How to save money on groceries by: grocery store cashier

by Judith
(Fort Worth, TX, USA)

I spent a few years working in a Wal-Mart grocery store and learned a few things about saving money at that retailer and other tricks that can work at other grocery stores. First, about Wal-Mart, they have a “price match” policy.

Many people don’t know about it because they don’t advertise it very much. Basically, their policy is that if a local competitor has a lower price in their circular or print-ad (like the ones you can pick up at the store entrance or get in the Sunday paper) Wal-Mart will match the price, so long as it is an identical item.

Store brands will never be an identical item, but you can match those, its store brand for store brand. If you go to Wal-Mart any ways you can get all the sale prices in one location and not have to run all over town trying to save money on groceries. However, most of the stores do not honor “Buy one Get one” or “percent off” but that is at the discretion of the individual store manager.

Each store is different. Tobacco products aren’t advertised in print so it is difficult to get a price match on those. However, at the store I worked for, the manager made an exception for a regular customer and matched the price for his tobacco, so long as he brought in a receipt from the competitor proving the price, they sell it for.

You can ask customer service to get the specific store’s policy. Price matching is great for buying things like soda, produce, meat or canned goods – this is just where I noticed the biggest savings. You can also use coupons on the price matches.

During my time spent as a cashier I also noticed that Items advertised on sale at grocery stores, often had coupons come out recently or even in that same week’s paper. This is a great way to further save money. Buy the sale items then use a coupon on it. And then some stores like target will publish a store coupon around the same time a manufacturer coupon comes out. You can use one of each of these on the same item! Also, all grocery stores have their time of day or time of the week when they mark stuff down or put them out for clearance.

This time is not a secret, they want you to come and buy the items! You can call your local grocery store and ask them when they do these markdowns, they will gladly tell you.