Penny Shopping at Dollar General
The past month or two I have been sharing and posting about Penny Shopping at Dollar General. Some of you may be asking, "What the heck is penny shopping?" Well, it's literally buying items that are a penny. Before I started shopping at Dollar General, I thought it was like Dollar Tree or the 99 Cent Store where almost everything is a dollar. If that was the case, I don't think I would be putting in as much effort to find pennies! But the truth is, Dollar General is still a discounted store with extremely good deals but most items are not a dollar. They have everything from clothes to accessories, home goods, food, toys for kids, birthday gifts and party items, swim items, and I personally think the items are good quality.
I started hearing about Penny Shopping through the Dollar General Penny Shopping Facebook group and was intrigued by this. Does this really work? How does it work? How long does it take to find items? I was in for a real treat the first few times I went. I thought I was doing awesome and had stuff in my cart that I saw were penny....and then I get to the register and realize they were full price. The lesson that I learned was that I couldn't just dive in and attempt this without researching, learning, sharing and taking screenshots of what people were saying was a penny.
I took a lot of photos from the Facebook group and saved them to my phone so I could look at them when I was at Dollar General. The thing with penny shopping is this. The items that are pennies are technically not supposed to be on the floor. They are supposed to be removed from the floor. I also had to pay attention to what I was looking for. There are different years on each item, different dots or symbols on each item and different things to look for. Now that I know what I am looking for, I have found some great stuff. Keep in mind that I use an app called Penny Finder (I think it was $2.99 one-time) and you can scan the UPC of each item that you think is a penny and it will tell you (assuming others entered that same UPC) whether people paid a penny for it. Some can mark it as full price if it didn't ring up for a penny at their location. There are also some things that don't ring up in the app that I still know are a penny based on matching UPC's with those in the Facebook group.
I am warning you right now that when I started and got the hang of this (I usually am at DG twice a week), it is extremely addicting and others will agree. I usually spend between 2-4 hours at DG at one time so I know that I need to prepare for it. There are also new penny lists that come out every Tuesday in the Facebook group and it lists new penny products. Normally you want to go on a Tuesday when your DG first opens to pull those items before they are pulled off the floor. Those aren't the only items that you need/can look for though. All of the previous penny items are still available and I can tell you that I have gone maybe 8-10 times now looking for pennies and since I now know what I was looking for, I always come home with at least three pennies in one session. The most so far that I have come home with is seven pennies. These aren't just cheap little items though.
Keep in mind that every DG is different, the app does not always tell the whole story, some items will be full price so I try to still keep tabs on the price of items just in case they ring up full price. Don't ever mention to the cashier that you are looking for pennies or talk about it outloud. It's something that they should not even have on the floor and most of the cashiers won't know what you are talking about. I have heard of items not being allowed to be purchased because it's a penny, so it's better if it's just not talked about there. If an item rings up full price at the register, I usually just say something like, "Oh, sorry, I thought that was discounted. I am not interested in that item if that's not a big deal" and they have always been fine with removing it. The more that I do this though, the less I have to ask because the better I understand.
If it takes awhile to find your first penny, that's OK. I messed up big time the first time I went. If you need advice or have questions, just let me know. I'm still learning but I wanted to put this blog together to help those that are interested or wanting to learn. Just a huge warning that it will probably become addictive! But it's really fun.
This was like one of the very first times I went. Out of everything in this photo, the only penny items were the gloves and keychain. With accessories, I look for either a dark blue dot with S18 near the UPC or a dark gray dot with S18 near the UPC. I find keychains fairly often but the gloves were a first find for me. They were kids gloves so I'm saving those for my nieces since they get a lot of snow in Utah in the wintertime.
Now on to the fun stuff! First of all, if it wasn't for Kendall who is in charge of the Facebook group (and he is awesome, gives away free stuff all the time and notifies everyone about giveaways, contests, etc) I would not know how to do any of this so thank you, Kendall.
The Freebie Guy - Facebook
The Freebie Guy - Instagram
Also, I can't reiterate enough how every store is different and how much the app has helped me! DG also has an app called DG GO! and you can now scan for prices and penny items using that app. Unfortunately, in my area, I am unable to use it but hopefully in the future I will be able to! I'm sure it will make my shopping a lot easier! In the meantime, Penny Finder has been super helpful. You can even mark if you paid full price or if yours was a penny too to help others! I will be updating this as-needed and again, if you need any help, just let me know.
