Scanning for Dollars

Keep your eyes glued to the register while your groceries are scanned in the supermarket, especially when items are on sale. Also check your receipt. Here’s why: Computers make mistakes. Plus, some supermarkets have a “scan guarantee policy.” If an item is rung up at a higher price than the one marked or advertised, you get it for free, at least up to a dollar amount. (The policy does not apply to alcohol or tobacco products.)

Among the chains with this policy are A&P, Kroger, Stop & Shop, Publix, Hy-Vee and BI-LO.

Says a spokeswoman for Hy-Vee, “Mistakes occur most often on sale items when price changes haven’t been correctly programmed into the computers.”

Joan Rattner Heilman writes often on good deals and where to find them.