How Dollar Stores Quietly Consumed America 

Like a true Mr. Worldwide

Also because Kodiak sounds like Kodak, and Pitbull rhymed Kodak with Kodak in one of his hits

sounds like a hacker named 4chan would be involved in this

Except that Kodiak's store isn't their least-trafficked. The entirety of Kodiak Island shops there, plus the transient fishing fleet, plus a considerable number of summer and fall visitors. The lousy research from this channel would make one think that Kodiak city is the entirety of the population. It's actually about double. Plus: we don't have a dollar store of any kind.

Kodiak is # 4 most frequented town and unloads up to 7 cruise ships for day stops. At 2000- 6000 people tourism each ship, including military ships, smaller tourist, hunting boat traffic, including mining, oil boat traffic & barges. Very busy port. It gets more visitors than people think being one of the only ports.

I think that's not a joke😂

This I'm certain isn't a joke. A Dollar general will put a dollar general next to a dollar general

Yeah probably not a joke. In my country, companies simply follow mcdonalds. If McDonald's opens a branch in a location, they rush to open one there too. It means the clown has a good team & it is cheaper to bet on locations his team has chosen than to invest in your own feasibility study. Trailer parks are probably the McDonald's of the dollar store industry.

"If you build it, they will come"

@@CharlesDavis-to9hwon an aside I can't remember exactly where but as I was going around Florida I remember seeing a McDonald's across the street from another McDonald's on the highway, granted it was limited access cuz there was a median in between so it probably made some financial sense but literally they were 500 ft away from each other

It's the way of the world The poor people lack most everything.

Lesson from your grandpa: work hard to avoid being poor.

It's the Sam Vimes Boots theory of socioeconomic inequality.

@@wwaynemcgif only reality worked that way

Reality: if you're bright, and have a good work ethic, you won't end up poor. If you're dull, and lazy, you stand a real good chance of wallowing in poverty most of your life. Guaranteed@@topapo3661

I work for a soda distribution company (the 3rd one not pepsi or coke) and 25% of our sales for our whole company come from dpllar generals just on the sheer number of them that are out there. I service 27 every week.

Jesus loves you! He did die on the cross for us and he did come back to life in 3 days by God! Trust in him + Repent of sins✝️❤️ Jesus loves you! He did die on the cross for us and he did come back to life in 3 days by God! Trust in him + Repent of sins✝️❤️

⁠@@nkarma4491First: Do not repeat your comment twice. Second: You know, maybe consider that 23 words will not change someone’s religion. Stop botting.

​@@i69420Antisemitism/Christianophobia

​@@nkarma4491Jesus shops at Dollar Tree. I know cuz I was working that shift.

and the populations of southern and western states that are mentioned in the video, continue to elect officials (Republicans/Maga) that enable and worsen this poverty trap. capitalist and conservative economic policies increase the wealth gap drastically. simple economics/politics.

republicans well tell you its the mexicans and lgbtqs fault youre poor tho

@@andrewbrooks3559Both parties are not providing solutions to what is making the country critically unstable. Modern US politics are failing us, soon we'll have to take it with our own hands and control.

The costs of poverty are absurd. It's baffling how the USA turned 300 years of geographic and resource wealth into maintaining some of the worst systems longer than less privileged communities

​@@andrewbrooks3559bro go walk around NYC and tell me dems have poverty fixing policies

What exactly is "scummy" about outselling your competition? Selling at a lower price is standard practice with any industry. It's just business. Sure it's kinda sad that smaller companies lose out but it's not "scummy" to adhere to the general principles of supply and demand.

@@beeb6809 It's scummy to lower your prices on purpose to drive your competition out of business with the intent of recuperating those losses via higher prices once you've established a monopoly. I'm all for competition between businesses - it drives our nation - but lowering prices on purpose to eliminate competition is scummy if you plan to raise prices once your competition is gone. That removes the competition and restricts the supply you refer to with "supply and demand". All this amounts to is large businesses using their size to crush their competition so that they can squeeze the consumers via a local monopoly.

@@beeb6809 It's an anticompetitive practice to intentionally bring in products and services below the wholesale price and use that as a cudgel to force competitors out of the space. It's called dumping, and it's a very potent trick that large companies can use to bully smaller companies. Dollar general has way more competitive pressure on suppliers than a random grocery store in Kansas, making it very easy to dump products onto the shelves. Avocados for 50 cents each? A bunch of carrots for a dollar? A whole bag of potatoes for $2? Not realistic prices in an American grocery store, but if you're charging those rates, people will pick your store way more often. And when the customers abandon the other store in a year or two, then you can raise prices, cut out low margin products, and go back to selling product to consumers without any regards to health, wellbeing, or basic decency. Supply and demand is an economic principle, not a moral principle or a value.

@@watchinvids155 I dunno, that sounds pretty much exactly like being competitive to me, not "anticompetitive" at all. Just sounds like you're mad that the little guy lost. Driving your competition out is just good business. If you can do that by giving the people what they want at a good price then great. And if you're playing the long game like DG is, to make profits over time you sometimes make sacrifices over the short run. It's what ALL businesses do and it how DG has been able succeed where all those small businesses have failed.

@@alanning9331 Thats just competition. "Scummy" practices implies things like interfering with suppliers, running negative ad campaigns or using undue government influence to cheat the system and succeed where others cant. Using your companies well earned place in the market to make short term sacrifices in exchange for long term profit is just good business. It sounds like you're just mad the little guy couldn't compete but DG started with one store in Scottsville KY in 1939 so they were the little guy once.

