Dollar General How To Penny Shop FAQ – Video for Beginners

Penny shopping is just what it sounds like. It is when you go into Dollar General (or another store that has penny items: Home Depot, Office Depot, Nordstrom, etc.) and buy things for 1 penny. No coupons required for this.

They vary! Food to clothing, think of the things that are sold at DG and that will give you a tip of what to expect. Often it is seasonal items that penny out – but there are also some core items that penny out as well.

Here is penny shopping summed up: Get the list (note the date on the list) and head out to the store with your list. Match up items in your store to the items on the list – IT MUST BE EXACT, check out and it should ring a penny (YOU HAVE TO GET EXACT MATCHES GUYS!)

Really, anywhere. I have good luck in the clearance sections, then I usually also scan the normal place in the store where those items would be located. Look high and look low. Just make sure you don’t mess up the store!

HAVE FUN – We have penny shoppers that do this 7 days a week… did I mention this can be addicting? Have fun with it. The more fun you are having, the more success you will have penny shopping!

DO NOT TALK TO EMPLOYEES ABOUT PENNY ITEMS! – Just don’t do this. These items are supposed to be things that are removed from the shelves. Asking about the items will not get them shown to you… if they are on the shelves still the employees probably do not even realize they are there. Anytime you ask they will just tell you they aren’t sure what you are talking about or that they do not have the items!

DO NOT ASK EMPLOYEES TO PRICE CHECK PENNY ITEMS – You can use the Dollar General app to price check items, but DO NOT ASK EMPLOYEES. This will give them the chance to deny the sale. This is the REGULAR DOLLAR GENERAL app that you use. There is a price checker either under LISTS where you can scan a barcode, or in the upper right hand corner of the app there is what looks like a UPC barcode. Click that to scan and price check. The app is MOSTLY accurate but sometimes it is wrong. If an item doesn’t ring up the price you want to pay, OFFER TO PUT IT BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT! It isn’t the stores fault – remember to be kind to the store employees please.

DO NOT MAKE A MESS OF YOUR STORES – This is a really awesome thing that we get to do. Make sure you clean up after yourselves and don’t make a mess of the stores!

DO NOT CALL CORPORATE OVER PENNY ITEMS  – Guys this is something DG doesn’t even have to do. Let’s not waste their time over penny stuff. If they have to spend tons of time on this stuff or cleaning up the stores from this, they will end it 🙂

A Dollar General Penny Shopping List – This is a must have tool for penny shoppers. Without a list of what to look for, how else would you know what is a penny? Lucky for you, we keep one of the most updated list of penny items online. You can get the list at the link above or also you can sign up for the DG Penny Shopping Newsletter! or The Freebie Guy Newsletter!

A Sense of Adventure – Penny Shopping isn’t something for the casual shopper in most cases. Think of it like a scavenger hunt. Chances are you won’t find stuff every store you go to, so get ready to hunt like crazy! (ps. its really fun and addicting!)

 DOWNLOAD THE DOLLAR GENERAL APP! This really is an invaluable tool. You can price check items with the app and if you find a penny, the app will show it as $0.01. When I first started penny shopping there was no app, it was all about memorizing the list and what the items looked like!

Read the Dollar General Penny Shopping Policy – It is always a good idea to have the Dollar General Penny Shopping Policy on your phone. Just a screen shot will do. Some stores may give you a hassle about it, you can just show them the policy that it states to sell the items to the customer. KEEP IN MIND THAT THEY ONLY ARE TO SELL YOU WHAT IS IN YOUR BASKET! You can’t typically go back and grab more penny items.

If you leave penny items behind, most stores will go behind you and pull the rest of them. This isn’t like couponing where you are doing a favor to the next person by leaving some stuff behind. If you find them. Grab them.

Penny items at Dollar General are items that are usually past their normal clearance schedule or items that may be discontinued or no longer carried.

An example of a penny item: At Dollar General most seasonal items will follow a set clearance schedule. In most cases things will go to 50% off, then to 70% off then to 90% off. After this the unsold items are to be removed from the shelves. At this point, they go to a PENNY! 

This is where the hunt comes in. Because stores are supposed to have them removed from the shelves, and because a lot of items have gone through an entire clearance cycle, finding penny items can be a challenge (THATS THE FUN GUYS!). If you spot one of these items and you take it to the register. It will ring up for just 1 penny.

Don’t worry. If something doesn’t ring up a penny, simply tell the cashier something like “Oh I thought it was a different price” or “I thought it was on sale” or “I changed my mind” and OFFER TO PUT IT BACK for them!

OF COURSE! Here are a few things that I recommend if you are heading out for your first time Penny Shopping.
I recommend starting out with the most recent penny list. The longer items are a penny, the harder they are to find… also the more chance there is that something has changed (items reset back to full price sometimes, symbols can change etc)

Scope out your stores BEFORE the items penny. We post the penny lists in advance, use those lists and go check your stores to see if they have any of the items. If you find them, try being at that store when they open on Tuesday (that is when new items penny… if there is a penny list for a given week) and see if you can snag the items!

JOIN OUR DOLLAR GENERAL PENNY SHOPPING FACEBOOK GROUP! This group is amazing and it is a tremendous resource for penny shopping. You can see what others are getting which will give you a visual! Remember to screen shot posts in the group so you can match up in store what others get for a penny 🙂

Also use the search feature. I regularly see something that may be a penny while in Dollar General and I will use my phone and search the group for the item and figure out if its a penny or not!

Follow The Freebie Guy on Youtube – That’s me (who is writing this article) and I am not just saying that because it is me. When I do Penny Shopping Videos I put a ton of time and effort into making sure that everyone has accurate information. I include tips on where the items for each list will be located in your store, I include visuals (pictures and or videos of the items) and more! Tons of people have reached out to me to say thank you for teaching them how to penny shop via YouTube!

Follow The Freebie Guy on Instagram – Each time there is a new list, I make up a visual graphic of all of the items that will be a penny. Those are typically uploaded to my Instagram account where you can screen shot them and reference them while you are out at Dollar General Penny Shopping!

BONUS TIP… And my favorite! TAKE PHOTOS OF YOUR STORE’S CLEARANCE SECTION! Lots of these items can be found in clearance, so take a photo when you are in store then when we get a list, you can go through those photos and see if your store has anything from your living room 🙂

Be prepared! Study Group & screenshot if needed before heading out! – Keisha W

Don’t be afraid to dig! Get in there good – look behind things and in random places. Just PLEASE don’t trash the place! – Danielle

Do your homework. Penny shopping takes a lot of effort to accomplish. From studying post’s and reading comments. Using screenshots to memorize merchandise. Google photos of the new pennies and take a lot of notes. This step is crucial to penny shopping. – you have to travel to numerous stores, spending hours searching high and low, in and behind stuff. This treasure hunt takes time. But never give up. – Kiki M

Be nice to the employees! – Dee B

Don’t make a mess!!…. I overheard a manager say he was gonna make it his duty to remove all penny items coming from the manager that also told me he leaves them out instead of throwing them away. Reason customers came in and destroyed an aisle and it took them 3hrs to fix… – Cindy V