4 Ways Alabama Shoppers Can Get Overcharged at Dollar General Without Noticing

Dollar General has agreed to pay overcharging settlements in Wisconsin, Ohio, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Missouri, and Colorado, and a nationwide class action added $15 million on top of that.

Alabama hasn’t produced a settlement of its own yet, and Dollar General has spent decades filling a gap for Alabama towns too small for a full grocery store.

Nevertheless, like any store, overcharges can happen.

Based on issues in other states, these are some of the ways Alabama shoppers may end up paying more at Dollar General than the shelf tag promised.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Price-accuracy rules and enforcement vary by state and are subject to change, so report a suspected overcharge to the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries’ Weights and Measures Division.

1. Regular Prices That Don’t Match the Register

Not every Dollar General overcharge involves a sale.

Missouri’s attorney general and its Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures Division jointly checked more than 5,000 items across 147 Dollar General stores.

Ninety-two of those stores failed, charging more at the register than the shelf tag said.

None of them were luxury items, either.

The petition named candles, toilet paper, lip balm, lemonade, tire foam, and drink coolers, ordinary stuff nobody double-checks at checkout.

The average gap ran $2.71 an item, with some running as high as $6.50 over the posted price.

Wisconsin regulators found nearly the same thing.

Checking 7,344 items across 238 Dollar General stores, they caught 9% of them scanning higher than the shelf, at an average of 17% over the sticker price.

A $5 item at 17% over runs closer to $5.85, and nobody stops the line to argue over 85 cents.

2. Sale Signs Still Advertising a Deal That’s Gone

Dollar General runs weekly sale cycles the same way many grocery and dollar chains do, which means signs come down almost as often as they go up.

Pennsylvania’s attorney general found that Dollar General failed more than 40% of its pricing-accuracy inspections between 2019 and 2023.

That’s four in ten.

Part of that $1.55 million settlement forced Dollar General to correct any known pricing error within 24 hours and to fix incorrect signage fast, going forward.

That requirement only exists because a shopper could grab an item under a sale sign that already expired, walk to the register, and pay full price without ever knowing the deal was over.

That price was accurate a week ago.

It just never got pulled.

3. Cashiers Who Won't Fix the Price Even After You Point It Out

Dollar General doesn't always correct the register when a shopper catches the mismatch on the spot.

A Dollar General in Franklin County, Ohio's attorney general documented, listed shampoo for $1 on the shelf and charged double that at the register.

The shopper pointed that out before paying.

The store charged the higher price anyway.

It wasn't an isolated complaint, either: Ohio's attorney general logged 116 similar complaints about the same pattern in the months after suing the chain.

A shopper who does everything right, catches the error, and says something out loud can still walk out having paid more than the shelf promised.

4. No Notice Telling You That You're Owed the Difference

Dollar General isn't required everywhere to post a sign explaining that shoppers get the lower price when there's a mismatch.

Wisconsin's investigation found 45 of 238 inspected Dollar General stores missing that signage, the notice disclosing a customer's right to a refund when overcharged.

Eight stores still didn't have it on the follow-up visit.

Colorado and Pennsylvania both had to force Dollar General, through separate settlements, to post new notices at the register promising to honor the lowest price and telling shoppers they can ask for a price override.

Neither posting came by choice.

A sign that has to be court-ordered wasn't there before the courts got involved.

Without it, many shoppers never learn they can speak up.

They pay the wrong price and never find out.

Dollar General's Long Run in Alabama

Dollar General's history in Alabama goes back further than many shoppers realize.

The chain opened its first Alabama store in 1965, and it now runs roughly 850 stores across the state with about 8,100 employees.

Six decades in one state.

Two distribution centers, one in Bessemer and one in Montgomery, keep those shelves stocked.

Alabama also holds a small piece of company history.

Dollar General opened its 18,000th store nationwide in Gulf Shores in November 2021, marking the occasion with an $18,000 donation to the local elementary school.

The company's literacy foundation has put more than $3.7 million into Alabama classrooms since 2010, reaching more than 363,000 residents along the way.

Alabama's Grocery Tax Math Adds Its Own Caveat

Alabama shoppers checking a Dollar General receipt have another number worth watching that has nothing to do with scanner errors.

The state fully suspended its sales tax on groceries for two months this year, from May through June, under a law Gov. Kay Ivey signed in April.

That window has closed.

Alabama's state grocery tax is back at 2%, the reduced rate the state settled on after phasing it down from 4%.

Cities and counties never joined that reduction.

Local sales tax still applies to groceries at full rates on top of the state's 2%, so a Dollar General receipt can carry more tax than a shopper expects after hearing "grocery tax cut" on the news.