Behind Dollar General's Strategy to Dominate Rural America | WSJ The Economics Of
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- Dollar General has reported 31 consecutive years of growth and is opening new U.S. stores every day. In this video, WSJ takes an inside look at how the discount retailer keeps expanding while maintaining prices significantly lower than many grocery and drug stores.
Photo: Matt Disbro for The Wall Street Journal
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As someone from a rural place, the Dollar General was the only store within 15 miles except for a gas station. As they started to add a grocery area it made it more useful for us and really was pivotal to our community. I see this all across my state which is very rural
Hope your dog is doing fine he looks cool
Which State & County are you in?
They're not lying about competitive wages. It's just that the competition is to pay employees as little as possible.
Here’s a thought, their employees choose to work there. Think the wage is too low? DONT WORK THERE.
Nothing keeping you from starting your own store and paying as high wages as you want.
@@wolfhunter6711 lf you can't pay a living wage close your doors.
@@user-ce7bj4rk8r you underestimate just how few jobs there are to be had in many of the areas DG operates in.
@@dodge-ut6ti Your lack of knowledge in basic economics and finance is not surprising.
while paying those "competitive wages" the stores never have more than 2 people on duty at one time and those two people are expected to work as hard as a 6 person team, otherwise you may get writeups. I used to be a manager at DG
I used to work for a company that built DG's and can confirm they were all either in the hood or on a rural highway way out in the middle of nowhere
yep, built over a hundred and theyre all either bring a map or bring a gun, best to just bring both lol
@bobcat baldfat drunkbeater as they said in this video there aren’t many dollar generals in wealthy areas
lol there's a dollar general near my house... guess i do be in the hood
I lived in a tiny town with a dollar general and a gas station for awhile. I wouldn't buy food there but if we ran out of something it was great not having to drive 30 minutes to get to the closest town that actually had stuff.
As a downtown Chicagoan I would never have dreamed of shopping at a Dollar General, but we needed to buy food for a college spring break trip in the Ozarks (Arkansas), and apart from Walmart (30 mins away and much smaller than normal), it was the only option. No wonder there is so much obesity- that chunk of the country's fresh food supply was limited to 9 milk crates of produce at Walmart.
@@john40539 as an Arkansasan, we may have a few more chubby folks than y'all do up in Chicago, but at least we don't have rampant gang violence, also, you mentioned you went to a dg if you had watched the video, it specifically mentions that dg is not known for providing healthy foods, that doesn't just mean hear in Arkansas
@@alexnorth2452 To be clear, I was never insinuating that this was an Arkansas problem, and yes I was well aware that Dollar General is not know for it's wide produce selection. However, it was a big Catholic feast day and we were looking to buy wines, appetizers, charcuterie, etc. It just never crossed our mind that the only thing that would pop up on Google Maps when you type in Groceries would be Dollar General, and the Walmart would be just slightly bigger with a tiny amount of fresh food. It's not y'all's fault at all, but still a very big public health issue. (As is gang activity too)
I always shop at Dollar General. I hate unions, and lost a job at a supermarket because I refused to join their union. Knowing all this about Dollar General will make it even more likely that I will shop there.
Some people in my home country walks and bikes an hour to the nearest town's market to buy foods. And Americans complain about sitting in an air conditioned box for 30m to go shopping.
It's not the stores. It's you.
Dollar General is one of the best things to happen for rural Americans in decades. I don’t understand people who criticize them. They are meeting a great need for people n “flyover country” and my guess is that most of their employees are glad to have these jobs. You can park at the door, get much of what you need, and not have to stand in line to check out. They are especially great for older people who don’t like big box stores or who can’t drive miles away to the nearest big box store. Thank you Dollar General from this rural American.
If you do a little more analyzing, Dollar General's prices are on par with convenience stores, which is high. It sounds cheap because you can buy things for a low price, but if you compare the volume, quantity or quality of its products versus the typical grocery store or Walmart/Target, you can be paying a lot more. Yes, there are some cheap products, but for similar products or brands, the prices are generally higher in my experience.
There is a dumpy DG near me and you always have to stand in line forever because the single checkout person is in the back somewhere or stocking shelves. I used to go there because it was quick to use self checkout, but now they got rid of the self checkout because of too much theft. LOL, how about paying for enough employees to properly staff the store and the thefts will decrease. Stopped going there, the store is always a disorganized mess.
