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Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

(www.theguardian.com)
510 points bookofjoe | 6 comments | 07 Dec 25 14:37 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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firefax ◴[07 Dec 25 15:38 UTC] No.46182451[source]▶
I had a clerk flip out on me a while back at a Dollar Tree because I wanted a charge for a dollar -- it rang up as 1.25. They rolled their eyes and told me not everything is a dollar, and I maintained that absent pricing stickers indicating otherwise, the default is a dollar. When I pointed out another way to look at it is it's a twenty five percent price discrepancy, someone came out of an office and literally screamed at me and chased me out of the store for "causing a problem", telling me that if I'm going to cause problems, so will she.

I wasn't cursing or yelling, just calmly making the points I made above as the employees took a dive bar approach to customer service...

It doesn't surprise me at all that this kind of thing is intentional -- they're banking on you not walking out without the item having carried it to the checkout.

replies(1): >>46182545 #
1. aimor ◴[07 Dec 25 15:47 UTC] No.46182545[source]▶
"the default is a dollar"

There is no default price.

replies(2): >>46182623 #>>46182781 #
2. firefax ◴[07 Dec 25 15:57 UTC] No.46182623[source]▶
It's called "dollar tree" for a reason, historically prices were and are a dollar unless otherwise noted.
replies(1): >>46182761 #
3. tokai ◴[07 Dec 25 16:13 UTC] No.46182761[source]▶
They went up to $1.25 in '21 I think. It was extensively cover by the press.
replies(1): >>46184739 #
4. mistrial9 ◴[07 Dec 25 16:15 UTC] No.46182781[source]▶
I can't cite details, but I believe that case law has settled this many times.. When a customer enters a commercial business, there are implied contracts that are enforceable.. I am thinking of restaurants first. I believe it is the responsibility of the goods and services provider to show prices accurately and honor them, and variations of that are well-understood in court. These kind of transactions are common for thousands of years in the West.
5. firefax ◴[07 Dec 25 20:16 UTC] No.46184739{3}[source]▶
>They went up to $1.25 in '21 I think. It was extensively cover by the press.

I'd love to see a citation on that, since I think you're mistaken -- there's plenty of things that are still a dollar, mostly stuff like packages of napkins or plastic cups, cards and other sundries.

(What was extensively covered was that they were no longer a "everything is a dollar" store.)

replies(1): >>46184959 #
6. bell-cot ◴[07 Dec 25 20:43 UTC] No.46184959{4}[source]▶
Citations:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/grocery/shopping/2025/12/04/d...

https://www.businessinsider.com/dollar-tree-raises-some-pric...

https://www.the-sun.com/money/14719523/dollar-tree-sneaky-co...