Redeem now - Customers and state governments have accused Dollar General of overcharging for various products.
- It has settled with states that have sued over the matter, but customers say it's still a problem.
- Dollar General settled a lawsuit over pricing in Ohio but still faces one in Missouri.
Dollar General has paid to settle claims that it overcharged customers in two states this fall, but the problem doesn't seem over.
Lawsuits, investigations, and reports from customers and employees paint a picture of widespread discrepancies between the price a customer is charged and the price displayed on the shelf at Dollar General.
Wisconsin is the latest state to receive a settlement from the dollar-store chain. Dollar General has also paid settlements to Ohio and Vermont. The chain is facing a lawsuit in Missouri and has been fined in North Carolina over its pricing practices.
Additionally, two Dollar General customers and two employees told Business Insider they'd been overcharged or had seen customers overcharged in Florida, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Alabama.
The root cause appears to be a familiar problem: Many stores don't have enough staffers to replace shelf tags or update the system when prices change or a sale starts.
High turnover and reduced hours for Dollar General employees have led to merchandise crowding aisles, creating safety hazards.
A Dollar General spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider for this story.
Previously, in response to questions about the Ohio settlement, a spokesperson told Insider that it is "committed to providing customers with accurate prices on items."
"When a pricing discrepancy is identified, our store teams are empowered to correct the matter on the spot for our customers," the spokesman said at the time.
Dollar General is facing a lawsuit in Missouri over allegations it overcharged customers
Wisconsin settled with the chain for $850,000 on Monday. The state's Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection said inspectors had found that Dollar General stores overcharged customers for 9% of products the inspectors evaluated. Dollar General admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.
In October, Dollar General paid $1 million to Ohio to settle a lawsuit with similar claims.
In North Carolina, Dollar General paid nearly $71,000 in fines related to its pricing practices from August 2022 to April 2023.
Missouri's attorney general, Andrew Bailey, filed a lawsuit against the dollar-store chain in September, accusing it of charging higher prices than what's listed on the shelf for some of the most commonly purchased items in its stores.
A statement announcing the lawsuit said investigators found that 92 of the 147 locations they visited overcharged consumers and that, on average, Dollar General charged $2.71 more per item than it should have.
Vermont settled a similar lawsuit for $1.75 million in 2019. A statement from the attorney general's office said investigators in that state documented more than 360 overcharges, with a median value of 35 cents.
'It may only be $0.25, but that adds up'
Catherine, a Dollar General customer in Pennsylvania, said she'd been overcharged for food and cleaning supplies. Catherine declined to use her full name for fear of retaliation from employees at her local store.
Catherine said she asks employees to give her the on-the-shelf price, which involves calling a manager over to override the price in the store's system. "It may only be $0.25, but that adds up," she said.
Another customer told Business Insider he used to shop at two Dollar General stores in West Virginia for Nerds but stopped going there after bags of the fruity candy rang up for $3.95 each when they were advertised as two for $5.50.
Now, he and his partner don't even bother shopping at either store. "We won't even stop at Dollar General anymore," he said, adding that he now relies on gas stations or restaurants for most food purchases.
Updating prices on store shelves typically falls on store managers, a former Dollar General employee in Alabama who left about a month ago told Business Insider. The former employee said that once a week managers are supposed to print out new shelf tags and use them to update prices around the store.
But many Dollar General stores are understaffed, meaning those changes don't always make it to the shelves, according to the former employee. The former employee, who still shops at Dollar General stores, sent Business Insider a photo of new price tags sitting on a shelf at one store, waiting for someone to apply them.
"It's probably because they don't have the coverage to actually get on the floor and put those price changes out," the former employee said.
Another employee who currently works at a store in Florida said it's common for sale or coupon items to ring up at the normal price.
The employee has a rule to avoid creating a scene at the checkout. "Give it to 'em," the employee said. "Err on the said of the customer in this matter."
Do you work at Dollar General and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@insider.com
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