Millions of Americans count on dollar stores to stretch tight household budgets, but AARP warns that some of the most common items on those shelves aren’t worth the savings.
From personal care products laced with harmful chemicals to electronics that lack basic safety certifications, certain bargain buys can cost you more in health risks than they ever saved at checkout.
Dollar Tree paid $559,250 in a January 2026 settlement after New York Attorney General Letitia James found the chain kept selling lead-tainted children’s applesauce pouches days after a nationwide recall.
Here are the 10 dollar store categories AARP flags and what the running cost looks like when you add up the health risks, recalls, and replacements.
The dollar store categories AARP says to avoid
AARP’s list spans household staples, groceries, and personal care. Several categories are also flagged in recent regulatory actions and independent lab testing, which shifts the math from “value shopping” to “risk shopping.”
Skincare
AARP’s report flags personal care products as a category to avoid at dollar stores, citing chemical safety concerns.
The Campaign for Healthier Solutions backed that warning with specifics: its May 2025 study found formaldehyde-releasing agents in baby lotion sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, among nearly 50 flagged products, ConsumerAffairs reported.
Formaldehyde is classified as a known human carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program.
For a shopper saving a few dollars per bottle, the downstream cost is measured in what regular exposure to a flagged ingredient could mean over years.
Groceries
“Buying food products at the dollar store is a mixed bag,” Ricca noted in the AARP report. “Some products may be close to their expiration date or past their peak freshness.” A larger concern, though, is recalled food remaining on shelves.
Dollar Tree received direct notification on October 29, 2023, that WanaBana-brand cinnamon applesauce pouches had been recalled over dangerous lead levels, the New York attorney general’s office confirmed.
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The retailer failed to immediately block sales, and hundreds of contaminated pouches were sold to New York families after the recall began.
Dollar General voluntarily recalled three lots of Clover Valley instant coffee across 48 states in August 2025 after a customer reported glass fragments in the product, according to an FDA notice.
Electronics
Phone chargers, extension cords, and headphones carry lower prices but shorter lifespans. “Items like phone chargers and headphones may come at a minimal cost, but they often don’t last as long as higher-quality alternatives,” Ricca said in the AARP report.
A May 2025 Campaign for Healthier Solutions (CHS) study found that kids’ headphones sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar contained solder with 22,000 parts per million of lead, along with PVC cable insulation and plasticizers, E&E News reported.
Buying a $1.25 charger three times a year runs to $3.75. It also runs to whatever damage a faulty charger does to the device it’s plugged into.
Plastic food containers
Unknown-brand plastic containers may not withstand a microwave or dishwasher, and chemical leaching adds another layer of concern.
“If it’s a random brand you’re not familiar with, I would tend to avoid that,” said Trae Bodge, a shopping strategist at TrueTrae.com, in the AARP report.
The May 2025 CHS study found bisphenol S (BPS) in receipts from Dollar Tree and Dollar General and PVC in multiple product categories, both of which raise chemical-migration concerns in food-contact plastics.
Batteries
Common batteries sold at dollar stores deplete faster than name-brand options, which leads to more frequent replacement purchases.
Elisabella Ricca, personal finance and consumer analyst at TopCashback.com said that cheap batteries often underperform and wear out faster than trusted brands.
<strong>You may think you’re getting a bargain buying batteries at the dollar store, but they don’t always provide the same performance or longevity as name-brand batteries do</strong>
Batteries are a running expense, not a one-time buy. Households that replace them three times more often at a dollar store end up spending more over a year than shoppers who paid slightly more upfront for name-brand alkalines.
Candy
Dollar store candy bags are smaller than they appear, and the per-unit price often loses to bulk alternatives.
“Dollar stores typically carry small bags, so it’s actually not a good deal,” noted Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings adviser in Bakersfield, California, in the AARP report.
Warehouse clubs or post-holiday clearance sales at big-box retailers tend to deliver better volume for the same spend, Woroch added.
Makeup
Generic cosmetics are more likely to contain low-quality or potentially hazardous ingredients, and they lack the testing accountability that established brands maintain, Ricca said in the AARP report.
Affordable alternatives from brands such as E.l.f., Nyx, and Wet N Wild at drugstores offer similar price points with more rigorous product testing, Ricca added.
Pet food and treats
Shoppers should beware of poor-quality ingredients in dollar store pet food, Woroch cautioned in the AARP report. Warehouse clubs such as Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club carry name-brand pet food in bulk at lower per-unit prices, she noted.
For pet owners, the running cost isn’t just the food it’s the vet bill that follows.
Picture frames
Those bargain-bin frames seem perfect for displaying grandkids’ photos on a budget, but Woroch cautions that they’re prone to breaking.
“You’re better off grabbing a nice frame from a discounter like HomeGoods or Marshalls, where you can get quality frames for $5 to $12 each that last,” Woroch said.
Toys
Cheap toys break more easily and can leave behind small pieces that create choking hazards for young children, Woroch cautioned.
The May 2025 CHS study found PVC in nearly two dozen children’s toys and lead in electronic items such as light-up bracelets, candy pails, and plastic roses sold at dollar stores, ConsumerAffairs reported.
Waiting for holiday sales or browsing secondhand marketplaces can reduce both the cost and the risk, Woroch suggested in the AARP report.
What the sticker price doesn’t show
The dollar store discount holds for some categories. It falls apart on food, skincare, toys, and plastics, where the documented record shows chemical contamination and delayed recall compliance. For a household counting on every dollar to stretch, the shelf price is only half the calculation.
The recall delay, the state penalty, and the CHS study each point to the same gap between the sticker price and the full cost of what ends up in the cart.
