Many Americans choose to shop at Dollar Stores like Family Dollar because of affordability — an understandable reason given the growing difficulties facing the pockets of many.
But the cost of saving often comes with quality and safety, and that was made evident on Monday, Feb. 26 when Family Dollar Stores pled guilty to storing products, including food, in a warehouse that was infested with rats and dead birds, the Department of Justice announced. The Dollar Tree (DLTR) subsidiary will pay nearly $42 million for its transgressions.
Related: Target borrows from Dollar General to fix its slumping sales
The specific warehouse that was found to be infested with rodents, dead and alive, is in West Memphis, Arkansas. This warehouse served over 400 Family Dollar stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
The FDA inspected the warehouse in 2022 and reportedly exterminated nearly 1,300 rodents which triggered a mass recall of products by the company for over 400 stores in Feb 2022.
The company started getting reports in August 2020 of mouse and pest issues with deliveries to stores, and by the end of the year some stores reported getting rodents and rodent-damaged products from the warehouse, according to the plea agreement. The company admitted that by January 2021 some employees were aware that the unsanitary conditions were causing products to become contaminated.
Related: Essential retailer closing dozens more stores in bankruptcy
The backlash against the quality of products is not exactly new. Back in November, John Oliver and the Emmy-award winning Last Week Tonight discussed Dollar Stores.
The show highlighted not only the rodent-infested warehouse in Arkansas, but pointed out several other down sides of Dollar Stores including how products aren't exactly cheaper than in regular supermarkets and the disgraceful working conditions that leave some stores with just one employee at a time manage entire stores.
Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024
