FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For media inquiries, please contact: Reggie Rucker, ILSR communications director
The report “exposes yet another way in which dollar stores’ exploitative business practices take advantage of consumers,” says Stacy Mitchell.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 27, 2024) — The Institute for Local Self-Reliance released the following statement from Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director at ILSR, in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s report on junk fees charged by chain dollar stores and other chain retailers for cash-back transactions:
“This important report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau exposes yet another way in which dollar stores’ exploitative business practices take advantage of consumers.
“The three big dollar store chains make enormous profits. Dollar General alone chalked up gross profits of $11.82 billion in 2023. But they nonetheless find new ways to squeeze even more money from their shoppers – in this case, by charging them a few dollars to get cash back on their transactions, which average only a modest $25 or so. All three major dollar store chains have been fined for overcharge errors, and all use their market muscle to force suppliers to create “cheater” sizes for them. CFPB’s report will help alert shoppers to these abusive retailing practices.”
For almost a decade, ILSR has worked to expose and end chain dollar stores’ dangerous practices and market power abuses:
- A Louisiana Court Decision Opens the Door for More Communities to Reject Dollar Store Development, by Kennedy Smith, April 12, 2024.
- Chicago City Council Votes to Rein In Dollar Store Development, Susan Holmberg and Kennedy Smith, February 21, 2024.
- The Dollar Store Invasion: Communities are in Revolt, But the Chains’ Predatory Tactics Also Call for Federal Action, by Susan R. Holmberg, Stacy Mitchell, and Kennedy Smith, March 2023.
- 17 Problems: How Dollar Store Chains Hurt Communities, by Kennedy Smith, February 28, 2023.
- Stop Dollar Store Proliferation in Your Community: A Strategy Guide, by Kennedy Smith, February 28, 2023.
- Adopt Dollar Store Restrictions, by Kennedy Smith, October 2018; updated March 23, 2023.
- Maps Show Alarming Pattern of Dollar Stores’ Spread in U.S. Cities, Marie Donahue and Hannah Bonestroo, February 20, 2019.
- Dollar Stores are Targeting Struggling Urban Neighborhoods and Small Towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back, Marie Donahue and Stacy Mitchell, December 6, 2018.
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