Summary and Last Post

November 29, 2010

Dollar General Corporation to Webcast Third Quarter 2010 Financial Results on December 6 and Investor Meeting on December 15

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) plans to report financial results for its third quarter ended October 29, 2010, on Monday morning, December 6, 2010. In connection with the announcement, Rick Dreiling, chairman and chief executive officer, and David Tehle, chief financial officer, will host a conference call on Monday, December 6, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. CST/10:00 a.m. EST.
If you wish to participate, please call (866) 710-0179 at least 10 minutes before the conference call is scheduled to begin. The pass code for the conference call is "Dollar General." The call will also be webcast live at http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dollargeneral.com&esheet=6527018&lan=en-US&anchor=www.dollargeneral.com&index=1&md5=ac85cc7585b6c62cfd54bef15676d37b under "Investor Information, Conference Calls and Investor Events." A replay of the conference call will be available through Monday, December 20, 2010, and will be accessible online or by calling (334) 323-7226. The pass code for the replay is 56137100.
Investor Meeting on December 15
The Company will hold a meeting with the investment community in New York City at 12:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 15, 2010. The Company expects to discuss its various growth initiatives and to allow time for questions at the meeting.
A webcast of this meeting can be accessed live at approximately 11:00 a.m. CST/12:00 p.m. EST at http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dollargeneral.com&esheet=6527018&lan=en-US&anchor=www.dollargeneral.com&index=2&md5=905434a0ed2134443456877125959235 under "Investor Information, Conference Calls and Investor Events." A replay of the webcast will be available at the same address through Wednesday, December 29, 2010.
About Dollar General Corporation
Dollar General Corporation has been delivering value to shoppers for more than 70 years. Dollar General helps shoppers Save time. Save money. Every day!(R) by offering products that are frequently used and replenished, such as food, snacks, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, basic apparel, house wares and seasonal items at low everyday prices in convenient neighborhood locations. With more than 9,200 stores in 35 states, Dollar General has more retail locations than any retailer in America. In addition to high quality private brands, Dollar General sells products from America's most-trusted manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Unilever, Kellogg's, General Mills, Nabisco, Hanes, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. Learn more about Dollar General at http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dollargeneral.com%2F&esheet=6527018&lan=en-US&anchor=www.dollargeneral.com&index=3&md5=895aa466d1442846c91b5ac78bd9f9d7

Going Up

Tuesday Nov 23 Dollar General Corp. Shares in Dollar General Corp. rallied as much as 4.1% this afternoon to touch an intraday- and new 52-week high of $32.23 after fellow discount retailer, Dollar Tree, reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings this morning

Overall Dollar General Experience

Having chosen this company to blog about I have found out many interesting things I did not know.  I am a shopper at these stores and have found that the convenience, quality, and price have kept me coming back.  It is convenient to just stop in and the workers are always friendly and helpful.  Parking is easy, there are no large lines, and you find really good deals.  Compared to having to go to Walmart I was so excited that they keep popping up everywhere.  I think that this is a stock to consider purchasing I see them doing very well in the future.  I also think that their employees are a happy bunch of people.  They pay well and have benefits and they have that small time family atmosphere.  Obviously there management and their strategic plan are working and they really do see that their human resources is a large asset.

Stock Update

Company	Exchange	Symbol	Last price		Quote change	Market cap
Dollar General Corp.	NYSE	DG	30.96		+0.88 (2.93%)	10.56B

Dollar General Culture

Dollar General maintains that there culture is designed for people entering the workforce for the first time, Dollar General stores provide an ideal foundation of basic work skills along with competitive wages and benefits. Experienced workers are drawn to the opportunity to grow with one of the fastest-growing retailers in America. Celebrating excellence is a hallmark of Dollar General's culture, whether you work in a store, a distribution center or at the store support center.  Since their founders only enjoyed a third grade education it was imperative for them to attack this problem.  They promise to serve their communities by promoting a spirit of involvement, and carry Dollar General's mission to serve deep into the communities they call home. Through their charitable outreach, they strive for a real and lasting impact on individuals and their families.
Literacy is the foundation for improving the quality of life for many Americans. Nationwide, more than 40 million adults can't read well enough to fill out a job application or read a book to their children. Dollar General today helps thousands of individuals take their first steps toward literacy, a general education diploma or English proficiency.  In summary it really seems that Dollar General Cares their value and mission statements and their actions seem to all support what they promote their culture to be.  Their culture appears to be strong and healthy and also adaptive.  They demonstrate this by continually opening stores in very rural areas and providing jobs and services where the competitor has not gone with local, loyal employees.  Everytime I am in their stores their sales people and management have always interacted cheerfully and been very helpful.

