DOLLAR General is listening to customers by rolling back self-checkout.
During an earnings call, Dollar General announced it will be investing an extra $50 million into labor by the end of the year.
The spending brings their total 2023 investments to $150 million and means more employees will be coming to Dollar General locations.
CEO Todd Vasos said that while self-checkout is helpful for some, “it does not reduce the importance of a friendly, helpful employee.”
“We believe these actions will drive improvements in customer satisfaction, including customer service, on-shelf availability and convenience, as well as sales, while our focus on the front end should also reduce shrink,” he said.
Dollar General gets so many customers because of their low prices, but in order for the chain to make a profit they also have to cut costs in places.
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Most of the time those cuts come at the expense of staff and in September, Bloomberg called Dollar General the “worst retail job in America.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also called them a “severe violator” for earning nearly $25 million in fines since 2017. The issues were so bad that Dollar General’s shareholders voted for a workplace safety audit in May.
Dollar General employees have been calling for better working conditions, and it was even revealed by a National Labor Relations Board judge that the company illegally stopped a unionization effort in July.
The budget retailer made $276 million in this quarter and $9.7 billion in revenue.
Despite the solid profit they showed, Dollar General stock is still in a dangerous position.
The company’s shares are down 45% this year.
“Our customer continues to tell us they are feeling significant pressure on their spending which is supported by what we see in their behavior,” Vasos said.
The move to invest almost 25% of this quarter’s revenue back into employees appears to be a move for Dollar General to restore some peace to their stores and faith in their employees.
The investment is also a way to combat retail theft, which Dollar General thinks is mostly to blame for their company’s stock drop.
They expect these losses to continue into 2024.
