We are just around the corner of yet ANOTHER Dollar General Clearance Event, set to take place from Friday, June 7th through Thursday, June 13th! This is a crazy long clearance event – normally, a clearance event lasts about three days!

As a seasoned clearance event shopper, I have been shopping the Dollar General Clearance Event since back in 2017, so I have about seven years of experience up my sleeve. Until the virus hit, we would have these events once a year – and it was almost always in August, and that was it for the year. One event.

In my opinion, the Dollar General needs to chill, because now we’re having multiple a year – and this one comes around a month after our last one.

Here are some key takeaways from the upcoming clearance event:

• Core, seasonal, and POG clearance will be an additional 50% – 70% OFF (the actual percentage depends on your store – usually only a select few are 70%)
• Core & POG (PLAN-O-GRAM) clearance are items that you will find either down the clearance aisle (CORE) or on regular shelves but marked with an orange tag (POG)
• Seasonal items – this includes certain foods and other products that are considered “seasonal” – and usually kept down aisles directly towards the front of the store (think Easter candy, Christmas candy, where these general items are usually kept)

All hands on deck?

If you’re serious about going hard on a clearance event, waiting until after Friday to shop is not in your favor. 9/10, most of the key, “high ticket” items usually get swooped up on Friday mornings.

The best thing that you can do is study clearance event visuals that I, along with other couponing creators, create and publish prior to the clearance event.

Pay attention to the size, count, variety, scent, flavor, etc. of those clearance event visuals. Although there will be lots of products on the sales floor that can look extremely similar, lots of times they are the wrong product.

That is why UPCs (also included on photos of the product visuals) are SO IMPORTANT! Sometimes, even if an item is the same exact size, count, whatever – the UPC is completely different – and that item is not included in the clearance event. This is one of the biggest mistakes that I encounter while trying to coach newbies that have their eyes on big items.

It’s a LOT. OF. LEGWORK.

What do I need to look for?

I’m going to be honest – a LOT of the items that were on sale during the last clearance cycle are going to be on clearance again. I already know what you’re going to say before you even say it.

“But Tori, all of that stuff was gone at 9AM on that Friday morning!”

I understand that wholeheartedly. But that does not mean that your chances of finding these are 0 – let me explain.

Yes, the product that was already on the floor that morning may have been wiped. You may have not found anything. But, think of this:

All of the “fresh, hot-ticket” items such as the Charmin toilet paper, Gain laundry detergent, etc. went through their first clearance cycle back in May. Although these products were “wiped” from the store, since that was their first clearance cycle, there is the possibility of remaining stock.

If employees were unaware of backstock in the back room, it’s very unlikely that during the chaos of the clearance event they went out of their way to make sure it was on the floor.

Is there the possibility that these items are lingering in the forbidden room of Dollar General? It is likely. Does that mean that with absolute certainty you will find said items? No. It won’t hurt to look, though.

“My store doesn’t put that stuff on clearance”

One of the most common complaints I get about the clearance event, without hesitation, is – “MY store doesn’t put that stuff on clearance. There’s no such thing.”

I’ll be honest, I really want to pull my hair out when people say this to me. It’s not because they don’t have it on clearance, it’s because about 75% of Dollar General employees don’t even know what’s on clearance (and I say that with respect).

More often than not, I will walk into a store during the clearance event and I know exactly where I am headed to in the store – which is usually not the clearance aisle.

I know what “high ticket” items I am looking for, and double check with the barcode feature of the app to confirm that what I have in my hand is correct (I’ll get to what happens when it doesn’t ring correctly in a second).

Once I have my item(s) and go to the counter, about 95% of the time the conversation between the cashier and I goes as follows:

Cashier: *beep*

Me:

Cashier: *stares at screen*

Cashier: “That’s half off too? Wow. I didn’t know that.”

A lot of times the reasons that these cashiers tell you that the item you have “isn’t on clearance” – is because it isn’t. This circles back to my point earlier about why UPCs and product variations are important.