Dollar tree= 1$. Dollar General= "is it a dollar?" "Generally".
Family Dollar has purchased all US Dollar Trees. Dollar General is its own conglomerate.
I finally saw a Dollar General Market yesterday. It was in the middle of nowhere. I was lost and trying to find the interstate. Their parking lot was packed.
When you go to a store with 'dollar' in the name and nothing is a dollar it's classic bait and switch
@@--Skip-- It's the other way around. Dollar Tree purchased Family Dollar.
@@surrealworld9850 as opposed to the same products at a grocery store that’s $1 more?
Metal shelves... incredible. When will other retailers find out about this technique.
In India, we only have metal shelves 🙄🙄
@@sudiptakumar4847 think it’s a joke. Metal shelves are everywhere ;)
Our local Korger uses carbon fiber shelves 💪
yeah, that was random
The "linoleum" floors blew me away. What a specialty.
I just moved to the middle of Tennessee where shopping is tough. But there’s a Dollar General five minutes down the road. And that place has pretty much anything you need in a hurry, but nothing great. That’s pretty much their deal.
Oh, wow...thanks for sharing. 😎😎😎
I agree, rural Indiana. Grocery is 20 min drive. DG is 2. Its there for the we need it now stuff. Bug spray, simple ingredients, etc. Weekly major shopping is done at the grocery.
well all their "food" is literally various amounts of high fructose corn syrup shaped into various forms, textures, and bright colors.
Dollar General: We have a small, low paid, part time staff
Also Dollar General: We pay our employees a competitive wage
When you have no competition, a competitive wage is minimum wage.
Yea dude. Wages are low in those areas lol
Minimum wage is better than 0
yeah their workers COMPETE with poverty and food insecurity... see? competitive!
Sadly, in the United States that isn't hypocrisy
Corporate America abandoned rural areas years ago so they have no competition.
Let me build a $10mm store in your town of 500 people. Surely that'll work
The consumer also abandoned the local stores when they started driving 30 - 60 minutes to the WalMarts of the world
You can blame Wal-Mart for other companies being driven from rural areas. When you are willing to save 10 cents on a product no matter the consequences because it doesn't personally effect YOUR job yet, you reap what you sow. Then you cry because there are no other businesses to work for in the area and the factories and farms have to lay off people or close locations because they lose so much money HAVING to sell their product for whatever Wal-Mart forces them to charge.
@@johnbee7729 you totally nailed it.
Now add Amazon to the mix...
It's crazy how years ago, places like DG used to overlook people who didn't have work experience...now the ones in my area will hire anyone due to the high turnover rates 💀
Also... Every DG near me looks like a tornado passed through it...respectfully.
Everytime I go into a DG I get instant depression
That's because often one person is the the stocker, cleaner, cashier, and manager. I've never seen two employees in a DG.
@@misterhat5823 the ones around me usually have 2 employees. Although the one down the road from me got their new renovations and have been trying to stock the new shelves for 5 months lol
@@Zeus22250 It's super gross
I'm a trucker who just recently quit that job delivering to DG because of the terrible treatment of the workers. Every other delivery I made the person working there would tell me how they just lost 2 cashiers that week which was the reason nothing was stocked on the shelves. I had nowhere to put the goods I was bringing into what was supposed to be the stock room in the back. Thats why you can't even walk through the isles as they're packed with still boxed goods. I have nothing bad to say about the trucking company I was working for but delivering to DG was easily the worst job I ever had. I will never spend a dime in that place
"Dollar General says they offer their employees competitive wages and benefits"
What benefits? Part-time employees don't get benefits!!
Plus they literally say they pay them low wages in the opening 30 seconds 😂
Maybe a paycheck is a benefit??
@@andrewmendoza116 well the narrator does, not Dollar General
No one does, that's why it's competitive.
That's their generic legal response, it means literally nothing. Every company literally says the same thing.
I've shopped at a Dollar General in a city with a population of ~100 people. It's no surprise they're growing. There are lots of rural areas in this country.
how can somewhere with 100 people be called a city?