Bro that's so fkn rad . How long did you do it in or were you just doing it for charity or something?

How many decades did it take you to bike across the US?

@@ytsux9259 2 months

@@johnfrigo417any chance you were inspired by Cade Media’s trip?

@@tsuihintree Ya! I watched a bunch of his videos for tips on my journey

doesent help america its disgustingly narcacistic and capitalist hell. When your poor they want you to stay poor

Agreed. This has more to do with the intention and not the amount of resources.

Because one wants to tell the truth while the other is paid to advertise the company.

Journalism is broken, local journalism has been annihilated

@@etbadaboum”Dog’s weather forecast after this commercial break. 🐶”

People are just so damn talented. It makes me happy.

It's a publicly traded company. Cost of rent is public for shareholders to.see

@@samelmudirso is Walmart but he couldn’t find store rental costs broken down for them.

​@@eruben2Wal-Mart almost always owns their buildings

@@eruben2 Wal Mart has a real estate branch. You can lease within it's store. Owns 80% of it's US stores and 60% worldwide. Those huge anchor tenants are an average of $2 mil a month where they are renting in the US.

From how I heard them do it It seemed like they did some calculations based on the average cost of a house. I don't know what that equation is but it didn't seem like they were using actual numbers

As someone who uses a camper for a third of a year, I found it cheaper to keep that small bottle and refill it out of a bigger one at home. Sam's Club and Costco detergents are good for this, though it does require some planning

I'm not so sure about that. A lot of places have main streets that are basically ghost towns. They may have a few businesses still going, but not a grocery store. I live in the South and such towns are everywhere. In the town I currently live in, which once had a relatively large and happening downtown, the railroad refurbishment plant left after 120 years, Walmart moved into the outskirts, and NAFTA killed the garment industry that had replaced the railroad. Multifactorial. Try as folks continue, it is slow going to actually revive the old downtown, and there are dozens of dollar stores everywhere.

Jesus loves you! He did die on the cross for us and he did come back to life in 3 days by God! Trust in him + Repent of sins✝️❤️

I suspect the bigger factor is that most dollar stores use much larger stores than most main street ones.

​@@victoriabaker4400the big difference I see with many US "main streets" is they are not in walking distance from where people live. They have plenty of commercial but no residential. If you have to drive to main street it loses its appeal

@@mattitude4464 I agree that is a problem but that generally isn't true of small towns in the US South. But, another factor in all of this is suburbanization as policy following desegregation, which was already hollowing out main streets before the Walmart invasion. Another factor is the neoliberal impoverishment of the working class across the board. When I left high school in 1974 I worked as an entry-level receptionist for $5 an hour, and in today's money that is worth more than $26 an hour. Most of the working class today will never make that kind of money, much less to start.

Make sure you shop there for all your needs and not at either DG.

Don't hope they do well- help them do that. Spend your money their and encourage everyone else you know to do the same. When you're thinking about going shopping ask that friendly neighbor if they'd like to ride along. Build community, not corporations.

Dollar Tree or Dollar General? I don't see Dollar Tree being the cause of a grocer going out of business, let alone having 2 within 5 minutes of each other, especially in a small community. DT has never been viewed as a go to for shopping for groceries, but DG has been

Take direct action against the dollar stores like those two teenagers mentioned in this video. Fight back

@@OkieOtaku a.k.a "Which kinda apples: Golden or Red Delicious? It makes a difference!" 😂

Im on your side but its not inhumane

Yet the population will flock to them to save money.

@@Ushio01 oh buddy you're ALMOST there. Maybe they need to save money as a necessity because they're paid shit wages by shit corporations? nah, couldn't be that.

They cut prices on pantry goods with very little space for frozen or refrigerated. The mom and Pop supermarkets pay more for wholesale and they need around six times as much sq footage with at least ten times as much refrigerated and frozen food and perishable produce. An ALDI'S would be even worse than a Dollar General, but at least they pay their workers MUCH more than Dollar General.

@@JaKingScomezshoveling unhealthy foods to a captive market isn’t inhumane?

I don't blame employees for being generally unconcerned about petty crime when they are barely paid a living wage.

@@chickensalad3535 exactly

way too much effort and headache @@chickensalad3535

The latest 'Last week tonight' is eye opening about the BS workers have to deal with, like running a dollar store on their OWN, and being expected to reopen the store and get back to work 15 minutes after an armed robbery.

@keithpanton7486 I'd of just walked out and left the place to get luted

I like to shoplift at Dollar General

You’re not supposed to clock out until the key holder finishes up deposits. They weren’t following policy where you worked, and LP requires bag checks unless it’s taken out to your vehicle at time of purchase otherwise bag checks are required to make responsibility on both parties if theft is occurring. That’s just regular operation on loss prevention side. -a store manager

Sadly a lot of places do this Marshalls’s Ross and they max all check your bag purse before you leave and it must be done under or where a camera can see

Respect for getting a better job bro. Gonna play Devil’s advocate and say do you think that the reason they had to unlock the ciggys because state law is that you have to be 21 to sell them? That’s a pretty common law to stop kids who just graduate high school selling them to someone underage. Also, if your manager was a female, they might not have felt safe leaving the building by themselves. It took a bit for that to click in mind that some people get scared walking to their car at night thinking they can get jumped regardless if it’s a safe area or not.

I suspect the store is haunted that's why the manager needed someone else there to close up the store and didn't want to be alone.

