re: Anyone ever been to a Dollar General Store? Is it like a poor's Walmart?

The OTC drug company I worked for sold to DG, WM, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, bla bla bla.

DG would set a retail price point (say $2.39) for a tube of Lube jelly. You took their price point and then told them how much you would put into the tube. Almost always less then what you put in the other customer's containers. The labeling was 100% legal. We plainly stated on the tube the fill and complied with labeling. It was just less than CVS or Walgreens.


They had a corporate policy that when they opened a new store, we had to GIVE THEM the initial stocking product. Then they would buy the replenishment inventory from us. During their big growth years, they were opening one or two or three stores a week. The drain on our profits was substantial - money you never recovered. Eventually our company sold and the new owners understood making a profit. They dropped Dollar General like a hot rock.


Oh - and they make their register folks stock the store. They hire no stocking people. That is why there is always stuff sitting in the isles that is not on the shelves. It is why much of the time, there is no one on the register when you walk into the store. If a register person can't keep up with stocking in addition to running their register, they fire them.