It's great to have you here on the Clark Howard Show.

You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you

so you make better financial decisions in your life.

In today's episode, gosh, I'm trying to come up with a new name for $1.25 tree.

Used to be known as Dollar Tree because things are changing again.

Also, the summer travel seasons upon us.

So for most of us, that means we hit the road.

And I want to lay out what's going on at the gas pump.

So it's getting easier and easier for you to get better and better prices on gasoline.

Whatever the price average is on a gallon, it's much easier than it used to be for you to pay less

than that average. the market has changed so

much to your advantage. So the dollar tree changes are not to your advantage. Dollar Tree

forever was everything was a dollar. And then inflation during COVID led to them breaking the buck and going to a buck 25.

And Dollar Tree has always had, what's known, very high margins.

You may be buying things for $1.25, but they have a big markup, much bigger than a lot of other

retailers because they source the stuff and so much of it is private label.

But now because of the combination of inflation and tariffs, Dollar Tree has been experimenting with running their stores

different ways.

And they've been trying in different neighborhoods, different pricing systems, and different

merchandise mixes.

Now they are going to a system that is going to be from $1.25 to right now a cap of $7.

So when you walk in a dollar tree, no longer can you just put something in those little carry-around baskets is what most people use.

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