A user on TikTok is calling out Dollar Tree after claiming that employees hid desirable items in areas where shoppers could not access them.
Accusations of this nature are nothing new for retail stores. For example, when Hello Kitty products became viral on TikTok, users accused workers at stores like Marshalls and HomeGoods of hiding and reselling the items—and in some cases, not allowing customers to buy the items at all.
Now, TikTok user Laura (@lauracoblog) alleges that she experienced similar employee behavior at Dollar Tree.
In a video with over 3.4 million views as of Friday, Laura says that she went to Dollar Tree to pick up trendy hand sanitizers that she had seen on TikTok, which were dupes of the viral Touchland hand sanitizers. The purpose of this purchase, she says, was to give them to several teachers as part of a larger gift for Teacher’s Appreciation.
When she got to the store, however, she learned that they were out of stock—or so it initially appeared.
“As I’m about to walk out, I see this lady with her husband, and she has four of them in her hands,” Laura details. “And I said, ‘Oh my goodness! Where did you get those? I’ve been looking for them everywhere to add to my little teacher appreciation gifts.’ And she said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m doing the same thing.’”
“So she says, ‘Oh, go ask the manager over there because she is keeping the box in the back,’” she continues.
Upon hearing this, Laura found an employee, who was able to pull a full box of the desired hand sanitizers from the back room. When Laura asked for four bottles, she was told she could only receive two, as the manager had already set the items aside for someone else. Laura stresses that the box was nearly full.
“I took the two—I mean, at least I get two, and not four, and I could just, like, figure out something different for the other two teachers, but I was like, ‘What the heck just happened?’” she says.
Later, after posting another video to TikTok concerning items that people can purchase, she was told that employees had been hiding the items for themselves. This led her to suspect that the same thing happened with her Dollar Tree selections.
“I don’t understand why they’re doing that,” she states. “If you’re looking for popular things around your Dollar Tree and you’re not finding them for some reason, that might be the reason why.”
In an email to the Daily Dot, Laura says she had never experienced this before and did not expect the video to become as popular as it did.
“I haven’t heard from Dollar Tree, and I wanted to add that I know it’s not every Dollar Tree that does this,” she wrote. “That’s why I purposely didn’t share the location of the store online—I don’t want people showing up or going off at innocent employees at that store that might have nothing to do with it.”
“I think this is something important to discuss, because it’s not about hand sanitizer (it’s not about the pasta!!!) or a random Dollar Tree, it’s about customers not being able to find products they would like to purchase in stores—no matter what store, no matter what product, it shouldn’t be happening,” she added.
@lauracoblog I swear I’m not a Karen, but some Dollar Tree Employees & Managers are not putting popular items out on the floor to be sold!!! And I experienced this today! Also, the hand sanitizers are only very very small part of the actual gift I’m making for the teachers lol!! I’ll post them when I put them all together! 🥰 #dollartree #dollartreefinds #dollartreediy #dollartreehacks #dollartreehaul #dollartreemakeup @Dollar Tree ♬ original sound – Nintendo
Commenters under Laura’s video were quick to make similar accusations.
“Former Dollar Tree employee here- the employees hold all the ‘good stuff’ in the back,” alleged a user.
“You’re not lying. Our dollar tree has boxes in the warehouse that’s not even trying to put the boxes out,” offered another.
Still, many suggested reporting the practice to Dollar Tree’s corporate headquarters.
“Call her district manager and complaint,” stated a user.
“Corporate needs to [know] about this practice,” declared a second.
The Daily Dot reached out to Dollar Tree via email.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
