Most shoppers stare right at that little tag, grab the item, and move on without a second thought. But here’s the thing – that small rectangle of paper or plastic is packed with more information than almost anyone realizes. It’s basically a tiny billboard, and it’s talking directly to anyone who knows how to read it.
Grocery stockers, floor managers, and retail insiders have long known what these codes mean. Now the rest of us can catch up. Let’s dive in.
The .99 Ending Is Not Your Friend (Most of the Time)
Walk into any grocery store and look at the shelf tags. Chances are, the overwhelming majority end in .99. That’s intentional, and it’s not some innocent design choice. Charm pricing is a psychological pricing strategy that involves ending prices with .99, .95, or similar odd numbers to create the perception of a lower price – making a product at $9.99 appear significantly cheaper than one at $10, even though the difference is just one cent.
Research suggests that between roughly two-fifths and nearly all retail prices end in the number 9, depending on the store and product category. That’s a staggering saturation of a single digit across the entire retail world. Honestly, once you know this, grocery shopping starts to feel a little like a magic show.
Once you start paying attention to price tags more closely, you’ll notice that the most common ending is .99 – because any full-priced item that’s not on sale ends in .99. These are also items you don’t have to worry about disappearing. In other words, the .99 ending is actually the signal for “nothing special here.” Keep walking.
The .97 Ending Is the One You’ve Been Waiting For
If you spot a price ending in .97, you’ll want to grab it while it’s still around – these items are either manager markdowns or actually on clearance, and are not likely to continue to be available in the store after they’re gone. Think of a .97 tag like a flare gun going off in the middle of the aisle. It’s screaming “deal,” but quietly, in a language only those in the know can understand.
Costco tags that end in .97 alert ultra-savvy shoppers to a discount, also known as a manager’s special. But just how “special” that deal might be depends on the day. Sometimes it’s a dollar off. Other times, it’s a lot more. Price tags ending in .97 denote a clearance markdown by a manager and are likely for that specific store location only.
Clearance pricing is warehouse-specific – the same item might be full price (.99) at one location and clearance (.97) at another based on local inventory levels. That means the deal you found at your local store might not even exist ten miles away. Worth knowing before you send your friends on a wild goose chase.
The .00 and .88 Endings Are a Double-Edged Sword
Another price ending you might find at Costco is .00 or .88, which tells you that it is an out-of-the-ordinary markdown. That ending can be a warning sign to scrutinize the product more closely, because it might have been returned, or it could signal that it’s damaged or has missing parts. Let’s be real though – that’s not always the case. Sometimes it’s just an item with low inventory that management wants moved fast.
Prices ending in .00 or .88 are the lowest of the low. While these codes can vary slightly by store, they generally mean the manager wants this inventory gone today. Sometimes these are customer returns or floor models, but often they are just brand-new items that have been sitting on .97 clearance for too long and are taking up valuable floor space.
The Asterisk – Also Known as the “Death Star”
The asterisk on Costco price tags is also known as the Death Star, and for good reason. It’s perhaps the most dramatic signal in all of retail, and it’s tiny. Easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. I think it’s kind of poetic that something so small carries such a definitive message.
If a product you love has an asterisk in the corner, you’d better stock up – you may never see it at Costco again. The asterisk simply means the item won’t be restocked. If you see an asterisk on an item priced at .99, hang in there – if inventory doesn’t sell out fast enough, it will be marked down to .97. So an asterisk is both a warning and, if you’re patient, an opportunity.
Manufacturer Discounts Have Their Own Code Too
Products ending in .49, .59, .69, and so on up to .89 represent special offers from manufacturers. This is done for a variety of reasons, from trial runs on new items to attempts to boost low sales. It’s not guaranteed these products will stay at that price – they could go up if sales do well, or drop even lower if they don’t fly off the shelves.
Manufacturer deals like .49, .79, and .89 are temporary, while clearance pricing often signals final inventory. Knowing the difference helps you decide whether to buy now or later. It’s a bit like reading weather patterns. Once you understand the signals, you stop getting caught in the rain.
Manufacturer markdowns are often less routine than other reductions, so you won’t see this particular code as frequently. When you do spot it, it’s worth a closer look at the product to see if it’s something you genuinely use. A discount is only a deal if you actually need the item.
The Date on the Tag Is Telling You When to Come Back
The date on the price tag tells you when the store last updated the price for that item. If something has been marked down to sell – like a .97 price tag – looking at the date can tell you how long it’s been at that price. If it’s been reduced for a couple of weeks and there’s still a lot of product left, the store may be willing to reduce the price even more to get it out of the store and make room for another product.
Paper tags are handy because they show you the last date the price changed. This is huge for clearance items because most Walmart stores mark down clearance items about once a month, usually in the first half of the month. So if you see a clearance item that was last marked down three weeks ago, you might want to wait a bit longer for the next markdown.
Wednesday Is Actually the Most Powerful Day to Shop
Here’s something most shoppers never think about: the day you walk through the door matters enormously. The middle of the work week can offer great opportunities for discounts, as grocery stores typically start their new sales cycle on Wednesday. This also includes restocking shelves where they may take older products and mark them down.
Kroger and Aldi both launch their weekly sales on Wednesdays. Supermarkets often reduce the prices of fresh produce, dairy, and bakery items on Sundays and Mondays to clear out weekend leftovers and make space for new shipments. So your best overall strategy is to hit the store on Wednesday for the freshest deals, or Sunday morning for markdowns on perishables that need to move quickly.
Many grocery stores receive fresh meat shipments on Thursdays or Fridays, prompting them to discount older stock before the weekend rush. It’s hard to say for sure how consistently this applies everywhere, but it’s a pattern worth watching at your local store. A little observation goes a long way.
Digital Price Tags Are Changing the Game – Fast
All of this insider knowledge is now facing a serious shakeup. Walmart has said it plans to roll out electronic shelf labels to 2,300 stores by 2026. The company says the technology allows employees to update shelf prices using a mobile app, reducing a price change that typically takes an associate two days to a matter of minutes. That speed is a double-edged sword for shoppers.
Digital price tags update automatically, usually overnight. So the price you see on the digital tag is the current price, which means fewer surprises at checkout. But it also means the old tricks for predicting when a markdown is coming get harder to use. With digital tags, there are no date clues – you can’t predict when the next markdown is coming. And since employees can update prices in real time, you’re less likely to find those deeply discounted items that never got tagged.
Electronic shelf labels are expected to become far more common – the global market for the products was estimated at $1.85 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $7.54 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research. The future of price-tag code-cracking may look very different from what it looks like today. Knowing the current system while it still exists is arguably more valuable than ever.
Honestly, there’s something almost thrilling about realizing that every single price tag in a grocery store is a tiny encrypted message. The stores didn’t make these codes for you – they made them for their own internal systems. You just learned how to eavesdrop. Next time you’re pushing a cart down the cereal aisle, take a second look at those cents. They might just be the most useful two digits in your entire shopping trip. What do you think – will you ever look at a price tag the same way again? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
