Dollar General stores have failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022, a Guardian review found. Family Dollar stores have failed more than 2,100 price inspections in 20 states over the same time span, the review found.

Among these thousands of failed inspections, some of the biggest flops include a 76% error rate in October 2022 at a Dollar General in Hamilton, Ohio; a 68% error rate in February 2023 at a Family Dollar in Bound Brook, New Jersey; and a 58% error rate three months ago at a Family Dollar in Lorain, Ohio.

Many of the stores that failed state or local government checks were repeat violators. A Family Dollar in Provo, Utah, flunked 28 inspections in a row – failures that included a 48% overcharge rate in May 2024 and a 12% overcharge rate in October 2025.

According to industry watchers, employees and lawsuits, overcharges often stem from labor practices within the dollar-store sector. When a company changes prices, the registers are updated automatically. But the shelf prices are not: someone needs to remove the old labels manually and replace them with new ones. In an industry known for minimal staffing, workers don’t always have time to put up the new shelf tags.

theguardian.com - Customers pay more rising dollar store costs