Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced on Tuesday a settlement with Dollar General Corporation and its parent company after allegedly discovering that consumers were being charged higher prices than what was labeled and advertised on shelves.
The investigation uncovered “numerous occasions” when consumers were charged higher prices at registers at Dollar General, which operates more than 900 retail locations throughout Pennsylvania, Sunday said.
The investigation also revealed that Dollar General stores failed more than 40 percent of pricing accuracy inspections between 2019 and 2023.
The corporation will pay $1.55 million to the Commonwealth in penalties and costs, and agreed to improve their business practices through employee training and sufficient staffing, Sunday said.
”Our investigation found widespread and repeated instances of Pennsylvanians being overcharged at checkout — blatant deception of customers all over the Commonwealth,” Attorney General Sunday said. “We are hopeful the corporation takes this settlement very seriously as Pennsylvanians expect to pay the price that is on stickers and labels.”
In addition to the settlement funds, the settlement further requires that Dollar General modify its business practices to prevent future violations of the Pennsylvania consumer protection law. As detailed in the settlement agreement, Dollar General will undertake the following steps in its Pennsylvania stores:
Train employees on ensuring price accuracy as well as their obligation to honor the lowest advertised price, including Dollar General’s obligation to provide price adjustments for overcharges;
Maintain sufficient staffing to update shelf tags on at least a weekly basis;
Ensure each store undergoes at least two unannounced pricing audits during each fiscal year;
Conduct either an enhanced audit or full store assessment of each store that fails three or more price audits during a 12 month period;
Correct all reported or known price inaccuracies within 24 hours; and
Post a notice at each register (point of sale) stating that the lowest posted price will be honored and informing customers that they can seek a price override if necessary.
The only Dollar General in greater Glenside is located at 45 Cheltenham Avenue in Cheltenham Township. The settlement is below:
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