How Are Dollar Stores Even In Business???

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]What makes dollar stores so cheap? Lock in.

[00:00:03]>> If I asked you what's the most popular retail chain in America, you >> Dollar General. It probably has to do with a video, not a pre-watch. You know why I know it's Dollar General, chat, and I'ming certain on this. It's either Dollar General, Dollar Tree, is because Dollar Generals pop up everywhere at any any corner, dude. Flashback five years, you probably saw one Dollar General in like your city. Now, everying block there's a Dollar General. At least in the Northeast, Dollar General, Dollar General, Dollar General. You could be in a town in the middle of nowhere. Dollar General. Big city, they got Dollar Generals every three every three feet, you know? And they're not even selling good [ __ ] They're just selling regular freezer goods. They got bananas, apples, anding blueberries, and lighters and cigarettes.

[00:00:48]>> Probably say something stupid like >> it's like uh Thailand and 7-Elevens.

[00:00:53]I think it's Thailand. Yeah, Thailand 7-Eleven. How many are there? I'm pretty sure Thailand has like the most 7-Elevens per capita. There's 16,000 7-Eleven stores in Thailand. Oh my god.

[00:01:05]200 stores open per quarter. That's one that's more than one per day. That means if you live in Thailand, like you're a if you're a regular if you're a regular Thai citizen, you're walking around and there's a new 7-Eleven in your vicinity every week. Like, oh my god. Cuz Thailand's not that big of a country either. Like there's a lot of people, but it's not a huge land mass.

[00:01:27]>> Like CVS, Walgreens, Dwayne Reed.

[00:01:31]>> Yo, CVS.

[00:01:33]No, not CVS. You know whating sucks and and shut down? Write aid. Nobody goes to a raid anymore. Write aids are dead.

[00:01:41]>> Or Walmart or Target. Or perhaps BJ's.

[00:01:43]Do you guys love BJs? I love >> What is Ryaid? Like a shitty CVS.

[00:01:48]>> Or perhaps BJ's. Do you guys love BJs? I love BJs. That's a real store in New England and it's very popular. But holy >> I I've been to a BJ's a few times. I've never been to a Costco. I've only been to a BJ's. It's the same thing as a Costco. Like almost identical.

[00:02:04]>> How did they not see that marketing wise? But the biggest retailer in the US.

[00:02:07]>> I think it's great marketing. I understand it's a bad name, but like same thing with Dicks. Hey, you want to go to Dicks? What? Dick Sporting Goods.

[00:02:15]And you know, I'm never going to get over this. How is Richard nicknamed Dick? Like they're not even the same there. It's not like there's no short form. It's just how's richer dick?

[00:02:27]>> My number of stores is actually Dollar General. In fact, there are more dollar stores in Americ.

[00:02:36]But that doesn't make sense. I could understand Richard's nickname being Rick, but Richard's nickname is also Dick. Like you could call a Richard Dick. Richard's nickname. Dick. Rick.

[00:02:49]Rich or Richie. The nickname dick originated in the Middle Ages through rhyming conventions where Richard was shortened to Rick and then changed to dick. That had to be a diss. And then it stuck, right? Like, no. If you're if you're a Richard in the Middle Ages and they go Richard Rick and then they just start calling you dick. I mean, like, was dick a term for penis in the Middle Ages?

[00:03:11]>> America, then every Walmart, Target, McDonald's, and Starbucks combined. Who doesn't love going down to the dollar store and picking up a new flavor of FGO? Look, they got cotton candy FL.

[00:03:23]>> They actually have the worst products ever. Yo, that's No, that's not like a Dollar General, though. That's like a Dollar Tree. If you go to a Dollar General just has cheap stuff. A Dollar Tree is like a true dollar store. And I think everything now is like a$125 or a$150 because of inflation, but like everything at the store is like under two bucks. Those stores are awesome, but also suck. The vibe when you walk into a Dollar Tree is just grim. There's like one employee, they have like deflated balloons in the corner and you stroll in and it's just like old Halloween decorations. It's April. Old Halloween dec. It's April in the corner. There's just weird like gum on the floor and you're walking around and they just have like single boxes of candy, loose off-brand sodas, FGO. And then like freezer bacon that certainly has bacteria. That certainly has some sort of bacteria >> flavor for only 25 cents. A fitting price for such a disgusting abomination.

[00:04:31]Oh, no. It's not It's not 25 cents. It's a$125.

[00:04:34]Hm.

[00:04:35]>> Yeah. No, that's what it is. Now, see, this is a Dollar Tree.

[00:04:37]>> Well, that's a little It's a dollar store. Why are we going Why are we going over, >> dude? That I've been saying the same thing. And yo, I'm not trying to [ __ ] on Five Below. That motherfucker's 80% Five Beyond. We ain't Five Below anymore, BUDDY. STOP. STOP. CHANGE THE NAME OF THE STORE at this point. We got to go 10 below at that point. And just make it that because it's like if you walk into a Five Below, half of the store is a five and beyond. It's like, what do what are we even doing in 20 years? It's going to be five below and nothing's going to be $5 because they can't profit. It's the same thing, bro. You only see these in big cities. I'm talking like Philly, New York City, you know, maybe like a Miami or somewhere, but like usually like an older city.

[00:05:23]Have you ever seen a 99 cent store? They still have those in some places. What are they selling there? Off-brand lollipops. Like what are you selling in 2026? What are you selling for less than a dollar? Trash. Actual gar like actually like like garbage out of the trash can that's like refurbished >> for a dollar. That what for?

[00:05:47]>> Meth. Meth is very expensive comparatively buddy. Maybe crack pellets.

[00:05:53]>> A fo >> you cond faulty condoms recalled recalled birth control. Like I don't understand. Like what are what what are we selling there that people are buying that?

[00:06:03]>> What the I just don't get how you're going to lie about selling things for a dollar and then not only that sell me something that should be literally a nickel. It's cotton candy FGO and you're going to charge a charge $125 for that.

