(Current employee) and from my experience there are some products which will take a loss to keep the item on the shelf. Depending on various vendor elements and macroeconomic factors. Example: vanilla of the same amount, type and brand went from $6 to $8 to $25 to $32 before it was dropped because Costco could no longer utilize the product in a way that provided the members with proper value. The product has since be reacquired and remains at approximately $25 for the same product which was $6 a year before. The explanation for this is that one of the worlds prominent vanilla producers is in the midst of armed hostility and the supply itself is being ransomed by some power group. Given all of what was just stated, hard to imagine they make "at least a dollar" as a policy standard on all products. There are (as this is) speciality cases for such things but that was implicit to my original post. And if all of this was unnecessary due to your target being the hot dogs; I assure you it is not a profitable venture at $1.50.