NEW YORK -- The Federal Trade Commission has sued the bargain chain Dollar General for what it characterized as “long-running deceptive pricing practices” by charging customers more once they reach the register than the prices that are displayed on shelves and in advertisements.

Twenty states joined in the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. It said that Dollar General failed to correct the issue despite what it said was “extensive corporate knowledge of the problem.”

“Dollar General has betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers and imposed significant financial harm on communities and consumers who are already struggling to make their paychecks last,” wrote Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, did not immediately return a request for comment from The Associated Press.

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[–] 97 points 1 week ago (22 children)

Every Dollar General store I've ever been in has been awful. They're chronically under staffed by design. The stores are in constant disarray. Even the new ones. If you walk into a store 6 months after it was built you'd swear it was 50 years old based on how it looks.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 week ago (10 children)

    I have two close ones and one is as you describe but the other is somehow nice. All the shelves have been “fronted” the food, even the produce, looks good. Prices are good too and some OTC medicine I take is cheaper and more reliably in stock than the grocery store.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 week ago (9 children)

    They sell produce at these places? 😳

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  • [–] 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    In many places they are the only option in an otherwise food desert.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Some do. You can tell by the sign.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Some regular dollar generals also offer very limited produce. Way less than the market stores. Seems to be the most rural ones in my experience

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    Didn't know that! I've only seen Markets with produce and there's only 1 I can think of around here. In any case it's overpriced, but fair enough I guess for a small store without a dedicated produce section and staff. I something feel they added fresh produce to answer all the bitching about food desserts.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    Ours vary a lot but one is pretty decent. Their prices are generally better than grocery or drug stores for name-brand things like ice cream, deodorant, and shampoo.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Are you sure that they are selling the same quantities? In mine they have many of the same products for sale in 2/3 or 1/2 sized packages and the unit costs are higher if you keep track.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    Was just commenting that the new DG down the street is extraordinarily well run with happy employees. I'd like to take DG leadership by the neck and say, "You're working for this manager for two months and you're going to fucking learn whatever the hell she's doing."

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Likely they are properly staffed.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    Thought so to! But that's a higher-level corporate decision, not down to the local manager, at least in my experience. Maybe DG incentivises local managers to be cheap on labor hours? My boss at Lowe's had zero control over allocated hours.

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