Dollar General ordered to pay $1.5M in penalties for overcharging customers

Discount chain Dollar General will pay $1.5 million in penalties for allegedly overcharging customers, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday.

Sunday announced he reached a settlement with Dollar General Corporation and its parent company, Dolgen Corp., after an investigation found customers were being charged higher prices than what was labeled and advertised on shelves.

Dollar General stores also failed more than 40% of pricing accuracy inspections between 2019 and 2023, according to the Attorney General’s investigation.

“Our investigation found widespread and repeated instances of Pennsylvanians being overcharged at checkout — blatant deception of customers all over the Commonwealth,” Sunday said in a statement. “We are hopeful the corporation takes this settlement very seriously as Pennsylvanians expect to pay the price that is on stickers and labels.”

There are more than 900 Dollar General stores in Pennsylvania.

Reached Wednesday, a Dollar General spokesperson said the chain “is committed to providing customers with accurate prices on items purchased in our stores, and we are disappointed any time we fail to deliver on this commitment.

“When a pricing discrepancy is identified, our store teams are empowered to correct the matter on the spot for our customers,” the spokesperson said.

In addition to paying $1.5 million to the state, Dollar General will modify its business practices to prevent future overcharges, the AG’s office said.

That includes employee training on price accuracy; staffing to update shelf tags on at least a weekly basis; each store having two unannounced pricing audits annually; correcting price inaccuracies within 24 hours; and posting a notice at each register stating that the lowest posted price will be honored and inform customers they can seek a price override, if necessary.