Once I had the clothing and accessories down, I moved on to other items. I felt overwhelmed trying to look for everything at once. It took awhile but I also tried to memorize certain items so when I saw it at my store, I knew right away it would be a penny. One of things I found were these Play Pack's in the toy aisle. There were a lot of toys but, up to this point, I hadn't found a penny in the toy aisle. I saw someone post these play packs and found a box of them so I grabbed them. I scanned them on the Penny Finder and they weren't ringing up a penny! I tried another one right behind it and it rang up a penny. I then realized that under the $1 price in the yellow square, there is a purple square. All of the purple square Play Packs of this type were a penny. I was able to get six of them!
Things to look for when penny shopping
*Clothes: I got this onesie (below) for one penny. Jace is wearing a shirt below that I got for a penny! I couldn't even believe it. He loves it too.
*Accessories: The accessories are easy because it's dark blue or gray dot with S18. I knew the gloves and hats would be a penny because I have purchased them before.
*Swim Float: The only way I knew this was a penny was because a lady from the Facebook group said she went and found one that had a purple square below the price and the back said S18. She shared her UPC's and I went to look for them. The ones I found were S19 but I found this one that said S18. It rang up a penny! The UPC on this float: 430000887026
*Food: This was a part of the weekly Tuesday penny list shared by Kendall. The Suddenly Salad has to be Caesar (they are extremely picky and it has to be certain ones) and this is the second one I have found.
Since we moved in June, we are about 30 minutes away from the only Dollar General in our area which makes it difficult to go penny shopping as much. I went a few weeks ago and found the items below. The "Love Lives here" hangs on my wall, it was originally $8 and I scanned it through the App (download the Dollar General App, click on "Lists" and then click on the barcode in the top right corner and you can scan any item and it will tell you the price) and it came up a penny. I actually recognized it from the Facebook group so I thought it would be a penny. The "hello" sign is summer so I'm guessing why that was a penny. The smaller wall hanger I had never seen before and the three air fresheners were actually in the front. At my store they have a bunch of items - usually clearanced - towards the front of the store. I always check there because I have found pennies amongst those items. As for the crystal growing kit, I stocked on those a year ago for my nieces during one of the Clearance Sales - I think they were 45-75 cents each at that time so I'm not surprised that they were pennies. I'm not sure when I will go back. I am considering going back before Christmas because I love their Christmas items. Stay tuned and I'll update as necessary.
It has been a long time since I have gone penny shopping. Even though I haven't worked since January, I have been making and selling glitter tumblers and it's taken up a lot of my time. Plus, we are about 40 minutes away from the nearest DG. Although I thought I would find more today, I was happy about my three penny finds. Especially since it's been so long. The thing with penny shopping is it is based on employees and staff. When I went there today, there was a lot of staff, a lot of new staff and a lot of inventory changes. Tuesdays are when the new penny lists come out but I wish I would have gone there when it opened. I was smart enough to go to the Dollar General Penny Shopping Facebook Group while at Dollar General so I had an idea of what I was looking for. For this round of pennies, I found the foil pick in the clearance aisle (I scanned EVERYTHING I swear, and only found one little penny), I found the BEST. MOM. EVER. socks with all of the other socks (clothes aisle). I went through probably six bins and found one pair. The Hostess section got moved to the front of the store and I was just walking past and saw ONE lonely Smores cupcakes. I just had one and it was delicious!
I started hearing about Penny Shopping through the Dollar General Penny Shopping Facebook group and was intrigued by this. Does this really work? How does it work? How long does it take to find items? I was in for a real treat the first few times I went. I thought I was doing awesome and had stuff in my cart that I saw were penny....and then I get to the register and realize they were full price. The lesson that I learned was that I couldn't just dive in and attempt this without researching, learning, sharing and taking screenshots of what people were saying was a penny.
I took a lot of photos from the Facebook group and saved them to my phone so I could look at them when I was at Dollar General. The thing with penny shopping is this. The items that are pennies are technically not supposed to be on the floor. They are supposed to be removed from the floor. I also had to pay attention to what I was looking for. There are different years on each item, different dots or symbols on each item and different things to look for. Now that I know what I am looking for, I have found some great stuff. Keep in mind that I use an app called Penny Finder (I think it was $2.99 one-time) and you can scan the UPC of each item that you think is a penny and it will tell you (assuming others entered that same UPC) whether people paid a penny for it. Some can mark it as full price if it didn't ring up for a penny at their location. There are also some things that don't ring up in the app that I still know are a penny based on matching UPC's with those in the Facebook group.
