A Dollar General store in Wisconsin was forced to briefly shut down after its entire workforce quit, citing seven-day workweeks and a “lack of appreciation.”
Trina Tribolet, who worked as manager at the Dollar General in Mineral Point for the past year, said that she and the store’s six other employees had been discussing their exit “for months,” according to Spectrum News 1.
At the end of their shift on Friday, they finally left — and marked the occasion with a handwritten sign on the door that read, “We quit! Thank you to our amazing customers. We love you and will miss you!”
Another sign taped to the door notified customers that the store had been closed because “the whole team has walked away due to a lack of appreciation, being overworked and being underpaid,” according to photos of the signage posted to Facebook.
A longer note added: “Although we love and adore our customers, we must take a stand for the community and not allow corporate greed to continue preventing people in need of the help they need and could receive. Policies, processes and procedures need to change!”
Tribolet said that while there were many issues with the store, the “last straw” was seeing Dollar General throw an exorbitant amount of items in the trash despite touting that it donates items to the local community.
“We’re throwing away coffee that’s not expired but it’s close. Or you’re throwing out a box of Lucky Charms that you know there’s a whole world of kids who would love to eat those. But you can’t donate them out, because you’re supposed to throw them away,” Tribolet told Spectrum. “There have been tears that have been shed.”
Dollar General argued in a statement to Spectrum that it does work with Feeding America, but the organization has specific guidelines about what can be donated.
Feeding America’s corporate donation guidelines explicitly state that “food approaching expiration” is welcome.
Its website also lists canned goods as great donations, which Tribolet claims get thrown away at Dollar General, according to Spectrum.
“It’s sickening, and it’s saddening, especially for someone that has morals,” Tribolet told the outlet.
“If you’ve ever been at the bottom and never had anything, you know what it feels like to see items get thrown away. That could have gone to somebody that needed them.”
A representative for Dollar General touted to The Post, however, that it “has donated nearly 7,500 pounds of food to local food banks such as Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin over the past twelve months. Food safety is a top priority for Dollar General, therefore, DG stores are required to follow company donation policies.”
Tribolet told Spectrum that her exit also comes after a months-long stint of working seven days.
As the manager, she could only allot her staff so many paid hours per week. Thus, if there was more work to be done but there wasn’t enough money to schedule other staffers to do it, Tribolet was the one to fill that gap.
“Until Friday night when we walked away, this weekend was my first time off since Christmas,” Tribolet told Spectrum, adding that she’s now taking a mental break before finding a new gig.
The other former staffers had other jobs lined up before leaving, she said, per Spectrum.
Though it wasn’t immediately clear what the workers at the Mineral Point Dollar General were making, the minimum wage in Wisconsin is $7.25 per hour.
Representatives for Dollar General told The Post that the company is “committed to providing an environment where employees can grow their careers and where they feel valued and heard. We apologize for any inconvenience our customers experienced during the three hours the Mineral Point store was closed this past weekend. The store reopened at 11 a.m. last Saturday morning to serve the community.”
As of Monday, the Tennessee-based discount chain — which operates nearly 19,000 locations nationwide — had either transplanted staff from other locations or moved swiftly to fill the open roles, according to Spectrum.
Before the store’s seven staffers simultaneously quit, Dollar General already had a sign in the window that it was hiring, per photos shared on social media.
