarket.

Your brand name super markets dramatically mark up items that Dollar Stores don’t.

Next time your in your local Hispanic or Asian market, go and see what those same beans cost. It won’t be anywhere near the price of Safeway or Wholefoods.

That could be the case, for black beans. $3.49 for a can of black beans is highway robbery. Beans are among the cheapest foods on the planet.

My local Whole Foods charges $0.89 for a 15oz can.

(Not from around there) Costco demands higher quality ingredients? I thought it was a low-end cheap bulk/wholesale place?

Costco is not low-end; it is inexpensive, but that is because its revenue model is near-zero margin on items with its profit derived from membership charges, focuses on large package sizes, etc. Reputation for quality is part of what helps it sell memberships, so its important.

Costco is known for less of a choice, but whatever choice there is you can trust it to be of a higher quality.

When I go to Costco I definitely have my guard down and don’t vet and don’t scrutinize each product as much as i would do at other stores.

Be careful, though; this isn't necessarily the case on costco.com.

For example: https://www.costco.com/theradome-evo-laser-hair-growth-devic...

Low level laser/light therapy has been shown to promote hair growth.

I don’t have a source on that claim I believe I saw it in a video that was discussing the food supply chain. The same is true for some grocery stores. Walmart for example gets low grade fruits and veggies. Where somewhere like a Quality Foods gets higher end stuff graded better. It will be sweeter or Moreno flavourful. It sounds believable but again don’t have a source for you.

See Sharpie pens, which are sold at dollar stores with less ink.

Which is why I buy mine there. I have never run a Sharpie out of ink but I have lost them or broken them.

That’s exactly why I shop there. No sense paying $5 for 100 tablets that expire when I could spend $1 for 5 tablets that will get used.

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