Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
........Look at it this way, is it still a bargain compared to Walmart or Target or whatever other stores in your area?.........
Something like that, I keep numbers running in my pretty little head.
Canned fish? Yes, DT wins out. Chili? Well, sort of. The price is lower but the meat is so tiny, so it is more like chili starter.....but I have enough around to supplement it. Grated cheese? Not a chance!
It is the store that I can walk out with many, many meals for two dead presidents or so......if I thought that way but as is, most of it is more stock piling items. Except for the oysters, that's breakfast food.
DVDs are at a great price but odds are, I am not going to come away with anything fantastic. Ever once in a while, yes, like the 3 set that included Painted Woman https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6281242/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 but usually, they are pretty bottom of the bargain barrel stuff......but that's okay for at a quarter staff price ("Actually, it's a buck and quarter staff but I'm not telling him that"), that's pretty darn good for something that only needs to be an evening's entertainment.
The catch right now is, however, that between the library being pretty well stuffed, easily buying duplicates (and I have a few times), and not much difference in the selection, I have held back from that part of the store for a few passes.
DT is part of the "Grand Tour", a series of stores, all on the same side of the highway, that I go for known cheap prices and to see what they have on sale. Wally World for cat stuff, Big Lots for spices, coffee, and maybe canned meats, DT for canned meats, maybe beans, maybe videos.
Finally, while the quality of some stuff may not be that great, "the cheapest beans in all of Mexico!", it doesn't matter for how I use them. I can make them useful.
Remember the burgers at Woolworths? and the lunch counter had these drink dispensers where the drinks were bubbling up inside. Usually red or orange. Had lunch at the counter a few times. Small town Texas
When I was a kid, my Grandma took me to ME Moses. It seemed that they had all sorts of cool things for kids....model kits, paint by number sets, all for cheap We did not have that particular store in our town.
As for Dollar tree, or I guess now, Dollar and a Quarter Tree...most of the shelves are under-stocked, while some are just empty. The no longer carry the 40sq foot aluminum foil, only 15 ft
Rarely do they have razors or shaving gel.
I still get gift wrap there, mailing supplies, cards and reading glasses. I go through too many pairs to pay $12 at Walgreens for reading glasses when the cheap ones work as well.
When, that is, they have any.
Oh, yes, I remember the burgers--open face with lettuce and tomato. I remember the soda fountains, too. The waitresses always topped up your beverage be it coffee, milk, or soda pop. Extra paper napkins would be in those silver napkin dispensers strategically staggered along the counters with salt, pepper, catsup, mustard, and sometimes A1 or Heinz. Waitresses wore white uniforms with white caps and hair nets. Never saw a waitress in those days wearing rings and bracelets much less nail varnish or tattoos. You could see their nails were clean. I guess that was the protocol in those days. Was eating at the luncheon counters the most memorable gastronomic experience? Well, no, but it was pleasant enough and a nice break between shopping from store to store. If I close my eyes now, I can still hear the cooks in the back flipping burgers and frying those crinkle cut fries, etc. I can hear the gurgling of the soda fountain and the clunk and clash of dishes and silver being removed from the countertops after patrons departed. I can hear the metallic slide of coins and bills across the formica countertops, too, as the waitresses collected their tips. I can almost smell the food being prepared in the back. Simple times or so they seem now....
Manufacturers are decreasing package size. They have been doing this for many, many years. Remember when a half gallon of ice cream was an actual half gallon? Those days are long gone.
Dollar stores have had the same price for decades. It was bound to change at some point. Prices are increasing everywhere so you won't escape higher prices.
I used Safeguard soap for centuries, and then one day quite a few years ago now, they suddenly reduced the size of the bar to something so tiny that after one or two baths, it was almost gone. I switched to Dial soap at that point. I still prefer Safeguard, but I will not purchase those tiny bars for outrageous prices.