I am warning you right now that when I started and got the hang of this (I usually am at DG twice a week), it is extremely addicting and others will agree. I usually spend between 2-4 hours at DG at one time so I know that I need to prepare for it. There are also new penny lists that come out every Tuesday in the Facebook group and it lists new penny products. Normally you want to go on a Tuesday when your DG first opens to pull those items before they are pulled off the floor. Those aren't the only items that you need/can look for though. All of the previous penny items are still available and I can tell you that I have gone maybe 8-10 times now looking for pennies and since I now know what I was looking for, I always come home with at least three pennies in one session. The most so far that I have come home with is seven pennies. These aren't just cheap little items though.
Keep in mind that every DG is different, the app does not always tell the whole story, some items will be full price so I try to still keep tabs on the price of items just in case they ring up full price. Don't ever mention to the cashier that you are looking for pennies or talk about it outloud. It's something that they should not even have on the floor and most of the cashiers won't know what you are talking about. I have heard of items not being allowed to be purchased because it's a penny, so it's better if it's just not talked about there. If an item rings up full price at the register, I usually just say something like, "Oh, sorry, I thought that was discounted. I am not interested in that item if that's not a big deal" and they have always been fine with removing it. The more that I do this though, the less I have to ask because the better I understand.
If it takes awhile to find your first penny, that's OK. I messed up big time the first time I went. If you need advice or have questions, just let me know. I'm still learning but I wanted to put this blog together to help those that are interested or wanting to learn. Just a huge warning that it will probably become addictive! But it's really fun.
This was like one of the very first times I went. Out of everything in this photo, the only penny items were the gloves and keychain. With accessories, I look for either a dark blue dot with S18 near the UPC or a dark gray dot with S18 near the UPC. I find keychains fairly often but the gloves were a first find for me. They were kids gloves so I'm saving those for my nieces since they get a lot of snow in Utah in the wintertime.
Once I got the gloves, keychains, and accessories down, I was able to expand a little bit more. See the gray dots on the headband and hats below? Right under the price (in the big yellow square)? That's how I knew they were a penny. I started looking at clothes, shoes, and houseware after that. I noticed the shoes (the black/white are adult and pink are kids) had a yellow dot. One thing that has been accurate at my DG is for clothes, if it is a yellow dot, it shows S18 on the tag (season 2018) and at the top it says, "Everyday Great Value", it will be a penny. For items that are S19 (season 2019) they will most likely NOT be a penny. If the tag has a white dot, it's not a penny. If it has a dark blue or dark gray dot, look at the year and if it says S18, most likely it will be a penny.
The pot holder I found on accident. It was right in front of me in the homeware section and I looked at the back and it said S18. I scanned it through the Penny Finder it was a penny! Things were getting easier and I was noticing things more.
I eventually found adult shoes that matched the kids shoes!
Some people penny shop to donate to the homeless, I penny shop as a side "job" so I can resell my penny items for more money since I'm only working part-time. It also helps with birthday and Christmas presents. What you do with the items is up to you! I never find enough items to donate but I did speak with someone in my store who was also penny shopping and she said she found boxes of these penny sweats and donated them to a local charity. I love knowing that people do this to be generous and hopefully one day I can find a huge lot like that and donate it as well!
Now on to the fun stuff! First of all, if it wasn't for Kendall who is in charge of the Facebook group (and he is awesome, gives away free stuff all the time and notifies everyone about giveaways, contests, etc) I would not know how to do any of this so thank you, Kendall.
The Freebie Guy - Facebook
The Freebie Guy - Instagram
Also, I can't reiterate enough how every store is different and how much the app has helped me! DG also has an app called DG GO! and you can now scan for prices and penny items using that app. Unfortunately, in my area, I am unable to use it but hopefully in the future I will be able to! I'm sure it will make my shopping a lot easier! In the meantime, Penny Finder has been super helpful. You can even mark if you paid full price or if yours was a penny too to help others! I will be updating this as-needed and again, if you need any help, just let me know.
Once I had the clothing and accessories down, I moved on to other items. I felt overwhelmed trying to look for everything at once. It took awhile but I also tried to memorize certain items so when I saw it at my store, I knew right away it would be a penny. One of things I found were these Play Pack's in the toy aisle. There were a lot of toys but, up to this point, I hadn't found a penny in the toy aisle. I saw someone post these play packs and found a box of them so I grabbed them. I scanned them on the Penny Finder and they weren't ringing up a penny! I tried another one right behind it and it rang up a penny. I then realized that under the $1 price in the yellow square, there is a purple square. All of the purple square Play Packs of this type were a penny. I was able to get six of them!