How do Canadians survive with that real estate cost

Canadians love Myrtle Beach haha

@@ihmpall we go to Myrtle beach to cope

​@@ihmpall The women Mary and divorce for passive income

hey bud, next time try north myrtle. Cherry grove as well. Way better of a vibe for family@@funby

I always figured spirit was actually a good thing for the market, because they take over unoccupied stores during a tough time for retailers, but any big nation spanning corporation has some shadiness to it.

My uncle is the person who sets up all the signs and shelving for the east coast! Then he has to go take it all down after Halloween. They pay really good though! I would be mad though lol

yeah a Spirt Halloween business model video would be really cool

CNBC has done a good one if you're interested (on their YT page)

Excellent!

That's wonderful!!!

Sick.

Walmart ran off the grocery store and hardware store in our Arkansas town. Now, if Walmart were to shut down we would have to drive over an hour one way to buy groceries.

in nick her towns maybe. lol

Alcohol, tobacco, and lottery ticket mini Marts and gas stations are far more harmful to small towns than dollar general is. Booze, smokes, and buying lottery tickets hurts the poor.

@@chrisgooglemaps If only law enforcement would arrest those people who force the poor to buy alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

Have you ever noticed that local business are overpriced.... an average family shopping local are only able to afford maybe two-and-a-half weeks worth of food... I rather have my families stomach full for the whole month... if you've never been hungry you wouldn't understand

​@@juniorjr.427well people aren't getting healthy options and they aren't subsidized by the government for better food. It's not your fault but the system screwed you. You don't need to defend the parasites who only have cheaper prices because they monopolize local area grocery stores and then take your wealth and give it to investors who hoard it. They also can then unilaterally decide what food options you can get.

​@@juniorjr.427local businesses aren't overpriced, they just have to buy the stuff for more from the wholesalers. Dollar general buys way more in volume so you can't even compare the scopes. They get better deals because they buy so much

That's also the people's fault for shopping there though

Walmart loves to do that too.

Reopen the local grocery store then?

@@lucydrop8105 You can't blame people who are barely making enough money to survive for trying to save as much money as possible by shopping at a cheaper store. Blame the predators who are willfully taking advantage of people's inability to afford the luxury of choice, and local, state, and federal governments for not stepping in to protect their citizens from the predators.

​@@warlordgaming7687When there's a prey, predators will inevitably come and there no governing body who can keep them away

I mean the saying does go "an apple a day..." Am I right?

Good on you for caring about your customers over what is easiest for the store or purely maximizes profits. We need to figure out a carrot or stick to ensure companies that are purely focused on profits -- without true care for the long-term health of their customers -- are also motivated to do the same kind of thing. First thought is that a tax on stores that offer food but where only a small fraction of sales are on fresh produce could be one such stick.

Were you able to persuade them to stock the fresh fruit?

Almost none of the well-known national brand stores of any kind allow 'stocking to order' anymore. The corporate office decides what you may (and WILL) stock, where it will be displayed, and what the pricing will be. You can't do anything else except ask for more or less of something and hope they will listen. All that store managers do now is manage the staff; the corporation runs the store without them.

Canada has those

Eating healthy has always been expensive How many bags of chips can you get for the same price as 10 apples

​@@AllisterHaffordability has never been an issue for me and i live in a rural area. The issue is there is no option for fresh produce aka a food desert!

Alaskan Walmarts also get cruise ship employees, and sometimes cruise passengers, shopping there for basic needs of the sort not readily available in the tourist-oriented waterfront commercial strips. So, seasonally at least, there's an additional draw similar to the CO and WY examples.

I saw the same thing with someone who owns a cabin in Alaska, they stock up at Costco then take a boat back

// Late to the party..... This phrase implies that you were commenting after conversations in the comments had already died down. But you showed up around **1 hour** after the video posted. In what world is that "late?" You wouldn't even be considered "late" to an actual party if you showed up 1 hour after it started. In RU-vid terms, you showed up at peak party, or even a little early to the party.

@@FeebleAntelope Bored?

@@prezadent1 Just YT being YT. But I actually had the exact same thought, I just wasn't going to post it. But now, here I am, posting this.

I lived in Dayton for a few years before moving back to New England where I’m from and 100% agree! It was tragic to see how underserved certain communities were there but encouraging to see the progress being made in a grassroots way! The future is bright in Dayton!

Why did Kroger leave? Too much theft I assume.

😅 19:25 19:25 19:25 19:25

You're leaving out the fact that Gem City Market was funded by private and government grants.

@@tartrazine5 That’s even better!

The waste that comes with dollar stores, smaller sizes, and actually paying more per unit of product is worse

This. Combined with ordinances that mandate the size of parking lots and such, it's the reason the US looks the way that it does: miles of run down gas stations, cracked concrete in weedy parking lagoons, universal chain store frontage irrespect of the surroundings, etc. It's the biggest mistake the US made after the industrial revolution and served as the basis for the myriad issues we have today. Many Americans unconsciously believe they live in an area not worth caring about, that isn't special or unique.

Happy you got out bro. I feel bad when I work my dollar stores. The managers work 70+ hours often and me being a soda sales rep walking in to talk them I'm making like twice their salary while theyre technically the ones in charge of everything in there. I'm impressed how many of them are still hanging in there it's dog shit work.

lol ever heard of popshelf? it’s ran by dollar general you should see the managers there lol. only person who likes their job is the store manager but she’s likely insane

But would you truly consider Dollar General as a $1 store? Sure, they have some $1 items. But a lot of it is not. Same brand names and sizes as Walmart. Just not as many options in brands and sizes as Walmart, like Sam has pointed out.

