New Jersey has joined the Federal Trade Commission and 19 other states in suing Dollar General. The lawsuit accuses the discount chain of routinely charging shoppers more at the register than the prices shown on its shelves, price tags and ads.
The complaint was filed Oct. 26 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. It alleges Dollar General has known about the problem for years, failed to fix it, and cost customers millions of dollars. State Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced New Jersey's role in the case on Tuesday.
"Bait-and-switch pricing hurts New Jersey families who are already struggling just to get by," Davenport said. "Together with the FTC and our fellow states, we are taking action to hold Dollar General accountable and protect New Jerseyans from unlawful pricing practices."
"New Jersey will not tolerate deceptive pricing, especially when targeted at consumers who can least afford it," said Christopher Peterson, acting director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs. "To engage in this kind of commercial conduct as consumers struggle to pay for basic needs is completely unacceptable."
Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said 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."
The other states in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.
According to the 95-page complaint, Dollar General received at least 29,265 customer complaints categorized as "Did Not Honor Marked Price" between Jan. 1, 2023, and March 31, 2026. The complaints came from all 48 states where the company operates.
FTC investigators also went shopping. Between Jan. 16 and April 1, 2026, they made undercover purchases at Dollar General stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Maryland.
"Every single undercover purchase resulted in Dollar General charging more at the register than the price advertised for multiple products," the complaint states.
At a Cleveland store on Jan. 16, 13 of 58 items rang up at a different price than the one on the shelf or label, an error rate of 22.4 percent.
Since 2019, Dollar General has settled seven state cases with six attorneys general and consumer protection agencies over pricing errors, paying more than $6 million, the complaint says. That includes a $1.2 million settlement with New Jersey in 2023.
The complaint says Dollar General "routinely fails pricing inspections across the United States." Most states treat an inspection as failed when more than 2 percent of items checked are priced wrong.
The complaint includes dozens of customer accounts, among them one from New Jersey. In October 2024, a New Jersey shopper complained that a buy-two-get-one-free deal on bags of chips advertised in a flyer was not honored at the register.
Many shoppers don't catch the errors at all, the complaint says. Prices "flash quickly on the screen" at checkout. In one FTC undercover buy, the screen listing items and prices faced only the employee.
Dollar General changes prices weekly. Employees are supposed to swap out shelf labels during a five-hour "Compliance Tuesday" shift, the complaint says. Most price changes are increases, though, so when the register updates before the shelf tag does, the shopper usually pays more.
The complaint says stores are often "too thinly staffed" to print new labels and put them up. It cites a news article sent to the company's CEO in which a former assistant manager in Illinois said: "You're lucky if you get to work two to four hours of your eight-to 13-hour shift with another human being."
The lawsuit says the overcharges hit hardest on the customers Dollar General says it serves. About 80 percent of its stores are in towns of 20,000 people or fewer, and households earning $35,000 or less make up 60 percent of its revenue, according to the complaint. The chain sells about 2,000 items for $1 or less.
The complaint quotes the company's CEO describing core customers as people who "run[] out of money before the month runs out."
"Dollar General has for years engaged in deceptive conduct that harms the very consumers it claims to serve," the complaint states.
The FTC alleges violations of the FTC Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, a federal law that protects consumers' financial information. Under that law, the complaint argues, Dollar General used false price claims to get shoppers' credit card, debit card and bank account information at checkout.
New Jersey's claim is under the state Consumer Fraud Act. The state says each instance of deception counts as a separate violation. It is seeking civil penalties, restitution for consumers, attorneys' fees and a permanent order barring the practice.
New Jersey is represented in the case by Deputy Attorney General Christopher Meyer of the Consumer Fraud Prosecution Section, under the supervision of Section Chief Jesse J. Sierant and Assistant Attorney General Kashif T. Chand.
Residents who believe they were overcharged can file a complaint with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs at njconsumeraffairs.gov.
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