Customers looking for low prices at Dollar General may want to take a closer look at their receipts.
The discount retailer is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission and 20 states, which allege that some stores repeatedly charged shoppers more at checkout than the prices advertised on shelves, labels and promotional materials.
Filed Monday in federal court in Tennessee, the complaint claims the pricing discrepancies continued for years and cost consumers millions of dollars.
The allegations strike at the heart of Dollar General’s business model, which is built around helping customers make limited budgets go further.
Dollar General has more than 21,000 locations across the country, serving many low-income and fixed-income shoppers who depend on the prices displayed in its stores.
The FTC and the states say the issue involved far more than isolated pricing errors. Their complaint describes a broad pattern that allegedly caused customers to pay more than they expected.
According to the filing, Dollar General received tens of thousands of complaints from shoppers who said items rang up at prices higher than those advertised.
The agencies also cited unsuccessful state inspections and undercover purchases carried out by FTC investigators.
The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states are suing Dollar General, alleging that the retailer routinely charged customers more at checkout than the prices posted on shelves, tags and advertisements
During those undercover visits, investigators allegedly found merchandise scanning at prices above the amounts displayed inside the stores.
The lawsuit also alleges that Dollar General was aware of the discrepancies but did not establish sufficient controls to prevent them.
The FTC contends that the alleged pricing practices were deceptive and violated federal and state consumer-protection laws.
The agency is seeking financial compensation and other remedies. Dollar General has not been found liable, and the case remains before the court.
The complaint was approved in a 2-0 vote by the FTC and filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Twenty states joined the case, including California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Tennessee.
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The allegations add to Dollar General’s legal troubles over pricing, as the retailer has already faced enforcement actions in several states.
The complaint says the company has paid $6 million in settlements with six states since 2019 over inaccurate price displays.
The new lawsuit claims those earlier disputes failed to resolve the alleged problem.
Dollar General runs more than 21,000 stores nationwide and serves many low-income and fixed-income customers who rely on its advertised prices
The FTC and the states describe the alleged conduct as a widespread pricing problem—not a handful of misplaced stickers—that repeatedly left shoppers paying more than expected
And the numbers in the complaint make clear why regulators are taking the issue seriously, with the FTC alleging that tens of thousands of complaints showed the problem was affecting shoppers across the country.
The agency says Dollar General effectively shifted the burden of catching pricing errors onto customers who may not have the time or money to scrutinize every item at checkout.
That frustration was echoed online, where one Reddit user complained that shoppers have to examine everything carefully to ensure an item labeled with a low price does not suddenly ring up for twice as much.
Another commenter said the same thing had happened to them at Kroger, while others described photographing shelf prices before reaching the register.
One Reddit commenter summed up the irritation more bluntly, saying retailers can make refunds easy once an error is caught but may never fix the underlying computer-system price.
There was also plenty of consumer folklore about price-error laws, with commenters sharing examples of rules that can entitle shoppers to refunds, discounts or even free products depending on the state.
Those rules vary by location, however, and a pricing dispute at one store does not automatically mean a shopper is entitled to a freebie everywhere.
The FTC’s complaint also contains redacted sections concerning what Dollar General allegedly knew about its pricing practices, leaving some details out of public view for now.
Dollar General did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment on the allegations.