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• I’m a former Dollar Tree employee, and I still love buying certain items from the budget retailer.
• Dollar Tree is my go-to place for essentials like cotton balls, bleach, and dog waste bags.
• I exclusively get my greeting cards and gift bags at Dollar Tree — the chain has a great variety.

Even though I no longer work at Dollar Tree, I still shop there all the time.

The discount retailer can be great for those of us trying to live a budget-friendly life, since most items are $1.25 each. Not everything at the chain is a great value, in my opinion, but I’ve found some excellent products over the years.

Here are a few Dollar Tree finds I swear by and still purchase often.

Air-fryer liners come in handy.

Cleaning an air-fryer basket can be a real hassle, so these Surefresh liners feel like a necessity in my kitchen.

They help catch pesky crumbs that might otherwise fall deep into the appliance and burn.

A pack of 20 liners only costs me $1.25.

The plastic cups with sip lids are perfect for iced coffee.

I love starting my mornings with iced coffee, but after a long day at work, I dislike cleaning reusable cups that have been sitting out for hours.

So, I pay a little extra to put my drinks in disposable 20-ounce plastic cups that come with lids designed for sipping with or without a straw.

I used to spend $25 on 100-packs of similar cups elsewhere until I realized Dollar Tree’s bag of six for $1.25 was a better value. The price per cup is a few cents lower, and I don’t need to worry about storing so many cups at once in my home.

Dollar Tree is still the only place I’ll buy greeting cards.

I’ve seen drugstores and stationery stores charge $5 or more for greeting cards. Dollar Tree offers a wide variety of them that are two for $1.

There are options for virtually every occasion, from birthdays to graduations, and lots of them are from Hallmark. The selection is also updated seasonally.

All in all, I like saving money on a card so I have more to spend on a gift.

Disposable plates and platters are perfect for parties.

Dollar Tree is my go-to destination for affordable party supplies, especially when I need serving plates, platters, and bowls.

I’ve used these for chips, dips, finger foods, and appetizers — and I love not having to wash a huge pile of dishes once the party’s over.

The chain also sells disposable utensils, such as forks, spoons, ladles, and tongs, to make serving even easier.

I grab a car air freshener almost every time I go to Dollar Tree.

Everyone loves a nice-smelling car, and I appreciate that my local Dollar Tree has so many scents and styles of fresheners available for $1.25 a pop.

I’ve seen hanging tree-shaped fresheners, vent clips, and even scented diffusers that fit in cupholders, in scents ranging from fruity to clean to musky.

It’s easy for me to switch up my car’s scent whenever I want without spending a fortune.

If you have a dog, you may want to grab some waste bags.

Dollar Tree carries a wide variety of dog-waste bags in different designs, colors, and sizes.

These compact rolls are perfect for stashing in your bag, pocket, or car. Each pack typically has four rolls of 15 bags, plenty to last dozens of walks.

Plus, Dollar Tree usually also sells bag carriers and holders that clip onto backpacks or leashes. That way, you’ll never forget to bring bags on your walk.

Everyday essentials, like cotton swabs, balls, and pads, are easy to pick up from Dollar Tree.

I use cotton swabs, balls, and pads for a wide range of purposes, like removing makeup, treating minor cuts, and cleaning small surfaces.

For me, grabbing a pack of each at Dollar Tree whenever I run out feels like a no-brainer. The quality has impressed me, and the prices are generally lower than those I’ve seen at nearby drugstores.

I always head to Dollar Tree when I need to pack up a present.

To me, it feels wasteful to spend too much on gift bags — they’re usually used once and then tossed.

Fortunately, Dollar Tree stocks $1.25 bags in various sizes and designs for just about every occasion. Some of the smaller bags come in value packs of two or three, making them even more cost-effective.

I find it’s affordable to stock up on bleach at Dollar Tree.

For many households, including my own, bleach is a cleaning essential. It’s just $1.25 a gallon here — a few bucks cheaper than what I’ve seen at other stores.

If you can find it and use it frequently, definitely grab a few bottles. It used to fly off the shelves when I worked at Dollar Tree.

Dollar Tree was not involved in the sourcing or writing of this story. The views contained within represent the author’s personal views.

This story was originally published on June 12, 2025, and most recently updated on July 2, 2026.

Autodesk is making a $350 million investment in training and tools to help people learn how to use artificial intelligence, said Dara Treseder, the company’s chief marketing officer, in an interview at the 2026 Cannes Lions Festival.