Yeah, competitive wage. . . read that as minimum wage plus fifteen cents.
Where else would people be paid minimum wage other than an easy retail job in the middle of nowhere?
@@flakgun153 They work people to the bone, some have been killed as well
The DG in my small town is currently switching to the "home decor" model. Blah! I needed slippers and they don't carry day to day things anymore. If I want to decorate my home, I *never* think of DG.
Dollar store interiors are amazing! Lol
I remember in my student days we felt Dollar General was expensive and we went to Aldi instead !
Aldi is the real Chad among budget grocers.
There's not a single Aldi in my demographic area. 😞
The damned reporter is relying on the corporate PR rather than doing their own research on whether their prices are good or not.
Aldi rocks!!!
@@--Skip-- yes indeed!
The real con is that for the sizes of most items, you're actually paying more for things.
Anyone who doesn’t see that DG is a big convenience store is in too much of a hurry when shopping. Wait, maybe that’s what they are counting on.
Not always, when if you live in a more rural community like mine where someplace like Walmart, or Target is a 30+ minute drive away, so when you add in gas cost, and time, it ends up being more expensive if you just need a few quick items you ran out of, but it's not yet time to do your regular grocery shopping.
It stuns me how many people don't realize that this is a commercial.
They do good because they build stores in areas where there is no other stores..i live in a small town and the only store is the dollar store unless you drive 20-30 mins to the next town
Exactly, often after Walmart came in, took your city taxes & them left.
“Paying workers low wages” 😌👌
They live in rural areas , so... It's gonna work out for them
Not the executive team though!
@@tradingbull007 Hint: it doesnt even workout for them.
@@tradingbull007 no it does not lol
Still better than unemployment
There's something unnerving about Dollar General. I have watched it overwhelm and run our other dollar stores out of business. Fred's. Family Dollar. Both closed down. I have seen THREE Dollar Generals go up within six miles of one another around my town. And there are FOUR more within fifteen miles. The Dollar Generals tend to be understaffed and messy. Stuff in the aisles. Boxes all over. The store shelves are VERY poorly stocked, with expanses of empty shelves and maybe only a few of each item, especially in the food section. The first store that went up did all right, but not great. But they built another one anyway. That store had computer problems repeatedly for months, and there were many days during the first months when you couldn't pay with cash, which I found strange. Then they opened the third store. Now they are putting in the self checkouts, with the large cameras right above them, and it's getting harder to get a clerk to check you out if you don't want to use the self checkout. In the last year, Dollar General has been growing its frozen food section, so it's moving more into the grocery space. It is convenient, but the once very low prices have been climbing steadily. Some exceed the price at the local grocery and of Walmart. Inventory is always limited.
There's something about this that makes me uneasy.
4:49 literally every parking spot is stained with oil lol
Hahahha
Or riddled with holes
Oh my goodness, you're right.
Too depressing
There's usually a weave laying on the ground
The town where I went to High School used to have 3 local grocery stores and now they only have a Dollar General and a Family Dollar. The closest real grocery store is about 30 minutes away, so whenever I go visit I bring fresh produce to my mother. The dollar stores have enough to live on, but not many fresh/healthy products.
I think a lot of DG shoppers don't even go to other stores and comparison shop prices. I've found a lot of the items DG carries are actually cheaper and of better quality and quantity at other stores.
uh that's why their stores are located in shopping deserts so that you can't just go across the street or next door . you seemed to have missed that. why do you think people go to 7-11 and pay more- because they are there and open 24-7 so convenience.
You pay for convenience
DG also has a lot of stuff that isn't worth it like their whole foods, meats etc
@S Ragsdale yea add to that you get sticker shock wherever you go now thanks to the shutdowns... everyone is gouging. Hard to even strategic shop. Something needs to be done about it.
@S Ragsdale you also have to take into account water that is added to canned or packaged products that gives the illusion of better price per weight of food. But yeah I'm sure they have stuff that is cheaper than elsewhere. However I wonder if you couldn't get even cheaper by shopping online for longer shelf life items or shopping at aldi/lidl
I have two in my city! This video explains why their stores are always a mess. Never fully stocked. Boxes everywhere. Low wages and even lower hrs. Great way to run a place.
