The Dollar General penny list, updated for this week.

If you've heard people walk out of Dollar General with a cart of stuff for almost nothing, this is how. Penny items are real — but they're deliberately hard to find, because the store isn't trying to sell them to you. This page explains exactly how the Dollar General penny list works, and how to find the items without wandering every aisle.

What is a Dollar General penny item?

A penny item is a product Dollar General has discontinued. When corporate pulls an item from the lineup, its price in the register system drops to $0.01 as a signal to employees to remove it from the shelf — not to sell it. But stores are busy, and a lot of those items never get pulled. They sit on the shelf with their old price tag, and if you bring one to the register, it scans for one cent.

There's no penny sign or dependable shelf-tag clue. Use the current list as a hunt list, then verify the exact UPC locally.

How the markdown cycle ends at a penny

Penny items don't appear out of nowhere — they're the last stop on Dollar General's clearance ladder. An item being discontinued usually steps down over several weeks before it zeroes out:

Dollar General changes prices on Tuesdays, so the list turns over weekly. An item that was 90% off last week may be a penny this week — and gone for good the week after, once it's finally pulled. That timing is exactly why a list refreshed once and forgotten is useless, and a list tracked every week is gold.

Is there a Dollar General penny list for today?

Kind of. Dollar General doesn't publish an official daily "DG penny list," and because prices reset on Tuesdays, today's penny items and tomorrow's can differ. What Penny keeps is a running, corroborated list you can check any day: whether you're after the Dollar General penny list today or planning tomorrow's run, you get the current week's items with names and UPCs to hunt. Go Tuesday or Wednesday for the freshest, least-picked-over shelves.

How to find penny items at Dollar General

1. Start with the current list. You can't reliably identify a penny item from the tag. Penny gives you this week's corroborated names and UPCs before you walk in.
2. Look in the right places. Penny items hide in clearance sections, on bottom shelves, in end-cap overstock, and in seasonal areas being reset.
3. Verify before the register. Use the in-store Dollar General app's scanner (or a friendly cashier's price check) to confirm an item rings at $0.01 — Penny shows you which items to check.
4. Go early in the week. Tuesday and Wednesday are best, before other hunters clear the shelves.
5. Be respectful. Don't hide items, don't peel tags, and don't argue if a manager declines the sale (they're allowed to — see below).

This week's Dollar General penny list

The full, store-specific list updates every week inside the app. Here's the kind of thing that lands on it — household staples, personal care, seasonal, and toys are the most common penny categories:

Penny shopping in Spanish

Penny is built Spanish-first. The entire penny list, the alerts, and the whole app work in español — made for Latino deal hunters who've never had a real penny tool in their language. Ver esta página en español → Lista de centavos de Dollar General.

Beyond Dollar General

Penny also tracks deep clearance and penny leads at Home Depot and Lowe's, with store or shelf details where available, plus online deals from Walmart and Target. Because Home Depot does not expose register-only penny prices online, Penny ranks candidates with a heuristic lead score and asks you to verify in store. See Home Depot penny leads → or see everything Penny finds →.

Dollar General penny list — FAQ