Did you see the billboard asking “What is wrong with Kroger?” Here is the answer.
Kroger is a national brand, a household name, and one of the largest grocers in America. But something isn’t right with this company. Government records, court cases, investigative reporting, and customer testimonials describe a very different company than the one Kroger is selling us.
Shoppers say Kroger’s sale prices often aren't what they seem and the price on the shelf is not what ends up on the receipt. The company has also been caught price-gouging and overcharging customers. One of the most aggressive customer data collectors in the industry, Kroger builds secret profiles on its loyalty members and monetizes them to pad its margins.
And while families and Kroger’s own employees struggle to afford groceries, Kroger execs and shareholders just keep getting richer.
1. Kroger overcharges at the register
The price on the shelf should be the price you pay. That’s not always the case at Kroger.
Our report, Kroger's Pricing Problem, obtained government price inspections of 101 Kroger stores in nine Ohio jurisdictions, from 2022 to mid-2026. Here is what inspectors found:
More than 1 in 3 Ohio Kroger stores analyzed were caught overcharging.
Overcharges averaged more than 20% above the shelf price.
When the register was wrong, it favored Kroger nearly 3 to 1.
In one inspection, a digital coupon that “failed to apply” led to an over 55% markup on a carton of Kroger eggs.
And the overcharging goes beyond Kroger’s home state. Consumer Reports checked 26 Kroger-owned stores in 14 states and Washington, D.C. It found expired sale tags that led to overcharges on more than 150 items. The average overcharge was $1.70 per item.
Kroger has also been accused of overcharging at the pharmacy counter. It agreed to pay $17 million to settle a class action that says insured customers paid more than they should have for some generic drugs. Read more.
2. The sale price isn't always the price you get
Shoppers describe sales with a catch: fine print, deceptive “discounts”, and prices that only work if you have a smartphone.
Hundreds of shoppers we heard from described misleading sale signs and trouble getting digital-only prices.
Digital-only deals mean two shoppers in the same store can pay different prices for the same item. Shoppers who can't use the app can end up paying more, leaving many seniors, shoppers with disabilities, and lower-income customers excluded from discounts.
Kroger's own CEO has said its deals confuse people. Greg Foran told investors that Kroger's research shows "some of our customers understand our promotional package, but well over half do not."
What’s more, while many shoppers don’t even catch pricing errors in the first place, those who do struggle to get them rectified. In 2016, Kroger's official X account said an item that scanned higher than its shelf tag would be free. Today, the “free item” policy has disappeared, and shoppers tell us Kroger’s vague "Make It Right" policy, which handles price errors on a case-by-case basis, is inconsistently enforced.
3. Kroger tracks you, and profits from what it knows
If you use a Kroger loyalty card or the Kroger app, Kroger is keeping a file on you.
A Consumer Reports investigation found Kroger builds "secret shopper profiles" on loyalty members, including an estimate of your income. One shopper who requested his file learned it may have been sent to more than 50 other companies.
Kroger's "alternative profit" business, which includes the division that sells customer data to other companies for marketing, now represents more than 35% of the company's net income, according to Consumer Reports.
Kroger's privacy policy describes collecting customer location data and using cameras that may capture license plates and even facial-recognition data in some stores. Read our breakdown.
Kroger is replacing paper price tags with digital ones that can change in seconds. In June 2026, Kroger confirmed it is rolling them out across its Columbus division.
Lawmakers have warned that these practices pave the way for discriminatory pricing tactics such as surge pricing and surveillance pricing, which could have you paying more than your neighbor for the same groceries on the same day.
What Kroger says: Kroger says it "does not and has never engaged in 'surge pricing.'" It told Consumer Reports that it "does not personalize prices on its products."
What Kroger hasn't said: Kroger has made no written commitment that it will never set a price based on what it knows about you. Read how surveillance pricing works.
4. Kroger has a history of food safety failures
You should be able to trust that the food you bring home is safe.
Infant formula. In December 2025, the FDA sent Kroger a formal warning letter for failing to remove recalled infant formula from its shelves. The formula had been recalled over the risk of botulism. Kroger was one of four retailers cited by the FDA.
Listeria. Chicken fettuccine alfredo meals sold at Kroger under its Home Chef brand were recalled in 2025 in a Listeria outbreak tied to prepared pasta meals. The CDC counted 28 people sick across 19 states and 7 deaths.
