FORMERLY PE OWNED
Dollar General
Includes DG
discount · Goodlettsville, TN
- PE Firm
- KKR →
- Year Acquired
- 2007
KKR made billions. OSHA made a permanent file. Workers got blocked fire exits.
What Happened
- Since 2017, OSHA has fined Dollar General over $26M across 180+ inspections for willful and repeat safety violations
- Agreed to a $12M settlement with OSHA in July 2024 for systemic safety failures, including single-employee stores
- KKR bought Dollar General for ~$7.3B in 2007 and IPO'd it in 2009; rapid expansion prioritized growth over worker safety
- Stores plagued by chronic understaffing, expired inventory, and conditions so dangerous workers launched organized protests
The Damage Done
- Customers regularly encounter expired food and medicine on shelves — stores so understaffed that no one rotates inventory
- Many locations run with a single employee, meaning long checkout lines, unstocked shelves, and no one available to help
- Stores in low-income and rural communities — the exact customers who depend on them — have blocked fire exits and aisles stacked with unpacked boxes
- Workers dubbed stores 'Dollar Danger' — chronic understaffing means the shopping experience and store conditions have visibly deteriorated