HARRISBURG, Pa. - Dollar General has agreed to pay $1.55 million to settle allegations that the discount retailer routinely charged customers higher prices at the register than the amounts displayed on store shelves. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced the settlement on Tuesday following an investigation into the Tennessee-based corporation’s business practices.

The agreement, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, resolves claims that the company violated the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. State investigators alleged that Dollar General stores frequently failed weights and measures inspections regarding price accuracy. According to the filing, the chain underwent 649 inspections between January 2019 and July 2023. The stores failed approximately 43.5% of those checks, meaning inspectors found pricing inaccuracies in more than 280 instances.

The investigation found that while businesses must achieve 98% accuracy to pass an inspection, Dollar General’s compliance varied significantly, dropping as low as 28% in some cases. The average pricing accuracy across the inspected stores was 91%. Under the terms of the settlement, Dollar General will pay $1.43 million in civil penalties and $120,000 to cover the costs of the investigation.

Most of the penalty funds will be paid to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of the Treasury. Consumers will not receive any of the money directly.

Beyond the monetary penalties, the company agreed to implement specific operational changes to ensure future accuracy. The retailer must conduct at least two unannounced price audits annually at each Pennsylvania store through the 2027 fiscal year. These audits involve checking at least 25 randomly selected items, and a failure is recorded if more than 2% of the items scanned at a higher price than listed on the shelf. If a store fails three or more audits within 12 months, the company must conduct a full store assessment or a comprehensive shelf-tag audit to address the errors.

To support these efforts, the agreement requires the corporation to allocate sufficient labor hours to ensure shelf tags are updated at least weekly. Dollar General also agreed to implement training for all store-level new hires and annual retraining for existing employees regarding their pricing responsibilities.

Dollar General must also post a clear notice at each point of sale stating that the store will honor the lowest advertised price. This signage will inform customers of their ability to request a price override and provide an email address for consumers to report pricing inaccuracies. Additionally, the retailer is required to correct any reported price discrepancies within 24 hours, regardless of whether the error was found during an audit or reported by a customer.

The settlement is filed as an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance and does not constitute an admission of a violation or liability by Dollar General. The company expressly denied liability regarding the allegations outlined in the agreement.