A federal review of company records indicates that more than 2,300 rodents were discovered in 2021, “demonstrating the history of infection.”
“No one should be subject to products stored in such unacceptable conditions as we found at this Family Dollar distribution facility,” Judith McMeakin, FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
But the picture of the distribution center, which sends products to stores, didn’t come as a shock to many in Memphis, where Family Dollar temporarily took over 60 of the city’s predominantly black and low-income neighborhoods. Closed more stores. The closures have left an access gap for residents to buy food and essentials.
Some experts say these issues point to a larger pattern of neglect at Family Dollar’s parent company Dollar Tree, which acquired the chain in 2015 and has a long record of worker safety violations.
A company spokesperson said in a statement that it is committed to quality products and a safe environment for customers and workers.
Dollar Tree said the most effective way to recall affected products was to temporarily close stores that received shipments from the distribution center. The distribution center is back open and operating at limited capacity and the company is slowly reopening Family Dollar stores.
The company “takes this situation very seriously” and is cooperating with regulatory agencies and is “in the process of resolving this issue,” the spokesperson said.
‘They don’t treat us like family’
The status of Family Dollar, which has approximately 8,000 US stores, is of particular importance in Memphis because the city has limited retail options available to customers who are poor and do not have easy access to cars or public transportation.
“I don’t think it will happen in a wealthy neighborhood,” said Vicki Terry, executive director of the Memphis NAACP chapter. “I don’t think things would have been so bad.” The NAACP is offering a free $150 gift card to shoppers who have purchased unsecured items at Family Dollar and are struggling to find other options.
The Family Dollar is a lifeline for many in a city where more than a quarter of residents live below the poverty line. In some neighborhoods, Family Dollar is the only shoppers from nearby stores who can buy food – though fresh groceries – and a small selection of everyday items.
“The majority of customers at these stores are disadvantaged black people who don’t have good transportation to get to other places,” said Rev. Leonard Dawson. “They need quality and safety just like anyone else.”
A group of Memphis church leaders, community activists, and other city and county officials have fought to improve the situation for Family Dollar since 2019.
Local officials in Memphis met with Family Dollar representatives at the time, and company officials pledged to make improvements.
But they quickly went bad again.
“That’s how they do business in our community,” she said. “They don’t treat us like family but they want our dollars.”
The company did not respond about the terms of complaints from Memphis stores or city leaders.
history of infringement
Family Dollar’s parent company Dollar Tree also has a long record of workplace violations.
In 2021, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said that Dollar Tree inspections over the past five years resulted in more than $9.3 million in fines.
Dollar Tree “has a history of not taking the safety of its employees and customers seriously,” Daniel Jindra, an OSHA official in Florida, said last year.
David Michaels, a former OSHA administrator from 2009 to 2017, said in an interview that agency inspectors found stores often lacked staff and had insufficient storage room to store items. He said the boxes would pile up in the backroom and block the exit, creating a “fire trap.”
A spokesperson for the company said it is “committed to complying with all applicable federal, state and local occupational health and safety laws and appropriate industry standards.”
Scott Mushkin, a retail analyst at R5 Capital, said some of the terms stemmed from the company’s labor model, which relies on stores with fewer employees and less overhead.
According to analysts, the company pays the lowest wages in the retail industry and is more vulnerable to the challenges of hiring in tight labor markets such as employee turnover and existing labor markets.
He said that when Dollar Tree acquired the business in 2015, the Family Dollar stores were in bad shape. Although Family Dollar has renovated thousands of stores in recent years, many stores under both banners are still poorly maintained.
“Business controls don’t seem to be where they should.”