Dollar General employees at Wisconsin store make statement by walking out: 'We quit!'

Dollar General employees at a Wisconsin store walked out over the weekend due to concerns over pay, work hours, the company's donation policy and their overall treatment.

The staff of the Dollar General in Mineral Point, a city in Iowa County, Wisconsin, stormed out for three hours on Saturday and left signs explaining why on the store's doors and windows.

"The store is closed," one of the signs reads. "The whole team has walked away due to a lack of appreciation, being over overworked and underpaid."

Another sign said, "We quit!" On the same sign, the employees thanked the store's "amazing customers" and said, "We love you and will miss you!"

The final piece of signage left by the employees was a note thoroughly describing the employees' dismay for Dollar General.

"We will not work for a company that does not stand behind in true honest form of what they want the world to see them as," the note read. "... we must take a stand for the community and not allow corporate greed to continue preventing people in need of help they need and could receive. Policies, processes and procedures need to change!"

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Dollar General's Mineral Point store reopened after closing for 3 hours, company says

In a statement emailed to USA TODAY, Dollar General said, "We are 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 Tennessee-headquartered company's statement said. "The store reopened at 11 a.m. last Saturday morning and remains open to serve the community."

It is unclear if employees who participated in the walkout faced any consequences.

Dollar General's donation policy led to the walkout, former manager says

Trina Tribolet, the store's former manager, told WKOW in Wisconsin that understaffing and excessive work hours only contributed to the employees' decision Saturday. She said a primary reason for the walkout was a disagreement on what employees could and couldn't donate.

Dollar General's donation policy requires employees to discard items approaching the expiration date or that the store no longer sold, Tribolet told the TV station. To work around the policy, employees would label items as damaged and donate the products to community members, she said.

When corporate found out about the employees' workaround and told them to stop it, they all quit, according to Tribolet.

In Dollar General's emailed statement, the company addressed its donation policy.

"We are proud to serve local Wisconsin communities with donations through our Feeding America partnership at 21 stores across the state," Dollar General said. "The Mineral Point Dollar General store 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."

 Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com