There are 5 DG in my city and probably 10 in the surrounding areas. I never shop there.
They target lower income customers, food desert environments, and rural areas. The three areas that need basic resources and are often left behind. If a small grocery chain built nearby every rural DG, these categories would have their fundamentals met.
You have to be very selective at DG. Not everything is a priced reasonably.
Yeah, most of their products are smaller as well as cheaper. Ends up being more expensive overall, more often than not.
Yeah, it's a psychological ploy, just like most Amazon shoppers think everything sold on Amazon is cheaper than anywhere else, when thats not true for a lot of items.
Perhaps, but take into account the commute most of these people save not having to drive so far to a bigger town.
@@chichi3701 True. Walmart almost always beats Amazon's price. Amazon seems to have given up on the low price strategy. Amazon is also horrible slow if you don't pay for "Prime."
@@danstevens64 That depends. If you need one item, yes.
I hope in the future the insert fresh food at some point cause like that's what we need in those areas.
Not a chance. Those are low profit, high maintenance items that got against DG's entire business model.
@@ArmadilloAl
Dollar General is currently testing out a concept called Dollar General Market that does this, and it appears like it might become commonplace. ruclips.net/video/HiQP5htOcPc/видео.html
You can support local farms. People grow food everywhere.
There's one in the town I work at. They also have a gas station.
Rural, means you probably know of a farm willing to sell you some beef, bonus if you know how a garden works.
While they do offer convenience they also prey on rural communities. I use to shop there often, but after seeing their massive growth into what was once farmland, I avoid going there as much as possible and try and go to locally run shops.
Thank you!
"negatively affecting local business" you mean like those local businesses doing a worse job at logistics and charging the community more for goods? that is so much better!
How about small communities in between larger towns, and cities like mine that don't have a lot of local business that do what DG, or Dollar Tree/Family Dollar do. if it was not for them, we would be left with 2 gas stations.
I love dollar general for those times I can’t wait for Amazon. I live near a rural town with a population of 200, these types of stores are essential when the next town is 15-20 miles. I do wish they offered produce, like anything would be great, but a lot of rural families have gardens and grow a lot of produce.
Thank you for your common-sense comment. WSJ reporting, like nearly all mainstream “news,” is hugely biased by an urban - industrial viewpoint. Stop by if you need some eggs!
Reminds me of discounters in Germany. Crappty little stores outside of the cities on a green field. But cities grew around them and they are now everywhere, even in city centers and they are closer to normal supermarkets now.
But those aren't all one company.
Yeah, I lived in Leipzig and found it strange that to visit any major store (e.g. Ikea) you had to drive out of town. Particularly when so many buildings where empty due to the declining population.
DG charges $19 to file a complaint. I found out the hard way.
What do you mean ?
😅🤣🤣🤣
Keep your employees in poverty. This is key to building massive wealth for yourself at the expense of others.
dont forget use welfare as a subsidy to pass on costs to the taxpayer!
The employees choose to work there; they can choose not to work there if they do not like the pay.
@@ghoulzyt101 braindead take. If you don't work, you have no money for food, shelter, no health insurance etc. its not like starbucks where you can brew your own coffee if you think its too expensive for what you're getting
@@leoszilard7542 you entitled brat. DG doesnt force people to work there. Slavery has been abolished almost a hundred years ago. If you dont like the terms dont work there and find another job.
@@xcqematic1 Yeah but now politicians are shaming Americans and calling them lazy because they are refusing to work minimum wage jobs after covid-19.
Within the past five years, Dollar General has built stores in Whittemore, MI, Omer, Michigan, and in Glennie, MI., little towns in Northeastern Michigan. At least someone is starting new businesses in an economically depressed region, with high unemployment and church food banks busy since the 1980s. I shop at Dollar General because I appreciate the investments the company has made in my region of Michigan.
Low pay also means incredible high turn over and constant empty shelves. I walked into a dollar general on a Thursday heading into a busy weekend and the shelves were still empty from last week. Profits are held back because there's no one to stock the shelves, they're working register.
Everytime I go into one there are carts full of unstocked merchandise throughout the store and one clerk if they aren't outside smoking
The DG in my city closed due to a bigger 99c only stores across the street.