[00:06:14]Have some credibility. But that's just the thing. Hardly anything in the dollar store actually cost a dollar anymore.

[00:06:20]They're all liars.

[00:06:21]>> Yeah, but Dollar General, see Dollar General, right? When you like that, that's the real facade of these places.

[00:06:28]Some of them stick true to the name. I'm not upset at a Dollar Tree changing it to a$125 because everything's a$125. You walk into a Dollar General, they got [ __ ] that's 50 bucks in there. You could buy You could buy a a [ __ ] uh a big container of [ __ ] laundry detergent for like $20. Actually cost a dollar anymore. They're all liars. They all sell things more than a dollar and it's in their name. It's damn unconstitutional. It's like if you found out I had a super small I mean my name's Big Tug. I got to be packing down there.

[00:06:59]Start a rumor that I'm packing down there. And honestly, I can't think of one good reason why the dollar store would need to charge more than a dollar.

[00:07:04]Inflation, that's made up. Print more money. But still, with prices so relatively low, it's no wonder that studies show nearly 90% of Americans have shopped at a dollar store in the last year alone.

[00:07:15]>> Yo, side note, did Killozer ever do a video where he only ate at a Dollar Tree for a week? Because that video is probably very grim. That video is probably so killed Dollar Tree. Oh my god. What do you think he ate?

[00:07:30]>> Guys, it is January 1st and for the next 14 days, I am only eating and drinking from the Dollar Tree.

[00:07:37]>> What are you eating from a Dollar Tree that is giving you any s rotting meat, any sort of sustenance? Oh my god, they do have frozen vegetables.

[00:07:49]>> Unfortunately, the fruit is going to be a little too exp.

[00:07:51]>> See, $3. Oh my god. Wait, no. Dollar Trees don't even follow the [ __ ] rules anymore. What? No, this is actually ruining my [ __ ] vibe. Okay, everything else is $125. You could get mustard. I would just start eating peanut butter for a week.

[00:08:05]>> We ran out of ketchup. Tuna. We have to get tuna. We need >> Oh my. Eating that star kissed tuna in water.

[00:08:17]Turkey sticks. But as you see everything here, $125 >> strawberry freeze-dried stuff.

[00:08:24]>> Okay. Freeze-dried strawberries. But that's just that's not like that's not that gross. Where's like >> all done? Smells terrible. Dinner.

[00:08:31]>> Okay.

[00:08:35]>> Yo, that is actually just straight gr.

[00:08:39]And whole. Bro, I love watching his videos cuz he will eat the grossest thing ever, not really make a face and just be like, "Yeah, that's the worst thing I've ever tasted, too."

[00:08:50]>> I cut up some of that pepper jack cheese. All done. Smells terrible.

[00:08:54]Dinner. Okay, wish me luck.

[00:08:58]That's going to be a 6.3. Tastes like mush on fries. I'm still hungry, so I'm going to have some of this puff raised beef jerkys.

[00:09:04]>> Dude, we're giving that a 63.

[00:09:07]What's the most replayed >> cheese? It is 6:00 p.m. I'm going to the gym again. Doing some more.

[00:09:12]>> That is awesome.

[00:09:16]>> These buy drinks were really good. We'll grab that even after the >> bro. I feel like he's just eating snacks for a week, dude. Wait, they sell G Fuel at a [ __ ] Dollar Tree? Oh my god.

[00:09:28]>> Beans. Some of those.

[00:09:29]>> Ooh, I could survive on Jimmy Deans. I could survive on a Jimmy Deans.

[00:09:33]>> No meal is complete without >> an absurd amount of this ranch. Oh, what is that?

[00:09:40]>> Cilantro, lime rice is incred.

[00:09:42]>> Oh, he did not eat all of that. Is [ __ ] foul. Oh, dude. Yeah, we're getting creative. Okay. Are those cut up hot dogs on saltine crackers?

[00:09:51]>> Saltine crackers, sausage, cheddar cheese, ranch seasoning, barbecue sauce, and now the pistons. I'll attempt to eat that in the car on the way to >> an enchilada. Oh my god. And they went to the casino. just throws up the [ __ ] Dollar Tree diet into a cup, hands it to one of the waitresses.

[00:10:08]>> However, other research suggests that as many as 36% of shoppers used these stores at least three times a month. And between 2008 and 2020, food sales at these stores nearly doubled. Now, is it because that's really sad cuz financial times hit hard and we had to get our meat at a dollar store? Yes, that's why it happened, I would assume. But man, come on. Come on down for the stums, kids. We got it at the dollar store. You just know it's po, >> dude. I used to be eating steakums. Nah, bro. Before I had Alpha Gal and when I was when I was in like [ __ ] high school, bro, Steakums was like the [ __ ] meal, bro. Oh my god. You [ __ ] throw some What is that? It's like frozen [ __ ] steak patties that are really thin and you just cook them, bro. That's like a strugg It's a struggle meal, but it's the best struggle meal.

[00:10:57]>> We got it at the dollar.

[00:10:58]>> So dry. So dry. But you put cover in sauce >> store, you just know it's poison. Every every line in that is poison. So, not only are dollar stores everywhere, but they're quickly becoming a consistent component of the American diet. During a 2020 earnings call, Dollar General CEO Ted Vasso said, "We do very good in good times, and we do fabulous in bad times."

[00:11:19]He loves the pores, Teddy. Honestly, if everything's going so good all the time, sounds like you could probably afford to keep your under a dollar there, Ted. But considering today's dollar is worth 47% less than it was 25 years ago.

[00:11:30]>> Wow.

[00:11:33]$100 in 2000 is equivalent to $188 today. Like I knew the inflation rate was, you know, change in the dollar value, but I didn't think that it would be almost double from 2000. Maybe double from like the 80s.