Treseder cited insights gleaned from the company’s recent AI jobs report. “It showed that while 82% of people are very comfortable using LLMs in their daily lives, only a third of people are comfortable using AI in their job,” she said. In the report, respondents said they fear AI might not work properly or will make humans irrelevant.

“That education is so key, not only to give people the skills and the talent,” she said, “but to change the mindset.”

Laura Ness Owens, chief marketing officer at Bobcat, a manufacturer of compact construction and landscaping machines, said that she wants to meet customers where they are searching for information.

Previously, the customer journey could start with search and the company’s website, she said. “Today, many customers are going right to the large-language-models and saying, ‘I want the right loader for me, to do this type of work’, so they are skipping much of that research stage that we were able to guide.”

Owens says that product reviews, earned media, and dealer reviews factor into those LLM results. “You have to understand that the good, the bad, and the ugly are out there,” she said. “It’s pushed us to really focus greater on that customer experience.”

• The homes in Southwest Washington, DC, known as Wheat Row, were built in 1794.
• One of the properties is now on the market for $1.15 million.
• The home’s features include seven fireplaces and moldings that date back more than 200 years.

In 1794, there were just 15 states in the Union, Philadelphia was still the nation’s capital, and George Washington was leading armed forces through Pennsylvania to put down the Whiskey Rebellion.

That same year, a collection of rowhouses in Washington, DC, known as Wheat Row, was being constructed. They still stand today, and one of the homes is up for sale.

Located on 4th Street SW near Washington, DC’s Southwest waterfront, the home is listed for $1.15 million after a recent $150,000 price cut. The property blends historic character with updates designed for modern living, according to Eric Stewart, the home’s listing agent from Long & Foster Real Estate.

“It’s comfortable for contemporary living and enjoyment, but with the heart of classic colonialism,” Stewart told Business Insider.

The seller, a retired history professor, has an appreciation for the home’s past, according to Stewart. He added that the ideal buyer would carry this same appreciation.

“Everybody wants to be able to see something built in that era, but not everybody wants to live in a home from that age,” Stewart said.

The homes in Wheat Row are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and were among the first housing developments built in DC after it was chosen to become America’s capital city.

Today, the home is fitted with more modern amenities, sparing potential buyers the conditions the first residents endured before DC had a sewage system.

Take a look inside this historic Wheat Row home.

The homes on Wheat Row have had many different owners throughout their history.

The Wheat Row homes were constructed by James Greenleaf starting in 1794. The Wheat Row name comes from an early 19th-century resident of one of the homes, John Wheat, a gardener and messenger for the US Senate.

The buildings later took on non-residential functions in the mid-20th century. In the 1940s and ’50s, the Barney Neighborhood House, a community service organization, occupied multiple Wheat Row homes, including the one for sale. Other units were used as a location for the US Service Men’s Club and a daycare, according to the National Register of Historic Places.

With their inclusion in the Harbour Square development project in the ’60s, the homes all reverted back to residences.

Today, the 3,408 square-foot home is defined by its high ceilings and hardwood floors.

Though the four-floor home is narrow and compact, the 12-foot ceilings make for a spacious interior.

Hardwood floors cover nearly the entire house, including the stairs.

Handcrafted designs and other historic touches are seen throughout the house.

The home has eye-catching millwork in nearly every room. According to Stewart, the home’s wooden moldings date back to the 19th century and possibly earlier.

This extensive woodworking was common in this era of homes, with moldings and trims produced by skilled artisans influenced by European styles, according to Pebbles & Thorns Woodworking.

Chandeliers and colonial light fixtures appear throughout the house.

In multiple rooms, there are low-hanging chandeliers or candle-like light fixtures, once again defined by the colonial era.

Chandeliers were once a symbol of wealth and extravagance, and while that standard is still reflected in modern design, the introduction of electric lighting in the late 19th century allowed for more affordable chandeliers, per The Examiner News.

An elevator allows for easy access between the home’s four floors.

Even though the elevator was added in 2005, it has a classic charm, with all-wooden walls inside.

A kitchen renovated in the 1960s mixes retro with classic.

The home’s large kitchen was last renovated over half a century ago, meaning it would need about $100,000 of work to bring it into the modern era, by Stewart’s estimates.

Alternatively, a buyer could work to restore the kitchen’s true colonial look and feel with classic wooden cabinets and finishes.

The home has four bedrooms and two living spaces.

This not only creates the potential for multiple residents, but the home’s four different floors also allow for privacy.

It has four full bathrooms, plus a powder room.

The home’s 1950s bathrooms could also be renovated. One quirk is split bathrooms on the third and fourth floors — they have a shower and toilet/sink separated by a wall.

