Dollar General

[veteran+]

OVER 21 million $$$$$ and climbing in violations.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... owing-down

I def wanna shop there................................NOT!

[storewanderer]

OVER 21 million $$$$$ and climbing in violations.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... owing-down

I def wanna shop there................................NOT!

The article says OSHA has conducted over 240 inspections since 2017.

Given they have like 15,000 stores and just 240 inspections have already yielded $21 million in fines, that comes out to average fine per inspection of $87,500.

If they found similar violations in even just 25% of the 15k stores that would be additional fine proceeds of $328 million for OSHA. That is yuge yuge yuge. This is like a gold mine for OSHA.

I wish OSHA would get going here. The politicians quibbling about adding staff dollars at IRS need to look at adding staff dollars at OSHA instead. OSHA can really make money if they do more inspecting.

[BillyGr]

OVER 21 million $$$$$ and climbing in violations.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... owing-down

I def wanna shop there................................NOT!

Like anything else, it depends on the store - the one most local here is just fine (and just finished remodeling, adding more fridge and freezer cases), but was OK prior to that remodel as well.
There are a couple others but I haven't been to those in quite some time (though I heard one also was remodeled, that one is in part of an old supermarket space), so not sure how they are.

[Brian Lutz]

There's a Dollar General a couple of miles down the road from our house that I have not yet been able to successfully shop at because on all but one occasion that I have gone there the store has been closed during what are supposed to be regular business hours. I have an Ikea order that was shipped here by FedEx (for small purchases you can have them shipped to a FedEx "pick-up-point" for $4, which would be mostly Dollar Generals and Walgreens in this area) that was supposed to arrive on Wednesday but was stuck in "out for delivery" for two days (I'm guessing because the store was closed when FedEx attempted to deliver it twice) and when I finally got notified that it was ready to pick up I went to the store and found it closed once again.

Based on the Google reviews this has been going on for at least a year (and the few reviewers that were actually able to shop there say that the place is a disaster with pictures to back it up) , so I have no idea how this store even stays in business in the first place. There's literally no other places to shop nearby (unless you count the one gas station in town or the Sheetz out on Highway 29) within five miles, and the place still ends up being one of the worst run stores I've ever seen. Other Dollar Generals nearby don't have much better reviews, but at least there doesn't seem to be anything in the reviews about them being closed most of the time.

There's also another Dollar General a few miles in the opposite direction that seems to be relatively new and seemed to be OK the one time I went there, but I'm pretty sure even the worst Walmart in town is in better shape than the best Dollar General.

[storewanderer]

There's a Dollar General a couple of miles down the road from our house that I have not yet been able to successfully shop at because on all but one occasion that I have gone there the store has been closed during what are supposed to be regular business hours. I have an Ikea order that was shipped here by FedEx (for small purchases you can have them shipped to a FedEx "pick-up-point" for $4, which would be mostly Dollar Generals and Walgreens in this area) that was supposed to arrive on Wednesday but was stuck in "out for delivery" for two days (I'm guessing because the store was closed when FedEx attempted to deliver it twice) and when I finally got notified that it was ready to pick up I went to the store and found it closed once again.

Based on the Google reviews this has been going on for at least a year (and the few reviewers that were actually able to shop there say that the place is a disaster with pictures to back it up) , so I have no idea how this store even stays in business in the first place. There's literally no other places to shop nearby (unless you count the one gas station in town or the Sheetz out on Highway 29) within five miles, and the place still ends up being one of the worst run stores I've ever seen. Other Dollar Generals nearby don't have much better reviews, but at least there doesn't seem to be anything in the reviews about them being closed most of the time.

There's also another Dollar General a few miles in the opposite direction that seems to be relatively new and seemed to be OK the one time I went there, but I'm pretty sure even the worst Walmart in town is in better shape than the best Dollar General.

Some day we are bound to see the store fleet at Dollar General culled.

There was a Dollar General in Reno that was having this problem with store hours a lot in 2021-2022 (Stead Blvd.) closing at 5 PM etc., but they seem to have straightened out and are open 8 AM to 10 PM again.

Dollar Tree in Reno the past few weeks seems to be having issues with hours. While some Dollar Trees extended hours to 10 PM for summer (had been closing at 8 PM or 9 PM), I've noticed one in Reno on Oddie/Silverada is closing at 7 PM daily and one in Reno on Plumb/Lakeside is closing at 6 PM daily.