​@@johnburrell33Salaried managers being overworked and underpaid is not unique to Dollar General. It's a common practice throughout America. It's a way to maximize productivity for the least amount of money. It's a growing corporate tactic found everywhere. Panera Bread was in the news recently for doing this to their employees.

Do you think Temu will take share from dollar stores?

If people of the town really don't like the DGs why are they supporting them?

⁠@@aprilboneski4639voting with your dollar is bullshit. Most people won’t do it. Many people don’t even think about it. People do what is easiest for them.

I find that the politically active make the rules for the rest. It sounds like you are trying to "help" the people who want to do what is easiest because they don't know better. Why would a second DG push out a local business? They don't sell fresh produce that every one wants to buy.@@WaterDrinker011

Jesus loves you! He did die on the cross for us and he did come back to life in 3 days by God! Trust in him + Repent of sins✝️❤️ John 3:16

@@WaryofExtremeshere in the small town of Pecos Texas. There’s a Walmart that the size of a family dollar. Walmart tried to expand to include groceries like any other Walmart nationwide but they were blocked by the mayor. The mayor’s family has a local grocery in the town…I see a conflict of interest with that. Surprisingly Walmart didn’t fight the town. They’re is a Albertsons grocery store that opened recently and its doing very good

if you think that price hike is outrageous, the .99c store sells half there products now for $4 and above.

I haven't even shopped it Big lots since the late '90s

I buy one thing at my local Dollar (whatever). Redi-Board. It's a foam poster board that has the paper layer that is easy to peel off. This is the only one like that I have found, and is a great material for my TTRPG crafting.

@@seabreezeblank1513 I went to a Big Lots about six years ago. To use the bathroom.

Dollar General is not a "dollar store," that's just their name.

They have brand name soda, chips, bread, meats, cheeses, and even some produce. At least the one near us. This video seems to have a lot of misinformation if not outright lies which makes me concerned.

@@Buglin_Burger7878 Do a little actual research, dollar stores are just as big of a problem as they say. Please identify anything untrue in the video.

​@Dragoonsoul-ut2sn I live in the rural Midwest and dollar stores near me are similarly stocked, maybe it's just a location thing

​@@Buglin_Burger7878only SOME Dollar Generals have fresh produce. Most near me do not. Canned fruits and veggies like green beans is a different story. They all have that.

In my small town they're actually opening a Dollar General Market, which has fresh produce and acts as a small grocery store, which we lack. There are a lot of poor people who can't commute to grocery stores outside of our town and I honestly see this as net positive for our community. I hope Dollar General sees the writing on the wall and starts implementing these fresh produce stores around the country.

...wasn't that also the store where Pitbull got sent to perform a concert, thanks to 4chan?

​@@TheKeeperofChaosthaaaats news to me lol

It was an ad campaign for walmart and sheets done thru fb over a decade ago but yes this happened lmao Articles still exist as well as Pitbulls official video on his yt channel.

​@Etaripamai47 people got to vote at which store he would perform and so 4chan picked the most remote Walmart in Kodiac

The internet took it as an opportunity to troll but Pitbull seemed to actually love it 🤣🤙🏻

Structural engineer?

@@rezterralico4369 i bet geotechnical or environmental

😂

My hometown just got one a few years back. When I go in , there is all kinds of shit pulled up like a blue hanger. Great place to buy ungodly amounts of junk food and soda.

I am about a month into my construction engineering technician job. About half of my job sites are testing foundations for DGs for the most ridiculous places. Often just replacing a small grocery stores that have neighboring citizens no more than 20 feet from the new building. Not to mention the horrible soil conditions they are building on with little regard for the many problems I show to them.

Well said, for better or worse or like an old-fashioned general store in the wild west

Yep, in my town there's a thriving farmer's market just across the street from the Dollar General, and the actual supermarket just down the road from it is still successful as well. In this rare case Dollar General has added to our economy without taking anything from it. It's actually a pretty well-maintained location as well, I was surprised the first time I went and saw they were carrying groceries, beer, and the like. I remember when they hardly had any food and mostly sold cheap odds and ends.

Exactly

Their food options are shite, the best option being water. Every other thing comes from China and made to be as cheap as possible.

​​@@deathlarsen7502No, NOT like the old fashioned general store out in the old west. At least the old fashioned general store guy was a part of the community and the profits stayed in the town.

It's not about saving money so much as it is to provide small towns a location to buy shit without having to drive to a big city.

@@darrelldarrell1447 Dollar stores have created neighborhood convenience stores at a fraction of gas station convenience store prices. Dollar tree will often have good deals due to their inflexible pricing. it is literally cheaper for me to order bulk bang energy to dollar tree than enjoy the "bulk savings" of walmart. when egg prices shot up, dollar tree simply sold what they had at standard price and ran out. instability of supply in exchange for never overspending. Also, the slightly higher unit price is perfectly justified in exchange for them doing the warehousing for you. The whole premise of cities is to live in smaller, more efficient homes and spend on services instead of square footage/ driving

Not to mention the environmental impact of additional packaging needed for these smaller size products.

Now dollar tree on the other hand you can save a lot as long as you’re selective with what you buy lol

more than tricking people, its also preying on people who are running it so close to not being able to make rent that they can only buy the more-per-ounce one cause that's all they have at the moment

Did you not speak to ACAS about that?

