Virginia woman waits in a massive line at Dollar General. Then she looks over at the self-checkout and can’t believe what she sees: ‘I was literally like’

A woman said in a TikTok video that her local Dollar General installed a self-checkout machine but does not let customers use it. The woman, who posts under the name Shandy Gregory (@shandengregory), said the store used to run two staffed registers instead.

Gregory said in the video that the store’s checkout lines used to move, even if not smoothly, when two registers were open. On-screen text in the video described the clip as showing an “Average Dollar General shopping experience.”

Gregory said, “You knew theft was bad in West Virginia before you put that motherfu— in there,” referring to the self-checkout machine. She appeared to be speaking from a kitchen while recording the video.

Video shows a shopping cart piled high with items ahead of her in line

The video included a shot of a yellow Dollar General shopping cart that appeared to be filled with items, including what looked like Valentine’s Day-themed products such as heart-shaped balloons and gift bags. Gregory said in the video, “Like, what do you need all that bulls– for?” while the cart was shown on screen.

Gregory said the loaded cart was what she was “working with” while waiting in line. She said the customer with the cart was “fighting the lady,” an apparent reference to a cashier, over the price of an item. Gregory said the customer asked, “is this one’s 15 cents?” In another case, a Georgia Dollar General manager was fatally shot by a customer during a transaction.

Gregory said in the video, “I was literally like, I will give you $100 to fu– off right now,” describing her reaction to the delay. 

The video drew thousands of comments from users who said they had similar experiences at Dollar General stores in other locations. A user named Tabby Kidd commented, “Every Dollar General has a self check out that no one is allowed to use.”

A user named Tracey replied to Kidd’s comment, “we have 2 in our local DG and they’re like the chair in the bedroom you pile all the junk on lol.” A user commented, “yup here in Illinois we have them and they are shut off lol.”

A user named Thomas Rodig commented, “None in my county had self checkout.” Another user, identified as nic, commented, “does yalls DG also have a squeaky toy to squeeze because no one constantly works the register? they just wonder off and you squeeze it to get their attention?” A user replied, “Yes,but it doesn’t work because they can’t hear it from outside.”

Nic added in a follow-up comment, “i love that we all experience the same experience in different locations 🤣🤣 the only 2 people outside smoking while i sit with my cart at the register.” A user replied, “Yall have 2 people!?” A similar dispute involved a North Carolina woman who sued Walmart after a self-checkout freeze led to a confrontation.

Some commenters offered possible explanations for why Dollar General limits self-checkout access. A user named William J. Brewer II commented, “it cost them over $3 million in sales lost because of theft,” though no source was cited for the figure. Gregory replied, “That’s crazy lol.”

A user named Kimmie commented, “its not just theft they order too much crap every week especially cold stuff then don’t have enough people to stock so it spoils and they throw it out and put bleach on it so no one can get it from the dumpster!! they don’t let management order they just continuously send stuff the store doesn’t need.” 

Dollar General has not publicly responded to Gregory’s video or the claims made in the comment section, as of this writing.