Erasure: The dangers lurking in your local Dollar Store 

I grew up on dollar stores/discount stores and thrift shops. My mom called them “Macys for the people,” she still does. We would go to these various stores and find new but mostly pre-loved items for $1, $3, $5 – prices that meant you could get more than one thing. These stores meant instead of a couponing for one small shopping bag with one or two things, we’d leave out of discount stores with bags of possibilities: gifts to send back to our relatives, new toys, school supplies and more.

I never had Barbie’s or the marble notebooks with clean white pages, my pages were often grey and thin compared to my classmates. My toys often didn’t function for very long, my markers would run dry but I had what I needed to get by.  As a child, Savers, 99 cent stores, Goodwills, Walmarts and clearance racks represented a path to adequacy. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized while these places filled an obvious void, they represent the irony of how expensive it is to be poor. It doesn’t only cost us dollars, it’s costing us our health. 

As a doctoral candidate, with a meager salary, dollar stores are often places where I make ends meet, where I get stationary, dishes, hand sanitizer, paper goods and more. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized it’s also a space where people do their grocery shopping because there are various dry, frozen and canned goods for just $1 (no tax). It’s important to take a closer look at these discount stores as well as thrift stores to think about the products we’re introducing to our homes. 

Dollar stores like Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and more have come under a lot of scrutiny in the past years so the main questions I have today include: 

Are dollar stores really cheaper?

Yes and No. They aren’t actually always cheaper. Often discount stores have different price points like $2, $5 or $7 making them comparable with at least Walmart, in some cases Marshalls. Most recently Dollar Tree, who’s kept their prices at a dollar over the years have recently raised their prices to $1.25. Although the prices are not always $1, they are often very discounted compared to pharmacies, beauty supply stores and grocery stores.

Let’s take a closer look what’s behind these alluring prices. First, many dollar stores have private deals with a lot of those household names we all know, like Campbells or Colgate. These private deals include creating smaller sized options exclusively for discount retailers so when you are shopping for that “right price,” we need to make sure we’re getting the right size. Often times when shoppers take size into consideration, they realize they aren’t really getting the most bang for the buck. While it may make sense for quick travel size items, shopping at the discount may not make sense if you’re trying to save money. You can often get larger sizes for less money per oz at more reputable stores like Costco or Walmart so always check the size when you’re discount shopping!

In addition, another strategy these stores often leverage to keep prices down is by centering their brands in discreet. For example, at dollar tree, there are brands like “Assured,” “Personal Care,” and “Magic Cover,” which are their own “private-label brands.” This means Dollar Tree creates products with similar ingredients and sizes as the brand name item but at a lower price point which keep prices (but not always quality) competitive.

Additionally, the low wages that these stores pay employees and managers often are one factor driving the prices down. Another factor is that these stores typically have smaller inventories so they can buy smaller quantities. So all in all, are they cheaper, sometimes but you get what you pay for, if you know what I mean.

Making Sense: Besides dollars and cents, what costs do we need to account for?

Now that we’ve gotten to the bottom of some of the obvious cost issues, it’s important to strongly consider the quality issues that may change your mind about shopping at discount stores. 

In the past few years, there’s been a lot of scrutiny around dollar/discount stores. While some people dismiss these claims as a classist conspiracy, there are many obvious red flags that are worth engaging rather than dismissing.

One example, recently, family dollar factories (owned by Dollar Tree) came under fire when unsanitary health conditions were exposed.  They had rats, rodents and other pests in spaces where food items, dietary supplements and other edible products were stored. Often, these factories aren’t surveilled and regulated for storage and working conditions so these products may be contaminated. Additionally, you may notice that many products in Dollar Stores do not have safety seals to guarantee the items are not tampered with so it’s very hard to know if the contents match the labels.

Another example is hand sanitizers. Hand sanitizers (which were the MVP of the COVID-19 pandemic) were recalled from a number of discount stores in the last 5 years because they were found to be contaminated with methanol which can be toxic when ingested or absorbed into the skin. Similarly, many dollar stores have announced recalls on tainted toothpastes which included toxic chemical diethylene glycol, which can be poisonous. Beyond that, many of these private label brands are not in compliance with the standards set by the American dental association. Our mouths and skin are some of our primary modes of ingestion so it’s very important to look closely at the products that we’re ingesting topically or orally to ensure they are high quality.