So, basically capitalism as a whole.

@@amanonstilts4555 At least he's not being sent to a gulag for complaining like you would in communism

They definitely overwork the people at my local Dollar General the guys always in back restocking stuff. There’s always a line

@@amanonstilts4555No, nice try though.

There's 2 places that dollar stores open, Rural communities that don't need them and are better off without, And Urban S-holes so bad that the dollar store is all they have left. The former can stop them and be fine off. The latter probably ended up in that position after a long, long self inflicted slide

Good 👍

sounds like a similar story to when Walmart tried to expand to Germany..

Hell yeah

​@@alexipestov7002it wasn't self inflicted fool. Did you not watch the video it's literally red lining and racism.

There is a boatload of misinformation in you wall of text. I live in a area that is dotted with small rural communities. Many citizens from those areas have good local jobs or their own farms/ranches/dairies/livestock, etc. Others commute to where there is higher paying jobs. ...In a rural area, I have no problem finding farmer's market type items. I can buy local produce and use the time honored tradition of jarring/canning. Have a large freezer, buy meat in bulk when on sale, portion and freeze it. Low income families can also buy bulk produce and jar/can items. Bulk beans, bulk rice, bulk flour etc. can go a long ways. Prep and cook in bulk quantities, then portion and freeze. ...Someone does not have to buy unhealthy junk food at a Family Dollar/Dollar General to survive. ...If you are in a pinch, a can of soup or a frozen meal from Family Dollar/Dollar General will get you by. ...People from rural areas can make a good living. They can afford to drive to one of the bigger cities and shop the ads/coupon deals at the bigger stores. People living in these small rural areas work good jobs. Done it long before a Family Dollar/Dollar General showed up. ...A local mom 'n pop store/general store don't pay significantly better than a Family Dollar/Dollar General. But for them to survive and compete, they would have to form a co-op. And buy wholesale in larger quantities and spread the goods out to the area's rural stores. ...I shop several different stores. I shop the ads/digital coupons. I go to certain stores for certain items. Each store has their 'specials'.

@@do_notknow_much Man from small town has no idea that small towns outside his are not like his. (Rural areas have, by far, the highest levels of poverty and can rarely support any of the local stores in competition with DG. Your one (1) town notwithstanding). More at 11.

We'll never be honest about the cultural implications on this whether in South Atlanta or somewhere in Appalachia. I grew up in Chicago and the saying was always "there would be a Nike store, a Chase bank, and a Whole Foods on every MLK Drive if it wasn't a bad bet." A loss leader. And that was before these insane DAs who won't charge shoplifters and the low staffing problems many police departments are experiencing.

@@RJT80same with seattle but replace Nike with Starbucks. Tbh no one ever goes to Starbucks in Seattle because there are soooooo many good local coffee shops. If only that would apply to the rest of the country.

​@@RJT80what does police and shoplifting have to do with this? Police make the life of poor people worse

Golden comment!

@@eagleleftlet me guess, defund the police is what you want. How’s that going for Chicago 🤣 all their Walmarts closed in Wakanda neighborhoods 🤣🤣🤣

major retailers always buy from the producing company, Dollars included. The small grocery stores need the wholesalers

I've seen Walmart's distribution system up close. It's massive, efficient, and impressive. So is Target's. Consumers don't understand all that goes into getting goods on the shelf (and how much diesel it takes). Direct shipments from factory to retailer distribution centers are a big part of retail price control. Today retail is either boutiques or massively scaled corporations. There's no middle ground.

​@@SoloPerICommentiIt's different with Wal-Mart, though. I did Supply Chain Management at Frito-Lay from 2012 to 2016, and only a few companies got semi-truck deliveries straight from the factory - Wal-Mart and Sysco foods are the two I remember. Everything else went to a Frito-Lay distribution center, where smaller box trucks would deliver it to grocery stores and gas stations.

All the vendor backhauls we do cuts the cost just that tiny bit more. Do a store 200 miles away and instead of driving 200 miles empty back to the DC, go 10 miles further out, get a load of bottled water or whatever. They don’t have to pay 3rd party companies to move the freight, and it ‘optimizes’ how much they pay us.

@@PsRohrbaugh I know, but he was mentioning "a middle company", and that's a wholesaler. Of course you can further optimize with direct deliveries, but that's going to impact like 1% of the COGS, in most categories. A wholesaler is eating like 5-10% of them.

💀 insane

Truee

You have no idea how true this is. Born and raised in Alberta and dollarama is EVERYWHERE. Everyone flocked to it because yes everything at the start was only $1. Crazy times indeed.

@@shotguunwolf9365where I am there can be as many as 3 dollaramas within the same block. One in a mall, one outside the mall, and one across the street from the mall. It’s insane.

Dollar Tree Canada is up to $2 now.

People have spoken. With their wallet.

That's literally what every brand/chain does, allied with governmental increasal of taxes and bureaucracy

All of them prey on the poor. Look at the banks.

@@user-wl7bw5hq6l The country has probably gotten poorer over time :/

People like cheap and better selection. Unfortunately small grocers need to focus on fresh produce and such to stay afloat. It's the peoples choice. Many tiny towns only have a dollar general. Doesn't make it bad. They'd otherwise need to drive 30 minutes to get anywhere else.

Good shit. Good on you. I hope we can get something like this going on a broader scale.

