Walgreens will pay the state of Vermont half a million dollars to settle claims that the pharmacy overcharged customers.
Attorney General Charity Clark said on Wednesday that state inspections found more than 400 instances in which Vermont customers were charged more at the register than the advertised shelf price.
“We want to make sure that consumers feel comfortable and safe making purchases in the marketplace,” Clark said in an interview. “We want to protect them and make sure that they're getting a fair shake when they go shopping.”
Inspectors from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s weights and measurements program regularly visit Walgreens stories to check if shelf prices match the price at the register, according to the attorney general’s office. During the visits, inspectors randomly check the prices of 50 to 100 products.
According to the attorney general’s office, inspectors found 416 overcharge errors at 60 different Walgreens and Rite Aid stores between between 2018 and 2024 (Rite Aid was purchased by Walgreens in 2018). The overcharges ranged from 4 cents to $23.40, with the median overcharge amount being $1.92, the attorney general’s office said.
Walgreens did not respond to a request for comment.
The settlement requires Walgreens to maintain its pricing compliance policies and over the next three years report any changes to its policy. Twenty-five thousand dollars of the $500,000 settlement will go to the Community Health Centers of Burlington.
“We can't track down all of the Vermonters who spent more … than they were supposed to,” Clark said. “It's a donation that sort of honors and symbolizes a return to the community of the money that they spent that they weren't supposed to have to spend.”