[00:11:47]>> Ted's fabulous bad time seems to be here to stay. Tuglets, it's time to dig between the cushions of your couch and find the spare change because today we're taking a trip to the dollar store and we're going to figure out what the hell's going on over there. And also, do people find change between the cushions anymore? I mean, I haven't had a couch good enough to have cushions. It's usually one one slate of uh fabric. And even then, I mean, do people have loose change in their pockets anymore? I remember going between the cushions and getting ice cream money for the ice cream truck when I was a child. Kids don't have >> Never had that. I used to look under vending machines though and I would find co when I was a kid I used to look under vending machines and like put my hand in like the dusty ass gross part of a vending machine because people would drop coins down there and not want to pick them up and that's like that's like a locked way to get like 50 cents >> that anymore. Chris, you can go to the next segment whenever you want. I'm just going to be talking about the ice cream man for a while. The roots of discount retail stretch back so far that they predate the era when a dollar was considered cheap. It's hard to think about now, but there was a time in America when a crisp George Washington was actually worth something and not not filling up space in your pockets. What are you going to get for a dollar nowadays? A a cowtail? Puss Chris put up a picture of a cowtail. They're delicious, but they'reing disgusting, >> bro. The candy that's under the counter at like a Waw Wa. That that [ __ ] nobody buys. Like this [ __ ] at, you know, when you're at like you're checking out at a gas station, doesn't have to be a Wawa.

[00:13:06]This stuff at the bottom row. Who buys this? Do you guys buy this [ __ ] Double bubble. If I have never in my life seen somebody go just dive for the double bubble. I've gotten a cowtail or two once in a while, but double bubble.

[00:13:26]Double bubble. Bubblegum. Who's eating that? Are we in the 1910s? Is this the like, dude, is this the 1930s Great Depression? Hubba bubba double bubble.

[00:13:37]Hubba bubba double bubble bubblegum.

[00:13:39]That [ __ ] is disgusting. It's like chewing [ __ ] cardboard. Cardboard and like whale fat.

[00:13:48]Oh, kids still exist. Yeah. And there's better gum than that.

[00:13:52]>> 1788 a dollar was worth $30, >> you know. You know. Okay. Bro said kids still exist. You know what I'm trying to chew on? Big league chew. Big league chew. Act like I'm chewing chewing tobacco. Put some green in there.

[00:14:10]Chew that up.

[00:14:10]>> You think I I don't get money. How can that be true? Which is why the first discount stores were actually called five and 10 cent stores. Hey, you see the first of which was created in 1878 by the most 1878 name I've ever heard in my life. Frank Winfield Woolworth. Holy [ __ ] that is an entrepreneur. Wworth did live up to his name, however, becoming wildly successful by creating the first five in dime stores. The business model was so lucrative that it was quickly dup. Yo, I genuinely believe we should just get rid of the dime, the nickel. I know we got already rid of the penny, but like, bro, chop everything out outside of a quarter because what in the [ __ ] are we buying that's 10 cents?

[00:14:47]Like, I know it's it's to you it it's for like the purpose of having taxes and and then people are going to round up if you get rid of it, but it's like we had these coins because they were at one point capable of buying something in themselves. Like you need like 40 nickels to buy anything of value.

[00:15:06]>> Located by other stores, spawning some of America's first chains, including what would eventually become the 20th century retail giant Kmart. Remember Kmart? That's why I said 20th century giant because that not around no more.

[00:15:17]They failed spectacularly. Maybe I'll make a video about that one day. But we're going to be talking about the dollar store today. But of all the five and dimes, none were as successful or as influential as the 20th century Ben Franklin stores. Now, naming your store after a founding father is a bold move, especially when you're picking Benny Franklin because that dude was a pervert. I mean, not only did he invent lightning rods, bif focals, and glass instruments played with wet fingers called the armonica, but Franklin wasn't just inventing things. He was also a cocksmith. The dude loved him some.

[00:15:44]>> Didn't he go overseas and like cheat on I don't know if he had a wife, but he would sleep with a bunch of women and then go back.

[00:15:50]>> French. He loved a French more than he loved this country. So, in his honor, we decided as a country to get together and name a cheap littleing store after him.

[00:15:58]And I'm sure he would be thrilled if he lived to see the day. Ben Franklin stores were everywhere. At the company's peak, they operated 2500 locations. And in 1945, a World War II veteran named >> Wait, hold up. Let's go through Let's go through the US currency. Penny, Abraham Lincoln, nickel. I don't know the last time I looked at the face of a nickel.

[00:16:19]Who's on a nickel? Roosevelt. I don't think Roosevelt. I would assume like like Alexander Hamilton or some [ __ ] Jefferson. Okay. Jefferson's on the nickel. Quarter Washington. Half dollar.

[00:16:34]Let's void that. Dollar coin. Void that.

[00:16:38]They exist. Nobody uses them. Dollar bill. Washington. Oh, dime. See, I forget about a dime. Who's on the dime?

[00:16:46]Kennedy. Who's on the dime? FDR. I don't [ __ ] know. I'm googling this. Who's on every every bill and coin us? $1 Washington, $2 Thomas Jefferson, $5 Abraham Lincoln, $10 Alexander Alexander Hamilton. I went and saw that play in New York City. It was fire. $20 Andrew Jackson, $50 US Grant. $50 bill slept on currency. I feel like you rarely have a 50. You I feel like most people carry one five one five 20 and a 100. One five 20 100 maybe a 10. You never carry in a two. I you have a two but you don't use it. It's like lucky. And then a 50. 50 is rare. Rare. And then you never get dollar coins. Dollar coins are so rare.

[00:17:33]Half dollars, too. Discontinued. There was a $500 bill with William McKinley on it. $1,000 Grover Cleveland. 5,000 James Madison. 10,000 Sammon P. Chase. Who the [ __ ] is Sammon P. Chase? It sounds like a fake name. American politician, sixth chief of justice. Chase Bank >> named Sam Walton bought a Ben Franklin in Newport, Arkansas. The store was sold to Franklin for $25,000. And the sellers apparently were quoted as saying, "This dude's buying a lemon." That's not a direct lo. They wouldn't say this dude, but they did call the store a lemon. If you don't know what a lemon is, it's something that's right out the gate and he's probably going to fail. But what nobody saw coming was the business IQ of this this [ __ ] shell shocked war veteran. In 3 years, Walton's annual sales topped $250,000, which in today's money is about a trillion billion jaba joints cuz that that's a lot of money back then.

