The Dollar Store
At one time in America's distant past, the penny was considered the smallest amount of money that anything could be bought with. At that time shopping was not a popular passtime since it was limited to the general store in the center of town and the peddler who came by once a month with his cart.
Then, a few decades later, the early years of what we think of now as "shopping" began. By that time things had changed and the dime was the minimmum currency. As a result, the "dime store" came into being. There is some uncertainty as to what you could actually buy there for a dime - most of the items were more than that - but I'm sure there was a factual basis for the name in someone's mind. Since then, something very simple, common, or cheaply made is often referred to as a "dime store" thing, as in the comment, "that sure is a dime-store wedding ring you have there. It looks like it's made of plastic!"
Now the minimmum amount of currency required to purchase anything except McDonald's hamburgers and those little plastic gumball machine prizes, is a dollar. Hence, the Dollar Store. The name for this one is no mere metaphor. Every item the store has to offer really costs one dollar. They really have a lot of good, useful stuff, believe it or not. Every time I go there I ask myself how they can sell this stuff for only a dollar and remain in business (a booming business).
Well, they don't use price tags, because every item costs a dollar. They don't need a bar code scanner for the same reason. Doing inventory for them is probably a store manager's dream come true and the cashiers don't need as much training because they only need to count by ones. They don't have to pay for advertizing, because people practically knock each other down trying to get into the store.
How the manufacturers can make money selling these things for less than a dollar each is another issue entirely, and probably involves a great deal of moral and political scandal.
Lute
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