Never Buy These Things From Dollar Stores

Dollar stores can save you a ton of money on groceries and household goods, but that doesn’t mean you should rely on them for all your shopping needs. Experts advise to absolutely avoid these six things next time you find yourself in a deep discount store. Buying meat from your go-to dollar store chain is not the best idea. You might not even save that much money. Dollar General advertises a 3.5-ounce ribeye steak that costs less than $2. But that’s not as great of a deal as it sounds. Walmart sells its ribeye for around $9 to $11 per pound, which is about the same or only slightly more expensive when you work out the weights. Dollar General’s ribeyes are inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, so they should be generally safe to eat. But that doesn’t mean they’re good. One Dollar General reviewer said the meat was gray, and described how they ended up tossing it in the trash. The Penny Hoarder contributor Joshua Pramis taste tested the cheap steak and said this after trying it: “I’d sooner hit up the McDonald’s dollar menu for a cheap red-meat fix.” According to Kiplinger, the savings you get from dollar-store batteries aren’t worth the loss in quality. Dollar stores tend to sell carbon-zinc batteries, which are more prone to leaking and don’t last nearly as long as their alkaline cousins. Though it may seem like a bargain initially, you may end up needing to replace the batteries more often, thus paying more in the long run.

While dollar stores do sell alkaline batteries with brand names like Energizer and Duracell, the price is about the same as those sold at other retail stores. And even then, they may not be as good. Batteries lose charge over time, so that dollar store pack you think is a good deal may have actually spent years on a Target shelf. Shopping expert Brent Shelton told Reader’s Digest, “[Dollar stores] are not ordering new batteries and pricing them well, they’re taking old stuff off other stores’ shelves.” If you’re going to a dollar store to score a deal on canned goods, you might want to skip the trip. Most dollar stores sell brand-name goods like Green Giant and Bush’s Best, but don’t be fooled by the price tag. Doug Whiteman, Money Wise’s personal finance editor, told Reviewed, “At Dollar Tree, you might find cans of soup or veggies selling for $1, though you’d find the same items priced lower at the supermarket or on Amazon.” Not only is it not much of a deal, but it could end up being hazardous to your health. According to a press release from the Campaign for Healthier Solutions, toxins have been found in the canned food sold in dollar stores. Tracy Gregoire with the Learning Disabilities Association of America said in the release that their testing on Dollar General food products revealed BPA, or bisphenol A, in the canned food. “These chemicals can be endocrine disruptors like BPA, which means they interfere with your hormones and may increase your cancer risk.” According to Healthline, BPA is “an industrial chemical” used to create epoxy resins, so why is it in there? They continue : “[BPA is] spread on the inner lining of canned food containers to keep the metal from corroding and breaking.” Every dollar store has a toy aisle. It may be a haven for your kids if they accompany you on your shopping run, but be careful with what toys you let them pull off the shelves. In 2019, a doll sold at a Dollar Tree in New York was recalled after, as The Virginian-Pilot reported, “[It had] 46 times the level of a chemical substance than federally allowed.” The substance was phthalates, which are “known endocrine disruptors” typically used in production of plastic materials. They can be especially harmful to infants and toddlers. New York State Secretary of State Rossana Rosado said in a statement, “This toy poses an unacceptable risk to our kids and should not be on store shelves.” If you do purchase toys from the dollar store, the New York Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection recommends carefully reading the labels, throwing away or fixing broken toys, and making sure fabric toys are labeled as either “flame-resistant” or “flame-retardant.” You probably should avoid buying over-the-counter drugs at any dollar store chain, and here’s the proof: A months-long undercover investigation by the New York State Office of the Attorney General found that the Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar were all selling expired over-the-counter drugs. All those chains were required to pay $1.2 million in damages in 2019. New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a press release, “New York consumers have a right to expect that products on store shelves are safe, fresh and suitable for their advertised use.” That same year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to Dollar Tree for receiving, quote, “adulterated drugs from manufacturers that received FDA warning letters in 2018.” The previous FDA warnings to Dollar Tree’s contract manufacturers included violations such as “Not testing raw materials or finished drugs for pathogens and quality.” The FDA warning letter to Dollar Tree outlined violations found in the production of Dollar Tree’s Assured Brand over-the-counter drugs and other drugs sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores.

You can buy groceries at your nearby dollar store, but should you? Dollar General sells everything from bread to milk to eggs, although most of its and other dollar stores’ grocery options are processed and packaged foods, CNN Business reports. For any food you think about buying at the dollar store, you’ll want to look at the expiration date first, Cincinnati’s WCPO 9 News advises. In its report, shopper Shaquanna Hines said that her daughter purchased a bag of trail mix from a dollar store that ended up being nearly six months past its expiration date. Hines said. “When she opened them, she realized they were stale; they tasted weird.” According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food products are marked with a Sell-By, Use-By, Best if Used By/Before, or Freeze-By date. Always check those dates before buying food from your local dollar store. If the food is still fresh, the dollar store can be a good place to buy your groceries for less, if you’re not super worried about eating processed food. In an essay for Spoon University, student Amanda Olivero wrote that she managed to purchase five days’ worth of groceries for just $35.

