Only One Buck!

On the last day of the 2019 school year, the lovely Madelyn Simone and I arranged to have a date together. She generously invited her little sister, the delightful and determined Elizabeth Holiday, to join us. A dreary day meant no playground; instead, I let Madelyn decide our lunch and afternoon destinations. 

Sadly, her favorite restaurant has closed (American Oven), so she settled on Golden Corral, knowing she could get all the mashed potatoes, noodles and gravy she wanted. Following lunch, we headed for the mall. Madelyn is selective in her choices, but her little sister is still in the “I want everything” phase of mall shopping. I was unwilling to pay fifteen dollars for some mystery package or ten dollars for slime, and when I said, “Look with your eyes, not your hands” for the fifty-third time, I was done.

“What if we go to the Dollar Tree? I’ll let you each pick out two items.” Still young enough where quantity trumps quality, the girls agreed to my plan. 

As we strolled the aisles of the Dollar Tree, Madelyn began to ask, “How much is this?” I told her, “Everything in this store is one dollar.” She seemed genuinely – and happily – surprised that everything there was only a dollar. I didn’t have the heart to tell her there would be sales tax on her purchase, not wanting to take away the joy of the bargain.

I’m old enough to remember the section of the corner store that sold penny candy for one penny. Ah, the wax bottles with juice, the strips of paper with candy dots, the bubble gum and red licorice strings, all for the low price of one copper-colored coin. Not sure there is anything today that can be purchased for that miniscule amount of money. But at the Dollar Tree, everything still is one dollar, at least for now. 

I’m no economic whiz. My last formal economic education took place almost fifty years ago in a classroom at Tonawanda High School. About all I remember from that instruction is “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Tariffs? I’ve heard the term, a tax on imports or exports between sovereign states. Wikipedia suggests that “taxing items coming into the country means people are less likely to buy them as they become more expensive.” That makes sense, but I’m not sure how tariffs influence “dumping,” export subsidies or currency manipulation, other concerns mentioned by Wikipedia.

I haven’t paid too much attention to the impact of the recently-imposed tariffs. Apparently, early tariffs against Chinese-produced goods raised the price of washing machines by at least 12% (a $96 increase for an $800 washer if I did the math correctly), but my washer is working fine (knock on wood). Curiously, even though dryers aren’t generally imported from China, their price went up as well. Smart business people and gullible consumers, I guess.

But now, with expanded tariffs on Chinese goods, some are worried the Dollar Tree company may have to raise their prices due to the tariffs. Others suggest the packages will just get smaller. Sixteen crayons instead of twenty-four, the slime container only half-filled, the “made in China” 4^thof July decorations with ten stripes and forty stars. 

Yet maybe we won’t have to pay more for less. After all, our president has assured us that China will be the one to pay, but recent studies suggest that Americans are carrying the heaviest burden. We shall see.

Too often, we pay little attention to national policies until they hit our pocketbooks. When our washer breaks down, we need to purchase a new automobile, we can’t sell our soybeans, or the dollar store raises its prices, then we pay attention. Remember the frog in the kettle? At first the warm water feels comfortable, but by the time the frog notices how hot it is getting, it’s too late. 

But here’s an idea: maybe the government can donate the tariff money it’s raking in to families with busted washers and broken-down cars, farmers with fields of soybeans, and to the Dollar Tree people, so they can keep their promise to Americans: great deals for only one buck.