There was once a time when going to the Dollar Tree meant that you could buy any item in the store for just $1.
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Now, that idea is largely a thing of the past. Many chains have gone from offering products for $1 to abandoning their fixed-price structure altogether. For example, the discount chain Five Below began selling items for more than $5, and Dollar Tree went from selling $1 items to offering $1.25 items, $1.50 items, and some items nearing $7.
As Dollar Tree manager and TikTok user @dollartreemanager1 noted in a recent video with over 36,000 views, this has caused some confusion among customers.
What’s weird about these Energizer batteries?
In his video, the TikToker shows the inside of a Dollar Tree location.
“Advice from a Dollar Tree manager,” he starts. He then turns and shows a rack of Energizer batteries. Each package of batteries has a label indicating that it is $5.
“You see this?” he says, pointing to the $5 label. “This is the price.”
“Please don’t be confused when you get to the register,” he concludes.
Are batteries really $5 at Dollar Tree?
It appears true that the store sells Energizer Max C-cell batteries for $5. However, it might not be as good of a deal as it initially appears.
First, the batteries can be found cheaper elsewhere. For example, a 2-pack at Dollar Tree costs $5, meaning each battery costs $2.50 pre-tax. In contrast, a 4-pack from Amazon costs $8.77, and an 8-pack costs $14.97, balancing out to $2.19 and $1.87 per battery respectively.
In general, one should be careful buying batteries from the dollar store or any sort of discount store. This is because many of the batteries for sale at such locations are carbon-zinc batteries, which, as noted by the CBC, drain substantially faster than their alkaline equivalents.
If one wants to ensure they’re getting a longer-lasting battery, they should see if the battery is alkaline or, if they’re willing to pay a little more money, lithium.
@dollartreemanager1 #advice #fyp #dollartree ♬ original sound – The Retail Crusader 💵 🌳
Viewers criticize dollar stores
In the comments section, many users said confusion over price is a common problem in the modern dollar store.
“I went into a dollar tree bought batteries and the cashier was like do you know these are $5,” recalled a user, “and I said yes I know that I saw it.”
“So it’s not only at our dollar tree. Our DM gives writeups if we get more than 10 voids. like it’s not our fault customers don’t want it anymore after it’s rung up,” added another.
“Like we’re in 2025,” declared a third. “Dollar tree isn’t dollar tree anymore…just another dollar general.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Dollar Tree via email and @dollartreemanager1 via TikTok direct message.
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