[00:18:24]Eventually, Walton struck out on his own creating a little store called Walmart.

[00:18:28]That's right. THE BASIC PRINCIPLE.

[00:18:30]>> WHAT THE DUDE that started like these cheap stores made Walmart >> of Walmart, one of the world's largest retailers were fine-tuned in the dollar store where Walton learned the pricing, merchandising, and layouts that would influence the Walmart model. And you guys know the Walmart model. It's it's it's it's perfect. You get the candy at the checkout aisles. You sell guns and cages next to baby formula. It's perfect.

[00:18:52]>> Bro, my Walmart has digital price tags now.

[00:18:57]F. We're in a dystopia.

[00:19:00]They change it.

[00:19:01]>> Perfect. It's America. But it isn't just Walmart that claims roots in the Ben Franklin stores. This [ __ ] was wildly influential. Turns out in 1953, a Ben Franklin was >> That shit's updating by the minute. You pick an item off the shelf. It triples in price.

[00:19:16]>> Purchased by KR Perry, whose son would eventually take up the family business by opening up a Dollar Tree in 1986.

[00:19:23]Remember the Dollar Tree? It's the whole point of the video. I've been ignoring that. I can't write a script for the [ __ ] of me, but I'm glad you I hope you've been enjoying this. Hope you get all your fun facts. I am burnt out, guys. I can't do this forever. But it was three decades earlier in the 1950s when Dollar Stores began to take the shape we recognize today. Dollar General opened up in Springfield, Kentucky in 1955, and Family Dollar of Charlotte, North Carolina followed just four years later. Dollar General expanded to 29 stores and was doing annual sales of $5 million just 2 years after opening. If Family Dollar opened up a 100 stores in its first decade, and then they opened up another 100 stores just a year after that. They were booming, exponential growth. Chris put up a chart. The 50s facilitated their spread because of the growth of the American suburbs and small towns after World War II. Dollar stores filled that gap of affordable and convenient shopping. Come on down, we're selling hams today. Plus, big box stores like Walmart, they weren't even existing yet. You had to wait a decade for that [ __ ] And even when they did, they tended to grow at a slower pace. But this was the genius of the dollar store.

[00:20:22]And the reason they spread across the country like a weed, they require so little overhead, gang. So little overhead.

[00:20:28]>> No. And you always have like, dude, a dollar a Dollar General or Dollar Tree, you have like two employees. You your production cost is so low. And it the appeal is just like people love going there because it's just cheap [ __ ] You go in, you spend $5, you feel like you spent nothing, and you got five items out of it. their buildings, inventories, and employees are a fraction of those needed by regular retail shops. Cuz I'll let you in on in a little secret, okay?

[00:20:53]If you're if you have an entire store dedicated to [ __ ] that costs less than a dollar, you can only imagine how little that cost to actually produce and sell.

[00:21:01]They were making a crazy margin on all this [ __ ] Smaller.

[00:21:04]>> I'm a manager at Dollar Tree. Bro, yo, sorry. I'm going to say this. Some Dollar Tree employees smell like actually [ __ ] dog poop. Wait, no.

[00:21:13]Dollar General, not Dollar Tree. There was one dollar general I went to in in PA and they the employee literally rire of [ __ ] Like I was standing there and I'm just going, "You find everything you want today?"

[00:21:28]Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:31]Yeah. I'm just trying to just give me my bag, bro. I'm trying to get the [ __ ] out of here. Stenchmaxing, bro. She I remember she was talking She was talking to the other guy. It was either her or him. Well, maybe both of them. She was like, "I can't wait to go home." I'm like, "Oh, I wonder why." There's a [ __ ] mud sandwich in your [ __ ] pants right now, buddy. Holy [ __ ] She smelled so bad. It was like eye watering.

[00:21:55]>> Footprints allows them to thrive in communities often overlooked by bigger retailers and places where it isn't practical.

[00:22:01]>> I can't wait to go home right now. You hear a plop onto the ground or profitable to run a Walmart. And these places that I just described also happen to be full of the most desirable clientele for the dollar store. The pores. Dollar General CEO Ted Vasso says that their average customer is a woman in a dual inome household that earns less than $40,000 before taxes. Yikes.

[00:22:24]And has only about 800 of disposable income per year. It's not a great situation to be in. This makes much of rural America a prime spot for their industry. However, 75% of Americans nowadays do live within a 5mi radius of a dollar store. So, how does that amount of expansion make sense with the average demographic of a discount shopper? These dollar stores aren't just in >> Oh, well, not in Guthrie, Texas, where the local gas station's 90 miles away.

[00:22:49]Not in old Guthrie, Texas. We got a six-man football team. They got nobody around here. You got to [ __ ] We got to filter our own rain water.

[00:23:01]the shanty towns. They're they're in nice suburbs and they're they're around the rich people. So, how's that going down? Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of show where I bring up the fact that shit's pretty bad right now and it's been pretty bad for a while and it doesn't look like it's getting better. The rich people are born out.

[00:23:17]We're a Pew study.

[00:23:19]>> Well, that's why like uh that's why like Target's a failing business, right?

[00:23:23]Because uh rich people will go to like what's like a rich people grocery store?

[00:23:28]Rich people would go to like airon if you live in like LA or you know like higher quality grocery stores and Target was like targeting the middle class but now the middle class is like starting to not really exist so everybody just goes to Walmart or Dollar General. So it's like you just have two polar opposites.

[00:23:48]Trader Joe's. Yeah. Trader Joe's. Whole Foods. Some [ __ ] like that. Bro, no matter how much money I ever make, I'm not going to a [ __ ] ass Whole Foods. I would go to a Trader Joe's. I went to a Trader Joe's one time. That [ __ ] was awesome. [ __ ] was awesome, dude. I felt like I was walking around. They were like, "Do you need help with anything, sir?" No, thank you. And normally I hate that, right? Normally I hate that, but every item at Trader Joe's makes no sense. I feel like I'm in the back rooms. Would you like help with anything? Oh, yeah. What's this? Oh, well, that's our freshsqueezed lemonade.