Glass. Kroger-brand chicken fried rice was among 37 million pounds of frozen food recalled across several brands over possible glass fragments.
Eggs. In July 2026, a Kroger supplier recalled nearly 1.6 million dozen eggs over possible Salmonella contamination.
Many recalls start with suppliers, not grocers. But when the same grocer makes headlines again and again, shoppers are right to question their quality standards. See Kroger's food-safety record.
5. Kroger shorts workers to bankroll execs and shareholders
In October 2026, Kroger told employees it plans to eliminate about 3,000 corporate jobs over the next three years as it leans into AI.
In the first half of this fiscal year, Kroger spent about $1.2 billion buying back its own stock. It plans to spend about $800 million more by year-end.
From fiscal 2020 through 2025, Kroger paid out $16.25 billion to shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks.
The most recent, complete data calculated Kroger’s CEO made 457 times that of the average Kroger employee.
Kroger agreed to a $20.8 million settlement after a 2022 payroll-system blunder left thousands of workers with late, wrong, or missing paychecks.
In a 2022 survey of more than 10,000 Kroger workers, 78% reported food insecurity, meaning they could not reliably afford the food they sell.
Read what it's like to work for Kroger.
6. Kroger has a pattern of questionable leadership
Kroger’s attempted merger with Albertsons was blocked in 2024 after the FTC warned it would mean higher prices and fewer choices for shoppers. The failure led Albertsons to sue Kroger for billions in damages, a dispute that continues to occupy Kroger’s resources in 2026.
In March 2025, Kroger's longtime CEO resigned after the board found his personal conduct "inconsistent with Kroger's Policy on Business Ethics." Kroger said the conduct was unrelated to its business and did not involve Kroger employees but has never said what the conduct was.
Following the CEO scandal, the Cincinnati Enquirer, Kroger's hometown newspaper, reported that 2026 was "among the busiest years of the decade for turnover among Kroger's senior executives" as longtime leaders exited the company.
In spite of its recent and costly failed merger with Albertsons, Kroger is trying to get bigger again. In July 2026 it agreed to buy Giant Eagle, a 95-year-old family-owned Pennsylvania grocer, for $1.65 billion.
Read about the chaos at the top.
What you can do now
Check your receipt before you leave the store. Every time.
Add your name to demand Kroger honor its price tags and stop profiting off our personal data.
Tell us your experience with Kroger.
Common questions
Is Kroger overcharging customers?
Government inspectors have caught it doing so. We obtained Ohio inspection records showing that more than 1 in 3 Kroger stores analyzed were caught overcharging, and the overcharges averaged more than 20% above the shelf price. Consumer Reports separately found expired sale tags that led to overcharges on more than 150 items at Kroger-owned stores in 14 states and Washington, D.C. Read the report.
Why are Kroger's prices so high?
Kroger has alleged that its own rising costs explain rising prices. But in an internal email produced by the FTC at a 2024 trial, Kroger's senior director for pricing wrote that "on milk and eggs, retail inflation [had] been significantly higher than cost inflation." Meanwhile, Kroger’s new CEO stands to make over $17 million this year, and the company paid out $16.25 billion to shareholders from fiscal 2020 through 2025.
Does Kroger use surveillance pricing?
Kroger says it does not. It told Consumer Reports that it "does not personalize prices on its products," and it says it has never engaged in surge pricing. But Kroger has built exactly what surveillance pricing would require: detailed data on its shoppers, and digital price tags that can change in seconds. It has made no written commitment that it won’t set prices based on what it knows about you.
Does Kroger sell my data?
Yes. Kroger's privacy policy lists categories of personal information it sells or shares. It lists data brokers among the recipients of purchase histories and of the conclusions Kroger draws about shoppers. "Sell" and "share" have specific legal meanings and do not always mean a cash sale. In some states you have a legal right to see your file. Here is how to request it.
What should I do if Kroger overcharges me?
Take a photo of the shelf tag. Check your receipt before you leave. Ask customer service to refund the difference. Then report it to your state attorney general or your local weights and measures office, and tell us so we can add it to the record.
Who is behind the Kroger Hurts Families billboards?
Kroger Hurts Families is a project of the Center for Responsible Food Business, a national 501(c)3 nonprofit. We are not affiliated with The Kroger Co.
