Not worth it at the dollar store: 10 items to avoid
Filed under: Bargains, Ripoffs and Scams, Shopping
Dollar stores are great places to find bargains on any number of household needs but you can't always assume that, just because it's only $1, you're automatically getting the most bang for your buck. Prices and quantities may vary according to stores in your town, but going by my shopping list, here are 10 things you might want to go elsewhere for:
Toothpaste
This is one of the things I leave on the shelf at the dollar store. A 2.54 ounce tube of tartar control or cavity protection Crest or Colgate cost a buck, obviously, and that seems like a lot less than you'd pay for a full-sized tube in your local drugstore.
This is one of the things I leave on the shelf at the dollar store. A 2.54 ounce tube of tartar control or cavity protection Crest or Colgate cost a buck, obviously, and that seems like a lot less than you'd pay for a full-sized tube in your local drugstore.But the same brands, in the same size, cost only 63 cents a tube at my local Wal-Mart store, so it still pays to shop around and read your local store flyers to find the sales and the best everyday prices for your favorite brand of toothpaste.
A word of caution when buying toothpaste at the dollar store: Don't buy unknown brands and be careful of boxes that look like name brands but actually aren't. Toothpaste was one of the household items to get caught up in the tainted products from China scare of the past several years. Toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, a sweet, syrupy poison used to make antifreeze, was found in several dollar stores.
Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes free tips and ideas about decorating using only items from the dollar store.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-18-2008 @ 7:45AM
susan said...
what wal mart has toothpaste for .63???? NOT MINE
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7-18-2008 @ 9:05AM
dee said...
Genius, it said the wal-mart toothpaste cost .63 MORE, then the dollor store, and your getting more ounces. Read it again.
7-18-2008 @ 1:46PM
Stewart said...
We occaisionally buy at dollar stores, but usually things like gift bags or decorations. We don't buy food or any products that go into our bodies that says made in China, or Taiwan, or Venezuela, because other countries, to keep their prices lower than ours, use cheaper ingredients, like lead in paint on kids toys, and ethylene glycol for sweetener in toothpaste and candy. If you look, you will find just as many foreign made products in dollar stores as Wal-Mart, and maybe more, since they have to sell cheaper. The important thing is to read the labels no matter where you buy, and remember that other countrys do not have laws in place to regulate what goes in food and other products. For them, undercutting US made products is the only thing that matters, not consumer safety.
7-18-2008 @ 8:27AM
Robin said...
I understand that consumers are looking to save money these days but they must also understand the true cost of shopping at Wal-Mart and its affiliate companies. The prices there are lower because of the bullying tactics of the retail giant. Manufactures make cheaper versions of there products to lower the price and in some cases lose money on Wal-Mart orders. Many U.S. companies have closed because of this so Wal-Mart imports products, giving business to other countries and depleting our economy. I also read data from studies stating that for every 1 job Wal-Mart provides, 1.5 are lost from small businesses closing. And, the jobs are substandard pay with out benefits. So I urge you all, try to save a buck elsewhere because shopping at Wal-Mart costs so much more than the total on your register receipt.
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7-18-2008 @ 11:55AM
ambleside said...
I'm sorry you have been misinformed on Wal-Mart and its products, wages and employee benefits. Wal-Mart gave each of its employees at the beginning of the company, 100 shares of the company. The shares were wrth $3 each. For all the employees who kept those shares, through growth, those shares are now worth over ! and 1/2 MILLION Dollars. . . so there are a lot of millionnaires thanks to the generosity of Wal-Mart. Of course there are those who sold their shares and didn't make it. . .When Wal-Mart first began, it sold only products made in the USA. As companies moved operations overseas and stopped USA production, Wal-Mart had to buy where the products were. As hard as you try, you will not be able to find a store as versatile as Wal-Mart that sells 100% USA made products. As far as the products being made to their specifications. you are right. . .but then so does Sears, J.C. Penney, and other major stores have products made to their specifications. . .that's good business. . .not something to be criticized for. . .for example, SAMS Club sells Goodyear tires made to their specifications. . . these tires have a better and longer warranty than the equivalent tire sold at a higher price at Goodyear stores. So just because something is made to a company's specifications doesn't necessarily mean it is inferior. But this whole thread is off the subject of Dollar stores.
7-18-2008 @ 1:37PM
Diana said...
I agree!
