Why Dollar Stores are bad for health, and aren't actually that cheap

[IndyIan]

Another "authoritative" youtube video....Why do we post this garbage?
I didn't watch it...won't give the guy clicks. But what I can tell you is that I have traveled the roads of America-including many isolated small towns. The nearest grocery store is miles away. However-there are usually a Family Dollar or Dollar General that provides a service to the community. It's a great place if you are RV traveling and need a thing or two.

One of the points of the video was that a dollar store can often drive the last small grocery store out of business. Now I guess if the dollar store offers fresh or even frozen fruits and veggies, unprocessed meat, people in the area can still eat healthily.

I guess it would be "anti-capitalist" to educate people in public schools, on how to make better food choices, how cheap junk usually costs you more and is bad for the environment, and can wreck your local economy. How to save money and budget as well. How and why they should vote, etc... Hopefully then there would be less dollar stores as the only food store in some smaller communities.

 

[wander2039]

On the last bike ride those DG's came in handy as their about in every small town. If you've ever lived in small town you'll know most make big trips to the cities for groceries once or twice a month. Stores like DG fills in the gaps till then. If there wasn't DG's you'd have to rely on gas stations.. and those are terrible in small towns.

 

[MSCH]

if you've ever lived in a larger more upscale town that didn't have any DG's or Dollar Tree's, you would appreciate the importance of that type of store..

 

[I<3oil]

Dollar Tree does sell the same items for far less... Than DG.

I will say though that their foaming action bathroom cleaner sucks bad. It does not foam. :L

 

[nomas]

We have a couple of Dollar General stores near us . There are some items that we buy that are most definitely cheaper there . They are starting to have a pretty decent grocery selection . I'm not wasting my time on a video .

 

[K.Aoi]

It's the only choice for a lot of stuff like bottled water, beer, soft drinks, chips, laundry detergent, soaps, etc. in the area. It's close by. If you forgot it, didn't think of it, ran out, it's the choice other than driving another 30 minutes round trip.

Thank you for proving part of the point. They sell junk food, pretty much exclusively. It's convenient. Is it any wonder people in rural areas are unhealthier than people in cities, besides lack of exercise? They have little access to quality, healthy groceries. Yeah, they can subsist on beer, soda, and chips, but is that really the way people should be living? And it's BECAUSE there is no other option. And DG and stores like it drive small town grocers out of business. And as far as laundry detergent etc, as I said above and was covered in the video it is about twice as expensive per-load.

There is an anecdote that I like, it's "a rich man buys a $100 pair of boots once that lasts him 10 years. A poor man has to buy a $25 pair of boots every year and ends up spending $250 instead over the same period".

It's expensive to be poor.

 

[K.Aoi]

One of the points of the video was that a dollar store can often drive the last small grocery store out of business. Now I guess if the dollar store offers fresh or even frozen fruits and veggies, unprocessed meat, people in the area can still eat healthily.

I guess it would be "anti-capitalist" to educate people in public schools, on how to make better food choices, how cheap junk usually costs you more and is bad for the environment, and can wreck your local economy. How to save money and budget as well. How and why they should vote, etc... Hopefully then there would be less dollar stores as the only food store in some smaller communities.

This thread is proving an excellent example of why DG has made such an impression. The number of people who "won't waste time on a BS video" because they "already know better" and refuse to even consider alternate viewpoints or that there could be a better way (even just a local owned grocer/general store), because they feel like it's a personal attack on their lifestyle.

 

[4WD]

We have a couple of Dollar General stores near us . There are some items that we buy that are most definitely cheaper there . They are starting to have a pretty decent grocery selection . I'm not wasting my time on a video .

Yep - pretty easy to memorize where you will grab things and back on the road again … It’s actually faster than a convenience store here bcs all the scratch off gamblers I get stuck behind

 

[K.Aoi]

Yep - pretty easy to memorize where you will grab things and back on the road again … It’s actually faster than a convenience store bcs all the scratch off gamblers I get stuck behind

Convenience stores in the form of gas stations aren't any better. They are even worse in fact because they are essentially 100% junk food and alcohol. I guess if the only thing you care about buying is chips and beer they are convenient.

 

[kschachn]

What would have helped, perhaps, would have been to give a cogent and less shrill explanation as to why this type of store is predatory, rather than picking on one specific chain. Go into the details of how this type of marketing is detrimental to society.

Instead when it is focusing on only one brand it makes it look more like a personal vendetta against them in particular.

 

[Astro14]

Well, this went off the rails quickly. I’ve locked it. As I clean up the politics and personal attacks, I’m wondering if there will actually be a thread left at the end…