I was with Jace one day (he's 8) and I saw that someone had posted about Cake Batter chapstick. Near the front by the register there were two little containers full of chapstick. We both dug through it and found TEN Cake Batter chapsticks ready for us! I don't think you even need a UPC, because that's literally what it was. Cake Batter Chapstick. This was starting to get easier!
*Clothes: I got this onesie (below) for one penny. Jace is wearing a shirt below that I got for a penny! I couldn't even believe it. He loves it too.
*Accessories: The accessories are easy because it's dark blue or gray dot with S18. I knew the gloves and hats would be a penny because I have purchased them before.
*Swim Float: The only way I knew this was a penny was because a lady from the Facebook group said she went and found one that had a purple square below the price and the back said S18. She shared her UPC's and I went to look for them. The ones I found were S19 but I found this one that said S18. It rang up a penny! The UPC on this float: 430000887026
*Food: This was a part of the weekly Tuesday penny list shared by Kendall. The Suddenly Salad has to be Caesar (they are extremely picky and it has to be certain ones) and this is the second one I have found.
A few weeks ago, and every so often, DG had their clearance event. This was the perfect time to browse for pennies as well as finding awesome deals on everyday items. I showed up to this weekend clearance event on two different days. Keep an eye out for this event. I found some penny hats and keychains. I also found an Easter item for Jace that was on one of the Tuesday Penny lists and it was only one cent. I got a toy truck for my nephew for 35 cents! The Happy Birthday banners were 75 cents. The freezer bags were less than 50 cents each (I should have stocked up!) and the candle was only $1.25! I should have bought more and can't wait for the next one!
The second time I went to the clearance event, I found some good deals and more pennies. Both shirts were "Everyday Great Value" S18 yellow dots. The Baked Beans were part of the Tuesday Penny deals. I got the handheld mixer for half off. I got the Air Wick for $5.00 and the Arm and Hammer for 95 cents. DG also has coupons on their app (Dollar General) and that's how I got the Arm and Hammer for 95 cents. They had a coupon for $3.00 off and it was $3.95! I'll be posting deals like that when I see them. The Wick was also $5.00 off which was a deal in the app as well. The half off the mixer was part of the clearance event.
I was at the clearance event and there were tables and tables and tables of clearance items. I knew the allergy medicine was a penny but hadn't seen it in my store. All of the sudden this guy comes outside from inside and told me to stock up on the allergy medication because it was ringing up as a penny. I had three of them and gave one to Kevin's mom. They retail for $14/ea.
Early June I went to DG and found two toddler shoes for pennies. They were yellow dot, S18 and "Everyday Great Value" and I couldn't believe that I found two of them. Holy cuteness! Now it's starting to be worth the penny finds. I wish I knew a little one that fit in size 6 shoes :(
Here are a few additional finds. The lip balm is the example of seeing a screenshot and knowing it was a penny right away. This was just sitting there with Clearance items. I found a black dress in size small that was the yellow dot, S18, "Everyday Great Value"
On June 18th, Jace was with me and found his first penny item! It was a blue dot accessory/keychain puff! I think I was more excited than he was.
These are just a few examples of how fun penny shopping can be! Below are some of the UPC's of items that I have found. I would recommend following the group and just saving photos of things that you can find at your nearest store. I would also recommend checking back here for updates, following Kendall, downloading the Dollar General, Penny Finder, and DG GO! app, and asking questions if you have any!
Here are some UPC's of penny items (I will be adding to this every-so-often):
Kids shark swim hat: 430000936557
2X women's blouse: 190744121755
Small women's blouse: 190744161850
Small black dress: 430000973309
2X green workout tank: 430000903757
XL pink elephant tank: 722691109120
Paper Airplane Plane Pack (with purple square underneath price and S18): 805219430354
May 13, 2020
As most people know, the past few months, we have been in a major crisis where Penny Shopping is not something that has been on my mind. Today, May 13th, I decided I was going to go back into it. I found soooo many items and I truly think it's because no one has been penny shopping and they have been staying home. Although Dollar General has been open this entire time (the one by me here in California), I wanted to stay home as much as possible. Well today I bought 52 penny items! And most were so different from one another. Following the Facebook group (see above), I knew that some socks had pennied as well as hats and accessories. Mostly winter items since it's almost summertime. I was able to get everything below. I spent about two hours at DG and scanned almost all socks and accessories. Blue dot (dark blue) accessories are pennies currently.
