Secret shoppers caught Dollar General overcharging on about 14% of items — it now owes $1.8M, and customers get nothing

Instead, the company is donating nearly $1.9 million worth of food and personal items to Foodlink, a Rochester nonprofit that works to end hunger and will pass the goods along through its network of meal programs and food pantries.

The shoppers who paid too much, however, will not get anything back from this settlement.

“Dollar General regularly charged consumers higher prices than advertised, and the receipts shoppers received were difficult to understand,” James’s office said in a statement.

And New York isn’t the first state to call the chain out. Ohio settled with Dollar General for $1 million over the same issue back in 2023, and Pennsylvania reached a $1.5 million settlement with the chain in 2025 after finding its stores in the state failed more than 40% of price accuracy inspections from 2019 to 2023.

Here’s what New York investigators found, why a few cents can matter so much to shoppers, and what you can do the next time something rings up incorrectly.

Secret shoppers, failed inspections and confusing receipts

James’ office says it opened the investigation after shoppers complained they were charged more than the advertised price. Under New York law, a store has to charge the lowest price it advertises, posts or marks on an item.

Stores also need to score at least 98% on price checks by local weights and measures inspectors. Investigators pulled more than 900 of those inspection reports from Dollar General stores across the state. In 43% of the reports from 2021 to 2023, the rate of price accuracy failures topped 2%, which does not adhere to the state’s standard.

On top of overcharges at the register, the secret shoppers also found shelf tags, print and digital ads, and digital coupons that didn’t match the checkout price.

Some receipts listed only an item’s full price, according to the office. Others showed only what you paid after discounts, and some showed neither. That left curious customers to work out the math on their own.

Why a few cents matter so much at Dollar General

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost put it in plain terms in November 2023 when he announced that $750,000 of his state’s $1 million Dollar General settlement would go to food banks and other hunger-relief groups in all 88 counties.

“Most people don’t shop at Dollar General because they have a lot of extra money to spend,” Yost told Ohio’s county auditors. “So when a bottle of shampoo that should cost $1 costs $2 at the checkout, that’s a real thing.”

Marc Dann is a former Ohio attorney general whose law firm represented shoppers in a separate national lawsuit against Dollar General. In June 2025, he told The Guardian that the shoppers with the least amount of money may have just $10, $20 or $25 to spend in a week and often add up prices in their heads as they shop. If the register ends up charging more than they thought, they end up putting things back.

Meanwhile, The Guardian published a review of government price inspection records in December 2025 and found Dollar General stores had failed more than 4,300 price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022.

The newspaper tied much of that to thin staffing. When a price changes, the register updates automatically, but employees often don’t have time to replace the shelf tags.

Dollar General has denied wrongdoing in both the Pennsylvania case, as well as Dann’s national lawsuit. Asked about the New York settlement, the company didn’t say whether it disputes the attorney general’s findings.