How to Penny Shop at Dollar General (Beginner's Guide)
New to Dollar General penny shopping? It's simpler than it looks: find discontinued items still on the shelf, scan to check the price, and buy the ones that ring up a penny. Here's the whole process, step by step.
Step 1 — Get the Dollar General app
Download the official Dollar General app and create an account. Its built-in barcode scanner lets you check a price quietly, without asking an employee or drawing attention. Set your store in the app so prices reflect that location.
Step 2 — Hunt where clearance hides
Penny items are discontinued products that should have been pulled but are still on the shelf. Look in clearance sections, on endcaps, and especially on the top and bottom shelves and in seasonal aisles — the least-maintained spots, where missed items linger. Items that look out of season or dusty are good candidates.
Two spots almost nobody checks, and both are where a pennied unit survives a pull:
- The overhead shelf. Dollar General keeps overstock on the steel above the regular shelving, and a pull list gets worked at eye level — so the floor units go and the backup cases up top stay, same dead item number, still scannable. Look up before you leave an aisle. Look, don't climb: if it's out of reach, it's out of reach.
- Clip strips. The hanging strips of product clipped to shelf edges, endcaps and cooler doors sit outside the planogram, so they belong to nobody during a reset. Pennied stock can hang there for months after the same item disappeared from its home spot.
Step 3 — Scan to check the price
Open the app's scanner and scan the barcode. If it shows $0.01 (or $0.00), it's a penny. If it shows a normal price, decide whether it's worth it at that price or move on. Scanning is how you find pennies discreetly — no need to ask staff.
Step 4 — Read the tags for what's coming
Clearance tags show a percentage (30/50/70) on orange/yellow stickers. 90% off is the big tell that an item is near the end of the line — often a week or two from a penny. Note those and check back. The full system is in Dollar General's clearance schedule.
Step 5 — Check the date on the package
Then look at the package itself, next to the barcode. Many products carry a date printed there by the manufacturer — something like 02 / 2024. If it is a year or more in the past, you are holding stock that has been sitting that long, and old stock is exactly what pennies. It is the one number in the aisle nobody has reprinted.
Two cautions: a date in the future is a best-by and means nothing here, and an old date is a reason to scan rather than a verdict. Full detail in the date on the package.
Step 6 — Time it for Tuesday (except during a remodel)
New pennies and markdowns generally hit Tuesday morning after an overnight Monday update. A Tuesday or Wednesday trip catches the freshest cascade before other shoppers clear it out.
The exception is worth knowing early: if your store is being remodeled, the markdown wave runs on a Sunday instead — and remodels are the biggest penny events there are.
Step 7 — Handle the register right
Bring your items up and pay. If they ring a penny, great. If an associate declines, accept it gracefully and move on. Critically: don't call corporate and don't ask employees to price-check or pull back-stock — that gets stores flagged and dries up future pennies. See the etiquette guide for the full do's and don'ts.
A quick note on matching
Match items exactly — size, count, scent, and flavor are separate products, and a packaging change can make a new full-price item look identical to the pennied old one. The barcode you scan is the truth.
FAQ
How do you penny shop at Dollar General?
Find discontinued items still on the shelf (check clearance sections, endcaps, and top/bottom shelves), scan them with the Dollar General app, and buy the ones that ring up $0.01. Time trips for Tuesday and follow register etiquette.
What app do I use for Dollar General penny shopping?
The official Dollar General app — its barcode scanner lets you check prices quietly. Set your store so prices are accurate, then scan items to see if they ring up a penny.
How do I know if something is a penny at Dollar General?
Scan the barcode in the DG app. If it shows $0.01 (or $0.00), it's a penny. 90% off on the tag is a strong sign an item is about to become one, and a manufacturer's date printed on the package that's a year or more in the past means you're holding old stock — the population pennies come from.
What should I not do when penny shopping?
Don't call corporate to report a store, don't ask employees to price-check or dig through back-stock, don't clear shelves to resell, and never alter a tag. These protect the stores from getting flagged and keep pennies available.
Where do penny items hide at Dollar General?
In the least-maintained spots: clearance sections, endcaps, seasonal aisles, and the top and bottom shelves. Two that most shoppers walk straight past are the overhead shelf, where Dollar General keeps overstock above the aisle and where backup cases of a pulled item often remain, and clip strips — the hanging strips of product on shelf edges and endcaps, which sit outside the planogram and get skipped during a reset. Look up, and check the strips. Don't climb for anything out of reach.