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How Dollar Tree Conquered Low Income America

From the outside, Dollar Tree is a fun, harmless store to buy random, gimmicky, short-lived products for a buck. But go inside, and Dollar Tree is a ruthless business empire who knows that its best customers are low income Americans. The company will do everything it can to suffocate the competition and be the only store physically available in low income communities, small towns, and rural America. So poor Americans keep buying Dollar Tree no matter how flimsy or low quality its products are, because there’s no other store that they can afford or is available in their neighborhood. Retail, at the most abstract, is the heartbeat that fuels daily domestic consumption which in turn drives the American economy. But what happens when that consumption, spending, and money printing finally catches up? 15% inflation. The highest increase in prices since the 1980s. $8 a gallon for gas. Shipping delays. Supply chain problems. Labor shortages. There is one Fortune 500 corporation t

English
  • Originally Aired March 26, 2022
  • Runtime 15 minutes
  • Created January 16, 2024 by
    blue_gandalf
  • Modified January 16, 2024 by
    blue_gandalf