Dollar General sued over charging more than the shelf price

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 20 states sued Dollar General on October 26, 2026, claiming the chain repeatedly charged shoppers more at checkout than the price shown on the shelf. Regulators say the overcharging ran from 2019 to March 2026 and cost shoppers millions of dollars. The case was filed in federal court in Tennessee.

What the lawsuit says

The complaint says Dollar General charged more than the prices on shelves, price tags and ads, including flyers. The FTC says the company received tens of thousands of pricing complaints and did not fix the problem well enough. Regulators want court orders for money relief and penalties, and an order to stop the alleged practices.

Dollar General disputes the claims. In an October 26 statement, it said employees are told to correct pricing mismatches. It also challenged how the FTC calculated shopper losses.

Your rights depend on your state

There is no federal law that sets rules for scanner accuracy. How a store must handle a mismatch depends on state law, the product, and whether the advertised price was misleading. Three examples from the case coverage show how much this varies.

• Michigan: report the error within 30 days with proof of purchase. The store must refund the difference and can avoid further legal trouble by paying a bonus of ten times the overcharge, from $1 to $5.
• Massachusetts: for certain grocery and household items, the first item may be free if it costs $10 or less, or $10 off if it costs more.
• New York: stores must charge the lowest advertised, posted or marked price.

In Michigan, if the store does not pay the refund and bonus within two days of being told, the shopper may take legal action.

Earlier cases

This is not the first action. In 2023, Dollar General paid $1 million to settle with Ohio. Ohio allows a pricing error rate of up to 2%, but its investigation found errors at individual stores ranging from 16% to 88%.

On October 15, 2026, New York announced its own settlement. Undercover visits found about 14% of items were overpriced. Dollar General agreed to donate 1.875 million in goods to the food bank Foodlink, honor the lowest listed price at its New York stores, and add employee training, clearer receipts and independent pricing audits.

What to do

Dollar General runs more than 21,000 stores. A 50-cent or $1 overcharge is easy to miss, especially with many items, but it adds up for households on tight budgets. Compare your receipt with the shelf price before you leave, and keep the receipt. Look up whether your state has a price-accuracy rule, since some require you to report errors within days.

What happens next

The lawsuit has only just been filed, and Dollar General has denied the claims. A court has not ruled on whether the overcharging happened or how much shoppers lost.