Dollar General faces class action from FTC and 20 states over pricing errors

The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states filed a lawsuit against Dollar General on Monday, accusing the company of overcharging customers at checkout.

The complaint, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, alleges the chain engaged in long-running deceptive pricing. Customers reportedly paid more at the register than the prices displayed on shelves or in advertisements. The legal team argues the practice extracted millions of dollars from vulnerable shoppers.

Between 2019 and March 2026, the lawsuit states that nearly 30,000 consumer complaints were logged regarding these discrepancies. Dollar General shares dropped approximately 4% following the announcement.

Regulators have flagged pricing errors at the company for years. From 2019 to 2026, Dollar General entered seven settlements in six states and paid about $6 million in penalties. In November 2022, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost secured a $1 million settlement after finding shelf prices did not match register prices. New Jersey reached a $1.2 million settlement in 2023. Pennsylvania paid $1.55 million in a settlement last December after stores failed more than 40% of price-accuracy inspections from 2019 to 2023.

Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the company betrayed the trust of millions of consumers. He noted that the financial harm fell heavily on communities struggling to make paychecks last. The states joining the suit include 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 disputes the allegations. The company stated that the lawsuit suggests it abandoned its mission to prioritize affordability, which it called far from the truth. The retailer aims for 100% accuracy between shelf and register prices in every store. It acknowledged that occasional discrepancies occur and that employees are expected to correct them. The company said it has cooperated with the FTC since early February and will defend the litigation vigorously. It also called the agency’s settlement demand far out of proportion to realistic overcharge estimates.

Marc Dann, a former Ohio attorney general, told Fortune that he saw a consistent pattern of overcharging in public records. He cited a 20% to 25% fail rate in price verification inspections. Dann described the practice as stealing small amounts from many people. A 2025 Guardian investigation found that Dollar General stores failed more than 4,300 government inspections in 23 states between January 2022 and late 2025.

The lawsuit arrives as grocery prices rise. Prices increased 1.8% in the 12 months ending in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dollar General serves a customer base where 60% of sales come from households earning less than $35,000 a year. The company said in 2024 that these low-income shoppers form the core of its business.