Dollar General Employee Reveals Sneaky Trick ‘Used by Retail Giant’ to Make Deals Look Better Than They Are

A Dollar General employee has revealed the allegedly sneaky way the retail giant tricks shoppers into spending more money on a sale item.

The video posted on TikTok shows a woman claiming to be a Dollar Store employee changing the price of an item to put it on sale at the original price.

The video, posted by a woman named Ashtyn, shows her apparently changing the price of a Forever Pals steel pet bowl, which was originally priced at $5.75.

However, in the clip, Ashtyn increased the price to $6, before dropping it to the original $5.75 and putting it on sale.

In response to the video, one user expressed outrage in the comments, saying: “This should really be illegal.”

They added: “I always look and if it’s not really a discount and I don’t need it, I don’t buy it. My local store does this VERY often.”

Another said that because this trick is used so often, it has become the reason why shoppers have stopped “believing in sales” and why “Black Friday has been dead for years.”

This alleged trick, known as fictitious or misleading marking or false pricing, remains largely unenforced, except by those who have been the subject of class action lawsuits.

Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, “unlawful, unfair, or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce” are prohibited.

The video posted by Ashtyn has garnered over 225,000 views.

Dollar General recently came under fire after the chain released a disappointing earnings report.

Shares of all three national dollar store chains have fallen over the past year, with Dollar General falling 39% this month.

In its latest results, Dollar General said poorer Americans are running out of money at the end of the month, meaning they have to cut back on even basic purchases.

David D’Arezzo, a former senior executive at Dollar General and other retailers, told CNN that Dollar General made a mistake in trying to pivot to discretionary items, known as “non-consumables.”

In recent years, the chain has added items such as decorations and candles to its shelves, rather than focusing on basic “consumables” like food and cleaning products.

“They’re trying to get out of a failed non-consumable strategy where they have a lot of inventory,” he said. “They didn’t realize that in tough times, the consumer would be looking for consumables.”