Everyone loves a good dollar store. According to Indigo 9 Digital, there are now more dollar
stores in America than there are McDonald's and Starbucks combined. For poor Americans on
a budget, dollar stores seemingly offer a great bargain at an affordable price,
and arguably the most popular of the many discount chains is Family Dollar.
Just one problem: if you buy food at Family Dollar,
you may actually be paying more money than you would elsewhere - and for lower quality food.
That's not exactly what Family Dollar founder Leon Levine originally had in mind, of course.
According to Our State, Levine was fascinated as a youth by Filene's Basement, which sold goods
at a steep discount. After investigating other discount store models, he opened his first Family
Dollar in 1959 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and thousands more stores across the country followed.
The idea was to bring affordable goods to working class people who maybe couldn't
afford the fancier and more upscale stores. And if you've been to a Family Dollar store,
you know that they have an extensive collection of merchandise to purchase.
Their website boasts pretty much everything, including cleaning supplies, household items,
personal care, electronics, toys and games, and more.
The "more" includes a specific section dedicated to food, though - and that's
where things get a little dicey. To be fair, Their food selection
is pretty extensive, including quick dishes like mac and cheese, canned foods, snacks,
juices and sodas, breakfast foods, spices and condiments, and even some beers and wine.
They have recently partnered with Instacart as well, selling some food items through the popular
site, which helps customers avoid a trip to the store, as they can have it delivered straight
to their door. Strong checkmarks there for convenience and cost-effectiveness, right?
There are reasons the food is so inexpensive,
though - like the fact that some of the food may be old.
In general, expired products have been an issue for many dollar store chains,
including Family Dollar. In 2019, Coupons in the News reported that Family Dollar,
Dollar Tree, and Dollar General were all heavily fined by the state of New York
for selling expired medication as well as other expired goods - including in one case
a type of motor oil that hasn't been used for engines since 1930.
It's not just drugs and motor oil that may be expired, though, it's also food. After
another multi-million dollar settlement in North Carolina over expired drugs,
WFMY News in Greensboro investigated whether the food was expired too - and sure enough,
they found that some of the food was more than a month beyond its expiration date.
As the 2015 documentary film "Just Eat It" points out, though,
selling expired food isn't illegal, meaning the stores can keep doing it as much as they like.
"The only thing required by federal law in the U.S. to have
an expiration date label on it is infant formula."
Even if the food at your dollar store isn't expired, though,
there's another big reason why you may want to get your groceries elsewhere:
despite the seemingly low cost, food at dollar stores may actually be overpriced.
Why? Well, it has to do with portion size. Many name brands now produce packages of food
that are specially sized to fit into a dollar store budget. But these extra-small boxes and
bags of food actually cost more on a per-unit basis than larger packages of the same food
at regular grocery stores. So while you may be paying only half as much money, you might
only be receiving one third the food - which means you're really paying more and not less.
On the flip side, there is some food at dollar stores that is legitimately
cheaper, but in many cases it's because that food is off-brand,
knock-off stuff that is notably lower quality. And in a worst case scenario,
you may get both: off-brand food in deceptively small packaging that makes
it actually more expensive per unit than higher quality, name brand goods at a regular store.
So always check the label to see exactly what you're getting, and when you're getting it.
Because even at Family Dollar, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
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