Principles of Publix

If you have not read the Supermarket Secrets series, go here to do so before reading this post. It gives an explanation on grocery shopping savings in general.

Now on to this short and sweet post about Publix...

So, why Publix?

Many people think I'm crazy for doing all my grocery shopping at Publix, when we are on such a strict budget. Most think that buying generic products at Walmart is much cheaper than even shopping the best sales at Publix.

I'm here to tell you, from much experience, that that is far from the truth...

If you learn how to stack coupons and sales (see Supermarket Secrets), you will soon be walking out of Publix with a cart full of hundreds of dollars worth of brand name products...and paying less than $50 every time (often much less than that). It is not uncommon for me to spend $10-$30 on groceries, and save way over $100, when I shop at Publix.

Not to mention, Publix truly is a pleasure to shop at. Customer service is over the top!

So, what first?

The Publix weekly ad runs from Thursday to Wednesday. The sale ad changes every Thursday morning.

Simply come to this blog or go to Hot Coupon World's Publix forum each week to see the weekly best deals with coupon match-ups. It's that easy! Everything is there for you. All possible coupons that exist for each item are listed under each item that is on sale. I personally really like Michelle's I Heart Publix website. She is the moderator for the Hot Coupon World Publix forum. She is awesome! She usually posts a sneak peek of the upcoming week by Monday or Tuesday each week!

In fact, I will be highlighting the best deals I see each week, and then referring you to her for the rest of the ad...

The main advice I can give you is to look for the bogo (buy one get one free) items each week. These are the best deals, because you can buy 2 items, get one free, but still use 2 coupons. Even though the store is giving you one for free, you are still technically buying it, so you can still use a coupon for it! The awesome thing is that both coupons essentially come off the price of one!

For example:

Pasta is bogo at $1.99

You have (2) $1/1 pasta coupons.

You can use both, which is $1.99 - $2 = FREE for both boxes of pasta!!!

This is the greatest thing about Publix. So look for these deals each week! You can also stack that with store and competitor coupons as well (like I talked about in Supermarket Secrets). This allows you to even get overage sometimes, which means the coupon value will just be coming off of other items on your grocery bill! For example, if you had 2 store coupons for the pasta above, you could use those as well. The pasta is already free, so the additional coupon value would be considered "overage" and would take money off the rest of your grocery bill.

Publix's Coupon Policy:

The main thing to know about Publix's coupon policy is that there is not a corporate policy like there is at most stores.

Each Publix's coupon policy differs by store:

• Some stores take all competitors (such as CVS, Walgreens, Target, Costco, Kroger, Food Lion, Winn Dixie, Super Target, Harvey's, Rite Aid, etc.) Other Publix stores only take the true grocery store competitors, and not the drug stores.

• The "overage" that I talked about above is allowed at some stores, but not allowed at others.
  

• Some stores allow you to use multiple competitor's coupons per transaction, even when the competitor coupon says "one per transaction." As long as you're buying the correct number of items, they let you use one coupon per item, despite the wording on the competitor coupon. Other Publix stores, however, are very strict on this. In this case, you must follow the competitor's coupon wording. For example, Target coupons and Food Lion coupons say "one per transaction," yet my Publix store lets me use as many as these per transaction as I want, as long as I have the correct amount of items.
  

• Different Publix stores allow different amounts of printable coupon values. My store will take printable coupons up to a $5 value. So, I can print all the $1, $2, $3, $4, and $5 coupons I want. I can not, however, use a printable $6 coupon. Other stores don't have a limit, or don't allow printables at all (due to past fraudulent attempts).

• Some Publix stores double coupons up to a certain value coupon. Doubling a coupon means just what it sounds like. For example, a 50 cent coupon is worth $1. Unfortunately, I live in the land of "no doubles" here in Florida. It kind of stinks, but I'm not complaining! My Publix store is awesome. They have a very lenient coupon policy!

• Some Publix stores have a "penny item" each week. This is a specific item you can get for one penny. Unfortunately, again, Florida Publix stores don't get to take advantage of this one!

• At some Publix stores, the bogo's ring up as a true buy one get one free. In other words, one product is full price, and the other one is fully free. At other stores, the bogo's ring up as half off of each item. This makes a difference in the amount of items you can buy at the bogo price (On the true bogo's, you have to buy them in pairs. On the half off bogo's, you can buy any number, even just one item). Also, depending on how the bogo's at your store ring up, you will want to maximize your savings by using the right kind of coupons. (more on that later, when an actual example arises during a weekly deal).

That's basically all there is to shopping at Publix! Know your store's coupon policy. Ask a manager. Read Supermarket Secrets, check the deals each week, grab your coupons, and get going! Soon, you'll love Publix just as much as I do. =]