Attorney General James Secures $1.875 Million in Food and Goods from Dollar General for Overcharging Consumers

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today secured $1.875 million in food and personal items from DolGen New York, LLC and Dollar General Corporation (Dollar General). An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Dollar General routinely overcharged customers for items sold in its stores. As a result of OAG’s intervention, Dollar General will donate $1.875 million worth of food and personal items to Foodlink, a Rochester-based nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger and building healthier communities. Dollar General will also implement comprehensive reforms to its policies and procedures to ensure consumers are not charged more than the lowest price whether the lowest price is the advertised price, the price on the shelf, or the price charged at the register when shopping at Dollar General stores.

“When New Yorkers see a sale price advertised on the shelf, they should be able to trust that they’ll be charged that same price at the register,” said Attorney General James. “Dollar General regularly charged consumers higher prices than advertised, and the receipts shoppers received were difficult to understand. My office took action, and now Dollar General shoppers can be sure they won’t be overcharged and vulnerable New Yorkers will receive the items they need.”

“We are grateful for this donation from the Attorney General’s office and will work with our network of food pantries and meal programs to quickly distribute these goods to our neighbors experiencing food insecurity,” said Julia Tedesco, President and CEO of Foodlink. “Too many households are being forced to make difficult choices between food, housing, transportation, and other essentials. This support helps our network respond quickly and ensures more of our neighbors can put healthy food on the table.”

The OAG launched an investigation into Dollar General after receiving a number of consumer complaints alleging the retail chain regularly charged customers more than the advertised price. Under New York law, retail stores must ensure that the price charged for an item is equivalent to the lowest advertised, written, posted, or marked price offered. State and local laws also require retail stores to score at least 98 percent on price accuracy inspections from Weights and Measures officials.

The OAG reviewed more than 900 Weights and Measures inspection reports from Dollar General locations across the state and found that 43 percent of those reports documented price accuracy failures above 2 percent in 2021 to 2023. The OAG also conducted a secret shopper investigation, visiting 11 Dollar General locations in Western New York. The OAG investigators found that they were overcharged for approximately 14 percent of the items they purchased. They also observed multiple instances in which prices advertised on shelf tags, digital and print ads, and digital coupons were inconsistent with prices at checkout.

The investigation also revealed that Dollar General’s receipts contained various confusing formats, forcing consumers to mathematically calculate the price paid for a particular product after applying promotions and discounts. For example, some receipts only displayed the full price for a product, others only displayed the net price paid after promotions and discounts were applied, and others displayed neither price.

Under the settlement with OAG, Dollar General will pay a civil penalty in the form of a $1.875 million donation of food items and personal goods to Foodlink. Dollar General will also adopt reforms to their policies and procedures to ensure customers are not overcharged, including:

• Honoring the lowest advertised price when there is a discrepancy between a product’s price tag, shelf-label price, advertised price, or what it rings up for at the register;
• Allocating staff to ensure shelf tags are updated for pricing accuracy;
• Providing all New York employees with training on price accuracy;
• Reformatting receipts to ensure discounts are displayed for each item and that savings from sales, discounts, and coupons are listed in one place on the receipt;
• Posting signage in all New York stores alerting customers of Dollar General’s responsibility to honor the lowest listed price;
• Engaging an independent auditor to conduct unannounced pricing audits of every single Dollar General store in New York twice a fiscal year;
• Engaging an independent auditor to conduct 15 random audits of Dollar General stores per fiscal year to ensure that weekly advertised prices match register prices and in-store shelf prices;
• Implementing a vetting process to ensure register prices match advertised prices in Dollar General’s weekly ad/flyer;
• Sending district managers to conduct pricing audits every six weeks; and
• Addressing all pricing discrepancies discovered by Weights and Measures inspections, third-party audits or District Manager audits within 24 hours.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Amaris Elliott-Engel and former Deputy Assistant Attorney in Charge of the Rochester Regional Office Ben Bruce, with assistance from Senior Consumer Frauds Representative Emily Bury, Assistant Attorney General Zachary Pike, former Assistant Attorney General Emily Sauers, and Legal Assistant 1 Shalena O’Reilly. The matter was also handled by Assistant Attorney General Allison Mussen and Assistant Attorney General in Charge of the Plattsburgh Regional Office Susan Griskonis, with assistance from Legal Assistant 2 Tammy Durland, Legal Assistant 1 Bianca Siskavich-Poitras, and former Senior Consumer Frauds Representative Shelise Marbut. The Rochester and Plattsburgh Regional Offices are a part of the Division of Regional Affairs, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Jill Faber. Data Scientist Chelsea Daniels of the Research and Analytics Department also assisted on the matter. The investigation was handled by Jessica Holland and Michelle Ortiz of the Investigations Bureau in the Division of Criminal Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General José Maldonado. Both the Division of Regional Affairs and the Division of Criminal Justice are overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux.