Ohio AG's agreement with Dollar General requires stores to charge shelf price
The Ohio Attorney General's Office has reached an agreement with Dollar General after it sued the Tennessee-based discount retailer over allegations its stores were overcharging customers.
A stipulated order, filed Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court, averts a temporary restraining order sought by the attorney general's office and outlines steps Dollar General must take to ensure its stores' shelf prices match what customers are actually being charged, state officials said in a news release.
The lawsuit in Butler County is still moving forward, officials confirmed.
"This is just a step in the process,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in the release. “Litigation is not over, but this is a step in the right direction.”
The agreement requires employees to charge a product’s shelf price if customers believe they are being charged more at checkout, the release states. It also ensures stores will take steps to correct price discrepancies in cases when a price override is needed.
Dollar General will also have to educate employees about this new policy and post signs in its Ohio stores informing customers of the policy, the attorney general's office said.
Another condition of the agreement requires the company's district managers to price check at least 25 items in each Ohio store every 45 days, the release states, and if more than five products have discrepancies, the corporate office must be notified.
The lawsuit, filed in November, says Dollar General violated a state consumer protections law by advertising goods for one price on store shelves and charging a higher price when the items are scanned at the register.
In October, inspectors with the Butler County auditor’s office found pricing errors at all 20 Dollar Generals in the county, most of which caused shoppers to be overcharged for some items.
Inspectors visited the stores over a two-week period and said between 16.7% and 88.2% of tested items were the wrong price at checkout. Stores are only allowed to have a 2% margin of error to meet state standards.
As part of the order, stores must notify Dollar General's corporate office if a price verification report conducted by a county auditor shows a fail rate of more than 2%, the attorney general's office said. The notification must happen within two days and the discrepancies must be corrected.
Court filings state that as recently as Jan. 10, county auditors have continued to provide reports to the company stating that stores are misaligning shelf prices and prices at the checkout counter.
Enquirer reporter Victoria Moorwood contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio AG's agreement with Dollar General requires stores charge shelf price