In another example, children’s toys were often found to be painted with lead paint or containing harmful chemicals. These toys are often are made without consideration for children’s safety and have small removable parts that can be hazards for small children. Dollar store toys have also been recalled because they presented fire or environmental hazards. When we’re buying small toys for children, it’s important to be vigilant of how its manufactured and if it’s safe, in the case of many discount stores, that’s not the case.

What? There’s More

Notably, these red flags are not only limited to the situations aforementioned, but rather include kitchenware and food items including vitamins, supplements and medications, plastic food containers, packaged food and baby/infant foods. 

One day, I was at Costco I noticed a new badge on my box of canned organic tomatoes. I noticed the badge said non-BPA lining. This badge stuck out to me and made me question all the cans I’d ever bought, donated or seen. I wanted to learn more about this BPA coating/lining so I began researching and studying more; I found that BPA is an endocrine disruptor found in cans and plastics that can leach into food and drinks. Since foods are often sitting in liquids for long periods of times in cans, they are very susceptible to BPA contamination.  The most recent study on BPA was published this month in the journal JAMA Network Open. It found people who had higher levels of BPA in their urine were about 49 percent more likely to die over a 10-year period. Though there is much research to be done, the harms of BPA are real and we must protect ourselves and families from such contamination.

Recently, a nonprofit organization called Healthy Babies Bright Futures purchased and tested baby food from 15 different retailers including Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, Walmarts and more. They found that 95% of the baby food in these popular stores contained toxic chemicals that could lower a baby’s IQ. Some of these chemicals include cadmium, lead, mercury and inorganic arsenic. Some of the foods that have been found to have heavy metals include infant rice cereal, rice based snacks, grape, apple and other fruit juices, as well as carrots, sweet potatoes from well known brands like Gerber, Beech Nut. We’ve always been led to believe these brands are safe and that dollar stores are safe but research is showing that these feelings of safety should be reconsidered, our trust has been betrayed.

In addition, discount stores often sell vitamins and supplements at low rates. However, many studies have found that many of them lack the very ingredients they are advertised to contain. Since supplements are not reviewed by the food and drug association, there’s not much oversight in the reliability of the labels to relay accurate information about the tablets. Even further, in 2019, the FDA issued a warning letter in regards to tainted over the counter the product medications at Dollar Tree. This is another instance that led me to feel my trust in corporate retailers dwindle.

One surprising detail I found in my research is the importance of checking expiration dates on foods in dollar stores, in some states including North Carolina, it’s not even illegal to sell expired foods to consumers. Additionally, the dangers of discount stores food items are not only rated to what we consume but also how we store our foods. A lot of the plastic food containers sold at discount stores aren’t safe to hold hot or cold foods or to be microwaved. They often have harmful chemicals and mice-plastics that can leach into your foods. Additionally, a lot of dollar stores and goodwills have plates, kitchenware and silverware that may have lead-based paints (due to lack or regulation in dollar stores, and due to age in second hand stores), so while it may be cheap, the frugality shines through in the quality and workmanship of the items. 

The double edged sword: why does this matter?

Dollar and discount stores are popping up all over the country. There are actually more dollar and discount stores that Walmarts in the U.S.; they are also disproportionately located in low income neighborhoods and food deserts where people don’t have healthier, safer options. People often see them as a viable replacement for supermarkets because they have frozen, canned and dry foods and snacks at reasonable prices but that may not be true. 

Although their price points are often alluring, it’s important to think about the cost to our bodies, our families and our environments. Being poor is extremely expensive, and although there’s a sense of liberation to getting more bang for your buck, (especially as prices are inflating while paychecks are becoming more meager) we need to pay better attention to the quality assurance we’re sacrificing. We have to demand more quality from all retailers, we have to demand more government oversight and regulation over all products and we need to think more about eradicating poverty so people aren’t forced to make these constrained choices that limit their health and safety.