Are You Checking Your Receipts?
Make Checking Your Receipts a Habit Unless You Like To Lose Cash
Being a savvy consumer means being attentive and checking your receipts. On many occasions, I have checked my store receipts to discover that there were more than one or two errors. Unless you really, really appreciate the stores that you shop at and you want to pay them more than they’re entitled to, you need to be on the lookout for a few things.
A Matter of Habit
You should try to make checking your receipts an automatic habit. There are a few options for checking your receipts. If you are at a department store and are purchasing just a few items, you should check your receipts immediately before leaving the store. On occasion (actually, on more than a few) an item doesn’t scan at the correct price. While there is much debate about whether this is intentional or accidental, the fact of the matter is that it does happen and it doesn’t seem to be something that’s going to stop. With all of the merchandise a department store sells, some items are going to scan wrong no matter what. Perhaps, the item is supposed to be 20% off but is ringing up at full price. If the items costs $50, that is a $10 savings. You definitely don’t want to let that slide by.
Grocery Stores are the Worst
When shopping at grocery stores, you definitely can’t avoid checking your receipts. There are just too many items on a grocery receipt to keep up with each one as it scans, especially if you only shop for groceries once a week. If you can confirm as you go, that’s great. If not, simply double check your receipt afterwards. Many grocery stores will even give you an item free if it scans wrong. If you bought several of the item, you will get the amount you were overcharged for the remaining items.
Join many other savvy consumers and make the practice of checking your receipts a daily habit. To keep yourself motivated, why not put all the money you receive back when your receipts are wrong into a special fund? Then you can enjoy a movie or ice cream from the effort you put into checking your receipts.