20 States Sue Dollar General Over Register Prices

Twenty states joined the Federal Trade Commission in suing Dollar General over pricing practices. The legal action was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul leads the group of states in the complaint. The suit accuses the discount chain of charging shoppers more at the register than the prices displayed on shelves and in advertisements.

The 95-page complaint details the scale of the alleged discrepancies. It cites at least 29,265 customer complaints categorized as "Did Not Honor Marked Price." These complaints were received between January 1, 2023, and March 31, 2026. The reports came from all 48 states where the company operates. The complaint alleges the company knew about the issue for years and failed to correct it, costing customers millions of dollars.

Investigators for the FTC conducted undercover purchases to verify the claims. Between January 16 and April 1, 2026, they shopped at stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Maryland. The complaint states that every undercover purchase resulted in a higher charge at the register for multiple products. "The prices that folks see displayed when they’re shopping should be the same as the prices they’re charged when they check out," Kaul said in a news release. He added that accountability is required when checkout prices exceed shelf prices.

The lawsuit describes the internal mechanics of the pricing errors. Dollar General updates prices weekly, and employees are assigned to swap shelf labels during a five-hour shift designated as Compliance Tuesday. Most price changes are increases, which means shoppers often pay more when the register updates before the physical tag does. The complaint argues that stores are often too thinly staffed to print and replace new labels. It references a news article sent to the company’s CEO, in which a former assistant manager in Illinois noted that working with another employee for two to four hours in an eight to 13 hour shift was lucky.

Dollar General has a history of settling similar claims. According to the complaint, the chain settled seven state cases with six attorneys general and consumer protection agencies since 2019. Those settlements totaled more than $6 million. The current complaint states that the company routinely fails pricing inspections across the United States. Most states consider an inspection failed if more than 2 percent of checked items have incorrect prices.

The other 19 states in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. The filing marks a significant expansion of legal pressure on the retailer. The states seek to ensure that the price on the shelf matches the price charged.

Dollar General responded to the lawsuit in a statement. The company said the action suggests it has abandoned its mission and disregarded customer affordability. "Our goal is 100% accuracy between shelf and register prices in every store," the statement read. It acknowledged that occasional discrepancies can occur despite policies. The company also stated that the FTC demanded a monetary amount in pre-lawsuit talks that was orders of magnitude larger than realistic assessments of the pricing discrepancies.