Dollar Stores: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) ( lemmy.world )

John Oliver discusses dollar stores and why Irish Spring is not his soap of choice.

Video Duration: 21:53

YouTube Link: youtu.be/p4QGOHahiVM | www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QGOHahiVM

Invidious Link (privacy-respecting frontend for YouTube): vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=p4QGOHahiVM

Comments:

  • John Oliver promotes awareness for work reform.
  • Highlights systemic corruption in dollar stores.
  • Calls out unsafe conditions and human rights abuse.
pdxfed , (edited )

Wish they would have pulled stats on which percent of their employees get state sponsored benefits as they aren’t paid above poverty levels. Not a single stock grant or option should be allowed to be awarded under erisa if a company has a single employee on state welfare.

RizzRustbolt ,

Oh hey… It’s Monday!

Froyn ,

I wish he'd of hit on the ongoing wage theft at these places.

Rentlar ,

Dang, I’ve seen way cleaner and better organized homeless camps and shantytowns than some of the featured dollar stores and warehouses.

If freight is seriously being dumped on the employees (or singular EMPLOYEE) before they can stock the previous shipments, or left to such neglect that birds shit on the goods, then at that point as an employee you’d be better off allowing customers to take the boxes with them to clear up inventory.

Should be a sign saying, “thieves welcome, just don’t pull a gun on me.”

Potatos_are_not_friends ,

I remember this cashier confronted a thief and was ready to fist fight him. The thief had a knife. Another vagabond went up to the thief and spoke to him and escorted him out.

Cashier was THE ONLY PERSON WORKING. And he was going to get stabbed for $9/hr.

Dollar stores are a shit show.

Rentlar ,

Seriously, if someone is supposed to be a cashier, stock clerk, security guard/watchman, delivery handler all at once, paying them anything less than $25/hr is a freaking disgrace.

feedum_sneedson ,

Vagabond makes it sound very romantic.

HuddaBudda ,
@HuddaBudda@kbin.social avatar

I am surprised those stores can stay open in that state. That looks like wall to wall cardboard and chemicals.

What happens if a fire breaks out?

DoomsdaySprocket ,

There was a fire at one of my local (Canadian) ones, and it seemed like it was closed rebuilding for almost a year, I’m wondering how much delay was investigation and how much was remediation.

Burnt plastics is one of the more rancid things I’ve come across in my industrial career.

ezchili ,

guy who works in a poop burning factory walks in

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA ,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

poop factory walks in

darganon ,

They built a dollar general right across the street from some section 8 housing near me, even better than the ice cream stand in front of the gym down the road.

dohpaz42 ,
@dohpaz42@lemmy.world avatar

I want to know, and this is somewhat rhetorical, how in the Hell do companies get to break laws, and at best only ever get fined? Better yet, how can they not be held accountable when they “promise” to make changes?

No no, I get it. Companies pay lobbyists and all. They buy their way out of trouble and pay lip service to a very complacent society. When will we wake up and do something about it?

AdamEatsAss ,

Something something free market something something lack of competition something something monopoly corporate greed exploitation of the consumer after putting competition out of business.

Candelestine ,

You forgot the something something unions causing trouble something.

Soundhole ,

Something something boot licking class traitor something.

Candelestine ,

Nah, that doesn’t sound like them. They like the word “traitor” okay, but the word “class” is to be avoided at all costs.

lunatic ,

Which is a shame, because RPGs are really fun!

Diplomjodler ,

Haven’t seen this one yet, but Wendover did a reality good one on the same topic recently.

turmacar ,

I feel like a few times in the past year or so Wendover does a video and then Last Week Tonight does one on the same topic. I think at least one of them they credited/referenced Wendover? Could be fans on the writing staff, could be they’re both reading similar news stories that prompt deeper dives that lead to videos.

Not saying its bad or anything. LWT definitely has a different/bigger audience that’s good.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Oh excellent. I’m really glad he tackled this major, major problem, especially in small towns and rural areas. Dollar stores are predatory and should be reigned in. They’re also not cheaper than supermarkets. I went to a Dollar General recently because my daughter was desperate for a drink. They had bottles of water. Not huge ones, just normal Aquafina bottles or whatever. They charged me $2.75. If my daughter hadn’t been so desperate and we were closer to a gas station, I would have just gone there. And I’m just going to keep water in my car for her from now on.

Viking_Hippie ,

So the “dollar” in the name doesn’t mean anything anymore?

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Apparently it means, “you’re going to spend one dollar plus some other dollars.”

Viking_Hippie ,

I can see how that would make for a slightly unwieldy name for a store tbf 🤷

LemmyKnowsBest ,

at this point all it means is that you spend dollars there and not euros or pesos or dinars

SheeEttin ,

Inflation means a dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to. You don’t see five-and-dimes or penny candy any more either.

Some things are still exactly a dollar, but often they have far less product in them. For example, a roll of tape with only a third as much tape on it as a full roll at other stores.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

No way. This has nothing to do with inflation. We went down the toy aisle because even though my daughter is 13, she and I enjoy looking at toys, and there were toys for over $20. She likes squishy stress toys and there was a three toy box of squishy sushi toys. It was $15. You can get something similar at a place like Walmart for $5. Even a place like Spencer’s Gifts would charge maybe $10.

