A home pregnancy test. The thought just boggles me.
I went in at lunch to see if I could find some tissues. Didn’t find any. Did see the generic/store brand home pregnancy tests. They were hanging next to the band-aids. The cardboard box even looked cheap. Call me eliteist, but I’d trust a flipped coin about as must as I’d trust one of those.
Would you buy an HPT for a dollar? Have you seen anything else in a dollar store that you just wouldn’t buy?
I’d buy a pregnancy test at a dollar store, reason being that while false positives are common, false negatives are nearly unheard of (and I know someone here will say they got a false negative and I’m sure it’s happened but it’s way way easier to get an incorrect calibration in one direction than the other). So if I got a positive, I would immediately go to a doctor’s office for a second test, whereas if I got a negative, I’d feel reasonable sure that it was accurate, and would not be out $15 or whatever a brand name home test costs, or $75 or whatever a doctor’s visit would cost.
I wouldn’t buy the underwear there, because they look like they’d fall apart in the wash and I buy unders for quality. Same with bras, though I don’t know who would buy a bra without trying it on (there was nowhere to try on clothes there). I wouldn’t buy frozen fish either, the Dollar General in my old town had a little meat section and the fish just looked rancid. But I’d buy most everything else at the dollar store, and have in the past. There was nowhere else TO shop in my old town if you boycott Walmart and can’t drive.
I wouldn’t buy an HPT at the dollar store because, back in the day, I was always trying to read positive lines where there were none and I would rationalize too much and go nuts.
I wouldn’t buy toothpaste there because I hear that it’s often toothpaste for foreign markets where they don’t put fluoride in the water and there’s too much fluoride in that toothpaste.
Also condoms.
I would never buy Thai jelly beads at a dollar store. Not again anyway.
I’ve bought them and have never had a problem. The two I used were right and it was money well spent.
I’ve never seen condoms at the dollar store. But I won’t buy the medicine there or the herbal supplements.
Actually, the exact opposite is true. False negatives are more common.
True story:
99cent store on Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax in LA had a sign that said, “Sale. All Items 75 cents.”
I just wondered how many people read that and thought, “well, NOW it is worth going in there.”
And a home pregnancy kit for a dollar? What was it - a tape measurer?
Sweet jumpin’ jeezus on a trike. Two?!
Is that true? I was under the impression that it was the opposite. You can have a false negative very easily, simply because there isn’t quite enough hormone in your urine for the test to pick it up. You could be pregnant, but just tested a little too early. You could test a few days later and get a positive result.
This is exactly the opposite of what my doctor told me. False positives are rare; negatives are not. Just sayin’.
On preview, what Jenaroph said.
Damn! Jenaroph beat me to it while I was roaming around trying to get an internet cite…shoulda previewed.
Yes, but that’s user error and not test error. People would get false negatives from taking it too early no matter how expensive the test was. I heard it was easier to get false positives on a properly administered test because the test can be too sensitive to certain hormones which are always present in the female body but increase during pregnancy. I could be wrong though, it’s an old roommate who told me this and not a doctor or anything.
I won’t buy terrycloth towels there, because they’re just too thin to be useful. I won’t buy baby toys, bibs, nursers, etc. there because I don’t trust the manufacturers - I can’t be sure the dyes are safe, the ties are short enough for safety standards and the nipples won’t pull out of the nursers and present a choking hazard. I won’t buy much in the way of kids’ toys there because most of them are just crap. The occasional bottle of bubbles or set of jacks, sure. But those plastic helicopters and army sets hanging on the back wall? No thanks. The breakage rate is far too high - frustration and tears trumps cheapness.
A pregnancy test? Sure. It’s not like EPT costs more than a dollar to make. They do spend much more than a dollar to advertise them, however. They also do market research which contains questions like: “Would you buy product XYZ if it cost more than $20? How about if it cost less than $5?” So the price isn’t determined by the quality of the product, but by the fact that people assume higher cost = higher quality. The dollar store brands avoid all that by simply being the only brand in the store - no competition for buyers. I’d rather buy somethig for a fair price than pay $15 to cover advertising, marketing and “consumer confidence.”
I don’t buy much there, but I tend to stay away from food items.
I bought a corkscrew there once. We were on vacation, and wanted to open a bottle of wine. The corkscrew broke off in the cork.
Thank the powers that be for the mighty Swiss Army knife of a passing Good Samaritan.
I wouldn’t buy make up from a dollar store. I would (and do) buy these tubs of lip gloss there, and they are to die for.
I’m drawn to the dollar store like a moth to a flame. Laundry baskets for a buck? Coloring books? Holiday decorations? Sign me up! The nearest one is still more than 50 miles away though and, with gas prices being completely insane, I’m better off staying in town and paying top dollar for my laundry baskets and things. But if I happen to pass one when I’m out for other stuff, I’m there.
The worst thing I ever bought in a dollar store was a pack of CD cases. I broke three or four of 'em getting the plastic wrap off.
The worst thing I’ve ever seen sold in a dollar store was a generic-looking bag labeled “Chocolate Flavored Chips”. Yes, chocolate flavored chips. Even had a recipe on the back for “Chocolate Flavored Chip Cookies.”
A can of “Imitation Abalone”. I can’t resist checking the label. Giant squid.
Actually, a dollar store is a very good place to grab pregnancy tests.
Any home pregnancy test is going to test for HCG (a pregnancy hormone) – a woman does not produce this hormone unless she is pregnant.
If you really want to get technical, there is no such thing as a “false positive” – it’s a chemical pregnancy. Sperm met the egg, the egg failed to implant correctly, woman gets her period on time (maybe a few days late), but by all standards, she was technically pregnant. Picking nits, I know…
Basically, what it comes down to is that every test looks for the same chemical. It’s a matter of how much is required in the body before a particular test will register a positive (a good breakdown can be found here).
So, if you’re trying to have a baby, you’ll probably be going through two to four tests a month – dollar store tests are a good way to save a few bucks. When you finally do get a positive, then you get an expensive one, just for peace of mind.
Wow…looks like some of the info my wife has been telling me about this while we were trying the past two years sunk in. 
I am concerned about alcholic beverages sold at dollar stores. Anything that gives you a six pack for a dollar has to be made of terpintine or something.