(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Foodbanks and food pantries throughout Ohio will again benefit from a settlement secured by the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost over price discrepancies at a discount retailer’s stores – this one with Family Dollar.
The $400,000 agreement earmarks $250,000 for food banks or other similar charities to purchase and distribute food and personal-care items, with the beneficiaries chosen by Ohio’s 88 county auditors. Yost’s office recently entered into a $1 million settlement with Dollar General, with $750,000 of that distributed in December to auditor-selected food pantries.
“Our county auditors play a vital role in making sure that retailers operating in Ohio have fair and honest pricing,” Yost said. “That’s why we’re partnering with the auditors and channeling settlements dollars back into our communities.”
Family Dollar, which was bought in 2015 by Virginia-based Dollar Tree, has 460 stores in Ohio.
On the heels of price discrepancies identified at Dollar General stores throughout Ohio, Family Dollar stores came under scrutiny from the county auditors, who are responsible for price verification at retail businesses.
Auditor inspectors found that Family Dollar was displaying prices on store shelves for certain items but charging higher prices at its registers.
As part of the settlement with the state, Family Dollar acknowledges violations of the Ohio Consumer Protection Sales Act.
In addition to paying monetary relief, Family Dollar must also make changes to ensure accurate pricing, including:
- Adequately staffing stores to maintain accurate shelf tags.
- Immediately adjusting the register price to match the shelf tag when a consumer identifies a discrepancy, and, within 24 hours, correcting the shelf tag.
- Requiring store managers and district managers to conduct monthly and bimonthly random price checks.
- Requiring stores with three “failed” auditor inspections within six months to undergo a full-store assessment within seven days of the third failed inspection – one that involves checking the price of every item for accuracy.
- Educating all employees about these policies and posting signs in its Ohio stores informing customers of the same.
Although Dollar Tree was originally named in the state’s complaint against Family Dollar solely as Family Dollar’s parent company, it was dismissed from the lawsuit upon the state reaching a settlement agreement with Family Dollar.