Dollar Stores -- Bang For Your Buck Or Eco-Devil In Disguise?

It's true...dollar stores seem to deliver a bang for the buck. A weird physiological change happens to people when they enter those gleaming doors and get hit with the scent of pure unadulterated plastic. I was just strolling through one today with a big fat smile on my face, my heart racing with excitement. So many deals, so little time. Where do I begin?

Well, you gotta start re-evaluating the so called "deals". I recommend that everyone start looking at the actual weight of the packages. There's some major shrinkage going on -- what weighed 1 pound a few months ago is now 14 ounces (frozen veggies for starters). Raisins that look like the normal Sunmaid pound box are poured in what seems like the same size box but they're several ounces lighter. All that extra packaging (from snacks to toiletries) is a waste of resources -- and it's consumer trickery!! If you do a little math, you'll realize that the deals are really inside of your head. Yes, you may be paying a dollar for a THING, but it ends up being a might lighter weighing and junkier THING than if you just bought it in a normal store on sale with double coupons, to boot.

I must admit to a prejudice against dollar stores. I do not like them and encourage anyone I know not to use them. I try to consume as little as possible, and when I do, I use places like Habitat for Humanity's "Restore" and 2nd hand stores first. If I absolutely must buy something new, I buy a product that was made well and will last. In other words, it is durable. It might cost me more upfront, but the cost to me and the environment in the long run is less. For those of you who have seen "The Story of Stuff" the narrator talks about products that do not reflect the true cost of what you are buying. The real cost is in no health care for employees that work in the store, cheap labor in overseas factories, and environmental degradation. If you haven't seen "The Story of Stuff" please google it and watch the 20 minute video. It's so worth the time...

I absolutely LOVVVVVE Dollar Stores. Does that make me a bad greenie? I do so many other things in my life to honor our planet so why should a weekly trip to Dollar General be so bad? Most of the time, I buy food there -- things that mainstream stores couldn't move off of their shelves. So, I'm like the cleanup crew -- that's pretty green, isn't it? I think that being a careful shopper is a lot more responsible than throwing money around on things that aren't really a necessity. Food is a necessity. The plastic doohickeys in aisle 2, 7, 13 and 14 aren't.