Dollar General is known for its low prices, opening branches almost everywhere, and often being chaotic. But the latter is a bigger problem than an eyesore.
Last month, Dollar General agreed to a $12 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor over safety violations often related to store disorganization – such as blocked emergency exits and fire extinguishers. The discount chain also promised extensive safety measures.
The discount chain has added fresh fruit and vegetables to its range in more than 5,400 stores. Representatives of grocery stores believe that the measure could harm small family businesses.
A Dollar General spokesman said the company is pleased with the settlement with regulators and is committed to ensuring a safe environment for workers.
Step Up Louisiana, a labor group that advocates for better working conditions at Dollar General, praised the agreement. It also criticized the company for its plans to close five stores this month in New Orleans East, where shopping options for local residents are limited.
“Our decision to close five stores in the New Orleans area resulted from our evaluation of the operational efficiency of those stores,” a Dollar General spokesperson said. “The decision was not influenced by the activities of Step Up Louisiana. The affected employees will be offered the opportunity to transfer to one of our other stores in the area.”
David Williams, who worked as a warehouse worker at a Dollar General in New Orleans for four years and volunteers with Step Up Louisiana, spoke with Gulf States Newsroom senior reporter Stephan Bisaha about store safety, the settlement and the impending closures.
Spurred on by a labor movement that has recently seen major union victories, dollar store workers are organizing in their own ways to improve working conditions.
The following conversation has been edited and shortened for clarity.
The report mentions safety risks such as blocked emergency exits, fire extinguishers and unsafe storage – have you noticed any such problems in your business?
Yes, all the time. When I first started, one of my supervisors who was here before told me to take all these cases of water and block the exits. Most of the time it’s to prevent someone from leaving the house if they steal something. I wouldn’t say she had me do it all the time, but I knew that I was called to take care of whether or not someone was stealing something.
That’s interesting because I feel like I’ve heard this issue a lot when it comes to these aisles and the loading, which is that workers just don’t have enough time to actually move these boxes out of the way. But you’re saying that was a deliberate tactic for safety reasons?
Yes. This was a prime example of why we need to improve security in stores.
Editor’s note: A Dollar General spokesperson said in an email that they could not comment on Williams’ specific allegations about a manager, but that the order to prevent departures would have been a violation of company policy.
And to be clear: your business doesn’t have security?
No. No dollar store has security. None. It doesn’t even have to be security. It just has to be someone with experience in this kind of thing.
We, the dollar store employees, are not committed to this. We know what we are committed to, but we are not committed to stopping someone from stealing because we don’t know what that person might have on them. They might have a knife on them. They might stab us. They might have a gun on them and they wouldn’t even mind pulling the trigger. That’s the way certain people are.
If you expected us to sign up for this, you must ensure that we get paid more than we agreed to.
Dollar store brands have proliferated rapidly in the U.S.—especially in the Gulf South—over the past 15 years. Here’s what’s driving the trend.
How much do you get per hour?
I honestly get $11.50.
This agreement focuses a lot on issues of blocked aisles and warehousing. Do you think your other issues around safety and crime are also addressed here?
One can only hope. I don’t expect it to happen overnight, as if it were a sudden, dramatic change. But I hope that things will improve over time.
As I said, we’ve done our part. We’ve made a lot of noise. We’ve talked about these issues time and time again. Now it’s up to the company to be held accountable and make the changes. Make it happen.
Dollar General still plans to open about two stores a day across the country, but has announced plans to close five stores in New Orleans at the end of August. Do you know why this is happening and where these stores are located?
Well, as I mentioned earlier, when you hold a company accountable and they refuse to acknowledge the problems and the situations that have occurred, they find the most cowardly way to get out of it. They close their businesses. I think you realize that doesn’t help anyone, right?
Are these mainly in the east of New Orleans – the ones that are being closed?
Yeah. And that’s the worst part about it. There’s really nothing there in the East. Dollar stores are one of the main (retail stores) that they can go to to get the things that they need, and you’re closing them down.
Not everyone has access to transportation, so if this is just a one-way trip (for residents) to get groceries into a home or buy household items they can’t afford at any other major retailer, well, seriously, who is this hurting?
Tangipahoa Parish has blocked a new Dollar General store from opening, a case that could set a precedent for other communities seeking to keep discount retailers out.
This story was produced by Gulf States Newsrooma collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO And WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