I know for a fact that maybe 10 years ago, the toys were at most $5. That’s not inflation. That’s just gouging your poor customers who have come to rely on you because any local store they might have gone to has closed and the closest supermarket is an hour’s drive away.

son_named_bort ,

In the case of Dollar General and Family Dollar, it never has.

mihnt ,
@mihnt@lemmy.world avatar

Dollar Tree, the last of the the actual dollar stores, has their prices set at $1.25 and are starting to add $3 and $5 items in their stores. It’s the only dollar store I will even go to. The rest are a ripoff.

isles ,

Perhaps, I find the quality at Dollar Tree to be worse than say, Walmart, and sometimes even more expensive. I don’t have any practical use for dollar stores.

mihnt ,
@mihnt@lemmy.world avatar

I only go there for canned goods and other food related items. That stuff is still pretty decent.

LemmyKnowsBest ,

You buy food at these places? Oh my gosh, did you not watch the John Oliver video? rats. rats. rats.

Ulvain ,

Hey about keeping water in your car, be careful: cars get hot, and plastic water bottles leech chemicals in the water when they’re hot (particularly in direct sunlight, but true even in the trunk if it gets hot enough)

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

We have metal water bottles. We don’t re-use plastic ones. I guess the lid is plastic, but the water doesn’t go all the way up to the lid.

pooberbee ,

Not trying to pile on, but if the water sits for more than say a week, bacterial growth can become an issue. There is a method for storing water up to 6 months, but it’s a bit of work.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t think that’s a problem either. She tells me she’s thirsty basically every time I drive her anywhere. It’s like she gets in a car and her throat immediately dries up. But I’ll keep it in mind, thanks.

Candelestine ,

Can, but this is badly overblown imo.

Water alone cannot grow bacteria. They need a food source too, an energy source. Sunlight is probably not getting in, so where does the food come from? How do they fuel metabolism? Just like you, they need food and water.

“Dirty” water can grow bacteria, because there’s more than just a bunch of H2O molecules in it. Something like distilled cannot.

So, depending on the source of your water, you can be fine. Like, a lot of people use RO, and that’s pretty clean water.

RampantParanoia2365 ,

I’m just going to keep water in my car for her from now on.

Um…gross?

gravitas_deficiency ,

They’re “cheaper” as in “you walk out the door generally having spent less money”, but they are absolutely FAR more expensive in terms of how much you pay per quantity/volume of products purchased.

It’s a chain that’s specifically designed to predate on poor people. The business model is “separating poor people from their money by making them a shitty offer that they can’t really refuse”.

Potatos_are_not_friends ,

“separating poor people from their money by making them a shitty offer that they can’t really refuse”.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that.

I can buy $5 worth of cleaning supplies to tidy up a temporary space. Broom, mop, detergent.

The supermarket - a broom is $10.

gravitas_deficiency ,

You’re not getting what I’m saying.

I’m not talking about how there are a small handful of reasonable use cases as a customer that make sense at Dollar General.

What I’m pointing out is that they’re intentionally nickel-and-diming poor people on cost-of-goods. If you compare pretty much anything Dollar General sells to the same thing at Costco (or, even better, the Kirkland brand stuff, which is generally at least as good AND less expensive), you’re going to be paying a LOT more per weight/volume/unit at DG.

Their business plan is to go into economically-depressed areas, undercut EVERY OTHER STORE IN THE AREA and force them to close, and then they can do literally whatever they want because they’ve cornered the market by driving the competition into the ground. And they use that monopoly to exploit poor people.

It’s super fucked up, and their business model has a demonstrably negative socioeconomic impact on areas that are already struggling socioeconomically.

Dollar General very, very genuinely needs to die.

Potatos_are_not_friends ,

That’s fair. I agree.

What I’m pointing out is that they’re intentionally nickel-and-diming poor people on cost-of-goods.

The stuff from these stores do not have a shelf life, you’re absolutely right. That broom example, maybe last 3 uses before it’s tossed.

gravitas_deficiency ,

The stuff from these stores do not have a shelf life

And therein lies another aspect of why DG is horrible: not only do they push stores that sell non-consumables out of business, but also grocers.

In terms of foodstuffs, DG pretty much only sells low-quality and -nutrition groceries with extremely long shelf lives, like chips, bottled drinks, snacks, sometimes some crappy frozen stuff squirreled away somewhere - you know: junk food. No fresh meat, poultry, fish, fruits, or vegetables, ever. So not only does DG exacerbate socioeconomic issues in poor area, but they also exacerbate and create health problems in low-income populations that they serve, because they push all the stores that sell any food or groceries of reasonable quality out of business.

Waldowal ,
@Waldowal@lemmy.world avatar

Dollar General is not a “dollar store”. It just happens to have the word “dollar” in the name. They are a normal general store whose bread and butter are poor neighborhoods or far enough out in the sticks that Walmart won’t build.

argh_another_username ,

Links don’t work for me (Canada).

CatZoomies OP ,
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world avatar

Hey, sorry I’m not sure why. The YouTube video link comes directly from YouTube.

Here’s the full YouTube URL to the video rather than the shareable one I had in the post: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4QGOHahiVM

Invidious:

I shared an Invidious video link through the most stable Invidious instance I’m aware of. Perhaps you can try checking other Invidious instances: docs.invidious.io/instances/. There does not appear to be a local instance hosted in Canada.

Piped:

The alternative Piped does not appear to have this video yet as the video was just posted to YouTube today Nov 20th.

Here’s the Piped link to the “Last Week Tonight” channel. Perhaps it’ll show up several hours from now when it indexes YouTube (not sure how quickly Piped sees newly posted videos): piped.video/channel/UC3XTzVzaHQEd30rQbuvCtTQ

Rentlar ,

The invidious link worked after half a minute, in Canada.

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