Another sign of economic woes

[opebo]

Family Dollar, Customer Base Struggle
Sunday December 4, 2:20 pm ET
By Paul Nowell, AP Business Writer 
Family Dollar Struggles As Low-Income Customer Base Gets Hit With With Financial Woes

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051204/family_dollar.html?.v=2

Looks like some people can't even afford cheap junk!  This article is another sign of the times - the economic condition of the lower classes is worsening rapidly.

[David S]

Walmart seems to be doing fine. Year over year sales and profits are up in 2003 and 2004 and are projected to be up in 2005 as well
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=WMT&annual
 
Income Statement   Get Income Statement for:         
      
View: Annual Data | Quarterly Data   All numbers in thousands   
 
PERIOD ENDING      31-Jan-05   31-Jan-04   31-Jan-03      
Total Revenue      287,989,000    258,681,000    246,525,000       
Cost of Revenue      219,793,000    198,747,000    191,838,000       
                  
Gross Profit      68,196,000    59,934,000    54,687,000      
               


Maybe the "poors" have switched from Family Dollar to Walmart.

[David S]

Reports of Family Dollars demise seem to be somewhat premature also as they sold more, year over
year, in 04 and 05 and are also projected to sell more in 06 and 07. Income was down a bit this year as a result of increased costs
not a reduction in sales. Looks like some poors must still be able to afford stuff.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=FDO&annual

PERIOD ENDING 27-Aug-05 28-Aug-04 30-Aug-03
Total Revenue 5,824,808   5,281,888   4,750,171   
Cost of Revenue 3,908,569   3,496,278   3,145,788   
 
Gross Profit 1,916,239   1,785,610   1,604,383

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I boycott both Family Dollar and Wal-Mart due to their fascism.

[opebo]

Looks like some poors must still be able to afford stuff.

Or perhaps there are just more poors, David S - certainly large numbers of people are dropping out of the 'middle class' and into the working poor every year.

[John Dibble]

Looks like some poors must still be able to afford stuff.

Or perhaps there are just more poors, David S - certainly large numbers of people are dropping out of the 'middle class' and into the working poor every year.

Prove it.

[David S]

Looks like some poors must still be able to afford stuff.

Or perhaps there are just more poors, David S - certainly large numbers of people are dropping out of the 'middle class' and into the working poor every year.

Prove it.

^^^^^

Opebo your post implied that people were becomming too poor to buy things from cheap stores and cited falling sales at Family Dollar as evidence. But I showed you that both Family Dollar and Walmart have seen increasing sales over the past few years and are expected to see further increases in the next year. So the alleged proof is false.

[MODU]

Looks like some poors must still be able to afford stuff.

Or perhaps there are just more poors, David S - certainly large numbers of people are dropping out of the 'middle class' and into the working poor every year.

Prove it.

^^^^^

Opebo your post implied that people were becomming too poor to buy things from cheap stores and cited falling sales at Family Dollar as evidence. But I showed you that both Family Dollar and Walmart have seen increasing sales over the past few years and are expected to see further increases in the next year. So the alleged proof is false.

Like many of his case scenarios. 

[opebo]

Looks like some poors must still be able to afford stuff.

Or perhaps there are just more poors, David S - certainly large numbers of people are dropping out of the 'middle class' and into the working poor every year.

Prove it.

^^^^^

Opebo your post implied that people were becomming too poor to buy things from cheap stores and cited falling sales at Family Dollar as evidence. But I showed you that both Family Dollar and Walmart have seen increasing sales over the past few years and are expected to see further increases in the next year. So the alleged proof is false.

I never alleged any proof.  I just said that it is possible that as many of the working poor drop to such levels of poverty that they can't afford cheap junk at WalMart and Dollar General, they will be replaced by even greater numbers of previously middle class workers who are now working poor. 

Look at it this way - say one million $6-10/hour poor are fired.. now they're really desperate, living under the overpass.  At the same time, two million people are reduced from their previous $24/hour positions and now must join the working poor level of society.  A good example will be all those people being laid off by GM and Ford.  So, the net number of people who can afford cheap junk at junk stores - UP!  Great news.

[John Dibble]

I never alleged any proof.  I just said that it is possible that as many of the working poor drop to such levels of poverty that they can't afford cheap junk at WalMart and Dollar General, they will be replaced by even greater numbers of previously middle class workers who are now working poor. 

Look at it this way - say one million $6-10/hour poor are fired.. now they're really desperate, living under the overpass.  At the same time, two million people are reduced from their previous $24/hour positions and now must join the working poor level of society.  A good example will be all those people being laid off by GM and Ford.  So, the net number of people who can afford cheap junk at junk stores - UP!  Great news.

'Suppose' doesn't really apply to a real world case. The opposite hypothetical could be true - the ones under the overpass are living better, so they can now go to the family dollar. Or maybe, just maybe, more people simply are going to these stores because they are cheap but they didn't realize the value before. Either one of those could be true. There's other possible explanations as well. You say 'certainly' as if it's true, yet you have yet to back up your statement. If you can't, then don't assert it as fact.

[David S]

Your quoted article says: "Family Dollar Struggles As Low-Income Customer Base Gets Hit With With Financial Woes".  I said it isn't so and I proved it.

[opebo]

Your quoted article says: "Family Dollar Struggles As Low-Income Customer Base Gets Hit With With Financial Woes".  I said it isn't so and I proved it.

Ah, I have no opinion on that part of the article.  I would be quite indifferent if Family Dollar were bankrupted tomorrow.  The part that I found interesting was the economic woes of the working poor.