A total of seven fireplaces keep the house warm.

Common for the time period, the property’s centerpieces are its seven fireplaces, which appear on every single floor of the home.

Although this defining feature adds to the home’s quaintness, it creates hurdles for any buyer considering renovation. Stewart said that the rooms’ layout around the fireplaces complicates any attempts at reconfiguration.

The property suits multiple kinds of buyers, according to the listing agent.

“We’re looking for a buyer who likes a home that is older in style and feel and embraces the uniqueness of the property, or somebody that has the vision to restore the majesty of the property, but refresh and renew it into a 21st-century rowhouse,” Stewart said.

With lots of opportunities for renovation, the home could appeal to buyers looking for a project.

“It poses a good value for someone who has a vision,” Stewart added.

The home is for sale at an uncertain time in the DC housing market.

Stewart said the housing market in Southwest Washington, DC, has been struggling after a wave of job cuts last year.

Historic homes like the Wheat Row home could attract outside buyers looking to stake their claim in pieces of American history.

The home is less than five minutes from DC’s Southwest Waterfront.

The Wheat Row homes sit along DC’s Washington Channel, running parallel to the Potomac River.

Wheat Row residents, as part of the Harbour Square co-op, get access to a rooftop deck, which overlooks the water. Other co-op amenities include a shared heated pool, gardens, and a fitness center.

The property has quick access to attractions in The Wharf, the waterfront’s mixed-use neighborhood.

The home sits in the middle of a booming modern neighborhood known as The Wharf, which has undergone redevelopment over the past two decades.

The area is filled with theaters and concert halls, offices, restaurants, and public spaces.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in February 2026 and was updated in July 2026 to reflect the property’s price drop.

• AI helps retailers detect return fraud, boosting efficiency in reverse logistics operations.
• Retailers employ AI to manage high return volumes, ensuring quicker refunds and customer loyalty.
• AI spots unusual return patterns, aiding in fraud prevention and enhancing retail operations.

It’s not uncommon for a consumer to order the same shirt in three sizes, then return the two that don’t fit. But what happens when the consumer swaps the labels and returns different shirts, or buys a dress for an event, wears it once with the tag tucked in, then returns it?

These are examples of return fraud, a retail-industry risk that’s on the rise “in both scale and sophistication,” said Juan Hernandez-Campos, the chief operating officer at Happy Returns, a software company that manages returns and is part of UPS. Today, about 9% of returns are fraudulent, according to the 2025 Retail Returns Landscape report published by the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns last October.

With fraud a persistent problem amid growing return volumes, merchants can no longer rely on the “highly manual” methods they previously used to process returns, Campos said.

Instead, retailers and their software partners are turning to AI to help manage reverse logistics, the part of the supply chain that involves handling returns and restocking inventory. Narvar, which works with companies including DSW and Newell Brands, touts AI technology that processes billions of consumer data points to detect fraud. Meanwhile, Loop is using AI to automate decisions and unearth fraud for customers like Keen and Princess Polly.

Jackie Swanson, a managing partner at Gartner Consulting, said retailers have shifted over the last 18 months from machine-learning-enhanced fraud detection to AI systems. The goal? Stop fraud in its tracks, reduce losses, and speed up legitimate returns, getting inventory back to sale as quickly as possible.

Among retailers with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, “almost all of them have something in place,” Swanson said, with apparel, beauty, and footwear at the forefront due to their high return rates.

AI can tackle return fraud

Caroline Reppert, the senior director of AI and technology policy at the National Retail Federation, said reverse logistics is “emerging as a key focus area” as retailers consider how to use AI.

Retailers are contending with return fraud issues like overstated quantities — when a consumer claims they returned more items than they actually did — empty-box returns, or sending boxes filled with rocks, label tampering, and counterfeit substitutions. Some consumers engage in wardrobing, in which they use or wear an item for a short time before returning it.

One big advantage of AI, according to Campos, is that it can analyze large volumes of return data to identify patterns that could be tough to find manually. For example, Happy Returns — whose clients include Everlane, Pact, and Under Armour — uses a technology called Return Vision, which detects discrepancies in merchandise like incorrect logos, altered tags, differences in materials, or product swaps.

If Return Vision spots one of these issues, it feeds the data to retail dashboards in real time, allowing retailers to view potential problems quickly, Campos said. Retailers can see why the return was flagged and photos of the returned items. They then have evidence to dispute any consumer claims, even before the item reaches the warehouse.