7-18-2008 @ 3:06PM
fayette said...
you are soooo correct..I do not think Mr. Walton really intended for all his hard work here in the states to be transferred to any foreign country. I'm also sure he's turned over in that grave more than once...WalMart has made its millions from over-charging the american people with "cheaply"" made products, as well as running hard-working families,who have had generation of store/establishment owners, out of business, making their lives in many types of broken states...Yeh, folks, lets get out there & support another part of our gov/society who has & is burying the american families one purchase at a time...
8-12-2008 @ 6:03AM
mark said...
Sam Walton was a totally different from his money grubbing family.
7-18-2008 @ 9:40AM
Al Tiedmann said...
In reference to "dee's" response, the snippet indicates that the tube is .63 cents for the same size...not more as you indicated. Perhaps you should read it again!
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7-18-2008 @ 10:54AM
mary said...
There is a certain brand of tooth paste i have bought for years. Was almost $3.00 a tube at WalMart. They stoped carrying it. I can find the same brand and size at the Dollar stores for $1.00.
Read the labels at Walmart. If you shop there you are supporting China and a few other countries. And Yes, they will let you go and won't explain why. They did it to my Nephew.
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7-18-2008 @ 11:29AM
Judy said...
I shopped in a Walmart 2 days ago, for the first time in years. I was pleased to find a set of bathroom rugs that was actually made in the US!
7-19-2008 @ 8:58PM
judy, nyc said...
I have worked retail when the big companies bought out family owned businesses. This nonsense about Wal-Mart and its great benefit plan is a joke in a dark humor sort of way. If you stay forever, hoping that you will get your pension money, or your profit sharing, you will be working for substandard pay with crappy work rules and managers who think they can make you work overtime at the last minute for no extra pay, and not pay for holidays like Thanksgiving. Wal-Mart stinks. It's that simple. And it's annoying to read these posts likely written by their p.r. people that not only defend their horrendous practices with workers and consumers alike but give them kudos as well. I noticed there was no reply on those. What's up with that?
7-18-2008 @ 11:13AM
Marie said...
Dee, the article said that the same size tube of toothpaste costs 63 cents. No need to be rude.
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7-18-2008 @ 11:47AM
lingot 58 said...
thats what is wrong with our country now, we have sold out our country to the highest bidder and look what we ended up with all the ungodly trash that our government has let in and it has ruined america i am so ashamed of what our for fathers have fought so hard to protect, and we have so easily give up. so many lost everything to protect us and we don.t care we just let everything come in and take over and then we sit back and wonder what went wrong.we need God back in control of our lives and maybe we can save some of our diginity.
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7-18-2008 @ 12:11PM
Conscious1 said...
I normally buy toothpaste and soap when I'm grocery shopping but when I forgot it I bought Crest toothpaste and Camay soap from a local Dollar General. When I got home I noticed that something about the box and tube of Crest looked different. Upon further investigation I noticed the label was a little different and checked the ingredients. They were all listed the same however the telephone number was different. The telephone number on the real tube of Crest mentioned that they were aware of counterfeit's however the fake tube did not. In addition, I found it odd that the Camay soap would not lather. I'm sending emails to all my family advising them to be careful purchasing items from dollar stores.
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7-18-2008 @ 12:19PM
Forrest said...
I might humbly request that you might want to look at the following link for some non-anecdotal information before you quote " what you read" somewhere. This is not meant to belittle anyone for I have been guilty of the same thing before.
(paste the following into your browser)
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/0034653053327568?cookieSet=1&journalCode=rest
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7-18-2008 @ 12:18PM
Michelle said...
The article reads as if you buy at a Dollar Store, don't buy these products because you don't know what the ingredients are and it's made in China.
"Want to save money: 10 items to avoid." It's still a catchy title.
...Stop scaring the public. We have enough to deal with than to watch our steps at a Dollar Store.
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7-18-2008 @ 12:19PM
Alex said...
Why would anyone buy a 2.53 tube of toothpast, except for a
travel case, when, in the same store, 6oz tubes are available
for the same dollar.
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7-19-2008 @ 11:42PM
Sudie said...
BUY USA MADE....Dollar stores and the like are for the foreigners who move here and buy cheap crap because they don't give a shit about the U.S.'s people. If you want to group yourself with them and buy from these stores, then you're just as slimy as they are.
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7-19-2008 @ 6:55PM
minnie said...
most of the toothpastes you buy from the dollar store are expired you do not know this untill you get home because most of them have the expiration on the inside of the box of the bottom of the tube I've got caught a couple of times and refuse to buy it at the dollar store again.
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