Info on Dollar Tree/99cent stores?

[Vito's Mommy]

I like to shop for wrapping paper, party supplies, color books, paper etc.. at the Dollar Tree and sometimes the 99 cent store. Does anyone know if these stores are affiliated w/any wrong doing? Thanks.

[laralee16]

I have not heard or read anything bad about them. I really hope not, because i LOVE them. (I'm so cheap)

[Spock]

I've often wondered the same thing. I know a lot of the stuff is made in China which can be problematic but I don't know anything definitive. For me, there are also issues with the quality of the items. As a general rule, when I buy new I try to buy things that are good quality and will last awhile so I'm not constantly sending stuff to the landfill. Most of the stuff I've seen at dollar stores is poorly made and doesn't look like it will hold up very well.

[Unoppressed MAMA Q]

if it only

costs a dollar, someone, somewhere got screwed...there is no way that fair wages were involved with the workers who made it...

[soulsistah]

I buy preg. tests for the practice from the dollar tree....I found out the ones we were paying $4 each for were from the same company and the same test the wait is just longer. (5 min as opposed to 1 min)
When I used to live in CA I would score organic scoobie snacks and milk, and V.S. undies from my 99c Only store. I believe the majority of these stores get big companies/business' left overs = overstock.

[soulsistah]

Oh yeah and they have this biodegradable phosphate free line of dishwashing liquid and laundry detergent there sometimes- SCORE. Cause regularly we pay like $5 for a bottle, I wish our local Sun Harvest would get on the ball and offer Dr. Bronners and others on tap so we could refill our bottles........but thats a whole other post.

[PikkuMyy]

I don't know of anything wrong with the stores themselves. Most of them buy close-out products, meaning that a company decided to discontinue a line, or a store went out of business and sold it's stock at liquidation prices, etc. so you get normal (and sometimes unheard of) brands at really cheap prices. Now, I only buy name-brand products that I know are ethical from those stores because the stuff that is really cheap "made in china" stuff - you know it can't have really cost 99 cents to buy the materials, make it, pay the workers, ship it, etc. and so somebody gets screwed along the way. But for the real close-out stores, and the 99 cent stores that carry regular products would be fine.

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by soulsistah

I believe the majority of these stores get big companies/business' left overs = overstock.

That is what I thought as well.

[sabrinat]

Love Dollartree! I think it's definitely overstock items becuz sometimes stuff will have the other stores logo on it.

[Ruthla]

A dollar store near me recently had a little "sit in" just outside and handed out flyers- a former employee had been fired for wanting to join a union, and they told us that they pay the employees at that particular store LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE!!! and no benefits. They pay them in cash at the end of the week so they don't have a "paper trail" of paying below minimum wage.

I don't know if all dollar stores are like this, or just this particular one, but I will no longer shop there. If I want the occasional "cheap merchandise" for party favors or something, I'll buy it in the supermarket at $2 apiece where I know the employees are paid fairly.

[sabrinat]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

A dollar store near me recently had a little "sit in" just outside and handed out flyers- a former employee had been fired for wanting to join a union, and they told us that they pay the employees at that particular store LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE!!! and no benefits. They pay them in cash at the end of the week so they don't have a "paper trail" of paying below minimum wage.

I don't know if all dollar stores are like this, or just this particular one, but I will no longer shop there. If I want the occasional "cheap merchandise" for party favors or something, I'll buy it in the supermarket at $2 apiece where I know the employees are paid fairly.

That's outrageous. I'm going to ask about that at my local dollartree.

[alicia622]

Originally Posted by tbarthauer

For me, there are also issues with the quality of the items.

I agree with you here. Most dollar store stuff is JUNK but there is sometimes nothing wrong with junk. Like wrapping paper. I am another who used dollar store HPT's

[midstreammama]

I recently found a Limited brand 100% wool sweater at the dollartree, and I find crayola construction paper packets there all the time. I think they are mostly overstock too.

That sucks about the below minimum wage stuff.

[Attached2Elijah]

when I was a teenager, I worked at our family dollar. I made a dollar above the current minimum wage, I wasn't offered benefits because I wasn't full time but I believe they did have them for the full time employees... We had name brand and off-brand stuff that was overstock or the abnormal stuff that was still fine for selling but not up to the parent company's criteria. A lot of the stuff was junk, but there was also some perfectly good things too, like wrapping paper, bows, cards, etc.... They were actually very good to us. I was a suprivisor at 17, lol.

[lilyka]

careful with Dollar storesd. Iused to get all my party supplies there until i realized how mcu cheper it was at other places (hobby lobby and the party supply store) and what better customer service I could get.

So be sure to shop around and make a note of if it is actually cheaper at the dollar store.

[Sherra]

Be very WARY of WHAT you buy there.

Here are some things to read and think about:

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story....1&nav=168XQ1OV

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=26610&

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml94/94107.html

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...res-recall.htm

http://www.laleva.org/eng/2004/06/fl..._sickness.html

I do know "some" of that is true from the several dollar stores around me. I also know this isn't all that is printed on this subject out there..it's just what I found right now.

I'm wary of anything that is foodlike that isn't brand name, toylike, goes on the skin, plastic cookware, imported or cleaning supply from the dollar store. With the issues of plastics in some of these toys for children under 3 especially, one really SHOULD stick with brand name. I've read that most brand named baby toys have worked out the toxic phlates but you really have no clue what you are getting if it's not brandname. For over 3, some of the toy products can contain lead.

Caveat Emptor..buyer beware.

[sophmama]

Wow sherra - I think I'm going to go locate any toys we've gotten at dollar stores and throw them out. I know we have a couple. Not worth the risk and I usually send stuff like that to thrift stores but it's tiny little things and not worth the risk to another child of lead/toxicity.

[Vito's Mommy]

>I'm wary of anything that is foodlike that isn't brand name, toylike, goes on the skin, plastic cookware, imported or cleaning supply from the dollar store. With the issues of plastics in some of these toys for children under 3 especially, one really SHOULD stick with brand name. I've read that most brand named baby toys have worked out the toxic phlates but you really have no clue what you are getting if it's not brandname. For over 3, some of the toy products can contain lead.<

I still need to learn to do the "quote thing" .

We don't buy toys from there either,they smell like a shower curtain. ewww!

No cleaning supplies, no way! After starting my wah biz and getting involved w/the EPA & Poison Control Center, I have learned to read the label.
Good for you for knowing about the baaaad stuff.
I'll stick to my gift wrap/bags/bows.
Thanks for all the posts gals!

[CallMeKelly]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=6324068&page=1
Quote:

But she was stabbed to death in the Fairfield, Calif., Dollar Tree where she worked in March 2006, by a white man who reportedly attacked her simply because she was black.

Now, Talley's mother is fighting to get her daughter's workers compensation death benefits, which, according to the family's lawyer, have been denied because the killer's targeting her as a black person established a "personal connection" that the company says releases them from having to pay.

Corporate greed is so disgusting... this is the lowest of the low, denying her surviving son his right to her death benefits because a racist murder killed her for the color of her skin.... I'm so furious I can't even express it.

(found via http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/200...-america.html_

This, this, a thousand times this!!! Please do not shop there and let them know why!!!! Xposted in nandce

[talia rose]

i think that although you can sometimes get a closeout type deal, the majority of the stuff is from china, made by slaves and slave children, and pretty toxic. definitely watch out for PVC, BPA, lead and other toxins.