Olivero’s experience proves there are still some great deals at dollar stores, and plenty of products that are perfectly safe to buy. Here are six things you absolutely should shop for next time you’re at your local dollar store: If you go to the dollar store for anything, put paper products and party essentials at the top of your shopping list, even employees say so. A Dollar Tree manager told Mental Floss, “The items that my employees and I purchase at Dollar Tree for value would definitely be toilet paper, paper towels, birthday cards, candy, balloons, plastic ware, paper plates, envelopes, stationary products, and the daily newspaper.” Of course, like with anything else, you should still be mindful of what paper products you’re putting in your cart. Senior retail analyst Meaghan Brophy told The Washington Post, “Many items are custom-made in smaller sizes by manufacturers for dollar stores, [so] shoppers need to compare the price against weight, length and size.” As far as party essentials go, you should definitely go for the gift bags and Hallmark greeting cards, which are typically two for $1. Considering dollar stores’ issues with over-the-counter drugs, this one may seem far-fetched, but it turns out you can rely on dollar store pregnancy tests. According to USA Today, pregnancy tests are regulated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration prior to hitting store shelves, so if a dollar store has them in stock, you’ll know they’re legit. FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Caccomo told the newspaper, “I would only caution that it needs to be sold legally.” “What brand pregnancy test is it?” “It’s called Womb, There It Is.” The main downside of a cheap test would be response time. Brand-name options are more sensitive and therefore may produce a quicker response. So choosing where to buy a test ultimately comes down to how much you’re willing to spend. It is definitely cheaper to buy a pregnancy test at places like Dollar General, where it can cost as little as $1 for the store brand. And for $6.50, you can pick up a brand-name First Response pregnancy test at Dollar General. A two-pack of the same tests at CVS costs more than $20, coming to $10.40 per test. We all know how expensive makeup can be, but what if we told you it didn’t have to be that way? Dollar General, for example, offers cheaper alternatives. In 2019, the chain rolled out its very own makeup line called Believe Beauty. The line features $5-and-under eye shadows, lipstick, nail polishes, and foundations. According to CNN Business, YouTube beauty vloggers love the label. YouTuber Taylor Horn told the publication that cosmetic brands like Believe Beauty provide high-quality makeup “that your everyday consumer can afford.” Walk down any dollar store beauty aisle and you may also discover products from major makeup brands including E.L.F., Wet n’ Wild, and Maybelline New York. According to Allure, Maybelline actually partnered with Dollar General in 2019 to make its brand accessible to everyone, no matter the zip code. So if Ulta or Sephora are far from home, you can visit Dollar General and do some serious makeup shopping. You can get Maybelline’s Great Lash mascara for $5 and its Instant Age Rewind concealer for $8.

Let’s be honest: If you’re going on a trip, you’d rather spend your hard-earned cash on excursions with your family and souvenirs for your friends than tiny bottles of shampoo and small deodorants. That’s why TripSavvy says yes when it comes to buying toiletries at Dollar Tree. The store sells $1 cosmetic jars, travel-sized bottles, refillable water bottles, disposable toothbrushes and baby wipes, among other things. In an article for The Penny Hoarder, freelance travel journalist Benét J. Wilson touted dollar store essentials like hand sanitizer and lotion as absolute must-haves for any trip. Wilson wrote, “As a germophobe, I won’t fly without my 2.8-ounce scented hand sanitizers, which come in a pack of three. I also take Purell wipes, which do double duty as a face refresher and a cloth to wipe down germ-ridden airplane surfaces.” Dollar stores may not be the first place tech-savvy consumers think of for buying electronics, but if you’re in a pinch and need headphones for a plane ride, for example, dollar stores may be the way to go, according to USA Today. But, of course, you should have realistic expectations for “quality and longevity.” Some of the marked-down items you could find on a trip to a dollar store includes smartphone car mounts, phone cases, selfie sticks, and small speakers for as little as a buck. USA Today also scouted a super budget-friendly alternative to a Fitbit for athletic types. Dollar stores sell multicolored pedometers for just $3. And they don’t just track steps; they can also track your distance and calories burned.

While that’s a steal, not all dollar-store tech is worth buying. You may want to avoid the power strips and extension cords. Money-saving expert Andrea Woroch told Reader’s Digest, “Dollar store versions of extension cords, power strips and the like can be poorly made and therefore unsafe.” If you’re tired of spending an astronomical amount of money for books at Barnes and Noble, try making a habit of visiting Dollar Tree for all your reading needs, Book Riot suggests. At a dollar each, you can grow your book collection fast. And if you don’t end up liking a book, you can always pass it along to a fellow bookworm. Book Riot discovered that most of the books you can find at Dollar Tree were once collecting dust at the publisher’s warehouse. They’re what’s known in publishing as “remainders,” or books that weren’t requested for resale because of overstock or some other reason. Dollar Tree’s website has dozens of books from the Chicken Soup for the Soul collection, to name just one series, and tons of children’s books all for $1 each. So next time you’re in a dollar store, check out the book section. You just might find a treasure.

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