Shamelessly lifted from the News of the Weird Daily blog who shamelessly lifted it from the Poughkeepsie Journal.

A man was arrested in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for allegedly shoplifting 42 items from a Family Dollar store, with the total haul worth an estimated, uh, $132—and he was charged with petit larceny, in fact, petty petit larceny.

If I'm the judge when this case comes to trial it gets thrown out because if he stole 42 items from the dollar store then he should have been arrested for stealing $42 worth of merchandise.

If you examine the pricing at Family Dollar or a Dollar General stores most items are $1.50 to $3.00 or even more. How hard is it to understand the concept of a dollar store. And have you noticed that as a general rule these stores locate adjacent to economically disadvantaged areas.
For those of you not associated with the government that translates to, "they put their crappy little stores close to where the poor folk live". Now before you call me up and complain that I have referred to you as poor because you live by one of these stores, please note that I said, "As a general rule" that is where they locate. They want to be within walking distance of the people that really need day to day items at low prices.

What most people don't know is that, as mentioned above they have very little that can be purchased for a dollar. Add to that the fact that many products that they sell for more than a dollar are usually "odd" or "half" sized containers of the product. The catch is that they are priced at more than the 1/2 price would be.... so that 8oz bottle of ketchup that costs $1.75 at the dollar store is actually costing you $0.21875 per ounce while it's big brother the 18oz bottle at mercado de diablo, also known as Walmart costs you $3.27 is in reality costing you $0.18666 per ounce. Don't get me wrong Walmart sucks but the dollar stores with one exception suck more.

So they are not only lying about the price to con you into shopping at their crappy little store, once they have you snared in their little bate and switch ploy, they swoop in for the kill with the downsized product for the upsized price scam.

Rat Bastards....... preying on the economically challenged is just plain wrong. And it's really crappy.
The only thing I would ever buy at one of "those" dollar stores is what I like to refer to as "big ass bags of candy" these bags usually cost $1 sometimes $2 if they are the "mega big bags of candy". Note that I said "the only thing I would buy". This is a very big distinction, because being a diabetic I don't buy candy. I would not need to wait for my feet to fall off from numbness, poor circulation and general trot rot, my wife upon finding any illicit candy would chop my feet off and then where would I be.... well... actually I would be where I am now but I would be teetering.

Dollar Tree is different.... it is the exception.

If it is in the store it costs $1 .... first off just think how many employee hours they save by not being  forced to price check items.... Plus most employees could actually keep the sales tax chart in their head.... one item $1.08 two items $2.16 what a deal...

They could probably do away with the registers all together. That saves electricity, software and ink for the register printer. The checker.... (we will change that title to the "item counter-upper person"... ) the "item counter-upper person" would just write on an old paper sack; two items $2.00 - tax 16¢ = $2.16

Thanks and have a great day.

*(The ¢ sign is made by holding down the alt key and typing in 0162 on the number pad.)

And strangely enough The Dollar Tree, full of truly $1 items, is located in close proximity to middle and upper middle class neighborhoods. Go figure..... the poor guy gets hosed again.DG loves to shop at The Dollar Tree. I come in the door from work and she says, "Do you like the new candle on the dining table?" and I say, "Sure darling it's beauty is only eclipsed by your own." And she says, "I got it at The Dollar Tree, what do you think it cost me?" To which I respond, "Why darling a candle as beautiful as that must have cost four or five dollars... go on tell me I can't guess." She smiles a bright full tooth-bearing smile and says, "A dollar, everything's a dollar at the The Dollar Tree.

As I tie on the apron to do the after dinner dishes DG says. ""Do you like the new green dish towels?" and I say, "Yes Dear they are very nice and useful also ." And she says, "I got them at Dollar Tree, what do you think they cost me?" To which I respond, "Dear, a towel of this quality had to have cost seven or eight dollars ... go on dear tell me." She smiles that beaming smile again and says, "A dollar, everything's a dollar at The Dollar Tree.

At this point I begin to pray that she only had ten or twenty dollars because this scenario can really stretch into the night if she decided to spend her Christmas money from Dad there. And if by some grievous error I ever answered the question, "What do you think it cost me?" by saying, "Oh, probably a dollar dear." She would beat the crap out of me with the eagle headed fireplace poker, that she bought at The Dollar Tree for how much?

That's right... a dollar.

Just a side note:

I do call her Darling and Dear and she sometimes calls me Ward and we spend a lot of time talking about the Beaver.

*Extended characters are brought to you by BIL Rick and paid for through a grant from Fish Guy Computing)