[00:24:20]$14. What? Best lemonade you ever had, though? found out that in 1971 61% of Americans lived in middle-class households which earned twothirds of all income. And in 2023 only 51% of Americans were middle class which earned less than half of all income. And I know I'm throwing a lot of numbers out here.

[00:24:37]It gets a little confusing when you start thinking about how bad things actually are. But they're important in this discussion because you can quote me on this. Chris put up on the screen numbers are business. That's the first thing they teach you at business school.

[00:24:48]You like numbers cuz that's business.

[00:24:50]What I'm saying is the middle class is shrinking and that's a great thing for people who own dollar stores. To quote Vaso, "As this economy continues to chug along and create more of our core customer, Jesus Christ, that's so dark.

[00:25:01]I think there's going to be more and more opportunities for us to get in and build more stores." That's soed up. I get I'm sure it's we're thinking of it we're thinking of it in the wrong context. I'm sure he's talking to people who aren't poor, but oh my god. And this leads us to the consequences of the dollar store strategy. While they often like to position themselves as businesses that do good for the community by helping cons >> Yo, I hate card shopping, dude. I think like that's actually like a bottom tier shopping experience is being like, "Oh, I need to go buy a birthday card." And you scroll the you stroll the stores and they're just all ass. All ass, dude. And you'll see some [ __ ] It'll be like such niche things. Your nephews graduating.

[00:25:40]Why do we have a card for that? Why do we have a card for that? Wouldn't well like we have a business that's we have a factory that's printing out cards for your nephew's baby shower. Like why why is that a subsection? Just have like birthday birthday marriage. Your nephew's friends bought mitzvah and it it just be a card that has nothing to do with like the relation of that to you. Why is that a thing?

[00:26:09]>> Consumers stretch their dollar while providing access to shopping in underserved areas. They actually play a role in destroying local communities, and we're going to talk about that. As dollar stores aggressively expand, they're no longer just filling in needs for rural towns and small suburbs.

[00:26:21]They're competing with local grocery stores and effectively wiping them out.

[00:26:25]Dollar stores often open up right next door to local businesses. And >> bro, but I don't understand how they're competing with local grocery stores. bec I understand on the snack perspective like smaller t smaller skewed things like if you if you have to just grab something in the moment but like Dollar Generals aren't selling like meats you know they sell like cereal and snacks and maybe a small fruit section but they don't have like raw chicken or beef or [ __ ] shrimp or some [ __ ] But then I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm forgetting that the average American's diet is so piss poor that it's like they're probably just eating fish sticks from Dollar General.

[00:27:03]>> What are you You can't compete with someone selling a$125 cotton candy. FGO.

[00:27:07]Reports suggest that it's typical for mom and pop sales to drop by roughly 15 to 30% after a dollar store opens, driving many of them out of business.

[00:27:15]Studies have found a substantial decline in the number of grocerers within a 2-m radius of new dollar stores, which lead to food deserts. And that's when uh a place a bu an area is it's really hard to get good healthy food. So they have to go to like 7-Eleven and buy donuts in order to survive. It's a big issue and dollar stores contributing to that. And the cycle continues as fewer grocery stores mean more business for dollar stores leading to more dollar stores opening, destroying even more grocery stores. So at this and the fruit that Dollar General has is like the runt puppy in a litter. Bro, you get an apple from Dollar General, it's the size of a golf ball.

[00:27:51]I'm sitting there like, there's a core in there. I am supposed to eat them like one bite. What am I buying? The blueberries are like [ __ ] grains of sand. It's just sad.

[00:28:02]>> Point. I know what you're asking yourself, Tucker. Is is this all is this all all this bad stuff you're talking about? Is this all worth the savings? Is this worth is this worth the$125 FGA, which is the only item I currently know that sells at dollar stores? But honestly, that question might be a little bit of a moot point. Dollar stores have a penny pinching reputation that's made them a favorite among thrifty and low-income households. But that reputation might actually not be warranted. After all, if you think about it, these stores are making an insane amount of money. In 2024, Dollar General, HOW how how I feel like your [ __ ] your profit margin is probably pretty low. And whenever I walk into a Dollar General, there's like maybe one other person there. You buy six items, you're not like you're not making that much money.

[00:28:50]>> Net sales topped 40 billion while Dollar Tree rad in 17.6 billion and Family Dollar made 13.25 billion. How could a business that keeps inventory so cheap make so much goddamn money? Guys, they do it by doing what everyone else does.

[00:29:06]They over the customers. It's so simple.

[00:29:09]Why didn't I THINK OF IT? ONE OF THE most common tactics dollar stores use to increase profit margins is shrinkflation. A very >> Yo, Doritos be doing that [ __ ] dude.

[00:29:17]You buy a bag of You buy like a mini gas station bag of Doritos recently, there's like five Doritos in the bag. Not even.

[00:29:25]Not even. Other side note, not even a shrinkflation. Lays chips struggling for their lives to get [ __ ] people to buy their shitty ass potato chips. Uh they rebranded from the gross [ __ ] classic uh uh uh [ __ ] pick to Oh, wait. New brand. I got to show you the side by side here. Like the new Lays potato chip branding looks so good comparable to the old one. Oh my god, the old one was so [ __ ] gross. They almost conned me into buying it. Old Lays potato chips.

[00:29:59]They look even worse than this, dude.

[00:30:01]They're seethrough. That's how thin a lace potato chip is. Sapping wet with oil and seethrough. Anybody that likes a lace potato chip, I'm not trying to diss you. If you like a if you like a classic yellow lace potato chip, your blood pressure is through the [ __ ] roof more than mine in my cortisol spikes.

