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Finding penny items at Dollar General is not hard once you learn how. Penny shopping has been around for a long time. It used to be a hidden gem and the few that knew about it were able to get a huge amount of products without much competition. Nowadays with social media and the spread of information, it is very competitive. A lot more competition than when I began. First of all, before you dive in, learn everything you can about it. When you first start it can be very confusing and a bit overwhelming.
Shoppers study items that gradually decrease as the store starts to reduce prices on their merchandise. Some items will be discontinued and it will start to mark down. Other items that are seasonal or have a certain color dot, clover, diamond etc. on it will eventually be reduced until it’s a penny. For example, during the Spring, winter clothes will be reduced in price. Sometimes the store will have sales and the price is marked down to 25%, then 50%, 70%, 90% and finally a penny. When this happens you will be able to find pennies at DG. Here are some items I got for a penny.
First of all, the store employees are to pull the items when it reaches a penny. It opens an opportunity to find penny items when they don’t remove them. Some will throw items away or send them back to corporate. On the other hand, Employees do not always pull the penny items. It could be because they are too busy, don’t have enough time or don’t really care. If you find the items for a penny that are still on the store shelves, according to the DG policy you are able to buy them.
An easy way to answer this is to follow social media. There are people dedicated to following the trends when something will penny or simply get a list from a manager. Having this information makes it easy to find penny items. Furthermore, paying attention to what is being reduced and be able to keep an eye out for when things penny. In other words, if some items are 70% off, those things should penny soon. In addition to this, pay attention to visuals. You will be amazed at how pictures will help you when you are in the store.
First you have to have a smartphone or Iphone and download the DG app. The DG app can be found in Google Play. Once the app is installed, simply make an account.
Now that you have an account, you will be able to scan items in the store. For example, say you watched a video saying that next Tuesday will be a penny. You can go in a scan the item mentioned and it will show on the app.
You go into the store on Tuesday morning and look for these items. Say you come across Valentines Day candy and decorations, you can scan it to make sure it’s a penny. The DG App has a scanner so you can review the prices in their store. You are scanning the UPC# and/or barcode on the item. If the results are 0.01, 0.00 or see store for price, then the item is a penny. Tuesday is the first day the items will penny, but you can go any day. Just remember that if you have a lot of penny shoppers in your area, it may be harder to find items.
Dollar General changes their app sometimes, but as long as you know what to look for, it will not be hard to find what is discussed in this blog.
Downloading the App
After downloading and signing up, here is a picture of what you should see. On this page, you can build up your shopping list by adding UPC codes, use DG coupons they offer, and check your list to see price deductions.
When shopping in Dollar General make sure you change your connection on your phone to the Dollar General connection. Then you will be able to scan items in the store. It will ask, do you accept. Click yes, then you will be connected.
The bar code lines top right of phone is what you click on to scan items. It will take you to the scanner. The change button is use to change stores. Only scan in the store you are in. A search button will be displayed and you can put in the address or map dots appear and click on. Sometimes a blue dot shows indicating which store you are in.
This picture shows the Dollar General map. I use this to decide which stores I want to visit. It’s a great way to map out what area and see where the store is located. Click on it and the address will appear, then click make this your store. So, when you scan, you will be scanning the correct prices for that store.
This is an example of scanning an item in the store. The price of the item and the name of the product will appear. The Dollar General app is great to see if you have a penny item.
Most DG stores will have a clearance section. This is mainly where items will be as they continue to go down in price. Sometimes you can scan random things in this section and find penny items. Scanning every single item will be overwhelming so try to focus on what you have seen in visuals. This is also the section where the employees will put items that will eventually penny. However, don’t limit yourself to this section because penny items can be all over the store. I have found penny items in the regular aisle where the items are normally sold, on the endcaps, in the front of the store on the display table, or just in random places. There is also an event called Clearance Events that DG will have several times in a year.
NEVER go into the store and ask where are the penny items? Remember they are supposed to pull them. It’s an unspoken rule that you just don’t mention it at all. When I look for penny items, I may see other penny shoppers and we may quietly discuss what we find or what we are looking for.