Happy Returns also uses AI-based behavioral risk scoring, which identifies potentially high-risk returns based on return frequency, timing, geography, and historical behavior. The returns can be flagged for human review before retailers issue a refund.

That said, retailers reveal a mixed picture on AI for return fraud. In NRF’s report, only 45% of companies said they believe AI and machine learning are truly effective at preventing return fraud on their own.

Bully Max, which makes dog food and supplements, uses AI systems from Shopify and Chargeflow to detect return fraud, according to CEO Matthew Kinneman. If fraud occurs or a consumer files a chargeback, the AI automatically generates evidence on Bully Max’s behalf to submit to the credit card company.

That said, Kinneman acknowledged that AI isn’t perfect. The company has to manually send screenshots to the credit card company, for example. “We’ve found that human review is still essential,” he said.

A speedier return

Fraud isn’t the only use case for AI in reverse logistics. Bully Max also uses AI to spot patterns, like recurring return reasons. Then the team can improve a product’s page and description, providing more accurate information before consumers make a purchase.

“In many cases, preventing a return is more valuable than processing one efficiently,” Kinneman said.

Swanson said her clients are also using AI for predictive returns and warehousing decisions. In the former, AI models proactively flag orders that are likely to be returned and suggest alternate sizes or products before the consumer finalizes their purchase. In the latter, when a return arrives at a retailer’s warehouse, AI recommends whether the retailer should resell, liquidate, or even destroy the item based on its potential resale value.

Returns have historically been manual and time-consuming, Reppert told Business Insider. AI “allows retailers to handle higher return volumes with greater speed and consistency.”

Faster processing also benefits consumers by providing a quicker refund for returned merchandise, Campos said. A positive return experience can build brand loyalty and encourage consumers to make another purchase with the retailer, he added.

• Many A-list attendees have been spotted at Wimbledon wearing coveted watches.
• Serena Williams wore a pink Audemars Piguet watch, valued at more than $45,000.
• David Beckham sported a $5,350 Tudor Black Bay 58 in steel.

Wimbledon is underway, and luxury watches seem to be as common in the stands as those bright green tennis balls on the court.

The famed tennis tournament is being held between June 29 and July 12 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.

Athletes like Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka are hitting the court to compete, and celebrities like David Beckham are supporting from the sidelines.

Both players and attendees are sporting luxury timepieces that are catching a lot of attention. Here’s the wrist candy we’ve spotted so far.

Serena Williams arrived for her first match wearing a pink Audemars Piguet watch.

While leaving a practice session, Williams was photographed wearing the Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph timepiece.

The $45,900 watch has a diamond-set bezel, a titanium case, 18-carat white-gold hands, and a pink bracelet.

It perfectly matched the handle of her tennis racquet.

David Beckham opted for a steel Tudor piece.

The soccer legend attended the first day of Wimbledon wearing a gray suit and a steel watch. The latter was the new Tudor Black Bay 58, which retails for $5,350.

The silver piece has a black face beneath a domed dial and distinct rhodium-plated hands.

Romeo Beckham one-upped his dad with a Patek Phillipe watch.

The model attended with his girlfriend, Kim Turnball, and was photographed wearing the Nautilus 7118 watch from the Swiss brand. It retails for $68,268.

Traditionally a women’s watch, it has a rose-gold bracelet, a silver opaline dial with a wave pattern, and shining white hands.

Alexander Ludwig sported a simple timepiece from Frédérique Constant.

The “Vikings” actor sat beside musician Niall Horan and wore a Swiss watch on his left wrist.

The Frédérique Constant piece (model FC-303MS4C24) is from the watchmaker’s classic collection. It features a rectangular face in rose gold with a black leather band.

It’s no longer sold by the brand and is sold out by secondhand watch dealers.

Esteban Ocon was there on day two wearing a Bianchet watch.

The French Formula 1 driver wore the Tonneau Ultrafino Carbon watch, which costs about $83,895 (67,500 CHF).

The black design features a double strap made in part from high-density carbon, a square face with visible gears, and self-winding hands.

On Wednesday, Erica Stoll wore a diamond-encrusted Patek Philippe piece.

Stoll sat in the audience with her husband, golf star Rory McIlroy, and flashed her rose-gold Patek Phillipe watch as she clapped.

She wore a version of the Nautilus 7118 that retails for $76,645. It has 56 diamonds around its face and a thick, shining bracelet.

Joao Fonseca signed autographs with a Rolex on his wrist.

The athlete wore the $40,000 Yacht-Master 42, which has a black dial and white-gold features.

It’s also known for being legible in the dark and scratch-resistant.