Dollar General settles multiple suits for $15 million. Suits claim the chain regularly overcharged customers.

Dollar General headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tenn.
(Wikipedia photo)

Dollar General, a company that promises affordable food and staples in communities with few options, agreed to a $15 million settlement after being accused of consistently charging higher prices at the register than the prices it displayed on shelves. Many rural and urban customers can apply for repayments, reports Barry Yeoman of The Guardian.

The settlement ends lawsuits in several states that claimed Dollar General "overcharged customers at many of its 20,000 U.S. stores," Yeoman writes. "Many of the stores are located in rural towns and low-income urban neighborhoods with limited retail."

The day before the $15 million settlement was announced, Dollar General announced it settled for $1.55 millions with the state of Pennsylvania to "resolve similar allegations," Yeoman adds. "The chain’s 900 Pennsylvania stores failed more than 40% of their pricing accuracy inspections between 2019 and 2023."

Provided the $15 million is approved by a New Jersey court in March, shoppers will be able to file a "claim award starting at $10 and rising to the full amount of the overpayment," Yeoman explains. Filers will need to provide documentation proving the overcharge, such as receipts or photos of receipts and shelving sale signs.

"Consumers who cannot supply documentation can still claim a $3 discount on one $10 purchase, available on certain days," Yeoman reports. "The company has denied wrongdoing in the cases."

Quick hits: More bacon; thriving town-owned grocery store; shocking fertilizer prices; drones for rural duties?

Five-month-old pigs from the latest breeding line Smithfield 
has developed. (Smithfield Foods photo via WSJ)

Just like lots of people, pork companies would like more bacon. For pigs to produce more bacon, they need bigger bellies, a trait pork industry breeders have been developing for years. "Today, slaughtered hogs weigh about 285 pounds on average, a 30-pound increase since the late 1990s," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "The increase in hog weight coincided with the explosion in popularity of bacon as more than just a breakfast item." With bacon in demand and razor-thin profit margins, the pork industry is using breeding programs to "build a better pig." 

St. Paul, Kansas, hadn't had a local grocery store for more than two decades, but in 2005, the town's new mayor challenged his community to use municipal support to plan and build a grocery store. St. Paul residents embraced the challenge and the St. Paul Area Community Development Corporation stepped in to help with planning and financial legwork, reports Kansas State University. In 2008, the St. Paul Supermarket opened, and it continues to thrive as a town-supported grocery store. Its motto is "the friendly store." Read its success blueprint here.

Fertilizer costs are high in the currency of corn. (Krista Swanson, National Corn Growers Association )

With alarmingly high fertilizer costs and falling commodity prices, U.S. farmers are grappling with how to stay afloat in today's market. "Farmers are in the middle of calling input suppliers to get quotes for fall fertilizer, and the prices are shocking," reports Tyne Morgan of Farm Journal. "The corn price to fertilizer price ratio on inputs such as phosphate is now the highest on record, and as corn prices continue to slide, it’s creating financial hurt on farmers. . . . An unnamed farmer asked U.S. Farm Report, 'How are we going to survive at these prices?'" 

After severe storms damaged crops and farming equipment across Nebraska, the state used drones to help mitigate the aftermath. "Using drones to help with disaster response shows the role they now play in the state’s economy, after years of investment and research from the state government," reports Chris Teale of Route Fifty. "Officials in the state are looking at ways drones can be used, especially to help those in rural areas. Delivery of food, medical supplies and other resources is one use case receiving a lot of attention."

A Maine roadway.
(C. Banks photo)

Among all the states, Maine remains one of the most rural and wild. "Greater Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Bangor, and other populous areas make up just a small slice of Maine’s pie," writes Chris Sedenka in his opinion for WBLM radio in Portland, Maine. "It’s fascinating just how much of the state remains truly remote and untouched. . . . We still have territories named T2R9, you’re not going to find that in every state. . . . According to the data, Maine’s rural population makes up 61.5% of the total. That is an absolutely huge number. . . .The majority of the state is basically just pine trees and wildlife."