That’ll show ‘em…
They lease so it doesn’t even matter.
They just put a Dollar Tree across from ours. Dollar is it's own sort of gyp joint, but it'll probably kill Dollar General because the prices are a little better and it's cleaner.
Fun fact: while I was reading financial report of dollarama company (I think back in 2016), I found out their strategy of success was to be located as close to shopping centre as possible. The reason being: 1. Dilution of negative emotion of brand offering only cheap products. 2. To attract people by showing but not telling price differences (cause it's a shopping mall so other stores will display their "expensive" price tags) 3. For convenience and accessibility reasons.
I definitely see these in places where shopping options are limited, even here in the city.
A lot of the sizes and portions are deceptively smaller than you think at these cheap places.
Everything is completely overpriced there. One of the worst store I've ever been in. Most of the stuff is dollar tree type stuff for 3-4 x as much
Pop-Shelf sounds a lot like Dutch stores such as Hema, Casa and Blokker. The closest thing we have in Belgium to Dollar General are Trafic and Action.
*Truth!!! If it wasn't for DG, I would have to drive 40+ minutes from my house to the nearest grocery/big box store. I'm thankful for it!*
*Side note tho, my sil used to work for DG (as a manager) & she says they hardly pay their workers $h¡t and don't treat their employees very well. Also its IMPOSSIBLE to get full time hours there.*
I used to work at Dollar General. I worked there for five years and I do not miss working there.
I thought people of Walmart were unique specimens, until I went to Dollar General.
there’s a couple in my town. at least for me there’s no real reason to go there when there’s a few legit grocery stores and a dollar tree within a mile or so
Thats how I feel lol. The grocery stores are actually cheaper. I don't want to pay 98 cents for a can DG brand corn(which is the bottom of the barrel that Dole wouldn't approve) when i can get 2 for a dollar at JayC lol
Great video and amazing journalism
I love videos like this. People think so low of Dollar General and Dollar Tree but their business is BOOMING.
Poor people without transportation make a good captive market.
I swear that same lady must have picked up 15 bags of chips for this video.
It’s because dollar general isn’t actually cheap, but it just undercuts the local grocers.
which is a shame considering that those guys already live on the edge. DG will be their nail in the coffin
Same as Family Dollar. $1 things in dollar tree are $3 things in FD :lol:
How is undercutting other stores not "cheap?"
@@bcubed72 because it’s not significantly cheaper. It’s just barely cheap enough to undercut small grocers. But DG takes business away from small town grocers.
@@abbigailclark1156 it sounds like you are saying they are cheaper...
first time in, about 3 weeks ago, found what i needed for a good price and the employees were very good all the way around...yep. grateful.
People in Idaho and Montana: "What is this place?"
Yeah, like five people
Not for long they self replicate
They'll find out soon. Dollar General spreads like a virus.
@@IHateMyAccountName Tell them not to come to Canada. They'll end up being a Target.
Killing every “ma and pa” store in their way!
Ma & Pa stores failed, that’s how business works.
@@michaeljohnson2922 DG’s burner account ^
I can't afford to shop at ma n' pa stores, what do you want me to do?
There's not even any around for them to kill in the areas they built new ones around me
@@helloasroma get off RUclips and get your income up 👏🏽👏🏽
Dollar general is great, I do love shopping them when I can
My parents live by a Rural small town of about 12,000 people there are 5 Dollar Generals. I worked at a
Dollar General in that same town and made like $30 a week.
Exactly as I have observed in my rural small-town.
The fact that their stores pop up faster than dandelions annoys me to no end. Understandably, their associates are cold-shouldered and would rather be elsewhere (I know the struggle, I worked retail for five years!) I'll stick with Dollar Tree, thanks!
The town here has dollar tree and Family dollar under one roof. (they are the same company) Every other aisle has products from different stores. Some shelves everything is $1. There are "dollar tree" items that are $3 if you go down the road to dollar tree are $1. Same item, different label. DG is more like Family dollar.
5:41 Nice Chevy. Also, in a lot of small towns that I've seen, it seems as though the already existing small businesses can continue to thrive despite these stores. Perhaps it's because, as stated in the video, the DG's don't stock everything a grocer would. I hope it stays that way.