I always had brand loyalty to many major brands, but once they do something really outrageous, I will look for another brand. I abandoned Coca~a~Cola for that very reason way back in the 1980s. I was a decades long coke-a-holic. Then, one day, I went to the market to do some shopping and my beloved Coke was gone. In its place was something called "New Coke." I bought some. It was disgusting. Tasted more like Pepsi Cola than Coke. I was angry. Right then and there, I switched to Perrier, and I never looked back, and this is now 2022. Actually, Coke did me a favour because it is not good for you. Of course, they soon realised their incredibly bad mistake and brought back Coke as Classic Coke. Too late for me. I was never going back.
I guess the point is that things often change for the worse most of the time, and the only thing you can do is to adapt.
The problem isn't the rise in price as much as the extreme downsizing of the product. If the product that now sells for $1.25 is 1/3 or 1/4 of the size that previously sold for $1, that's a problem for me as it's not cost-effective.
That's been going on for years. People are just starting to notice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mkpunk
Some are, some aren't. It depends on sizing and what you are looking for.
You need to be a smart shopper. Price/Quantity/Quality check everything you buy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss20ts
Manufacturers are decreasing package size. They have been doing this for many, many years. Remember when a half gallon of ice cream was an actual half gallon? Those days are long gone.
Dollar stores have had the same price for decades. It was bound to change at some point. Prices are increasing everywhere so you won't escape higher prices.
Exactly! Consumers need to shop around for the better deals.
In some parts of the country Dollar Tree is being taken over by Dollar General (except I think they have the same parent company?), and in the West it's the 99Cent Only store, which is no longer 99 cents, last time I shopped there they actually had items for $7, $5, $4, $3 etc. I have found I'm going to Dollar Tree less and less now. Mostly for the $1 readers.
No, this is incorrect. Dollar Tree and Dollar General are completely different companies and are competitors to each other similar to WalMart and Target. You may be thinking of Family Dollar which was bought by Dollar Tree several years ago, but still operates as a separate chain.
Still a bargain! I just bought really nice collapsable bins (doing a lot of closet organization) for $1.25 each at Dollar Tree. Same thing at the big box stores have been $7.99-$9.99. Big box stores, just like Dollar Tree, made in China….
Oh, yes, I remember the burgers--open face with lettuce and tomato. I remember the soda fountains, too. The waitresses always topped up your beverage be it coffee, milk, or soda pop. Extra paper napkins would be in those silver napkin dispensers strategically staggered along the counters with salt, pepper, catsup, mustard, and sometimes A1 or Heinz. Waitresses wore white uniforms with white caps and hair nets. Never saw a waitress in those days wearing rings and bracelets much less nail varnish or tattoos. You could see their nails were clean. I guess that was the protocol in those days. Was eating at the luncheon counters the most memorable gastronomic experience? Well, no, but it was pleasant enough and a nice break between shopping from store to store. If I close my eyes now, I can still hear the cooks in the back flipping burgers and frying those crinkle cut fries, etc. I can hear the gurgling of the soda fountain and the clunk and clash of dishes and silver being removed from the countertops after patrons departed. I can hear the metallic slide of coins and bills across the formica countertops, too, as the waitresses collected their tips. I can almost smell the food being prepared in the back. Simple times or so they seem now....
I can't resist........remember all the chewed gum underneath the countertop? I remember looking up under there as a kid. Funny the things one remembers...........
Dollar Tree is great for gift wrap, bags, containers, colored shreds for the gift containers, cards of all types, holiday felts and decor, artificial flowers, scrapbooking embellishments, all kinds of crafting items, ie wire wreath forms and mesh, smaller bags of snacks and candy, small, affordable name brands (all I buy) of items I rarely use, such as Kraft salad dressings, Arizona Iced Tea, A-1 sauce, Campbells soups, gravies, cereals (Froot Loops and Capn Crunch, which is a treat for me), and others.
I never buy anything frozen or cold from there. I never buy off brand names from there. As a single now, I don't need items large enough to last me a year. I have fun going into Dollar Tree and just browsing the aisles.
No, this is incorrect. Dollar Tree and Dollar General are completely different companies and are competitors to each other similar to WalMart and Target. You may be thinking of Family Dollar which was bought by Dollar Tree several years ago, but still operates as a separate chain.
Oops I meant to write Family Dollar. I really liked that store when I lived in rural New Mexico. Without it, people would have to drive over 30 miles.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