Yes, I was a dollar general manager at a store in my town. The job was great for about 5 years. Then we got a district manager who was a autocratic ****. I tried to make it work, but I refused to kiss up to him so on my last day I told all my employees I wanted to choke him till he turned blue and I resigned.

I was actually paid LESS than minimum wage at the DG I worked at as a teenager. Of course, the owner did their best to hide that information from me. The expectations of employees is ridiculous there. Bad memories of people down on their luck, trying to combine coupons that don't combine just to afford laundry. I've never been in a DG that didn't make me feel really rough inside.

They want your soul..and pay nothing for it..

being a crap manager is a choice. it’s a shame that some people end up managing people who are not good with people

Dollar General treated me like shit too. I will never miss working there. I’m glad so many are shuttering.

Same exact scenario for my college lol

Same here as well. There is a small grocery store (it’s called community market, I don’t know if it’s a chain, a do it best type of situation, or locally owned) but it’s more expensive than a Walmart or even a kroger

The college town grocery stores I know all exploit their captive shoppers with outrageous prices. A lot of us would have preferred to have a dollar store in walking distance.

When in such close proximity do they make enough revenue to run the store. I can see a small store in such places survive but a store as dollar general close to each other is terrible. I'm not from US so kind of curious to know.

I love going into small grocery stores. They have a smell that a supermarket doesn't. You can smell the deli, etc.

I worked for a small grocery chain with 8 or so locations in the early 2000's. They no longer exist, bought up by Albertsons

I worked there too 💛

When did Aldi make it to the US? I didn't know that they existed outside of Germany (or maybe Britain)...

They seem to have a fairly DG-like model here in the UK too as they offer much less product choice within a category keeping costs lower. They also do a much bigger proportion of own brand products.

@tramcrazy theres only one or two name brand things per aisle here, the rest is Aldi brand. They pay their employees pretty well too, which is really nice compared to a dollar store

Yes but I've also never seem an Aldi outside of a major Urban area and they are mostly in wealthy urban areas so this might be "something I read on the internet" but an issue with Aldi on poorer markets is the lack of name brands poorer people want tide and Coca-Cola if they don't see there name brands which the equate with luxury they don't want to shop there even if they do only buy the Xtra Landry detergent and Shasta cola they want to go to a place that sales the" luxury" items

If you're going to do Aldi, it's also worth looking at its connection to Trader Joe's. There's a long story behind this, but there is a connection between Aldi and Trader Joe's. Note that Trader Joe's also sells mostly its own products.

The Aldis here has a beautiful produce department.

We used to have all those things. I remember locally owned pharmacies when I was a kid back in the 80s.

​@@Fizzyphukofflol we still have local owned pharmacies here. Our DG is right next to our grocery store and grocery store is thriving. There's also a ton of places that do bread daily 😆

Brazil is a total shit hole where hundreds of people are murdered whenever the police go on strike again

The reason pharma and biotech is so limited to a couple monopolies in the US is because of the insane conflicts of interest the federal government has with those companies. Subsidies, tax breaks, anti-competitive laws... all things that really make you question the United States "free market."

Also, American stores basically don't get foot traffic. Many of our towns and cities are zoned to as to literally prevent people from, say, opening a grocery store in a residential neighborhood, and our cities are oriented around car travel--some streets even lack sidewalks entirely. This means that a car is basically necessary to get groceries, except for convenience stores like a pharmacy or Dollar General... There is no quickly walking to a store to get fresh produce in America for a lot (most?) of us. Without this foot traffic, smaller businesses that don't get the same bulk order deals that large businesses get, starve.

hang in there

What’s holding you back from moving to where the opportunities are better?

@@seanwieland9763 Two things, actually; abysmal access to transportation, and a toxic family situation. I am almost totally confined to the distance I can walk, meaning it's near impossible for me to travel beyond this county. I have tried leaving several times, but good friends are exceedingly difficult to come by. The first attempt, I stayed with a former friend and his girlfriend. Now, his girlfriend was even MORE narcissistic than my own mother (which is still hard for me to believe). I made a second attempt, trying to get an editing job, but those supposed friends were actually running a scam. Both times, I lost a devastating amount of money moving back. It seems I must live alone, because I can trust NOBODY now. It's far too risky.

@@seanwieland9763 Poverty. Moving is an expensive affair.

​@@seanwieland9763did you miss the part where they're making 9 bucks an hour? 💀

Same in a town 10 miles away from me too lol.

Dollar Tree Corp owns Family Dollar. They are turning some stores into a combo of both stores. Family Dollar stores were also being remodeled to add more Dollar Tree item, with a big emphasis on party supplies.

Well, you know those SC people. 😂

dollar stores bring the bodega neighborhood store experience to the whole nation!

Yeah. I live in Finland and sometimes wonder why Americans put up with that. My city of 22 000 has 8 grocery stores, 3 hypermarkets, 5 hardware stores and a shopping centre + bunch of other stores.

Doesn't look like walkable locations to me. Strip mall type rubbish. I suppose they're "walkable" in the sense that technically they are walking *distance*.

The only things I've ever bought at a Dollar Store (or other Dollar retailer) is a specific type of foam posterboard that has paper that easily peels off, and some plastic toy animals. I use the foam board for crafting for table-top RPG games, and the plastic animals as gaming miniatures for the same games. I buy the foam board there because they are the only one carrying the type that has easy-peel paper.

@@MonkeyJedi99Dollar General isn’t a “dollar store” its just a place that has a dollar section and is a slightly more general store CVS/Walgreens

@@natsuccubus I used the phrase dollar store because there are Dollar Tree, Dollar General Dollar Plus, Dollar-rama, and so many others.

