logoalt Hacker News

antonymoose • last Sunday at 9:59 PM • 3 replies • view on HN

I’ll bite…

I live in a rural area with a Dollar General about a half mile from my neighborhood. For staples, it’s honestly fine. You want a 6 pack and some hot dog buns because you missed it in the Wal-Mart run the other day (15 miles away), it’s great!

You’re not getting fleeced and if you are, the gas savings alone more than make up for it (0.65 per mile per the IRS.)

For folks who depend on the local DG for, idk, clothes and household goods it might be much worse, I don’t shop for those there ever, but on staples it’ll do, especially given the density of stores compared to major chains.

Replies

BobAliceInATree • last Monday at 2:22 AM

The problem is that they drive out local grocery stores that were actually pretty good, have terrible safety records, and food sanitation.

Last Week Tonight did an episode on them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QGOHahiVM

WarOnPrivacy • last Sunday at 10:36 PM

Being in a shopping rich area, I have some luxury of choosing what I get where. DG is a good option for a small list of items, about ½% of my shopping.

But it'd be awful if my best shopping option was 15mi away.

➕ show 2 replies
autoexec • last Monday at 12:22 AM

The concept of "small convenience store near me" isn't the problem. The problem is that these stores are actively engaging in outright fraud. People who shop there are absolutely getting fleeced regardless of how much gas they burn getting to the store that's regularly ripping them off.

Having a small nearby connivance store and not getting scammed is an option. If the ability to get beer and hot dogs buns without having to drive to a larger more distant store is really worth the higher prices customers are getting fraudulently charged at the register, then these stores can just stop lying to customers and post the accurate prices.

If the laws were meaningfully enforced this is exactly what would happen. These stores would either comply with the law and stop committing fraud or they would be shut down, their CEOs would be sent to prison, and competitors willing to follow the law would step in to fill the need the market has for a small shop that sells beer and buns to rake in that profit for themselves.

➕ show 1 reply