North Carolina is one of 20 states joining the Federal Trade Commission in a lawsuit alleging that discount giant Dollar General is engaging in deceptive practices by routinely charging higher prices at the register than are either advertised or on in-store displays.
"They have been an outlier among retail establishments for many years, and it became very clear that the fines that they were getting were not enough to deter this behavior. So that's why we're suing them," N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson said in an interview.
The complaint, which is led by the Federal Trade Commission, alleges that Dollar General touts itself as a place where customers can find low prices even as its stores nationally have racked up more than 30,000 complaints for inaccurate prices and failed thousands of pricing audits.
Federal and state attorneys allege that Dollar General has engaged in "pervasive and systemic pricing inaccuracies, rather than isolated or accidental errors." The company has failed to implement safeguards that would prevent the errors, the complaint says, instead passing costs along to customers who are frequently living on "razor-thin margins."
North Carolina has the second-most Dollar Generals of any state, with more than 1,150 locations, trailing only Texas.
The state is also second only to Texas on the states with the largest rural populations. That's not an accident, Jackson said, with 80% of Dollar General stores nationally located in towns with populations of fewer than 20,000 people.
"There's a clear correlation between how many of your citizens live in rural parts of your state and how many Dollar Generals your state has," Jackson said.
In response to the lawsuit, a Dollar General statement said the company aims for "100% accuracy" between the cash register and the price on the shelf.
If there is a discrepancy, the Dollar General statement said, employees are instructed to fix it.
"We remain ready and willing to engage in reasonable, meaningful discussions to resolve this matter while keeping our focus on what has always been at the heart of Dollar General – serving our customers and the communities we call home. That commitment has not changed and will not change as we navigate this matter," the Dollar General statement said.
Dollar General stores are among the most frequent retailers to fail inspections and receive fines from N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Inspectors.
In North Carolina, inspectors conduct unannounced inspections of price accuracy.
If a retailer has an error rate of greater than 2% on 50 items scanned, the inspector discusses the issue with the retailer. The department only assesses a fine if the store fails a follow-up inspection with 300 items.
Between September 2025 and August 2026, Dollar Generals failed 47 audits, including 30 follow-up inspections resulting in fines totaling $71,500. Those cases span the state, from Chowan County to Scotland County to Buncombe County.
"They've been on notice for several years, and the fact that they've been on notice and the problem has persisted means that this is illegal conduct," Jackson said.
'Nobody likes families getting ripped off.'
The N.C. Department of Justice estimates that about 1.5 million people shop at a Dollar General in the state each week, with many low-income families in rural areas relying on the store for their grocery shopping.
About 60% of Dollar General's revenue comes from families that have annual incomes lower than $35,000, the lawsuit states.
In Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the company touts a focus on low- and fixed-income households "often underserved by other retailers (including grocers)."
Those customers are the ones who are most likely to overpay for goods at Dollar General, alleges the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where Dollar General is headquartered.
"They come in with the exact amount of money they need. And Dollar General knows that there have been instances where ... people had to put things back on the shelf at the register because they brought enough money for the eggs and the milk and the bread but because of Dollar General's mistake they wound up not being able to afford it," Jackson said.
The Federal Trade Commission is joined in the suit by a bipartisan group of attorneys general, including Jackson.
"Nobody likes families getting ripped off. No AG likes families getting ripped off, doesn't matter what your party is," Jackson said.
North Carolinians who shop at Dollar Generals should check their receipts, Jackson said. If they find that they have been overcharged for an item, he recommends immediately asking for the price to be corrected.
"Whether they give you a refund or not, report them to us so that we can handle it on our end," Jackson said.
Customers can file complaints with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service's Standards Division either online or by calling 984-236-4751.
