FTC and 20 states take Dollar General to court, alleging shoppers paid more at checkout

Dollar General logged at least 29,265 customer complaints categorised as "Did Not Honor Marked Price" between 1 January 2023 and 31 March 2026, according to a complaint that the Federal Trade Commission and 20 states filed against the US discount chain on 26 October 2026. The plaintiffs allege that, for years, the company charged shoppers more at the till than the prices shown on shelf labels, price tags and in its advertising, and failed to fix the problem even though it knew about it. Dollar General has not been found liable, and the court will decide the case.

The FTC alleges breaches of the FTC Act's Section 5(a) and of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act; under the second claim, it argues the chain made false price representations to obtain, or try to obtain, information from shoppers' credit and debit cards and from checks that carry bank account details. Each state sues under its own consumer protection or weights and measures laws. The complaint also says Dollar General settled seven pricing cases brought by six states' attorneys general or consumer agencies between 2019 and 2026, paying more than $6m in penalties. The Commission voted 2-0 to authorise the suit, according to the FTC's release.

"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," Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC, said in the release. The plaintiffs ask the court for a permanent injunction, monetary relief, civil penalties and other remedies, without naming a sum, according to the complaint.

Dollar General set out its side in a Form 8-K filed the same day. It said it had cooperated with FTC staff since early February 2026, after a Civil Investigative Demand dated 30 January 2026, and received a draft complaint and a draft settlement order on 23 September 2026. "The FTC also demanded significant monetary relief," the filing says. The company said it had tried to settle without a lawsuit and views the FTC's redress demands as unreasonable, built on assumptions and methods it considers unsupported and that, in its view, materially overstate any alleged harm to consumers. "The Company intends to vigorously defend this matter," it said.

The filing also warns that the defence could be costly and that, if it fails, the outcome "...could have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial statements as a whole," according to the 8-K. Beyond the 8-K, Polstob found no separate public statement from Dollar General on its newsroom or investor relations pages when it checked at about 23:05 CET on 26 October 2026.