North Carolina joins lawsuit against Dollar General

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square

Raleigh – One week after the state consumer agency said it fined 10 locations, North Carolina has joined litigation against Tennessee-headquartered Dollar General in a federal court saying prices rung up at the register do not match prices on shelves and in advertisements it says are a “long-running deceptive pricing practices” scheme.

Relief sought by the state is not quantified; rather, the case led by the Federal Trade Commission and inclusive of 20 states filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee says up to $5,000 for each known violation.

A statement made available to The Center Square is direct.

“We’re suing Dollar General because they’re ripping people off, and they know it,” said first-term Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “People should be able to trust that the price they see on the shelves is the price they’ll pay. But Dollar General has been breaking that trust. They’ve failed state inspections and been told over and over to fix these mistakes. They haven’t.”

Ten Dollar General stores were among 19 in 14 counties throughout the state fined for price scanning errors in the third quarter of 2026 by the Standards Division within the state Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Fines totaled $29,475, the agency said Oct. 19, attached to 23 inspections; in some cases, more failed inspections were noted for the stores including one failing six times in calendar year 2025.

Jackson said the 10 stores combined for nearly 400 pricing errors.

No single total dollar figure is sought in relief by North Carolina from Dollar General. Civil penalties “up to $5,000 for each knowing violation” is part of the language, as is an accusation of 399 pricing inaccuracies in 28 inspections between June 2023 and November 2025. “Monetary and other relief within the court’s power to grant” is part of the plea by all plaintiffs.

In a 593-word statement made available by the company to the public without attribution to an individual, Dollar General said in part that the lawsuit suggests, “that we have abandoned our mission and willfully disregarded the affordability needs of our customers. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

(DG lawsuit continued below...)

The statement – top listing of leaders for the company are Todd Vasos as chief executive officer, Emily Taylor as chief operating officer – acknowledged an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission in February, sworn testimony, work to rectify problems, and surprise at the lawsuit filing.

“We will defend this litigation vigorously,” Dollar General’s statement said in part.

Dollar General operates 1,151 stores in North Carolina. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10-K, locations of 80% of its stores nationwide are in communities of 20,000 or less.

According to the company financials made publicly available, total revenue in fiscal year 2025 was $42.72 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization – a financial metric known as EBITDA – was $3.24 billion.

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Alan Wooten has been a publisher, general manager and editor. His work has won national or state awards in every decade since the 1980s. He’s a proud graduate of Elon University and Farmville Central High in North Carolina.

THE SHELBY INDEPENDENT.