Scam / Trap of the Week

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission and 20 states sued Dollar General. The claim is simple: at many of its more than 21,000 stores, the price on the shelf tag was lower than the price you actually paid at checkout. The FTC says shoppers sent in tens of thousands of complaints, and the overcharges added up to millions of dollars.

How they checked. FTC staff went shopping. Between January and April 2026, they made test purchases at stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Maryland. They were overcharged on every single visit.

Here’s what the complaint says they found:

A few dollars a trip doesn’t sound like much. But Dollar General shoppers often watch every dollar, and it adds up across thousands of stores and millions of trips.

Why it keeps happening. A Guardian investigation last December found Dollar General stores failed more than 4,300 government price checks in 23 states over three years. Workers said stores are so short-staffed that nobody has time to swap out old shelf tags. One former worker told the Guardian: “I threw away tags sometimes, to keep me or a co-worker out of trouble.”

It’s not new. Ohio sued over the same problem in 2022, and Dollar General settled for $1 million. New York settled for $1.875 million earlier this month.

What Dollar General says. The company says its goal is “100% accuracy between shelf and register prices in every store,” and that it will “defend this litigation vigorously.” For now, these are claims in a lawsuit. A court hasn’t ruled.

Zypper’s take. You don’t need to check every receipt like a detective. Just watch the screen as items ring up, especially anything on sale. If a price looks higher than the tag, say so before you pay. It takes 30 seconds. Then check your spending in Zypper at the end of the week. Small overcharges hide best in small purchases.

The setup. A 29-year-old data scientist at a nonprofit in Denver makes $110,000 a year. She lives with her boyfriend and their dog. She has no debt. Her accounts add up to about $465,000: $20,180 in a high-yield savings account, about $160,000 in retirement accounts, and $280,004 in investments. (That total is our math from her Refinery29 Money Diary.)

The numbers. Her monthly bills, as listed in the diary:

The last three rows are our math from her numbers. Her 401(k) and her boyfriend’s health insurance (about $230 a month) come out before her paycheck, so they aren’t in the table. Her rent is the big win. Her boyfriend pays $575, so the whole apartment costs them $1,675.

The week. She spent $520.37 in seven days (our math from her daily totals). The biggest items were $119.55 at Trader Joe’s, a $95.78 Amazon order (dog food, moisturizer, and a sheriff costume for a murder mystery party), a $66.80 birthday dress for her mom, and a $49.95 monthly sauna membership. Sunday cost $0.

The backstory. She’s honest that she’s lucky. Her parents paid for college, and an $80,000 life insurance payout plus $60,000 left over from her college funds went straight into investments. Her boyfriend has been laid off twice this year, so she covers more of the shared costs. She saves about $800–1,000 a month. Her big goal is a small house or townhome. But two-bedroom places near her cost $450,000–550,000, and she says the monthly costs would be more than double what she pays now.

Zypper’s take. Cheap rent is a superpower. It’s why she can save and still enjoy her life. Before you buy, compare the full monthly cost of owning (mortgage, taxes, insurance, repairs) with what you pay now. If it’s double, waiting isn’t failing. It’s math.

The average 30-year mortgage rate fell to 7.37% from 7.41%. More buyers are picking adjustable-rate loans, which start lower: they made up 11.3% of applications, the most in over a year. Refinancing is still down 61% from a year ago. (CNBC)

The Federal Reserve kept its key rate at 3.75%–4% on Wednesday. That means card and loan rates won’t drop soon. The upside: some high-yield savings accounts still pay more than 4%. (CNBC)

People 60 and older reported more than $3 billion in fraud losses in 2025, up from about $2.4 billion the year before. Investment scams were the biggest piece, at over $1 billion. The FTC thinks the real number is much higher because most people never report. (FTC, CNBC)

In a J.D. Power survey, 77% of people said they changed how they spend day to day in September, and 48% said things feel less affordable than six months ago. Also: 72% said they’d trust a human over AI for money advice. (J.D. Power)

A startup spent $280,000 paying people to clip videos — The average clipper made about $51. Do the math before you sign up for a side hustle like this.

Buy now, pay later is getting bigger — Bank of America says nearly 1 in 5 households that use it now owes a payment over $500.

85% say it’s a bad time to buy a house — The University of Michigan’s latest survey. Our Denver diarist agrees.

Read the Dollar General complaint yourself — 95 pages, with the FTC’s shopping trips laid out item by item.

You’re at the register and an item rings up $2 more than the shelf tag said. There’s a line behind you. What do you do?

Hit reply and tell me why. I read every one.