BEWARE - Home Depot does NOT want you to buy Penny SKU items! These items are priced that way only to alert staff that it is to be destroyed and not sold.
Use self checkout when the attendant is busy with something else and not looking at their screen. You are not doing anything wrong by buying the item, but in many cases they can and will stop you from completing your purchase (some states forbid it, but they will still stop you usually even in those states). Once you've completed your purchase, the item is legally yours. If they try to stop you once you have your receipt, just say no thank you and walk to your car. Of course, if it gets to the point where they say they are calling the police, up to you if you want that hassle, but clearly since you have broken no laws and have a receipt for a paid item, the police aren't going to be able to do anything (and most likely they wouldn't dare actually call).
Whatever you do, don't alert anybody at the store that an item is priced a penny. Don't have someone do a price check, don't ask them to check inventory, don't say "wow what a good price" etc. Stores without scanners in the aisles will often have a computer at customer service or the pro desk where you can do a price check. Or if all else fails, seeing no price on brickseek (just says "clearance") or having the HD website tell you the store doesn't carry the item (when it is in fact there) are good indicators that you're on the right track. Just buy it, and if it scans higher, just ask them to void the sale for you or return the item.
A lot of people might wonder why a store would have a policy like this that seems to just anger customers.
CORPORATE cares because they sign agreements with many/most of the manufacturers that they will not sell an item for less than a certain price (MRP, Minimum Resale/Retail Price). I'm not talking about the items that say "add to cart to see price" or "too low to show". That's a different agreement (MAP or Minimum Advertised Price) and often is actually a marketing ploy that has actually been fully approved (and even sponsored by) the manufacturer. But in the case of the minimum retail price, they are likely breaching a contract by selling you the item for 1 cent. Reports go back to the manufacturer (companies like Nielson and a few others collect, tabulate and provide this data). The reports are mainly used for seeing buying trends, impacts of a price change/sale, etc, but they are also used for enforcing pricing policies. If HD has enough breaches they can be required to pay penalties and theoretically could even lose their ability to sell items from that manufacturer, or just mess up the relationship so they don't get the good sales etc. Manufacturers have these contracts to maintain control over their pricing, keep things "fair" for their other retailers, and most importantly prevent people from stocking up on an older version of an item at a deep discount (say, if a store is going out of business or no longer wants to carry the item), then not having to buy the new version of the item (or more of the same item) for a long time. Or worse, then re-selling the item, taking away from the manufacturer's revenue. The contract isn't specifically to address these penny sku items as obviously that is just a fluke, no store is intentionally selling items for that price, but they fall under it regardless. Corporate and the manufacturers would far rather these items end up in a landfill (or taken by employees) than sold and put into circulation.
The STORE cares for two reasons:
1. Reports go to corporate on how many of these items get sold. If a store sells a few a month, no big deal, but if it becomes chronic or there is a big violation, it is a red flag to corporate that either the store isn't doing its job, or that it is disorganized/messy/has problems keeping track of its inventory. That tells corporate that it may be time for a staffing change, particularly at the management level.
2. Managers and employees enjoy taking these items home for free (technically they are not allowed to and could get fired but they do all the time, nobody at corporate is going to know).
expiredprp007 posted Nov 14, 2021 04:17 AM
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Item 1 of 10
expiredprp007 posted Nov 14, 2021 04:17 AM
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank smergb
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BreckC
Cashiers are instructed if a penny item gets to the register to not allow the customer to purchase it. But if you sneak through self checkout when someone isn't paying attention then it's yours.
If that doesn't make sense please feel free to ask questions and clarify.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank dnpatil
Cashiers are instructed if a penny item gets to the register to not allow the customer to purchase it. But if you sneak through self checkout when someone isn't paying attention then it's yours.
If that doesn't make sense please feel free to ask questions and clarify.
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