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"Dollar Whatever" was always a stupid name, things can't stay a dollar forever, but I guess it was catchier than 'Bargain General' or the 'Bargain Shop'.
Look at it this way, is it still a bargain compared to Walmart or Target or whatever other stores in your area?
And yeah, the wages are crap. My daughter worked there for a short while, the employee Christmas 'bonus' from the company (not the mgr, the company!) was two cookies.
Oh no! Two cookies...they have to be kidding. Awful.
Don't know for sure, but I expect Dollar Tree isn't buying downsized items manufactured/packaged to their specs... products EVERYWHERE are downsizing. Most of the stuff that was a bargain at DT for $1 is still a bargain at $1.25. A whole lot of things that weren't necessarily a better deal still aren't.
They absolutely do. Look at their boxes of cereal, they are about 5 ounces each. You don't see those anywhere else.
Up here we have Dollarama. They are a huge chain store that has dominated all of Canada.
Prices use to be up to $2 when they started, but most items were $1 or less.
This year they upped their upper price to a whopping $5.
TBF, there are still a lot of $1 - $2 items.
The only good thing about the upper price of $5 is that they get to bring in "better" brand name products. I suspect these are overstocks or bankruptcy purchases. I've seen brand name socks that retail for $10 go for $4 here. Not bad.
Let's be fair. EVERYTHING is more expensive now no matter where you shop. No surprise it hits the dollar stores.
BTW there is a fascinating documentary about a manufacturing city in China that pretty much depends on all these dollar stores for their economy. They crank out all these cheap stuff for us to use and throw out in the trash after they break.
Capitalist countries like the U.S. are too consumer driven. Things that are often still very useable get tossed, often in favour of some minor new bell or whistle added. Mobile phones are a good example of this. Also, people are not willing to "use up" clothing. Too often clothing gets tossed in favour of some new fashion each season, and not all discarded clothing can be absorbed by the poor. Frontline did an amazing episode about what happens to plastics that are recycle only in theory. What an eye opener that made me very angry! There are similar stories about what happens to the world's old ships that are no longer seaworthy.
This story was done about clothing. There is no need to keep buying so much clothing for one thing. I have t-shirts that are now literally falling apart that will have to be relegated to the rag bin for household maintenance use, but they are 25 years old. I wore them until they were no longer wearable. I try to do that with most of my clothing, especially now that I am retired and have no need to dress up and display a certain image every day. We are slowly but surely destroying our own environments and annihilating thousands of species in the process.
Capitalist countries like the U.S. are too consumer driven.
Actually, USA has been socialist since 1933. It hadn't overtly nationalized labor and business, like other socialist "paradises" but relied on covert control, via regulation and oppressive taxation (aggregate taxes take 44.4% of the GDP, local, state, and federal combined).
As to the "consumer driven" - duh.
If you have a business selling goods and services, you need customers.
Ergo, you need CONSUMPTION.
Simple logic.
Until you can demonstrate a way to supply your necessities without needing to trade for another's surplus goods or services, you will have to rely on "consumer driven" marketplaces to survive.
I like Dollar Tree less now, but I still find bargains. Gotta watch some items, though....they are actually a little pricier than some other stores like WalMart. Examples: pack of plastic black clothes hangers. A bargain at $1.25. But you actually get more of the same hangers at WalMart in a pack for a little more $, making the cost per hanger less. And cans of vienna sausage, cheap @ $1.25 each. But at WalMart a pack of 4 costs such that each can is less than $1.25 each. Dishrags that are 100% polyester...WalMart carries those at less than Dollar Tree (those dishrags are terrible, though...all poly dishrags are not absorbent at all and actually water repellant). Other things are much smaller, so not as useable, so it's not a bargain if it's not that size isn't useful.
But I still found some things I liked that were a bargain. Two glass glasses holding more than average...attractive bubble glass sort of. $1.25 each. Some small metal wire baskets that are super useful around the house (some are white, some are black). Ink pens. Note pads.
I understand the cost increase, although I don't like it. But inflation has hit everyone. WalMart's earnings were way down, too. I read that WalMart had trouble getting some things due to shipping and supply, while other things were stockpiling up because people were cutting back on spending.
Businesses have to make money, or they'll close. I wouldn't go far out of my way to go to Dollar Tree, but there's one pretty close to me.
We have a Dollar Tree, a Dollar General, and a .99 store here. I buy things like facial tissue and the occasional pair of rubber gloves for housework, but I most enjoy the seasonal items. I like to buy things like floral picks for use in my cast iron urns on my porch. I put together a different bouquet for each season. Occasionally I might buy something from the pet section---usually a toy but once or twice I found some nice, wide collars that seemed well made.
Overall, they are nice stores to shop for things that you do not need or want to spend a lot of money on. I know I will continue to shop them in future, but I try not to buy anything I do not really use or need. I feel better donating a few dollars here and there to an animal charity or to PBS or to Wikipedia, etc.
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