Texas Woman Goes to Walmart and Noticed a Shark Vacuum on Sale for a Penny. Then She Tries To Check Out

Vacuum cleaners still rank as one of the top cleaning tools for their versatility, efficiently removing debris and dirt, creating a cleaner, more hygienic environment. 

Although these appliances can be found in many homes (72% of American households, to be exact, according to Market Growth Reports), they can be expensive. When the appliance bites the dust, finding a discounted replacement can be striking gold. But can one retailed for a penny be too good to be true?

A Penny Shark Vacuum at Walmart? 

While in the Corpus Christi Walmart location, Texas-based TikTok creator Savannah (@savannahvera0) stands in front of the vacuum section, unveiling a digital price tag marked for one penny.

“If it says one cent for the Shark Navigator, does it mean that I get it for a penny?” she asks, zooming out to reveal the entire Shark vacuum section, both the display on the top shelf and another below it in a box for $148. “Is that right? How does it work at Walmart?”

Perplexed, the content creator questions in the caption, “What is [Walmart’s] policy on this because I need a new [vacuum?].”

Viewers Had Answers

Savannah’s clip racked up over 54,000 views. Many responded to her inquiry using deductive reasoning.

“No. The display is one cent [for a non-working] item. They were not supposed to leave that up there,” one viewer remarked.

“It’s for the display item, noticed that the ones with the box have a different price,” another added.

A former Walmart employee added their two cents, clarifying, “The display is $.0.1. I worked at Walmart for 12 years.”

Meanwhile, others still encouraged her to give it a shot.

“You can take a pic but they won’t honor it if it’s a huge price difference. And If you ring it up it’s probably not going to come up as 1cent,” one commenter stated.

“Use the Walmart app to scan the bar code,” a second suggested.

“Take a picture before it changes,” a third quipped, referring to the retailer’s alleged price dynamic practice. 

Can She Buy The Penny Walmart Display Vacuum? 

While Savannah could attempt to snag the Shark vacuum, it won’t end well. NBC Miami reported on a similar incident at a Florida Walmart with another woman named Robin Puppo in 2019. When she noticed a penny vacuum, she snapped a photo of the price label as proof.

Once she rang it up in self-checkout, she stumbled into a pickle: the original price popped up. Consequently, the manager denied sale on and swiped the machine away. Although frustrating, the company can refuse to honor a price if there was an error.

As for functionality, the same topic made its way to an r/WalmartEmployees subreddit. Workers explained that these display vacuum cleaners are inoperative and completely missing the “power cord, motor, engine,[and] battery.”

Even then, Redditors claimed that the penny tags are intended to be “scanned to order missing displays.” On the off chance a manager does sell it, which happened to one, the ramifications are brutal, where the customer allegedly complained the vacuum “got oil everywhere” and “the engine almost blew up” when using it. Essentially, it merely serves as a shell of a machine to paint an idea for customers of the product.

So if you see a penny vacuum, it probably is too good to be true.

@savannahvera0

What is Walmarts policy on this because I need a new vacuum ?

♬ original sound – Savvy’s Cleaning

The Mary Sue reached out to Savannah via email and TikTok comment as well as Walmart via media contact form.

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