New System VS. Old System at Publix

Publix is updating its register systems. There are lots of rumors about this update and there are lots of unknowns. We do not know when all stores will be updated, we do not know if they plan to update all stores. It seems silly to not update all stores with the same system, but I will not complain if they do not.

I visited a store in Jacksonville Florida and the store was on the new system, the next day same store but different register, and that register was on the old system.  So it seems it’s not a clean sweep if your store swaps over there still may be some hope, at least temporarily. Some people are reporting that only register number 5 in stores has changed. (this is a very common comment, so I would steer clear of that register, if possible)

If your store has the “New system” or “Old system” we are still posting breakdowns in the Best Deals of the Weekly Sale  HERE

We post breakdown examples for you for each system which can be overwhelming looking at it, I’m working on a solution hopefully to organize it.

So what is different? The only difference I have found involves digital threshold coupons, everything else is the same.

Digital threshold coupons are the digital coupons in the app that have a total you need to spend to meet the coupon, example below

To use this coupon you need to spend $20 for the $5 to deduct. The old system counts the “free item” towards that threshold when there is a BOGO sale. For example, right now Planters are BOGO@ $5, with the old system you only need to buy 4 for the coupon to be deducted. You are only coming out of pocket $10 but the system sees you spent $20.

When the new system calculates  it does not count the free item and you would need to buy 8 Planters at $5 each for the coupon to deduct.

The next difference involves an auto-deduct sale and a digital threshold coupon. An auto deduct sale is when Publix advertises a sale like buy 2 Pampers get $10 off. The old system calculates the prices before the $10 off towards your digital threshold coupon, the new system the coupon applies after the auto deduct sale.

How can I tell if I have the old system or new system register

It is hard to tell but there are faint differences in the Publix screens, but the easiest thing to spot is how the items ring up

the screen below is a BOGO sale using the old system

I live in a true bogo area and this is a picture of the old system register. The system charges both items, then deducts one underneath it.

Below is a picture of the new system – the BOGO sale rings up differently, they ring up the first at full price and the second at zero.

So here is my suggestion,  if using a threshold coupon, and you are not sure if your store is “new” or “old system” plan for the worst. I put all the items in my cart today to follow the new system breakdown when I got up to the register I put a BOGO item first on the belt, then I put all the items for the threshold coupon if it was an old system breakdown on the belt and left the remaining needed in my cart. When the cashier rang up the first item I looked to see how they rang up. Thankfully I saw the old system ( both items rang up and one was deducted) so I asked my cashier if she would mind putting the other items back (still in my cart) I decided against them. She was more than happy to hand them over to the bagger to return to the shelf 🙂

So those are the only two changes I have found using the new system, if you are not using a threshold coupon it’s ” business as usual”.