FTC and 20 states sue Dollar General over register overcharges

Millions of dollars in unlawful overcharges form the core of a new federal lawsuit against Dollar General. The complaint alleges that the discount retailer knowingly kept charging customers higher prices at the register than those listed on store shelves.

On October 26, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson announced that his office joined 19 other state attorneys general in this action. The states are working alongside the Federal Trade Commission to challenge the company's pricing methods. The legal team asserts that Dollar General persisted in these practices despite knowing the errors were causing financial harm to shoppers.

The lawsuit targets a specific operational failure. Dollar General allegedly allowed discrepancies between shelf labels and register prices to remain for years. Executives at the company were aware of the issue but did not take sufficient steps to correct it. This inaction, according to the plaintiffs, led to widespread overcharging across thousands of locations.

Ohio has a direct history with this issue. In November 2022, state officials sued the retailer after consumers complained about price mismatches. That dispute ended with a $1 million settlement the following year. The agreement required Dollar General to implement specific steps to fix pricing errors, yet the current complaint states that overcharges continued in Ohio and other jurisdictions.

The legal filing cites violations of the FTC Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act. The states argue that these laws protect consumers from deceptive practices. Wilson noted that the prices on shelves are what customers should pay. He added that the company allowed overcharges to continue at the expense of its customers.

Dollar General operates 1,025 stores within Ohio. The new coalition includes Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. These states have aligned their legal resources to address the alleged pricing failures at the national level.