Arizona sues Dollar General over deceptive pricing practices

Tucson shoppers who rely on Dollar General for groceries, household supplies and other basics may have been charged more at the register than the prices posted on store shelves, tags or advertisements, according to a lawsuit announced by state and federal officials. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Arizona is joining the Federal Trade Commission and 19 other states in accusing Dollar General Corporation of repeatedly overcharging customers and failing to fix pricing problems that the company allegedly knew about.

The lawsuit describes a pattern that could affect customers at Dollar General locations across Arizona, including people in low income and fixed income households who use discount retailers to stretch limited budgets. Officials allege that Dollar General has mislabeled prices and allowed discrepancies between shelf prices and checkout totals to continue. The complaint says the retailer extracted millions of dollars in unlawful overcharges at thousands of stores, while failing to establish safeguards that would prevent the problem.

For Tucson residents, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office is asking anyone who believes they were charged more than the advertised price to report the experience. Consumers can file a complaint through the attorney general’s website. The office also lists a Tucson contact number, 520-628-6648, along with a Phoenix number, 602-542-5763, and a toll free number for people outside the Phoenix metropolitan area, 800-352-8431. The complaint process could help investigators gather information about the scope of the alleged pricing practices in Arizona.

The allegations center on a basic expectation at retail stores: that the price shown to shoppers is the price they will pay. The FTC and participating states say Dollar General has for years charged more at registers than the prices displayed on shelves, price labels and advertisements. They also allege that the company received tens of thousands of complaints from consumers nationwide who said the retailer did not honor its advertised prices. According to the states, the volume of complaints demonstrates widespread harm and shows that the company had extensive internal knowledge of the issue.

Mayes said the alleged conduct took financial advantage of Arizona customers. She said her office would not permit corporations to mislead shoppers or profit from practices that especially affect communities with fewer financial resources. Attorneys general in other participating states similarly argued that customers should not be expected to pay more at checkout than the amount promised on the shelf, and that retailers have a responsibility to advertise prices accurately.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and state consumer protection laws. Arizona is one of 20 states participating with the FTC. The other states identified in the case are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. Dollar General operates more than 21,000 stores nationwide, although the announcements do not identify which specific Arizona stores or transactions are included in the allegations.

The case follows an earlier pricing dispute in Ohio that resulted in a settlement but did not end concerns about overcharges. Ohio’s attorney general sued Dollar General in November 2022 after consumers reported seeing one price on store shelves and being charged a higher amount at the register. The Ohio office later reached a $1 million settlement with the company that included specific measures intended to address pricing discrepancies. Officials now say overcharges continued in Ohio and other states, prompting them to join the FTC’s broader lawsuit.

The new complaint portrays the alleged problem as more than isolated mistakes by individual stores. Officials say Dollar General repeatedly failed to correct inaccurate pricing despite receiving complaints and having extensive corporate awareness of the issue. The states contend that inadequate policies and safeguards allowed the overcharges to persist, affecting customers at a large number of locations. They are seeking to hold the retailer accountable under federal and state law, though the provided announcements do not specify what damages or other remedies the lawsuit ultimately seeks.

Dollar General had not provided a response to News 4 Tucson when the Arizona announcement was published. For Tucson shoppers, the immediate practical step is to review receipts and compare checkout prices with shelf labels or advertisements, then report suspected discrepancies to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. The lawsuit will determine how the allegations are addressed, while consumer complaints may help establish whether the pricing issues described nationwide were also experienced regularly by Arizona customers.