Yeah, I think DG competes as much with Speedway, Sheetz, 7-11, etc. as it does with Walmart. Which is to say, I think it’s a healthy improvement.
Thank you for the video.
Dollar General has opened 5 new stores in the last couple years in my small rural county. Those communities used to have mom and pop stores but they went out of business years ago. The people in those areas had to drive 15 miles to get any type of groceries or goods. From what I see, I think they add more value to those communities. Now those families only have to shop out of town occasionally and can get the rest of the things they need locally.
Dollar General has an undercurrent of despair to it.
It's abusive.
Like someone else said, corporations have abandoned the rural areas---we're glad they are out here!
The Dollar General I stopped at on HWY 9 between Norman & Tecumseh Ok. across from a Sonic.
The 20 yr. old female employee I visited with outside.
You Sister have a great attitude.
David James West, a Christian man
DG opened up next to a Super Wawa(gas station in the Northeast) down the road from me and I definitely frequent it. I can get the cheap $1 store items, while also getting name brand ones as well. Basically, you could purchase off brand ketchup but buy a Gillette razor there, lol.
It is modeled after what used to be known as a "General Store". The Dollar in the name is just to say its a general store with most price points on the dollar.
In San Francisco you can back up a truck to steal everything in a dollar store and still not reach the limit where you can be arrested.
For vendors volume sold is more important than actual profitability because higher volume works better for mass production. So all these little rural stores are great for moving products that would otherwise be written off at a loss
The only thing I dislike more than dollar general is the Wall Street Jounal
DG has been a life saver for me when I need to stretch my dollars.
You're being lied to. Work out the math and you'll find that on most products, you are paying more per ounce when compared to other stores like Wal-Mart.
If you look at the cost per ounce of a lot of DGs stuff it's actually on par or more expensive compared to other stores but they know that their target market doesn't really have a choice or want to do math
Target market doesn't want to spend 20 dollars in gas to drive to a Walmart and save 5 dollars in groceries
If you are a camper or RVer you can not miss seeing a Dollar General in close proximity to every State Park or campground. They have almost everything you forgot at home to finish your trip.
Not one in my state, I have to drive 10minutes and cross state lines to shop at Wal-Mart or Costco but since the sales tax is cheaper in my state I tend to just shop locally
Its a Very Good Clean Store with helpful and friendly people , upper east Tenn. The best part of the store is that you can park close to the main door and I am able to check on my dog in the front seat of my truck. My average spending is from $25 - $65.00 / 2 to 3 times a week.
TMI. 🙄
They moved into my little town and now my moms store is going out of business. She is the only place that supplies essential things like fresh food.
@@biggusdickus9809 I guess people don't want what she's selling? 🤷🏻♂️
@@joez3706 that's rude
@@NicholasLittlejohn ..but probably true. Just a supply and demand observation.
DG is just Walmart lite.
The prices are not cheaper than your retail grocery store.
In this video, they show Doritos being sold 2 for $6.
That's the deal at even the highest cost grocery store.
And I'll guarantee you most of the products that are slightly cheaper give you smaller portions than you get elsewhere. Hence the price difference.
Scan the item you buy very closely
Many stores do fit the profile you outlined. However, in my hometown, the DG is in the middle of town in an old grocery store about a mile from Walmart. In the town I now live in, it is on the edge of town, but we have a grocery store on the main street and we're only 10 miles from a larger town with a larger grocery store and a Walmart.
I have worked setting up DG for 5 years now. If you have been in a DG in Washington or Oregon I set it up. Definitely a corporate machine. No heart. Like working for a robot. Not a bad thing I guess. Very structured. This video was good. Well put together. I would like to have seen a blurb about the original family that sold out to a hedge fund and created the corporate monster it is.
Yeah apparently they got bought out I don't know how many years ago and we're private for a few years. Then I believe in 2009 they became a public company again so anybody can purchase shares of their stock.
Wallace was right about the mania for cheapness.
The criticism of Dollar General is so tone deaf, we don't have boutique bougiee grocery shops in low income rural areas that even Walmart deems not profitable.
We need to heal food deserts and abuse zones.
Thanks for sharing your idiocy in a public forum.
