In a development that should surprise absolutely no one who has ever squinted at a receipt in disbelief, the Federal Trade Commission and 20 states have sued Dollar General, the nation's largest dollar-store chain, for persistently overcharging customers across its more than 20,000 U.S. locations. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Nashville, cites a Guardian investigation published last December, because nothing says "everyday low prices" like a legal complaint that quotes your own employees.

The 95-page complaint pulls no punches: "Dollar General has for years engaged in deceptive conduct that harms the very consumers it claims to serve." It continues, "Although Dollar General promises convenience, low prices, and value, the company has routinely charged customers more at the register than the prices displayed on shelves, price tags, and advertisements." The pattern, the suit notes, "has persisted for years and affects millions of purchases across the country." The scope of this "pricing misconduct" is described as "staggering" - a word usually reserved for national debt or the number of streaming services that now exist.

The FTC, which protects consumers from deceptive and unfair business practices, is joined by state authorities from Mississippi to Ohio to Nebraska to Utah. Dollar General did not respond to questions, but has previously said it is "committed to providing customers with accurate prices on items purchased in our stores." A commitment that, according to the lawsuit, has been about as effective as a screen door on a submarine.

The FTC's allegations align with the Guardian's December 2025 investigation, which found that Dollar General stores failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states over a three-year period. That article, the lawsuit notes, "was the subject of significant internal deliberation and discussions" within the company - presumably the kind of deliberation that happens when your pricing policies are being held up to a mirror.

The agency points out that Dollar General has on-paper policies meant to align register prices with shelf prices, like directing employees to remove and replace outdated labels on certain days. But workers told the Guardian that understaffing leaves them too busy to change those labels. "Dollar General's on-paper policies to update pricing achieve little in practice," the lawsuit states, because "they do not track whether the printed labels are actually affixed to shelves." The FTC also cited a Guardian interview with a lead sales associate in Louisiana who admitted, "I threw away tags sometimes, to keep me or a co-worker out of trouble." A strategy that works right up until the FTC files a 95-page complaint.

Dollar General told the Guardian in 2025 that it is "disappointed" any time it fails to deliver on its commitment to accurate shelf pricing. In court documents in Ohio, the company's lawyers have argued that "it is virtually impossible for a retailer to match shelf pricing and scanned pricing 100% of the time for all items. Perfection in this regard is neither plausible nor expected under the law." So, in other words: we're not perfect, and also, please don't expect us to be.

In a statement accompanying the lawsuit, the FTC noted that Dollar General markets itself as a low-cost alternative, and that low- and fixed-income customers rely on the accuracy of its price labels. "Dollar General has betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers and imposed significant financial harm on communities and consumers who are already struggling to make their paychecks last," said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection.

In a separate case, New York attorney general Letitia James announced earlier this month that Dollar General had agreed to a $1.875m deal to settle allegations that it had repeatedly overcharged customers across the state. Because nothing says "bargain chain" like a multimillion-dollar settlement for charging people too much.