Yeah with today's gas prices yyou try to combine your trips and go closer. The gas costs can't justify driving so far.

=AND THE ALTERNATIVE IS,ABOUT.......TO JUST LET ALL THOSE PEOPLE DIE FROM HUNGER,Y KNOW????.... =TRY TO LOOK FROM OTHER PERSPECTIVE...ABOUT *IF* THE PLACE HAVING WHATEVER GROCERY STORE,IT'LL HAVE MORE VALUE SO IT'LL BRING MORE PEOPLE TO THAT AREA WHICH'LL GENERATE MORE REVENUE,SO WALMART CAN APPEAR =LOOK AT THOSE DOLLAR STORES AS PLANTS THAT GROW FIRST AFTER A FOREDT FIRE OR KIND OF VOLCANIC ERUPTION,MMMKAY??????SO THEY'RE READYING THE SOIL FOR OTHERS TO COME AND THEN THEY'RE BEEN LEFT NO SUCH A PLACE AND THEY'RE DIEING AWAY .................OF *COURSE* THAT'S NOTHING GOOD FOR LOCAL STORES,THOUGH.........BUT THEY WERE NOT!!!!!!.......ABOUT TO SUSTAIN ANY GROWTH AT ALL,THEY ARE THINGS AT THEMSELVES,RIGHT?????.......SO OF COURSE THEY'RE DIEING OUT AND THAT'S NOT ACTUALLY A BAD THING,Y KNOW =LIKE THERE'S MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.........LIKE I WAS LIVING AT 1 PLACE SOME TIME..........WHERE WASNT ANY STORE NEARBY EXCEPT ONE WITH VERY POOR QUALITY AND PRICES LIKE A HELL........SO I WENT THERE ONCE AND NEVER AGAIN......LIKE 2 LITER FANTA BOTTLE FOR $5 ,LIKE *WHAT* ???????!!!!...........WOULD'VE U *EVER* ????......BUT I _DID_ .......NEVER AGAIN VISITED SUCH A HELLISH PLACE.................BUT,A BIT LATER,A HUGE 24 HOUR STORE HAS OPENED JUST ACROSS THE ROAD........AND THIS HELLISH STORE DIED SOON AFTER FOR GOOD...............AND FROM *_YOUR_* PERSPECTIVE THIS WAS A _REALLY_ BAD THING TO HAPPEN =IF GOVERNMENT TO ACTUALLY INTERVENE,THEN ABOUT HOW'S ABOUT REDUCE TAXES FOR EVERYONE,THEN............SO PEOPLE WILL HAVE MORE TO SPEND,ETC ETC..........AND *_IF_* GOVERNMENT .......LOCAL/STATE/FEDERAL,DOESNT MATTER......WILL ENFORCE ABOUT LIKE A LITTLE KIND OF ABOUT MAKING IT WAY EASIER TO GET A OWN WHEELS FOR THOSE WHO CURRENTLY CANNOT AFFORD...............LIKE WAY LIBERAL ABOUT HAVING A DRIVER LICENSE TO DRIVE,KIND OF............ LIKE......TO ABOUT EVERYONE TO HAVE OWN WHEELS EVEN IF THAT'D BE A PERSONAL E SCOOTER SO THEY COULD'VE FIND AT LEAST SOME JOB AND ABOUT TO GETTING TOWARDS ........BETTER STORE ......... AT *_LEAST_* THIS WILL WASH AWAY THESE 1 DOLLAR STORES FROM HUGE TOWNSHIPS.......... =BUT 1 DOLLAR STORES IN RURAL AREAS ARENT BAD!!!!!!!!!.....QUIT THAT PLEASE............ =SO.....................I THINK I'VE GOTTEN TO THE POINT

Villages have been in a constant death spiral since their inception after humanity researched farming. Yet still villagers persist, somehow.

@@titusbaum9690 Well as it turns out, the most efficient farm design creates a village. So there will always be villages but eventually only one village per farm.

I traveled for work, often in very remote cities. I CANNOT imagine actually living in these places. I was losing my mind for the short stints I lived their. They will not survive the new world. Adapt or die.

He literally talked about exactly that at the end of this video.

Yep. And here's another thing about Walmarts. When a Walmart moves into a distressed town/city. That town/city will give Walmart tax break's and free utilities to entice them to stay.

Rockefeller's Standard Oil did that with oil, but he never got all market (it was over 90% share but never 100%). Why? Because his competitors found what is he doing and were buying stuff from him for lower prices in areas where he was destroying competition with lower prices and then they sold it in places he set higher prices after competition left. So competition was actually emerging thanks to his policies (wup wup). Some competitors made money for selling their companies to him. And doing that again :D It lead to lower consumer prices for customers.

And that's when another store pops up with cheaper prices, because walmart can operate at a loss forever.

This has happened before ... when a local Kmart store closed then ChinaMart (Walmart) RAISED all of their prices 😑

In the 90s, they would build "small" Walmarts in small towns. When all the small businesses in those towns shuttered, they built a "super Walmart" in a central location and shut all those other small stores, leaving those people no choice but to travel to that super Walmart. Those smaller towns without a Walmart are where you will find these dollar generals now.

Folks tend to call places like Dollar General and Family Dollar Dollar stores still. That's how they both started out, as places that sold all kinds of odds and ends for a buck. Today people still call them dollar stores when they are really more of a general store. They sell all the basic stuff you need to get by in a small community.

