Dollar General, the retail giant that promises “convenience, quality brands and low prices”, has agreed to pay at least $15m to settle claims that it overcharged customers at many of its 20,000 US stores.
The settlement resolves lawsuits in multiple states alleging that shoppers at the dollar-store chain often see one price on the shelf but pay a higher price at the register. Customers anywhere in the US may be eligible for repayments.
It is the second settlement Dollar General has signed this month. The company also agreed to pay the state of Pennsylvania $1.55m to resolve similar allegations.
The claims in the consumer lawsuits and the state investigation mirrored the findings of a 3 December Guardian investigation, which revealed that Dollar General stores have failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022. Many of the stores are located in rural towns and low-income urban neighborhoods with limited retail.
The five lawsuits that sparked the national settlement targeted the company’s operations in New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and South Carolina. They include two cases in New Jersey, one in state court and one in federal court. The suit involving the company’s practices in South Carolina was filed in Tennessee, where Dollar General is headquartered.
The law firms representing customers in these suits include a firm founded by Marc Dann, Ohio’s former attorney general. Dann declined an interview request for this article. In June, he told the Guardian that the shoppers most hurt by price mismatches are those with the least money.
“They may have $10 or $20 or $25 to spend that week,” Dann said. “They’re adding that up in their head. When they get to the register, if there’s a discrepancy, the worst part is not that they’re getting overcharged. It’s that they’re putting stuff back.”
Dollar General also declined an interview request for this story. The company has denied wrongdoing in the cases involving Dann’s law firm and in the state investigation in Pennsylvania. It said it was agreeing to the national settlement “to avoid further burdensome and costly litigation”.
Assuming the settlement gets final approval at a March 2026 hearing in a state court in New Jersey, shoppers nationwide who document their overcharges can claim a cash award starting at $10 and rising to the full amount of the overpayment. This includes shoppers who filed specific complaints with the company or a government agency within 30 days of a purchase, as well as those shoppers who have evidence such as photos and receipts.
Consumers who cannot supply documentation can still claim a $3 discount on one $10 purchase, available on certain days.
The company also agreed to hire employees to monitor and prevent price mismatches, and to pay for external price audits.
Dollar General anticipates spending more than the official settlement value of $15m. In the unlikely event that it falls short, it has agreed to donate the balance to a national food bank organization.
The national consumer settlement was filed on 10 December, one day after Pennsylvania attorney general Dave Sunday announced a separate agreement between his office and Dollar General. The chain’s 900 Pennsylvania stores failed more than 40% of their pricing accuracy inspections between 2019 and 2023, engaging in what Sunday called “blatant deception of customers all over the Commonwealth”. In one store, a government inspection found that 72% of items were priced inaccurately.
The Guardian’s investigation, which examined both Dollar General and its rival Family Dollar, concluded that the widespread overcharges were often a product of the industry’s minimal staffing. When prices change, the companies automatically update the registers. But employees – who also need to stock shelves, tend to customers, look out for shoplifters, and clean the stores – often lack time to replace the shelf tags.
Family Dollar told the Guardian in November that “we take customer trust seriously and are committed to ensuring pricing accuracy across our stores”. Dollar General said in a previous written response to the Guardian that it was “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”.
Jocelyn C Zuckerman contributed to this story
