FTC and 20 states sue Dollar General. App coupons and circular deals did not ring up

The US Federal Trade Commission and 20 states sued Dollar General on 26 October, saying the discount chain charges shoppers more at the till than its shelf tags, circulars and app coupons promise. The complaint, filed in federal court in Tennessee, lists 29,265 consumer complaints coded “did not honor marked price” between January 2023 and March 2026. These are allegations, not court findings.

The FTC found price errors on up to 22.4% of items in its own test buys

FTC staff made undercover purchases at four stores between January and April 2026. In Cleveland, 22.4% of the items rang up at the wrong price. In Springfield, Missouri, and Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, the rate was about 10%. The net overcharge per visit came to between $2.60 and $4.07.

State inspectors found similar patterns. Wisconsin scanned 7,344 products in 2023 and found 9% overcharged, by an average of 17%. New Mexico failed 53% of 73 inspections early this year. The complaint says Dollar General signed seven settlements with six state agencies since 2019, worth more than $6 million in total.

Dollar General promotions in the app and weekly circular did not ring up

The case is not only about shelf tags. The FTC lists deals that the chain advertised but did not honour at the register. A “five for $5” soda offer rang up at $2.95 a bottle. An app coupon for $5 off a $25 basket did not apply. A buy-one-get-one deal on motor oil in the app was charged at full price.

The complaint says the chain’s weekly circular reaches every store, and about half of stores also send it out in newspapers or by mail. Digital versions run on the website and the app. That puts the advertising itself, not just the till, at the centre of the case.

The FTC says understaffed Dollar General stores leave old labels up

According to the complaint, most core price changes are increases. The till picks up the new price at once, while staff in understaffed stores take longer to swap the shelf labels. Company policy says to honour the lower price, but the FTC says workers often do not. Christopher Mufarrige, head of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, said the chain “betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers”.

US states have been taking consumer cases against big companies on their own, as Rhode Island did when it sued Meta over scam ads. Here they join the FTC. Europe has its own version of the fight over price promises: Germany’s top civil court recently voided Amazon’s Prime price clause.

The bill could be large because states count penalties per violation, on top of refunds. Illinois allows up to $50,000 per violation, Florida $10,000 and California $2,500. Dollar General runs more than 21,000 stores, and the complaint counts 29,265 shopper complaints in just over three years.