[00:30:20]Because if you're eating these on a daily basis, they're disgusting. Number one, they're disgusting. They're covered in oil. They're the most unhealthy [ __ ] chip that you've ever eaten in your life. They're so gross. And then they rebrand to to go made with re made with real potatoes. Made with real potatoes. And look, these look like [ __ ] piss chips. These look like kettlecooked baked chips. And and I'm telling you, they haven't changed the recipe at all. They just changed the branding. The potato chips are still dog [ __ ] ass. Uh, literally, why are people buying those? If I'm buying a potato chip, I'm buying a kettle cooked. That's it. I will buy a baked Lays. I take it back. Baked Lays are good. Baked Lays are good. Fried Lays are disgusting.

[00:31:05]>> Chey term, a very millennial term, but it's actually real. So, we got to pay attention to it. The term was coined in 2009 to describe the practice of charging the same amount of money for a product while >> kettlecooked are all right. You're pissing me off. You're pissing me off.

[00:31:18]You're pissing me off. If I'm buying a dude, I a regular chip. I don't really I'm not a big fan of potato chips generally, but a kettle cooked a kettle cooked jalapeno.

[00:31:28]Have one of these. Have one of these and get back to me. Have one of these and get back to me. These are elite.

[00:31:35]Elite chips. Nothing better. So good.

[00:31:38]>> Slightly shrinking its size. Studies find that consumers charging the same amount of money.

[00:31:42]>> Fritos. Another weird pick. Don't know why anybody would be buying those. The crushed white toothpaste. Wow. Really, really skipping out on the toothpaste here. Raisins are down. Not really upset about that. 70 fewer raisins per can.

[00:31:55]I'm going to be totally real. I think I have the same I think I have the same Sunmade raisins jar that I've had for the last 10 years. Hold up. I need to go grab that. I need to go grab I actually think I have the same raisins that they're probably expired. They're probably expired. I When am I ever just eating a handful of raisins?

[00:32:19]Uh it's currently April 3rd. These expired two months ago and there's still there's still more.

[00:32:29]Dude, it's just so many raisins. Like when are you when are you ever eating that many raisins? eat them. How long do Okay, I wonder when I bought them though. Do you think I could figure that out? What is the shelf? What is the shelf life of raisins? 6 months. I did not buy these six months ago. I don't remember buying raisins in the last like two years. Genuinely eat them.

[00:32:55]Hold up.

[00:32:58]>> It's like stuck.

[00:32:59]>> It's like fully stuck.

[00:33:03]How do you get them out?

[00:33:05]I'm trying to like I want to get it out as one big cube.

[00:33:09]I'm throwing it out. What the [ __ ] am I doing? They're expired. They're [ __ ] expired. I'm not going to eat the raisins. Jesus.

[00:33:15]>> For a product while slightly shrinking its size. Studies find that consumers are less likely to stop buying a product due to shrinkflation than due to a price increase. And they might not even notice a smaller Snickers bar. It might be like a quarter inch smaller. I I wasn't paying attention, so give it to them. I don't give a [ __ ] But translation explains why many consumers might not realize that in 2022, Gatorade changed the side of its standard bottle from 32 oz to 28 O. Gatorade. Gatorade. Come on now. One. And they'll hollow out the bottom part. You ever see that? So instead of it having a flat bottom, they'll just make like a big hole so it looks exactly the same, but they save like 5 ounces of liquid.

[00:33:54]>> I need that lemon juice. I need that that yellow juice in my body when I get a cold. But unfortunately, shrinkflation is a strategy that dollar stores use to exploit the vulnerability of their primary customer base. Now, considering practices like shrinkflation are going on, it's kind of hard to think about if you're actually saving any money shopping at these stores. And that's why we came up with a brand new game to help you navigate the discounts in the dollar store aisle. It's time to play Deal or No Deal. That cannot be right. That's that's already taken. Jimmy, you that up. I can't say that. That's a copyright. All right. That's why we're playing a brand new game called Thrifty or Shitty. Well, I can't say that over and over again. I'm get demonetized.

[00:34:28]Thrifty or shifty? You dropped the ball on this one, Jimmy. The rules are simple. I'll show you a dollar store item and then you get to decide whether it would be cheaper to just get it at a local grocery store. And it probably is cuz I love the deals down at >> Well, most Dollar Generals I thought are more expensive. It's just the convenience of that.

[00:34:44]>> Basket. More product placement. Go to Market Basket. They they over at Deoola, but the deals are still there. All right. Number one. Challenge number one.

[00:34:51]Mayo. Put it on the screen. Chris, >> is mayo cheaper at a grocery store? Yes, cuz they're buying it in bulk.

[00:34:58]>> Mayo. This 8 oz jar of craft real mayo sounds like a steal at $1.25, which equals about 15.625 per ounce. Holy, what a steal. But honestly, I've never heard of mayo coming in an 8 oz increment. So, I'm a little bit I'm already confused and a little bit suspicious. I also hate how >> I don't know. I do like the convenient size of the mayo. I'm not a big mayo guy. I like the squeegee mayo for my sandwiches, but when people buy a jar of mayo, that'd take me like two years to get through.

[00:35:27]>> It immediately labels itself as real. I know they're trying to differentiate themselves from mayo. What's that [ __ ] Miracle Whip, which is disgusting, but I hate when anyone put like made with real sugar. Iing hope. What kind of >> I hate I hate the uh I can't believe it's not butter brand because every butter spread that you eat is probably not butter. If you go to a grocery store and buy a tub of like a butterlike substance, it's vegetable oil. Like that's all it's that's what it is. Like country croc is not butter. I can't believe it's not butter. Is not butter, right? Land of lakes might be butter. I don't know if it is, but like most of that shit's it's just canola oil.

[00:36:08]>> Fake sugar can you use? I don't know.

[00:36:10]Calling it real mayo makes it seem like it's a naturally occurring element on this earth instead of being whipped up with a [ __ ] ton of oil and eggs. like it doesn't grow on a tree, gang. It's not real is a big word. Okay, so it's time to decide. Tuglets, thrifty or shifty?