As someone who works all over in small towns Dollar Generals are super convenient
The Dollar General near me rarely has one or two cars in the parking lot. This is in a fairly densely populated area (NJ)
'Get me directly right
away'•+1=6=6=2=3=8=8=0=0=9=4•
Dollar General sucks, Dollar Tree is where it’s at.
Like groceries.
They all suck. Buy quality, you won’t waste your precious time going to replace cheap items a thousand times per year.
Own shares?
There ac set point is 76 in the summer and 68 in the winter
You mean 68 for heat?
Sounds thrifty yet comfy enough for most
@@MrKongatthegates 68 in the winter would be heat
That's so funny. I never even heard of Dollar General, untill I moved to a rural town in Oregon a few years ago.
Welcome to the real world. Where the WSJ would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
Most things are actually more expensive at DG, they are sold in smaller quantities at a lesser ticket price, making them more affordable, but the $/ct. will be higher. It's an example of what's called a "ghetto tax". But when you need to get a lot of different things on a small budget (paycheck) it's your best (or only) choice.
If you can afford and have access to a grocery store or supermarket, you are far better off doing so for most items. DG is great for lots of ad-hoc purchases however.
In many cases that's true. But it still works out in your favor if you only need a small amount of something. I love sam's club and costco for things that aren't perishable or at least last a long time. Like paper plates, toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, aluminum foil, laundry soap, and a lot of other things. And eggs are a lot cheaper than dg or walmart by the unit, but I would end up wasting more money by buying them there because i'm not going to consume 36 eggs before they go bad...
Am I the only guy who calls dollar stores by their color? "Yellow Dollar, Red Dollar, Green Dollar" for Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree, respectively.
Yes
love this genre of videos about the “secrets” to the success of huge corporations. the secret is always the same: don’t pay your workers enough to live on
Yep, out here in California City, population 15,000. Dollar general is King
The small town I m from in south eastern Kentucky. There are 2 dollar general stores one near my family house and another in a area with fast food. The main issue with them are a lot of time at night especially they look like there closed by the parking lot
Dollar general is more of a convenience store. You pay a little more for convenience. Especially if in your hurry to buy certain things and you don't want to wait in the Walmart line
Everyone has metal shelves.. I must be missing something.
After 89 days. a friend of mine was fired from the Dollar General in China, Texas
She worked 89 days, in those 89 days she may have had 4 days off, worked from before the store opened till close (10 pm)
She cleaned the store up, she passed heath inspection this week, 5 previous stores had failed.
But yet, the District Manager whose first name is Jessie, didn't like her, he would not communicate with her
he would tell another store manager to communicate with her.
She had no training, she was basically thrown in to sink or swim.
It is so sad,
In Canada there are a multitude of Dollar Stores and similar such branded retail outlets. How is Dollar General different?
They really screw over their employees at any chance they get though, so it’s hard to justify going when they don’t want to compensate their employees fairly.
I live in rural America. The dg is one of the best places to work. Because my housing cost is so low, I usually have a decent disposable income.
Dollar General is the Rockstar among convenience stores...
Tuba City AZ , been there,
The man that started Caseys General Stores started his convenience stores the same way.Built in small towns that needed gas,groceries and fast foods.Very successful.
But at least Casey's has great pizza
I built Casey's stores for 32 years,actually I knew Don Lamberty ,the founder.
I really don't see much in their stores I'd consider a bargain
Can someone can explain me (I’m from Europe) what life conditions can have a employee with a below 17k annual incomes.
The only comparison I have is during a trip to nyc a bank employee explain me that under 80k your are in the poor worker category.
The cost of living in NYC is much greater in rural areas.
I know you're European but you should already understand the difference between city and rural.
Most of the workers are spouses, teens, or the elderly over 40. The salaries are low, but other jobs dont offer much more unless you get a skill or work harder hours and labour.
Workers are also part time.
Remember DG operate in rural area. So you have $600 rent, $150 food, $200 ultilities, $100 gas and insurance and some left over.
Its genius no matter how you look at it
They oftentimes put the local grocery out of business. In my town DG told the owner of the local store they would be out of business when the new DG opened so she might as well sell out and sell them the property. The owner did and now we have a large corporate store in stead of a locally owned one. Caterpillar did the the same thing to the local farm equipment store.
Evil