Growing up, Dollar General was one of the stores that confused me. My mom loved the small store for last-minute items we needed, but what always confused me was that nothing was a dollar in the store.

Quickly, I grew accustomed to the not-dollar rates and messy aisles. Even with those two factors Dollar General is still my go-to neighborhood store. This could also be because there is one around every corner.

SELF-CHECKOUT CHANGES

If you have noticed this year, Dollar General has already started to stray away from self-checkout. There has been so much backlash over the years with most major retailers who began to lean heavily on the option. More than half of Dollar General's 19,000 stores have self-checkout. In some stores, this is the only checkout option. 

Dollar General has started putting more workers at the front of the store to check people out. The main reason is to help reduce the loss from people shoplifting, employee theft, fraud, and customer error. Studies have shown chain stores with self-checkouts have a loss sales rate of about 4%, which is double the industry average.

Don't worry! Even with this loss Dollar General is not slowing down. They opened about 800 new stores in 2024 and had 1500 locations scheduled to get remodeled. The only shutdowns this year are 85 relocations.

A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

While most people do not like change, this is probably one we can get behind. I am a huge rule follower and self-checkout always gave me a little anxiety. I always thought they would assume I was trying to steal or do something shady. Selfishly I welcome this change and so does my anxiety.

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