Living a long life could partially depend on geography. Some counties just seem to support populations who keep on keeping on. 

The map above shows which U.S. counties have an overall life expectancy above 80 years.
(Map via Brilliant Maps)

Smaller food makers and independent grocers bear brunt of distributors' fees. Bigger grocery stores have the advantage.

Unraveling why some grocery prices are high means
looking at little-known fees. (Adobe Stock photo)

 

As Americans continue to face stubbornly high grocery prices, many are searching for root causes. Turns out, mysterious add-on fees might be part of the problem. "The price of a bag of coconut-cashew granola jumped last year from $5.99 to $6.69," reports Jesse Newman of The Wall Street Journal. "The granola maker said the cost of making the cereal hasn’t gone up that much. . . It jacked up the price, it said, in large part to offset fees that piled up from a little-known link in the supply chain: grocery distributors."

Since the pandemic, bigger grocery chains have raised prices citing supply chain woes, high labor costs and ingredient price hikes. Newman explains, "Many small manufacturers that have raised their prices have another explanation. They say they also are being squeezed by the distributors who act as gatekeepers to many supermarkets."

Avoiding grocery store middlemen isn't easy for smaller food makers. George Milton, who runs a hot sauce business in Austin, Texas, used to deliver his product himself, but that model is no longer realistic. Newman reports. "These days, the chief executive of Yellowbird Foods relies on national distributors to ship his product to stores, a process he said is riddled with obscure costs that make it hard to know what, if anything, he’ll be paid." Milton told Newman, "That’s a really tough way to run a business. But what is the alternative, that I UPS it from one place to another?”

While distributors may look like the problem, it's not easy for them to make a profit either. "Distributors operate on razor-thin profit margins, with limited ability to offset rising operating costs," Newman writes. "The situation reflects a struggle for profit throughout the grocery sector. Big food manufacturers that account for the bulk of sales have pushed through hefty price increases and notched some of their biggest profits in years."

Distributor fees can harm independent grocery stores because larger chains can buy inventory directly and negotiate lower distribution fees. "Distributors’ rules and charges are a symptom of pressures rippling through the supply chain," Newman explains. "Grocers are competing with one another to win shoppers with lower prices. Big food sellers have gained market share, giving them more leverage in negotiations with distributors."

High school students help to run this rural grocery store in Nebraska; 'It's a symbol of small-town grit'

Student Ariel Shields doing work-based learning class
at Circle C. (Courtesy photo via Flatwater Free Press)

Small-town grocery stores have closed at an alarming rate over the past two decades. "Teachers in Cody-Kilgore, a small district nestled in the Nebraska Sandhills, were determined not to let that be their town's story," reports Heidi Beguin of the Flatwater Free Press. They wondered if a student-run grocery store could be the answer.

If necessity is indeed the mother of invention, teachers, administrators, parents and the project's workhorses -- students -- all got on board to support the idea. "Nearly two decades after the idea first surfaced, the Circle C Market – a student-run grocery store . . . continues to serve Cody and the nearby areas," Beguin writes. The store is open six days a week and "represents far more than groceries. It’s a symbol of small-town grit, of neighbors helping neighbors."

Community tenacity is great, but so are the hands-on labor and management skills students learn running the market. And the village "gets a local option in what would otherwise be a grocery desert, with the nearest option being a 40-mile drive down U.S. Highway 20 to Valentine," Beguin explains. "Enrollment in the district has ticked up slightly from 140 students in the 2013-14 school year to 156 currently. Earlier this summer, voters approved a bond to build a new school."

Stacey Adamson was one of the original teachers who floated the idea of a student-run grocery, and she has watched the people and students grow through the project's development. She "believes the learning experience for the students, some of whom come from hard home lives, is worth the challenge. 'By the end of their time there … they will look you in the eye. They’ll say ‘good afternoon.’ They’ll say, ‘thank you. Can I carry your groceries to the car? It’s a game changer for a lot of kids.' Circle C has persisted during a tough time for Nebraska’s rural grocery stores."