Thanksgiving Campaign for St Judes

Nov 19, 2010

Dollar General Offers Customers the Chance to Support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® During the Thanks and Giving® Campaign

Shoppers can help save children’s lives by contributing to St. Jude at Dollar General

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. (BUSINESS WIRE), November 19, 2010 - This holiday season, Dollar General (NYSE: DG) again joins St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for the Thanks and Giving campaign by asking customers to “give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are not.”
The St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign launches at Dollar General on November 19 and runs through December 12. Customers who shop at Dollar General during this time will have the opportunity to donate $1 or more to the Thanks and Giving campaign at check-out.
“Dollar General is proud to partner with St. Jude to offer our customers the opportunity to save children’s lives through the Thanks and Giving campaign,” said Rick Dreiling, Dollar General’s chairman and CEO. “Each dollar donated to Thanks and Giving will help a child in need of lifesaving medical treatment. Together, we can help St. Jude bring hope to more children.”
Thanks and Giving is an annual tradition that raises funds and awareness for St. Jude, one of the world’s premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. Dollar General has been involved in the Thanks and Giving campaign for five years.
“I am so happy that Dollar General is once again a part of the Thanks and Giving family this year,” said Marlo Thomas, National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “We are so grateful for their ongoing support. Dollar General and their customers’ commitment to St. Jude will help make a difference in the lives of so many children and their moms and dads.”
In 2010, St. Jude was ranked the most trusted charity in the nation in a public survey conducted by Harris Interactive, as well as named the nation’s No. 1 children’s cancer hospital for 2010-2011 by U.S. News & World Report.
At St. Jude, no child is ever turned away because of a family’s inability to pay. St. Jude also covers the costs of travel, food, and lodging for each patient and a family member.
Since it opened its doors in 1962, St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped push survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent to 80 percent overall. In fact, the survival rate for the most common form of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has risen from just 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today thanks to research and treatment protocols developed at St. Jude.
To find the Dollar General store nearest you, visit www.dollargeneral.com.

Dollar General Scandals

I could find no recent scandal information linked with Dollar General, which is a good thing, but they had their fair share of scandals in 2001 and 2002 when Dollar General Chairman and Chief Executive Cal Turner Jr. was awarded a $800,000 cash bonus but had reported wrong accouting information. Even though he apologized the damage had been done.  See below.

WSJ looks at Turner's handling of Dollar General's accounting scandal

Cal Turner Jr.’s apology earlier this week for a $199 million restatement of Dollar General Corp.’s (DG) earnings was at odds with

By David A. Fox

01-17-2002 12:00 AM — Cal Turner Jr.’s apology earlier this week for a $199 million restatement of Dollar General Corp.’s (DG) earnings was at odds with other corporations’ recent treatment of accounting scandals, The Wall Street Journal noted in an article Thursday. It is in contrast with Enron Corp.’s reluctant treatment of its financial scandal and with former Sunbeam CEO Al Dunlap’s agreement to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit.
It also quoted New York psychologist Mort Feinberg as saying that Turner shouldered “an emormous amount of pain” during the nine-month ordeal, particularly when his honesty was being questioned. Feinberg, who runs BFS Psychological Associates, counsels businesses executives on how to deal with various stresses. Described as a 15-year friend and close adviser to Turner, Feinberg organized a book club for Dollar General executives, according to a Doubleday webpage devoted to workplace book groups.
The Journal article also pointed out that some observers were supportive of Turner’s efforts to improve financial reporting at the Goodlettsville-based retailer; however, others criticized the inclusion of John Holland on the Dollar General audit committee that supervises the reports. He was CEO of Fruit of the Loom in 2000, a year in which the clothing maker sold $53.5 million of goods to Dollar General.

Do I see a pattern here!

Dollar General to Sponsor Kyle Busch in Five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Races in 2011

It seems that all large corporations want to be involved these days in NASCAR.  Dollar General is no different.  The most recent news release is below.

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. - (Business Wire) Dollar General will go truck racing with Kyle Busch and Kyle Busch Motorsports in five NASCAR® Camping World Truck Series races in 2011. Busch's No. 18 Toyota Tundra will be sporting the Dollar General yellow and black at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, Nashville Superspeedway on April 22, Kentucky Speedway on July 7, Chicagoland Speedway on September 16 and Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18.
“Dollar General is excited to partner with Kyle and Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2011,” said Rick Dreiling, chairman and CEO of Dollar General. “We enjoyed being the sponsor for Kyle's first win with Kyle Busch Motorsports at Nashville Superspeedway in 2010, and we look forward to seeing him in victory lane in 2011.”
Dollar General and Busch have had recent successes together on the track. Most recently, Busch had a win for Dollar General and his new team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, at Nashville Superspeedway in April 2010 in his No. 18 Toyota Tundra. Additionally, Busch drove the Braun Racing No. 32 Dollar General Toyota Camry to victory lane in May 2008 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Las Vegas native has more than 80 wins in NASCAR's top three divisions, including three Nationwide Series races that were sponsored by Dollar General.
“We're extremely happy that Dollar General has decided to partner with Kyle Busch Motorsports for five races in 2011,” said Busch, who has 21 career victories in the Camping World Truck Series. “They sponsored our Tundra for our first win at their home track in Nashville, Tenn., which was a special day in my racing career. We're going to do everything we can to put them in victory lane again next year, starting with Daytona.”
Busch's No. 18 Toyota is competing for the 2010 Camping World Truck Series owner's title. It is second in the championship standings, 39 points behind the first-place No. 30 truck of Germain Racing.