More often than not others will see my videos and assume that just because the “Charmin” or the “Gain” that they pick up will be to. They will take it up to the counter and tell said employee that it’s clearance, and it’s not. This is why most of the employees are telling you no.

If I’m being honest, DG employees don’t know whether they’re coming or going, and yelling at them over your own faulty research isn’t cool. Be respectful to the employees.

How do I get the 50% off? How will I know if the item is ringing correctly?

It’s very important that in order for you to succeed during the Dollar General event, you are downloading the app and creating an account beforehand.

Download the app and create an account with your phone number – this is how you clip your digital coupons and you will then enter your number on the pin pad at checkout. This is how your digital coupons come off.

I can hear it from here. “ThErE’s No WiFi Or SeRvIcE iN tHe StOrE!” You right. So this is how you get around that problem:

• On your phone, go to your settings
• Find the WI-FI section in settings
• Find the Wi-Fi named “DG-CUSTOMER” (it may take a moment for this to refresh and pop up)
• Click “DG-CUSTOMER” – DO NOT CLICK OFF YET
• Wait a moment until their Terms and Conditions menu shows
• Scroll down a bit and click agree
• If you’ve successfully connected it will show “You’re now connected!”
• Now you can scan via their Wi-Fi with ease.

To scan a product in the Dollar General app, stay on the home screen and click the four little lines in the square box (as pictured above). When you do this, it will show the item’s current pricing (as of the time of scanning) – and if you scroll down a bit, you’ll be able to see the digital coupons that will work with that item.

Most of the clearance items at Dollar General tend to scan correctly on Friday mornings. However, more often than not, there are usually a lot of problems on Friday mornings.

Lots of times, even though an item is discontinued and should be ringing half off, they just don’t. You can thank their pricing department for this.

What if it doesn’t ring correctly?

Firstly, I want to make one thing clear – Dollar General employees have no control over what an item rings up. Being aggressive towards them because an item didn’t ring correctly is not only childish, but you’re not doing yourself any favors.

If an item rings incorrectly and you’ve done your research – count, size, variety, flavor, UPC, etc all matches a visual – all you have to do is ask an employee at the register to scan with their handheld – and it will show them if the item is discontinued or not.

NOTE: If an employee simply scans the product through the register to see what it rings up – it will not show them that it is “clearance”. This would make no sense if the item were truly clearance, just ringing incorrectly. If they do this – they are likely new. Politely ask them to scan with the handheld zebra.

9/10 if you are polite, and the item shows as discontinued in the system, they should mark it down for you manually. They do NOT have to do this – it’s up to your store – but most of the time they will.

After one hit, don’t call quits

Another one of the complaints I get are that others don’t “find anything and it was a waste of time”. You do you, but one thing I’ve discovered about clearance events is this: the best results require leg work.

No, I’m not talking about leg work in the store. I’m talking about leg work from store to store.

My average clearance event itinerary usually goes like this: I hit one store, see what they have, grab what I want, and move on to the next store.

I usually hit about 15 stores in one day. Yes, you read that right. 15. Out of all of those stores, do you know how many I actually end up scoring the “high ticket” items at? Maybe three, at the max four.

Do you know how many stores I walk in and out of? A lot.

I’m not denying that the selection sucks at some stores – because I know, and I’ve seen it. But, the stores that have the least foot traffic tend to be the best stores to find treasures.

FINAL Pro Tips

Now that we have all of the basic information out of the way, here are a few final tips:

• Scope out stores that are in your immediate area before the event starts – this way you know which store you want to hit first.
• Wake up early, arrive to the store at 8am.
• Ensure that your store location is set correctly in the app before you scan. Scan like there’s no tomorrow!
• All of that scanning will drain your battery. Bring either a power bank to charge in between stores or a charging phone case!
• Visit multiple stores
• Be courteous to both employees and other clearance shoppers!

Have fun! Remember, the more you practice the better you’ll get! The Dollar General Clearance Event is the most fun I have while deal shopping throughout the year!