Do Any Grocery Stores Have Penny Deals Like Dollar General?

Dollar General is a nationwide retailer known for its steep discounts on groceries, household items, and various other everyday products. Although many items hover around a dollar (as, of course, the chain's name suggests), there's an entire subculture dedicated to tracking down the store's somewhat secretive penny deals. You can snag Dollar General's penny discounts if you know where to look and act quickly, but what if you don't live near one? Although the hush-hush nature of Dollar General's penny items may seem to suggest that other stores could also have their own unadvertised 1-cent deals, the unfortunate news is that you aren't likely to find them elsewhere, at least not at traditional grocery stores. That's right — as much of a bummer as it may be, penny deals just aren't considered a thing at your regular supermarket.

What you can find instead, though, is the occasional grocery item on sale for less than a dollar (and this doesn't just include those insanely cheap single-priced bananas at Trader Joe's). Walmart, in particular, regularly offers sale items at $1 or less, and Kroger also has weekly digital deals with lowered prices. Even notoriously pricey Whole Foods has some options for budget shoppers, like $1 oysters on Fridays for Amazon Prime members. Most regular groceries also have in-store discount shelves or tables worth checking while you're browsing in person too; you may not be able to find anything comparable to Dollar General's penny prices, but savings are there.

On the incredibly rare occasion that you do come across a grocery item that's priced at just a cent, you may not want to buy it despite how amazing the deal may seem. For one thing, you're not likely to even find out its actual price until it's rung up at the register, and, depending on the circumstances, staff may prevent you from actually purchasing it. According to various employee accounts on Reddit, the entire reason Dollar General penny deals exist is to act as internal indicators that an item has been discontinued or otherwise needs to be removed from store shelves. Because a $0.00 price would effectively eliminate the product from the system and make it impossible to track, the 1-cent price tag is used instead.

There does not appear to be any official public statement that Dollar General or other stores do this, but online forums have discussed it. Responding to a 2023 Reddit post questioning why Dollar General staff acted negatively toward penny-deal finds at checkout, user @Scorpwanna said, "They could also be recalled items which cause a health hazard and need to be destroyed." The poster mentioned a prior penny-deal product priced as such because it was found to contain lead. The same potential issues go for other discount stores like Dollar Tree, which has "penny items" (but with a catch). So, when it comes to your groceries, it's worth being skeptical of overly low prices.