Major Retailer Outsources Entire EDW to the Cloud

Dollar General Corp. replaces Oracle and HP with 1010data’s hosted analytics/data warehousing service

Information Management Online, October 8, 2009

Julie Langenkamp

October 8, 2009 - 1010data has signed a multi-year contract with Dollar General to host the retailer’s enterprise data warehouse and provide the front-end analytical tools and related support for their entire enterprise. This solution is being delivered via 1010data’s namesake service, an analytics and reporting platform as a software as a service model in the cloud. With this contract, Dollar General becomes the first major retailer to adopt this model.

Dollar General, the largest discount retailer in the United States by number of stores, currently generates more than 5 billion records of data annually and has accumulated over 70 billion records of historical and operational data. Rapidly growing data volumes have exhausted the capabilities of the company’s existing data warehouse infrastructure. 

Under the agreement, Dollar General will use 1010data’s hosted solution for all data warehousing needs for its operations, including more than 8,500 stores, nine distribution centers and a corporate office in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. 

”Our solution provides Dollar General with a place where their most detailed source data is hosted for all users to access with permission over the Internet,” said Jim Mattecheck, VP of the retail solutions group for 1010data in a statement. 

Mattecheck also stated that Dollar General’s decision to be the first major retailer to embrace an outsourcing strategy for its EDW signals a fundamental shift in how retailers are thinking about the value of their data and the business opportunities provided with insight on demand.

This announcement signals a shift outside of the retail space as well. One year ago, independent industry analyst Lou Agosta wrote that it was difficult to imagine anyone moving an existing multiterabyte data warehouse to the cloud, but he admits times are changing. “It is a special pleasure to have to eat one’s words since that is where one is able to learn and grow personally and professionally,” Agosta told Information Management. He believes that the client, vendor and analyst communities are all going to learn a lot from 1010data/Dollar General undertaking. 

While Agosta offers encouragement for such an undertaking into new realms of outsourcing, Saas and cloud computing, he also offers words of caution for companies considering such a model.

“Critical success factors in transforming the press release into a successful implementation include a rigorous yet flexible service level agreement (SLA) between the client and the vendor; upstream, low latency data integration to identify which consumer regions are buying what products and when and where are they doing so; a usable front end that delivers the ‘ah-ha! moment’ synthesized in the background; and some serious bandwidth, i.e., pipes, so that the network functions as a whole. The front end is for show; data integration is for dough.” 

When asked about trepidation regarding data warehousing in the cloud, Greg Munves, 1010data VP, told Information Management that 1010data has been implementing large data warehouse projects in the cloud successfully for the last nine years.  

“The competitive landscape of the current economy and the need to reduce costs now make data warehousing in the cloud more attractive than ever,” said Munves. He further stated that the company has proven the technology is available - and even optimal - to handle enterprise data warehousing in the cloud.

Military Recruiting

At Dollar General, they salute your
commitment to serve our nation.

Just as you served our country in the military, you can serve others
everyday with a career at Dollar General.

Your military experience prepared you well for challenging
leadership roles, working together in teams and being a self-
starter. Dollar General appreciates your experiences
and offer many career opportunities for you to apply your skills.
In the armed forces, you demonstrate integrity, accountability
and discipline on a daily basis. Because Dollar General shares these values,
Dollar General is the perfect place for you to start or expand your
civilian career. If you are an active duty member, veteran or family
member, you will find Dollar General is the company that aligns with
your values and commitment to Serving Others. Dollar General is looking for
people just like YOU!

I did find that they utilize careerbuilder.com to recruit. 

GMA to Honor Dollar General, Kroger and CVS in Inaugural Retailer Awards Program

November 3, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) today announced Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG), The Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) and CVS/pharmacy (NYSE: CVS) as the winners of its inaugural Retail Honors awards. The companies were selected as winners by their manufacturer trading partners and will be honored in three distinct categories: Retailer of the Year (Dollar General), Most Innovative Retailer (CVS/pharmacy) and Most Collaborative Retailer (Kroger).

"On behalf of our members, GMA is pleased to recognize those retail partners that have gone above and beyond to help create growth, customer loyalty and innovation in the marketplace," said Denny Belcastro, GMA executive vice president of industry affairs and member services. "Trading partner collaboration has never been more important given the current economic climate and these companies are leading the way by developing collective solutions that drive efficiency and growth."

The Retail Honors program was established this year to provide an opportunity for GMA member companies to recognize their trading partners for sustained excellence in performance, collaboration and innovation. The panel of Retail Honors judges, composed of manufacturer and sales agency executives from the GMA Sales Committee and the Industry Development and Advisory Committee, carefully considered the number of nominations, award criteria rankings and written comment submissions in determining winners in each category.

The 2010 Retailer of the Year award-winner, Dollar General Corporation, impressed judges with its ability to deliver top and bottom line growth, execution of in-store merchandising plans, strong shopper loyalty and high employee morale. These factors, combined with Dollar General's already strong reputation as a trusted and respected trading partner, earned the company Retailer of the Year honors.

Way to go Dollar General!