Learning how to use the Scan Right guarantee held by many grocers can save you a lot of money. People leave the grocery store with free items by the score if they know what to look for. To know how to use Scan Right, you first need to know what it is. The Scan Right policy allows a shopper to leave the store with one item in addition to the one they paid for if that item rings up correctly. Make sure your store has one and that it is formatted in this way; some stores will only allow you to have the original one free. It is effectively the same in either case; you get something for free.
For clarification, that means that they will give you back what you overpaid and then give you an additional one free. Some people argue over this policy and simply want to get the original one free, but that is not the way things are done in most stores this writer has frequented. You also do not get an additional item for each one that rang up incorrectly. If you bought twenty cans of tuna and they all rang up incorrectly, you still only get one free.
The first step of using Scan Right is to know what you are buying. Reading barcodes is very simple and learning to do it will guarantee that you are not reading the wrong price tag and getting into embarrassing incidents after price checks where you were simply incorrect. Do the last five numbers of the barcode match the last five numbers of the price tag on the shelf? If so, that is what the price should be – even if the tag is expired. Keep the price in mind. You’ll need it.
The second is to resist correcting the price when you’re about to overpay at the cash register. Many companies will not give you the free item if you do not actually pay; they will simply correct the price and move on. You are missing out on your opportunity for free things and you are holding up the line. Pay with a smile and then…
Head over to the service desk. Following a price check, you will be reimbursed what you overpaid. If you don’t mention Scan Right, they won’t. That, of course, means you must mention it. You can get one of everything that rang up incorrectly for free. There isn’t a better price! This only takes a few minutes of your time and if it’s not worth it, you can always correct the problem at the register now that you know how to check the price accurately!
Enjoy making off with free items, and try not to be too harsh on employees over items scanning incorrectly; there are thousands of tags in the store. Some are bound to be missed when it is time for them to be rotated, and it works out to your benefit!