[00:36:24]Uh survey says, "A 30 oz jar of mayonnaise runs about $40 at my local grocery store, which comes in at about 13.3 cents an ounce." Uh which some of you geniuses out there would notice that that is less than the number I said earlier about the the dollar store mayo.

[00:36:36]So, you're getting even though it seems cheaper, you're just buying less. All right, number two, Thousand Island dressing. I'm pretty sure that's what they put on Big Macs. I've never had it on a salad. Again, we have an >> they put thousand island dressing on a Big Mac.

[00:36:48]>> Example of a weirdly small bottle with this dressing again costing a dollar >> on the big arch burger.

[00:36:53]>> 25 for an 8 oz bottle or 15.625 per ounce of whatever cents, whatever. We got that. It's cheap. So anyway, thrifty or shifty? Answer. It's a little weird actually. For complete transparency, the 8 oz bottle available at the dollar store was Craft, a name brand. And with that in mind, my local grocery store carries a 16oz bottle of Craft Thousand Island for $4.29, which is approximately 26.8. 8 cents per ounce. And that would make the dollar store version of this thrifty. However, if you're already shopping at the dollar store, I don't think a name brand is much of a concern.

[00:37:22]In which case, you can get a generic thousand island for $2.49 or 15.5 cents per ounce, which makes the dollar store version of thousand island dressing shifty. So, I guess you just got to pay attention to you got to bring a calculator to the store, which is so fun when I'm shopping at a discount store.

[00:37:36]All right, challenge number three.

[00:37:37]Ramen. The cheapesting thing on earth. I remember.

[00:37:39]>> All right, bro. If we're nickel and dimeing ramen, though. I don't know.

[00:37:42]That's where we've lost the plot. That's when society's cooked is when you're worried about the price of ramen.

[00:37:47]Ramen's like actually just a dollar anywhere. Ramen's a dollar. Back when these were 29 cents a packet. I don't know what happened to this country.

[00:37:55]Ramen is pretty much the cheapest way to keep yourself alive on this planet. So, I was a little surprised to see the stuff at the dollar store charging $1.50 per pack. That is so much money. You just buy a can of soup for that. But, it's a five-pack. So, if you do the math, each one's only about a 30 cents and that's a screaming good deal for a bowl of soup. But ramen noodles occupy a weird space in the culinary world. The type you make at home is incredibly unhealthy, accounting for 72% of your recommended sodium intake per package.

[00:38:19]And the kind you get at a restaurant melts in your mouth and it's the best thing on earth. So it's a weird it's I don't get it. But one thing I noticed is a five >> Well, it's one's highly processed and covered in [ __ ] sodium and the other's not.

[00:38:30]>> Pack of ramen.

[00:38:31]>> Ramen's buns. I think real ramen's good.

[00:38:34]Like if you go to like a ramen shop, but like base ramen's not. Yeah, let's ban that kid. noodles is a little un >> You know, while we're at it, we gave it we gave it a shot for a little bit.

[00:38:44]We're going to go back >> unorthodox. Usually, it's a six-pack.

[00:38:47]So, my my my suspicion flares are flaring. Is it thrifty or shifty?

[00:38:52]Answer. Okay, we might be splitting hairs here because ramen is already so goddamn cheap, but you can get a 12-pack at a standard grocery store for $4.99, which is over 41 cents a pack. So, this is thrifty, but with a pretty big asterisk. Keep in mind that these bigger packs of ramen do always go on sale. In fact, while I was writing this, you could get a 12-pack of ramen at my local market for $2.99 or a little less than 25 cents a pack. So, whatever. Frozen pizza number four. This was one of the most shocking items I found in the store cuz each one of these pizzas is $5 each, which is it's a supreme pizza, but it's still aing frozen pizza. And it's not even DeJouro.

[00:39:27]>> I feel like frozen pizza is like one of the biggest scams. Well, there's actually like an index that shows if the economy is doing bad or not depending on on how many frozen pizzas are being bought because if more people are buying frozen pizzas that's showing that they don't want to actually buy takeout or go to a restaurant, but they want some sort of special meal that feels different.

[00:39:49]But regardless, I think a frozen pizza is like the wor they're cheap, but they're bad. Like they're objectively bad. Like even a a like my favorite frozen pizza is like a screaming Sicilian still ass comparable to like any regular like delivery pizza place >> which is like the best one. So survey says >> and real pizza is not expensive. You could get like a large like an extra large Domino's pizza for like [ __ ] $15.

[00:40:19]>> Thrifty or shifty. And I thought this was going to be a slam dunk for Shifty.

[00:40:22]No way could anyone in their right mind charge over five bucks for a Red Baron pizza. But sure enough, they do. This same thing is being sold at my local grocery store for >> Hell no. Yeah, you can, bro. What? See, now I'm looking. How much do we think an extra-L large Domino's pizza is? You could get an extra-L large barbecue chicken pizza for $15. A plane's probably like 12.

[00:40:44]>> $5.99.

[00:40:46]A dollar more for Red Baron. What happened to this country?

[00:40:49]>> I don't even know how we win.

[00:40:50]>> Too much. I feel like that's the one thing that's like that's a pretty valid price. Like I Dude, you're getting like [ __ ] 5,000 calories of food in this game, folks. I feel like we're losing no matter what we do. How did it get so dark? This was supposed to be a fun history lesson about the dollar store.

[00:41:05]What's the next segment? Oh, good. The section is called the human cost of a dollar store. Fantastic. Dollar stores aren't always a value for consumers, and they often hurt local businesses. But guess what? They are awful to their employees. 92% of Dollar General workers earn less than $15 an hour, which just in case you weren't paying attention, $15 an hour is not livable anywhere in the United States anymore. You could be in Kansas and your Not only are these staffers underpaid, but they also have to work with the barebones staffing.

[00:41:32]Oftent time, dollar stores only have two people working at once. And that makes things really complicated considering that they're always trying to sell balloons at the front of their store.