This is the way convenience stores built in gas stations in the US often work.

thats what dollar tree (another dollar store) used to be like, selling bits and bobbles for a dollar, but they've changed to chase after the success that dollar general and family dollar have achieved ,

@@mechanomics2649 some of the bigger ones, I'd agree. But for the general gas station convenience stores it's more about house/home goods and a few snacks/candies here and there. Not like gallons of milk or booze or pharmacy stuff.

That's very similar to pound shops in the UK, you don't have much in the way of foodstuffs, maybe some cereals and chocolate bars but it's mostly non food items.

We have something almost like that in the US. Costco and BJs is literally warehouses with goods on pallets. They basically sell bulk goods and or factory rate goods(what people think). But its also just better in that, they have very cheap name brands, cheap food in the cafe and some have a tire shop and other stuff. Its also pretty hard to find an employee who will help you who is not at a cash register.

I like this idea of "Russian Costco" if the savings are passed to the consumer.

Situation with Svetophor is a bit tricky because it's still a somewhat large (but absolutely low cost stores) resided pretty much in a large towns. Svetophor is never the first one to open in a small village. It's "the ultimate low-coster" for the people who have grocery stores already. So the "dollar general" place is usually occupied by "usual" Russian convinience store chains - Dixie (diksi), Pyatyerochka, Magnit (magnet) And, by the looks of it, dollar generals and rural Pyatyerochkas are almost exactly the same breed - their condition solely depends on the owner. I've actually seen the absolute pristine condition Pyatyerochkas in villages - cause they're the largest employer (and most modern establishment, lol) in town. They actually look much better (clean, actually cared for) than in my convinience-store-filled Moscow suburbia.

To up on my previous comment - all Russian most popular retail chains already somewhat like dollar general - they have only 5-6 people in stuff responsible for everything (being cashiers/janitors/ But the goods selection and variety isn't specifically "optimized" for low income customers to be honest. It's more like "the slice of a local Auchan". Also the rent varies greatly

@@voliker Well, more like a gradation. Local Dixie, Magnit or Pyatyerochka is a luxury for large-ish cities, starting from, like, few thousands of local population. Lower that bar to hundreds or even dozens of population (like mentioned in the video) in a depressive region, and the only remaining choice would be to either buy stuff in local unbranded "basement store" for twice the price (if it even exists), or use a car. And if you're using a car, you're going straight to the nearest-and-cheapest place. And it so happens (usually) that Svetophor (or similar "turbolowcoster"), being located in the most rural ass of the region you can imagine and afford to hire _relatively_ sober workers, fits the description perfectly, being both nearest and cheapest. Although your point is also entirely correct for not-so-depressive regions, and definitely is another viewpoint for this... Issue? Thanks for correction/clarification/opinion.

The Panhandle sure is depressing. It's like it never fully recovered from the Dust Bowl era.

@@abelreyna8781Borger😢

Just asking - can't you just walk the "one minute drive" distance?

@@BigCrowsVideos (My thoughts also ! (Obviously with reference to those able bodied folks who can walk without difficulty vs actually disabled people that need to use a car or mobility scooter machine). Of course some other RU-vid videos have made the point about many US streets and communities being so utterly designed for cars only, that often safe footpaths/sidewalks simply do not exist.

Same here. Its a 20 minute drive to Walmart of a 5 minute drive to 3 DGs. I keep saying I wish all the local farmers would set up a farmers market to sell produce locally, but my DG sells produce too so I can get fruit, salad stuff, fresh corn, onions, garlic, and other basics along with anything I need quick. Its really nice if i just need 1 thing for dinner like we forgot to get chips for nacho night. There is definitely a positive influence on certain communities. While a bunch of this is true in the video, the whole "Its not the healthiest option so it hurts locals" is kind of like complaining that the food bank isnt giving out free food that you like. The option went from nothing to DG and that is all of a sudden a bad thing, except people traveling to Walmart from these poor areas were still getting bad food because it is still cheaper at Walmart. Just because it is offered there doesnt mean it is purchased. I also would love to see what the average labor cost of local groceries was. I highly doubt local groceries were paying above $15 to employees.

@@BigCrowsVideos brother they said one hour drive, not one minute.

@@itsafeaturenotabug6773 read it again

I could not agree with you more!! X’er over here who lives in a town run by old retired farmers who sold their farm land to developers and sit on boards that refuse to allow anything other than a dollar store, car wash, fast food restaurant, or auto parts store. No Walmart, no public pool, no movie theater, no department stores, few banks. . . If you want decent shopping you have to travel 20-30 miles.

It goes both ways, Fox News seems to have convinced most of rural America that California is actually a terrible failed state dystopia, and not one of the most prosperous economies in both the US and the world Oh and the population of the US isn’t split half half urban rural and hasn’t been for many decades. Like all developed economies it’s roughly 80% urbanized, and trending more urbanized as time goes on.

Jesus loves you! He did die on the cross for us and he did come back to life in 3 days by God! Trust in him + Repent of sins✝️❤️ John 3:16

@@Marchochias It is a terrible and failed state when the middle class can't afford living there.

somebody was absent on that day in the third grade when the teacher taught about paragraphs.

I live in 'the sticks' on purpose. It's 25 minutes to nearest town with decent grocery stores. I go there once every week or 10 days. Buy food for that whole period. Store it right. Prepare it daily or freeze it. It's the ONLY time I go shopping, I don't go to nearby convenient stores. It's doable.