‘Those are mine’: Dollar Tree customer says worker took item out of her hands at checkout

A Dollar Tree customer is going viral on TikTok after claiming that some of the store’s workers are hiding popular items from customers. 

Carlie Coyne (@carliecoyne) said that she went to a nearby Dollar Tree in order to buy the B-Pure Hydrating Hand Sanitizer sprays that are currently all the rage on TikTok. But she said that two Dollar Tree employees lied about the sanitizer so that they wouldn’t have to sell it. Coyne recorded the video from her car, seemingly after leaving the discount chain.

“Here’s what happened at the Dollar Tree,” Coyne said. As of Wednesday, her video had amassed 142,300 views.

Dollar Tree employees allegedly hide items from customer

Coyne said she called ahead and asked an employee whether the store had the sprays in stock. She said she was told by a male employee that they did—but were running out.

“Any time I’ve called before, they’re like, ‘No, we don’t have any,’” Coyne said. So, eager to get her spray, she said she ran to Dollar Tree. When she arrived at the store, however, she said a female worker told her they were sold out. 

As it turns out, there was more to the story, Coyne said she learned.

Coyne said the woman tried to get her to buy another, similar sanitizer. But as they were talking, the man Coyne initially spoke with came out with the square-shaped B-Pure sprays she was initially looking for. 

“I figured he just randomly found them,” she said. “I was so excited.” That feeling didn’t last long, though. Shortly thereafter, Coyne said the female worker ripped the products from her hand.

“The woman goes, ‘Those are mine,’” Coyne said. “I was just standing there in shock.”

Coyne said she figured the worker had already purchased them. But as it turns out, she said the woman was stowing them away so that other customers couldn’t find or purchase them. She said she later learned that the male employee, along with other Dollar Tree employees, were all stowing away sanitizers for themselves.

Coyne said she told the male worker (who turned out to be the manager) that she was “disappointed” by their behavior. And, in the end, she said the manager gave her two of the sanitizers he kept hidden.

“They have every single scent just sitting behind the counter because the employees are hoarding them all,” Coyne said.

@carliecoyne I realize it’s literally a dollar store, but come on ???? #dollartree ♬ original sound - carliecoyne

Why do TikTok users want the B-Pure sanitizers?

B-Pure sanitizers have been around for some time, but the small square-shaped bottles are having a moment on TikTok. 

In one video, a content creator admitted to going to Dollar Tree five separate times to try to find them. Their popularity stems from the fact that the B-Pure sanitizers are apparently a dupe for the Touchland brand ones. (The Touchland sanitizers are available at Sephora for $10 vs. the cheaper Dollar Store brand.) 

They also come in the same, square-shaped bottle. But they’re hard to procure. The content creator who visited Dollar Tree five times said she picked up a couple of bottles, seemingly because they’re hard to track down given their virality. 

“I grabbed a couple of each,” she said. “The watermelon scent and the cucumber and honestly they smell so good.”

Dollar Tree is known for its beauty dupes

Coyne isn’t the first customer on the hunt for popular beauty dupes that are allegedly sold at Dollar Tree. In another video, from late October, a second content creator said she found the hand sanitizer dupes in a Dollar Tree stock cart. 

Another Dollar Tree shopper compared the discount store to Sephora due to the amount of high-quality beauty products it sells. 

Viewers appalled by workers’ behavior 

In the comments of Coyne’s video, several users said that they couldn’t believe the workers would hide inventory from customers. Regardless of how popular an item is, they said, customers should have the right to purchase it first if it’s available. 

“You should have called their corporate offices,” one user suggested. 

“They can’t do that,” another said of the workers’ hoarding. “At our Dollar Tree, employees aren’t allowed to purchase or hold any items while they’re in their shift.”

But apparently this behavior has affected other shoppers, who said that they suspected greedy workers were the reason they’re unable to find certain items at the store.

“I guarantee that employees are getting first dibs while they are unpacking inventory,” one user wrote. “I can never find many of the great dupes that I see on TikTok.”

“Well that explains why I haven’t seen them at any of my stores ever,” another added.

“I’ve never found a single one of those hand sanitizers ever!” a third woman exclaimed. 

The Daily Dot has reached out to Coyne via TikTok comment and to Dollar Tree through its online contact form.

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