Dollar General

This is the place for general and miscellaneous posts on topics which might extend past the boundaries of any specific region. No non-grocery posts.
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Dollar General

Post by veteran+ »

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Re: Dollar General

Post by BillyGr »

veteran+ wrote: March 31st, 2023, 4:53 am What a great place to shop!

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... ker-safety
Nothing wrong with the stores, just those picking on them about silly stuff.

If there is too much stuff in the aisles, people won't buy items (since thy can't get to them), and in an emergency, you could get to the door faster in them with stuff in the way than you could in a Walmart with totally clear aisles, simply due to Dollar General stores being so much smaller overall!
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Re: Dollar General

Post by veteran+ »

No one is picking on them.

They are accumilating their own bad history all by themselves.

Flagrant disregard for a whole bunch of things (important things).

They may well soon surpass Walmart with their egregious behaviors.
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Re: Dollar General

Post by storewanderer »

I don't think anything will change.

However they are making some changes that may help the freight issue. Clothing category is gone. Seasonal category has been downsized. More consumable food. They need to keep working on non-productive SKUs and clutter. They have a long way to go. Self checkouts being added is resulting on employees spending more time on the sales floor trying to straighten things out.

Paying fines might be cheaper than adding labor. That is a problem with the fine table.
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Re: Dollar General

Post by buckguy »

veteran+ wrote: March 31st, 2023, 1:09 pm No one is picking on them.

They are accumilating their own bad history all by themselves.

Flagrant disregard for a whole bunch of things (important things).

They may well soon surpass Walmart with their egregious behaviors.
ProPublica did their investigation on Dollar General 3 years ago: https://www.propublica.org/article/how- ... nd-killing and it seems like the evidence about this chain has just acculated ever since---different places, different people doing the journallism. Funny, how the law and order folkjs seem compelled to defend a chain that is so uninvested in catching criminals (the Propublica article talks about about the impact of being caught on crime, among other things).
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Re: Dollar General

Post by BillyGr »

veteran+ wrote: March 31st, 2023, 1:09 pm No one is picking on them.

They are accumulating their own bad history all by themselves.

Flagrant disregard for a whole bunch of things (important things).

They may well soon surpass Walmart with their egregious behaviors.
Picking on them meaning things like being worried that "emergency" exits are blocked when that is NOT an issue as I showed originally (since even with only one access, you are STILL going to get to it easier and more quickly than one would evacuate a much larger store with many doors available, particularly since there are rarely many people inside at one time anyway).

Or "boxes being piled up" that are only an issue if the employees are stupid and try to take out the one on the bottom and dump the rest on someone.

Basically, things that anyone could do wrong but should know better and not do!
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Re: Dollar General

Post by veteran+ »

Common sense regarding safety is not what regualtory agencies audit because humans more often do not do the smart thing regarding emergencies, You just can't count on that.

Emergency exits, boxes in the way or piled too high and other well documented trangressions by DG and others of their kind are indeed important.

Rules are mostly made to counter in the many foibles of average folks.
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Re: Dollar General

Post by veteran+ »

buckguy wrote: April 1st, 2023, 5:20 am
veteran+ wrote: March 31st, 2023, 1:09 pm No one is picking on them.

They are accumilating their own bad history all by themselves.

Flagrant disregard for a whole bunch of things (important things).

They may well soon surpass Walmart with their egregious behaviors.
ProPublica did their investigation on Dollar General 3 years ago: https://www.propublica.org/article/how- ... nd-killing and it seems like the evidence about this chain has just acculated ever since---different places, different people doing the journallism. Funny, how the law and order folkjs seem compelled to defend a chain that is so uninvested in catching criminals (the Propublica article talks about about the impact of being caught on crime, among other things).
I knew a lot of this stuff but never in so much detail.

More reason for me to never step foot in one of these types of stores, no matter the location. Giving them ONE dollar supports their vile buisness model.
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Re: Dollar General

Post by storewanderer »

The issue in, let's go with St. Louis since that is what the 3 year old article is about, is these Dollar General/Family Dollar Stores have opened up stores in neighborhoods nobody else would open a store in. Why would nobody else open a store? Because circumstances existed in the neighborhoods that made it so other stores either closed already or passed on opening. Whatever the circumstances are: crime, declining population, demographics that do not have high levels of disposable income, etc.

Now reading the article further the stores are being blamed as crime magnets. The stores aren't the crime magnets- the neighborhoods are the crime magnets... I guess the stores could just close up shop but guess what, the crime would continue in the neighborhoods.

I do think these chains have a duty to protect and secure their stores better but what can they do? Robberies are very common in high crime big city neighborhoods. They could refuse to accept cash but that is usually seen as making it so many customers cannot shop there. They could open very short hours. They could enclose the cashiers in bulletproof glass type enclosures. And these are why most chains do not do business in these areas.

So would the better solution be for the dollar stores to just close up shop entirely? They probably don't make much money in these areas, put their employees safety at risk, etc.

Bottom line is these stores open where others will not. Would these neighborhoods be better off without the Dollar General and instead with an independent corner store where the owner travels 5 miles to a Dollar Tree to buy inventory then sell it there for 2.99? Maybe that independent corner store owner keeps a gun under the counter to protect himself, something these chains do not allow to occur. Maybe it would be better if the chains left and the independent business people did business and did what was needed to secure themselves and their business...

Also recently I found out how bad things have gotten by the Oakland Airport. There is a shopping center there with a closed Wal Mart, surrounded by various other things: a Chevron, Starbucks, Dunkin, Raising Canes, In N Out, Panda Express, and more. It is a busy area. Good stop for folks on the way to the airport.

The problem is cars are broken into all day. The parking lots are full of glass. Raising Canes built a fenced compound for its employees to park their cars in, but still can't control the crime. People will literally break into your car as you park it directly in front of the door of In N Out and as your back is turned ordering smash the window and grab whatever they can then get into a getaway car before you can even get back out to your vehicle to attempt stop the theft. The efficiency of these folks doing the car break ins is impressive. There were so many issues inside Raising Canes and with break ins to customer vehicles that they are now drive through only. The Chevron station has people getting their cars broken into WHILE THEY ARE PUMPING GAS (and their back is turned). So does that make all of these businesses somehow just as guilty as the dollar stores since somehow they are unable to secure the facility, in this case, the parking area, for their employees/customers and various crimes are occurring?
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Re: Dollar General

Post by veteran+ »

The problems with these types of stores and the neighborhoods they "serve" are much more complicated and deserve deeper critical analysis.

The stores do NOT help the situation by extreme understaffing, insufficient security personnel, inferior security measures and dangerous housekeeping (refusing to take law enforcemnet suggestions). Corporate profits suggest they can indeed afford to run these stores the right way in these special needs and problematic neighborhoods. They do NOT do the right thing. They do not even try.
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