Penny shopping is like a treasure hunt! If this is something you plan to do as a hobby or just to be able to buy things to give away, be nice to your cashiers! They are human too and working hard to make a living
I found some items and offered them to the workers. One lady loved my penny hat I found. I had 3 so I gave her one. One cashier asked if there were any silverware sets left that I found. So I gave her one and she was super happy about it.
Items will surprise penny in Dollar General. This simply means no one is aware and the managers don’t know because the items are not on a list. Sometimes this information will get out on social media and begin to spread. On the other hand, people can be in the store scanning and discover something has pennied that no one knew about! Surprise pennies are the most fun to find because managers don’t know about them; therefore, it will be easy to go in the store and find these items.
DG stores can be super messy. Even so, put stuff back. I have seen this one couple allow their child to put a bunch of items in a cart that wasn’t a penny and left it there. I talked with the staff when this happened and they were extremely upset. Don’t be trifling like these parents were and teach their kid to be the same way. Follow the Love your Neighbor as you love yourself rule. If you had to work in a store, would you want to have to put back all those items?
The best time to go is the day things turn a penny which is typically on a Tuesday. You can go anytime after that. I have found things that have turned a penny on Tuesday, a few days or a week after.
In fact, I went today and found a few penny items that were pennied over a month ago. This happens because some items may be just coming in the store and they are not aware that the item has pennied. Sometimes they may have items in the back and are just putting it out, or maybe no one went to that store. I recommended going on Tuesday and being there right when they open.
There are times when people like to visit the store the day before and look around to see what items are in the store before they penny on Tuesday. Get to know the stores around you, so it will become easy to know which stores pull items and the ones that just leave them. I remember going into one store that had items on an end cap that were about to penny. I went back to that same store the day it pennied. All the items were still in the same spot!
I became aware of these surprised penny items from social media. I went to a store within minutes and it was so much fun to get penny coffee cups!
I hear this complaint from a lot from people. No matter what they watch, hear and look for, they just can’t find anything. Obviously, this is very frustrating, but I say just keep trying. It is important to learn about the stores around you. Here are a few reasons why you may not find anything:
I have been in a store and seen the manager in the aisle scanning items and pulling. This one particular store, I have rarely found anything. I don’t waste my time going to this store on penny day. It’s not to say I will never find anything in the store because recently I was shocked that they had several items that weren’t pulled. It was also the day that the guy who is normally there wasn’t so I assume since he was absent, nothing was pulled. I went back when he was there and found no pennies.
I have talked with some of the workers/managers and some have told me they don’t care if people find pennies and they don’t pull. Now, I DID NOT START A CONVERSATION ABOUT PENNIES. PLEASE DON’T DO THIS. I happened to be in the store and they knew I was penny shopping which opened up a dialog with them. I use this as an opportunity to learn their thought process. So I know I can come into that store and more than likely find things.
I have been to a store when it first opened and have seen a group of penny shoppers all together grabbing things. I try to avoid those stores and just find one where none of them are at. LOL.
There was a popular song by Chic called, “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.” I agree with the song in that we are not always winners at penny shopping. I am a firm believer that if something is meant for you, you will get it. I have gone on a penny journey and found nothing. Other times, I hit the jackpot finding a whole section of items. One of my favorite memories is when clothes went to a penny and in two stores, I was the only one in the store shopping for pennies. I just about lost my mind because I was super geeked and nervous at the same time. I had to pinch myself because I could not believe it! There was another time when I went to a store and there wasn’t a single piece of clothing left. Somehow I missed out. So I try to look at it as sometimes I am going to win and do well and other times I will lose out. I thank God for the BIG wins and thank him for the small or nothing ones too.
The way I became successful at penny shopping is by watching lots of videos of people who show their hauls. As I stated before some people have the actual list of what will be a penny and are more than glad to share what is on the list. Some people will also display visuals of the items. The more you view the better you will be at spotting pennies. If you are serious about it, keep looking and don’t become discouraged if you can’t find anything. When I first started I was so lost that I didn’t know what I was doing and often just felt totally defeated, but I never gave up. I just kept watching videos and going to several stores. I would also try to pay attention to what is on sale and what items are continually dropping in price. HAPPY PENNY SHOPPING!
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