FTC and 20 states sue Dollar General, alleging years of overcharging customers

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, alleges that thousands of Dollar General stores "taken advantage of vulnerable shoppers by extracting millions of dollars in unlawful overcharges" between 2019 and March 2026. Consumer complaints to the company about pricing discrepancies reached nearly 30,000 during that period, according to the complaint.

Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement that "Dollar General has betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers and imposed significant financial harm on communities and consumers who are already struggling to make their paychecks last."

The states joining the suit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. Dollar General shares fell about 4 percent after the announcement.

Dollar General disputes the claims. "The lawsuit filed today by the Federal Trade Commission and several states suggests that we have abandoned our mission and willfully disregarded the affordability needs of our customers. Nothing could be further from the truth," the company said in a statement. It said its goal is "100% accuracy between shelf and register prices in every store" and that "occasional price discrepancies can occur," with store employees expected to correct them when they do. The company said it had cooperated with the FTC since February and called the agency's settlement demand disproportionate, adding that it would "defend this litigation vigorously."

The FTC also alleges that company leaders were aware of the widespread pricing issues but failed to resolve them. Between 2019 and 2026, Dollar General entered into seven settlements in six states over inaccurate pricing, paying about $6 million in penalties, according to the complaint. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued the chain in November 2022 after county auditors found shelf prices that did not match the register, securing a $1 million settlement. New Jersey reached a $1.2 million settlement in 2023. Wisconsin, Vermont, and Colorado have also settled with the company, and Pennsylvania reached a $1.55 million settlement last December after finding Dollar General stores failed more than 40 percent of the state's price-accuracy inspections between 2019 and 2023.

Marc Dann, a former Ohio attorney general whose law firm has filed multiple class-action lawsuits against the company over mislabeled prices, told Fortune he saw a "consistent pattern" in public records from weights and measures officials. "There was a consistent pattern in those records of a 20% to 25% fail rate for Dollar General stores when inspectors came out to verify whether the shelf pricing matched the pricing at the register," Dann said. "It was essentially a crime committed, 25 cents at a time." He described the practice as "stealing a little bit at a time from a lot of people."

The lawsuit arrives as shoppers continue to face higher food costs. Grocery prices rose 1.8 percent in the 12 months ending in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and are roughly a third higher than in 2019. Dollar General said in 2024 that about 60 percent of its sales come from households earning less than $35,000 a year, leaving low-income customers especially exposed to overcharges.