I bought 68 total items and only spent $31! I'm so proud of myself. Now I have a lot of gifts and, since I'm only working 16 hours a week, some will be going on my Poshmark for sale HERE.
August 22, 2020:
DG is having another clearance sale from August 21-23, 2020. Summer items are up to 70% off and clearance sales typically mean more penny items. I went there yesterday and found so many items for great deals. I have been using my Dollar General App (it's free to download!) and under "Lists" you can click on the barcode and scan all of the items. There were two Clearance sections in my Dollar General in San Miguel, California and I went through and scanned pretty much everything. This is how I found items for pennies and also super discounted. I was so into scanning that a guy literally asked where the fans were, assuming I worked there LOL I told him I didn't work there but that was not the first time that someone had asked me a question thinking I did work there. Anyways, I was there for probably an hour and a half (I am typically there between 1.5-2 hours per session when I am searching for pennies) and here is what I found (from L-R):
Kids cup - One penny
Dry erase activity book- one penny
Vehicle micro cars - 30 cents
Monster Machines book- 30 cents
Twin Blade Razor Refills - 4 pennies
Flintstones Vitamins - overage of $1.19
Hair dye - $1.89
Kids ponytail - penny
Despicable Me bandaids- 67 cents
AA Batteries 12 pack - $1.75
My Blox police car - 22 cents
Nexcare Bandaids - 67 cents
Minnie Mouse snack cup - one penny
AAA Batteries 12 pack - $1.75
Emoji Lip Balm - one penny
.
Total on clearance and penny items: $6.44 for everything pictured 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
Vehicle micro cars - 30 cents
Monster Machines book- 30 cents
Twin Blade Razor Refills - 4 pennies
Flintstones Vitamins - overage of $1.19
Hair dye - $1.89
Kids ponytail - penny
Despicable Me bandaids- 67 cents
AA Batteries 12 pack - $1.75
My Blox police car - 22 cents
Nexcare Bandaids - 67 cents
Minnie Mouse snack cup - one penny
AAA Batteries 12 pack - $1.75
Emoji Lip Balm - one penny
.
Total on clearance and penny items: $6.44 for everything pictured 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
November 2020:
Since we moved in June, we are about 30 minutes away from the only Dollar General in our area which makes it difficult to go penny shopping as much. I went a few weeks ago and found the items below. The "Love Lives here" hangs on my wall, it was originally $8 and I scanned it through the App (download the Dollar General App, click on "Lists" and then click on the barcode in the top right corner and you can scan any item and it will tell you the price) and it came up a penny. I actually recognized it from the Facebook group so I thought it would be a penny. The "hello" sign is summer so I'm guessing why that was a penny. The smaller wall hanger I had never seen before and the three air fresheners were actually in the front. At my store they have a bunch of items - usually clearanced - towards the front of the store. I always check there because I have found pennies amongst those items. As for the crystal growing kit, I stocked on those a year ago for my nieces during one of the Clearance Sales - I think they were 45-75 cents each at that time so I'm not surprised that they were pennies. I'm not sure when I will go back. I am considering going back before Christmas because I love their Christmas items. Stay tuned and I'll update as necessary.
June 1, 2021:
It has been a long time since I have gone penny shopping. Even though I haven't worked since January, I have been making and selling glitter tumblers and it's taken up a lot of my time. Plus, we are about 40 minutes away from the nearest DG. Although I thought I would find more today, I was happy about my three penny finds. Especially since it's been so long. The thing with penny shopping is it is based on employees and staff. When I went there today, there was a lot of staff, a lot of new staff and a lot of inventory changes. Tuesdays are when the new penny lists come out but I wish I would have gone there when it opened. I was smart enough to go to the Dollar General Penny Shopping Facebook Group while at Dollar General so I had an idea of what I was looking for. For this round of pennies, I found the foil pick in the clearance aisle (I scanned EVERYTHING I swear, and only found one little penny), I found the BEST. MOM. EVER. socks with all of the other socks (clothes aisle). I went through probably six bins and found one pair. The Hostess section got moved to the front of the store and I was just walking past and saw ONE lonely Smores cupcakes. I just had one and it was delicious!
I also provided a picture with the UPC's so instead of scanning them, you can just look and match the UPC's if that's easier. My DG is rather small and since there were new employees, my guess is they took away the rest of the pennies. I spent a few hours there but I'm glad I found what I did! Have questions about penny shopping? Comment below!
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Of course! I hope it helped!
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