US lawmakers demand action on overcharging at 7-Eleven, Dollar General and other chains

Democrats urge FTC to tackle ‘systemic failure’ of biggest convenience and dollar stores over pricing practices after Guardian investigations

Thirty-four members of Congress are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate reports of widespread overcharging by some of America’s most-recognized brand-name retailers.

The 28 October letter to the FTC comes in direct response to Guardian investigations of four of the nation’s largest dollar-store and convenience-store chains. Both investigations revealed pervasive mismatches between shelf labels and register prices.

The first, published in December, found that Dollar General had failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states over a three-year period on items such as peanut butter, spaghetti sauce and Flintstone vitamins. Its smaller rival, Family Dollar, failed 2,100 price inspections in 20 states over the same period.