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from the nothing-in-that-store-costs-1$-anyway dept.
In a Washington Post story picked up by the S. Louis Post-Dispatch, reporter Rachel Siegel asks the question "Are dollar stores a response to poverty - or a cause?"
The fundamental premise of the story is
fear the stores deter other business, especially in neighborhoods without grocers or options for healthy food. Dollar stores rarely sell fresh produce or meats, but they undercut grocery stores on prices of everyday items, often pushing them out of business.
this creates what is referred to by one patron as a 'food desert'
their unstoppable rise...keeps grocers from opening.
implications are made
With fewer options for fresh food and health care, people in a North Tulsa ZIP code have an average life expectancy of 11 years less than those in South Tulsa, according to a 2015 city report.
"It creates an overall sense of the neighborhood being run-down," said Stacy Mitchell, [of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance]. "It's a recipe for locking in poverty rather than alleviating it."
Contrariwise, these stores
are a vital source of cheap staples
The last Dollar General to open is across the street from a senior citizens home. That store, Henderson said, is a lifeline to residents.
the council thinks it's appropriate for city government to pick winners and losers in the economy.
and while not typical, some do indeed sell fruits and vegetables
grapes, apples, avocados, potatoes sandwiched between bags of fried pork skins and cases of Michelob Ultra.
It's Walmart all over again in a way.
Grocery stores run on thin profit margins - usually between 1 and 3 percent. And they employ more workers than dollar stores to keep perishable food stocked.
"It's no longer the big-box grocery store" that threatens local businesses, said David Procter, a Kansas State University professor who studies rural grocery stores. "But it's the discount retailer that's coming to town and setting up shop right across the street."
Some localities have added restrictions on the stores, for example
Mesquite, Texas, a Dallas suburb, approved changes to its zoning code last year that will limit the number of dollar stores. The guidelines prevent them from opening within 5,000 feet of each other. And stores must dedicate 10 percent of floor space to fresh food.
Tulsa is working to solve the 'food desert' problem they attribute to the stores
This month, a deal was reached with ECO Farms, a local company that focuses on indoor vertical farming to solve food deserts. Two company executives, Jim Bloom and Adam James, said that while this is their first try at a grocery store, they're intent on making healthy food a reality in District 1 - not a luxury.
"We're attending to this as a human right, not a geographic privilege," James said.
However, as the article notes - "grocery stores have struggled here before"
The nearest dollar store to me is about four-five miles (15 minutes or so) on busy backroads. My experiences with them are lack of selection and significant product gaps. Very hit or miss and you just have to go shop somewhere like Kroger or Publix afterwards anyway to finish out your list, so I don't bother as I don't have the time to spend on the extra commute and double shopping.
If everyone was like me dollar stores might not be experiencing the success they very obviously are.
So how about some other perspectives? Do Soylentils love them or hate them? Is this a first world problem?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 17 2019, @06:38PM (5 children)
Shouldn't the mega farms be able to produce veggies at a lower cost per unit than someone at home getting some seeds, 1 bag of fertilizer, probably watering them manually, etc.? Economy of scale.
Even some kind of urban co-op or community garden effort might work better.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @07:03PM
You forget the downtime. Plants grow all day whether you are there or not. They just require a little bit of time few times a week. And that's the expensive things, like salads. So you can plant your own salad for $0.001 or you can buy one for $0.50 or more, with extra effort trying to find it. Or you can pay someone else to do it for you.
So unless the poor want to work some shit job so they they pay someone else to farm or actually want to relax and grow their own food ... you know, not all labor is suppose to pay you benjamins directly ... but it sure saves you a few.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday February 17 2019, @09:36PM (3 children)
FWIW, in the 1960's my family grew multiple vegetables in the back yard in the California bay area (optimal climate). My father figured out that it cost us about twice as much to eat that way, though admittedly the quality was better. But we did it anyway because my mother wanted to garden.
Seeds weren't a significant part of the expense. And labor wasn't counted at all.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @11:04PM (2 children)
Hahah, yep. I grow hot peppers. They are .99/lb at the store. Compared to buying soil, fertilizers and other odds and ends just to get less than that lb of yield its a losing proposition. If I had a lot of land it would maybe sort of work. Growing has given me a new found respect for farmers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @07:19PM (1 child)
yeah. i have a large garden and it's overgrown with grass and weeds and has a couple kale plants and arugula that just can't be killed. besides, that, gardening has been a pain in the ass. of course, i haven't had the money to get the soil right so i think it would be easier if i could dump a bunch of money into it right at first. either way though, getting good at pest, soil, water, sun, etc management is non trivial.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @08:58PM
You're thinking too hard. Do the amount of work you want to do, and be smart about the rest. Let the weeds grow until you need to harvest - predatory bugs and pollinators love weeds. Plant root systems are not all the same either, they each are more effective with certain compounds than others, and dump the excess in the soil around them, which is part of why "companion planting" works. As long the plants grow, don't worry about the soil, just keep adding organic material and it will get better with time. If you're not aiming to be a farmer, there's no need at all to manage your plants like one.