Dollar General is one of the most successful retailers in the world. Last year, it recorded $37.8 billion in sales, up more than 10% over the prior year, and generated $3.3 billion in operating profit. Over the last five years, its stock has increased by more than 120%. Its current market capitalization is $46.7 billion.
Dollar General has found success by offering discount goods in rural towns and low-income areas that are often ignored by other major retailers. For many, it is one of the only convenient options to buy food, apparel, cleaning supplies, and other household items. Dollar General already operates over 18,000 stores and plans to open 1,050 more in 2023 — an average of nearly three new stores a day.
It is also an extraordinarily dangerous place to work.
Since 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued $15 million in fines against Dollar General in connection with "180 inspections nationwide for numerous willful, repeat and serious workplace safety violations related to unsafe conditions."
Many of these violations relate to Dollar General's practice of staffing its stores with as few employees as possible. That means there frequently aren't enough employees to unload and stock merchandise. Goods pile up in aisles and in front of exits, creating unsafe conditions for workers and shoppers.
For example, an inspection report issued this month of one Ocala, Florida Dollar General location found a double exit door in the backroom...
FDA and consumer protection officials suspended production at a Samut Sakhon canned fish factory after alleged false labelling Thai food and consumer protection authorities have ordered a canned f...