[00:41:40]Just one parent trying to buy a balloon for their child that they love will completely [ __ ] over an entire shift at Dollar General. Not to mention that since there's only two people working, you basically have to do everything. You ring people up. You stock the shelves.

[00:41:52]You clean. Go to any grocery store. They have like 40 people doing all those jobs. There are people who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year who don't even work remotely as hard.

[00:42:01]Former dollar store employees report being expected to work long hours with little or no overtime. So, not only is this wildly exploitative, it's also extremely un >> no bathroom breaks potentially as well.

[00:42:12]>> Safe. Without time to take care of stocking, the merchandise piles up in the aisles. I don't know if you've been to a dollar store.

[00:42:17]>> This what I experienced at that dollar >> recently, but it looks like a bomb went off and federal safety inspections have repeatedly found block.

[00:42:24]>> Yeah, I know. They are always dirty, dude. There's always like parts of the store that are just like closed.

[00:42:29]>> Locked exit routes, fire hazards, and unsafeely stacked merchandise. In 2024, Dollar General paid a $12 million fine to the government for workplace safety violations. And they were nothing changed. They were just like, "Yeah, we do that [ __ ] Here's the money for it, but we're not. It's way cheaper to just not not pay these people than it is to pay you guys. So, [ __ ] it." But a blocked exit is the least of your worries at the dollar store. Because of their lack of security and small numbers of employees, they get robbed all theing time. There's a >> What are you robbing from a Dollar General that's of value at all? the cash register with [ __ ] $9.38 in it.

[00:43:05]>> Any 5050 coin flip. If you walk into a dollar store, it's currently in the middle of a mugging. In Dayton, Ohio, 81 criminal incidents were counted by police at dollar stores in 2023. And while the majority of them involve theft, several >> Go into the dollar. Go into the Dollar General. Rob him rob him from everything. We just got $38. $38. And we stole two things, the detergent for free.

[00:43:26]>> Of them were robberies. Robberies are >> I could do 27 dishwasher cycles and [ __ ] 15 laundry loads.

[00:43:35]>> Incredibly common at the dollar store.

[00:43:36]And I know they're an easy target cuz they got one dude called Todd running the shop, but how much money could you squeeze out of aing dollar store? I'm sure they have $20 in cash behind the register. But man, they think it might be worth it cuz peopleing die a lot during these. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, 172 people have been injured in Dollar General stores since 2014, and nearly 50 have died.

[00:43:58]That's too many. I mean, death is always a tragedy, but we're averaging five a year here. One Ohio Dollar General employee named Dave Dukes actually experienced three armed robberies. So many that the company sent him to other stores in the region to train employees on how to handle themselves while a gun is being pointed at them. But after his third robbery, >> yo, I'm quitting that [ __ ] job, bro.

[00:44:20]What? If you have if you have a training lesson as like a part of your like you just got the job and it's like part of your training is like, "Okay, so when the guy eventually comes in here and tries to rob you, just put your hands up. Keep it calm."

[00:44:35]>> Dukes hit his limit and he started bringing a gun to work. I don't blame him. And of course, he got robbed again at Dollar General and heing shot the dude and killed somebody. All of this over cotton candy FGO. All right, this is Okay, this is bad.

[00:44:48]>> Did he get in trouble for bringing a gun to work, though?

[00:44:51]>> This was not as fun as I thought it was going to be. We got to make this fun.

[00:44:53]Uh, okay. Goofy dollar store names in other countries. That's more like it.

[00:44:56]Okay, we'll end on a fun note. We'll just talk about this how the Europeans name their dumb [ __ ] In Germany, you get one hero shop, which is pretty boring. Japan has 100red yen shops, which is kind of fun. I don't get why Asian >> 100red yen. Isn't 100red yen like nothing? 100 yen to USD. That's 63 cents. What the [ __ ] are they selling at the hundred yen store? That's not even a dollar.

[00:45:24]>> Countries have denominations of money that are so much though. I don't get that. Like they're like, "Oh yeah, that hamburger costs 1400 yen. Just make it 14. Take a couple zeros off that bitch."

[00:45:33]I don't know why we do that. Like South Korea, thousand wan shop. Like make it a dollar. Why? Just cut the zero.

[00:45:40]>> Yeah. Well, no. There's places that have even worse than that. It'll be like a like the 5 USD would equate to like 30,000 of their currency >> off of it. Vietnam 10k stores. You see what I'm saying? Uh Dollarama in Canada.

[00:45:53]That's fun. That's a fun one. Uh the UK used to have a three penny stores, which sounds dumb, but now they have Poundland, which is where I took your mother last night. And of course, Poland has uh the was I have no clue. I Z Ziscoco old fives. I don't know. Chris, put it on the screen. I have no clue how to say that. There's a five in there. Fives watch. Nothing like a little xenophobia to take the edge off. But before I go, I want to make one thing abundantly clear.

[00:46:24]I don't think it's bad to shop at the dollar store. I don't think that's a bad thing to do. And I'm not shaming anyone for doing it. You guys aren't the problem. That's absolutely fine.

[00:46:31]Sometimes you can really stretch your George Washington shopping at these fine retailers. However, I think it's important to realize just how these stores work, and that's by feeding off of our misery. They give less, they charge more, they destroy small businesses, and create practically death traps. As one retail researcher uh expertly put it, what the dollar stores are betting on in a large way is that we are going to have a permanent underclass in America based on the concept that the jobs went away and the jobs are never coming back and that things aren't going to get better in any of these places.

[00:47:00]So, on that super fun not, THANKS FOR WATCHING BIG TALK. NEW videos every Saturday and sometimes Wednesday. Like, comment, and subscribe. Do all those things. Shout out the Extra Tuglets. All my little bargain boys. They're all >> He does promote his [ __ ] Extra Tug website very well.

[00:47:15]>> $4 a month.

[00:47:16]>> Oh, he's a shitload of subscribers.

[00:47:17]Those are all A's. Wow. He has [ __ ] nine people subbing to him. All called Bigger Tub W.