Family Dollar Stores has agreed to a proposed order carrying $63,000,011.36 in judgments to resolve claims by the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states that it overcharged at the register, Pennsylvania’s attorney general said on Friday.
Attorney General Dave Sunday said that his office, the FTC and 16 other states had secured the settlement. The order is a stipulated order for permanent injunction in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Sunday said it takes effect “if accepted” by the court.
Under the order, a $60m judgment is entered in favour of the FTC as monetary relief. A further $3,000,011.36 is entered in favour of the state plaintiffs, to be divided among them.
Of the $60m, $40m is to be offered as redress payments to eligible consumers and $20m as discounts at Family Dollar stores. The discount is set at 15% off the current retail price, excluding alcohol, tobacco, gift cards and other prepaid cards, and must be offered for two consecutive days.
The order prohibits Family Dollar from misrepresenting prices, including by charging more at the register than the price advertised on the shelf, on the product or in other advertisements.
Within 14 days of entry, the company must post notices on the front door of its stores and at each register.
It must also run a pricing accuracy programme. Its terms include a lowest price policy and a policy entitling consumers to a price adjustment or refund where they are charged more than the displayed price.
Point-of-sale systems must not update to higher prices until store employees or agents confirm the new prices are correctly advertised.
Every store must receive at least two randomly scheduled, unannounced pricing audits a year. An independent assessor reviews the programme.
One year after the order issues, and each year for four more years, a senior officer responsible for the programme must certify compliance to the FTC and the states.
A “Reportable Incident” is defined from 90 days after entry. It includes at least 10% of the company’s stores in any party state failing a governmental pricing audit in a rolling 12-month period. For five years, Family Dollar must report each such incident within 30 days of determining that it has occurred. Its obligation to deliver copies of the order runs for 10 years.
Family Dollar neither admits nor denies the allegations in the complaint, except as the order specifies, and waives all rights to appeal.
The complaint alleges that Family Dollar has for years charged consumers more at the register than the prices it advertises. It says the company had 7,076 stores in 48 states and Washington, DC in August 2026 and reported about $13bn in revenue in 2025.
It alleges that most products are priced at $5 or less and that the average basket totals $16.
The complaint says regulators have cited the company for thousands of pricing violations since 2022, with fines exceeding $3m. It also cites earlier settlements with state attorneys general: $400,000 with Ohio in February 2024 and $113,960 with Wisconsin in January 2025.
Sunday said in the release that communities, especially in low-income areas, “rely on stores like Family Dollar for essential items, and deserve honesty in pricing”. He added that the allegations “show a troubling disregard for customers”.
The other state plaintiffs are Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.