‘I only go for the BOGO’s’: Florida Publix worker grabs price tags. Then she explains what all the colors really mean
Several grocery store chains operate on a color-coding system. Each price tag is assigned a specific color to help customers identify particular sales, such as clearance items, special promotions, and other offers. A Florida-based Publix employee explains how to differentiate every colored label at her supermarket chain’s location to 297,000 viewers.
Publix price tag colors
While standing in her store located in Destin, Publix employee Kristen (@kjanel88) holds two signs: a blue one and a white one, both with green price tags stamped in the corner.
“Today, I am gonna teach you another way to read these tags,” she says.
First, she lifts the blue one. “In this store, organic is blue,” she explains.
“This color will change,” she adds, pointing to the green price tag. “So, this week, green. Next week, they’ll be yellow.”
From there, the colors alternate each week, flipping between the two colors. “If in the store, all of these are green and you happen to see a yellow one, it’s probably because they forgot to take it off the shelf,” the content creator states.
Start date of the sale
Then, Kristen gestures to the ‘0904’ print at the bottom left of the white label.
“After these parentheses, that is the date the sale started,” she explains.” Next, she returns to the blue one. “So, let’s compare to this,” she says. Both have the same date at the bottom. “Yep. These are from this week,” she declares.
Blue display the savings price
Once the worker moves to the freezer section, she signals the green tag on both original cards.
“So, green or yellow up here in the corner, depending on the alternating week,” she says.
When Kristen zooms in on a $21.99 cake with a ‘save $5’ blue price marker, this indicates the amount the customer is saving on that item.
“But then, if you see blue, that’s just because it’s telling you the savings. Like, this is on sale, but you’re saving five dollars,” she elaborates. The same applies to the ‘Buy 1, Get 1 Free’ items. Before wrapping up, she reveals that all the products have a green listed price.
“We know that we’re on green week because they’re all green,” she concludes.
Viewers had mixed reactions
Some praised this trick.
“This was very helpful. Thank you!!” one viewer wrote.
“Geez I work at Publix and I didn’t even know that,” another commented.
“Everything you said on this video I learned. That’s so cool. I love Publix. You guys are the best. Granted pricey but who’s not ? lol,” a third praised.
Because Publix has a reputation for higher grocery costs, most were critical of the colored tags.
“Spend less money [0n] tags and colors and lower [the] prices with the savings,” one commenter remarked.
“Or… make them all the same color and lower the prices,” another echoed.
Is there another reason why Publix swaps out the price labels weekly?
Indeed, there is. Besides assisting employees in identifying the week, this also helps determine which sale is currently in effect. This planogram or blueprint ensures that the correct sale label is posted. If not, the worker must honor it, as echoed in a r/publix subreddit.
“All sale tags will either have a green sale price or yellow. If all of the current week has a yellow sale price but the sign the customer saw was green then they saw last [week’s] sale,” an alleged worker said. “We would still give them the sale price through the Publix promise because it’s our mistake but we need to take the tag down.”
Moreover, the company currently has two discount cycles listed on its website. The first one runs from Wednesday through Tuesday, and the second one goes from Thursday through Wednesday. All of this is a planogram or blueprint to optimize revenue.
For avid Publix shoppers, these are posted on their apps or announced through email either at midnight or the morning of the sale, depending on their location. Make sure your app has the correct location for relevant deals. However, you can always check the date at the bottom of the sign to see the date of the discount while shopping, as Kristen demonstrated.
@kjanel88 The more you know ? #publix #grocery #sale #reading #florida ♬ original sound – NerdyTurtle
The Mary Sue reached out to Kristen via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment as well as Publix via press email.
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