[Brian Lutz]

At this particular store it's not a matter of the store closing earlier than normal, it's that at any given time you can go there and it's a coin flip if the store will be open or not. I've been there at Noon on a Saturday and 3pm on a weekday and found the store closed both times, and at this point there's just no point in even trying to shop there because most of the time it will be a wasted effort. It's one thing for them to be understaffed, but this seems to be more a matter of indifference than anything.

[storewanderer]

At this particular store it's not a matter of the store closing earlier than normal, it's that at any given time you can go there and it's a coin flip if the store will be open or not. I've been there at Noon on a Saturday and 3pm on a weekday and found the store closed both times, and at this point there's just no point in even trying to shop there because most of the time it will be a wasted effort. It's one thing for them to be understaffed, but this seems to be more a matter of indifference than anything.

That's pretty hilarious. So is anyone in the parking lot at these times like maybe an employee inside but just not unlocking the store?

They should at least post a sign with their schedule on it. But this is Dollar General so it doesn't surprise me that they don't think to do that. Maybe they have no paper or tape or pen to do that.

I'm not surprised this sort of thing is being allowed and it is possible the corporate doesn't even know it is happening.

[cjd]

I tried another DG that I’ve never been to, and noticed this store has a new produce display, that the others don’t. There are two coolers with grapes, strawberries, etc. The produce looked great, very fresh, but was expensive. I wonder if any of it sells, although they didn’t seem to heavily stock it, so maybe there isn’t much waste.

Also all 3 DG stores near my house have added self checkout.

At the closest and newest, the self checkout replaced a regular checkout, leaving one maned checkout.

When I went this week, there was one person at the self checkout and an employee actually came over to me and said I could come to the regular checkout to pay.

The second closest store which was about 5 years old has completely reset the store and basically mirrored the layout, moving coolers and everything.

I haven’t checked out here, but it appears they removed the two existing checkouts (which are now where coolers are) and replaced them entirely with self checkouts with one overseer, from what I’ve seen.

All of the DG stores I’ve been to here seem well organized and stocked. I haven’t noticed any safety issues or stuff in the aisles, messy shelves, etc.

[storewanderer]

I tried another DG that I’ve never been to, and noticed this store has a new produce display, that the others don’t. There are two coolers with grapes, strawberries, etc. The produce looked great, very fresh, but was expensive. I wonder if any of it sells, although they didn’t seem to heavily stock it, so maybe there isn’t much waste.

All of the DG stores I’ve been to here seem well organized and stocked. I haven’t noticed any safety issues or stuff in the aisles, messy shelves, etc.

They are throwing most of the produce away, it is not selling at all. Corporate won't let them price reduce items to sell better. The program is basically destined to fail because the pricing is too high and package sizes are too rigid. They may have a chance with bulk/loose or with much smaller pre-packs (1/2 lb for instance). They are going about this wrong. They sell single lemons but limes only sold in a 1lb or 2lb bag. They sell beer, Corona, yet you can't even buy a couple single limes with it. Really stupid merchandising. They have 16oz strawberries at $4 or $5, that is too high for Dollar General. But they could try some 8oz strawberries (Wal Mart does this now) at maybe 2.22 or something and may sell a few.

I've never found an area where every DG is well organized or stocked. Usually after I go into 4-5 of them I find at least one disaster. A few months later I can go into the same locations and the results will differ but at least 1 will again be a disaster. Or sometimes all of them are a disaster. There was one unit near me that was very consistent, it had the same manager and assistant manager for years, and it was usually quite good (except when they basically lost every employee but the manager and assistant manager in 2020 then it turned into a disaster for a while but they got it fixed up again after hiring some people) and now that manager is gone and the store is in complete shambles.

[BillyGr]

Some day we are bound to see the store fleet at Dollar General culled.

That already happened (at least in this area) a number of years ago.

They had opened a bunch of stores, then closed the majority of them. Since, they have opened others, some in areas where they weren't the first time, but at least one that is just down the street a couple blocks from one they had closed (though the original was in a strip plaza, the current one is a freestanding building, but not one they built, an old car dealership where someone else uses the rear that was repairs and they have the showroom/offices section).