4 Rouses Markets Habits That Cost Mississippians Every Week

Two half-dozen cupcakes at Rouses cost 99 cents more than one dozen.

Small choices like that add up, and Mississippians who shop there every week feel it.

Here are the Rouses Markets habits that cost Mississippians every week.

Note: This is general information, not financial or tax advice. Store policies, fees and benefit rules are subject to change.

1. Paying Bills With Money Orders

Rouses sells money orders for a $1 fee each, up to $1,000 apiece.

Rouses has six Mississippi stores, in Ocean Springs, Diamondhead, Gulfport, Picayune, Biloxi and Hattiesburg.

Only participating locations sell money orders, so call yours before you make the drive.

You pay for a money order with cash or a chip-based debit card.

Apple Pay and Google Pay aren’t accepted for money orders at this time.

A $1,400 rent payment takes two money orders and $2 in fees.

Mailing a money order takes a first-class stamp, which costs 82 cents.

If you mail four bills of $1,000 or less a month, you pay $7.28 in fees and stamps.

That’s about $87 a year.

Rouses lets you enter a money order’s stub information in an online inquiry screen to see whether it has been redeemed.

Asking Rouses to research, copy, stop payment on or refund a money order costs a $25 fee.

Rouses isn’t the only place that charges for this, since the Postal Service bills $23 to replace a lost or stolen money order.

You mail the request form, with the fee and your receipts, to a P.O. Box in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

The fee is nonrefundable, and it’s the charge we’d least want to pay.

2. Tossing Your Receipt

Rouses’ return policy says it may deny a refund or exchange when you can’t show a receipt.

A sales tax refund takes a receipt with a valid transaction number.

Mississippi charges 5% sales tax on groceries, so a $60 grocery return puts $3 of tax at stake.

Rouses allows 14 days to return merchandise bought in its stores, with a valid receipt and a license or ID.

For perishables, Rouses will consider a refund or exchange within 7 days.

Rouses refunds sale items at the sale price, which is another reason to keep your receipt.

Anything you return needs its original, unopened packaging.

Clearance sales are final.

3. Skipping the Store Brand

Rouses says its store-brand prices average 18% lower than national brands.

If that average applies to your basket, ten $5 items cost about $9 less.

Reaching for the national brand out of habit can cost you that $9.

Consumer Reports says private-label products typically sell for 25% to 30% less than name-brand versions.

Sometimes the same companies make both the name-brand goods and the store-brand versions that mimic them.

Rouses has almost 1,000 store-brand items, so check which of the things you buy already have a store-brand version.

4. Carrying the Wrong Coupons

Rouses’ coupon policy says it takes manufacturer, store and internet coupons.

Other retailers’ coupons don’t count, so a $5 coupon from another store takes nothing off your Rouses total.

Rouses doesn’t take coupons for a percent off the whole order, even a 10% coupon on a $100 cart.

That’s $10 you won’t save.

An internet coupon you print at home has to say “Manufacturer Coupon” and carry a scannable bar code.

You have to buy the quantity stated on the coupon, so a buy-two coupon needs two items in your cart.

Some coupon transactions may need a manager’s approval.

Only one coupon per item is allowed, so a second coupon on the same box doesn’t lower the price.

Paying With EBT

Rouses says it takes EBT at all of its stores, for curbside pickup and for Instacart delivery.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says SNAP benefits can’t pay for fees of any type, including delivery, service and convenience fees.

If you pay with SNAP benefits, any fee on your order needs another form of payment.

In 2022, Supermarket News reported that Rouses curbside customers paid no pickup fee on online orders of more than $35.

Keeping a pickup order above $35 may avoid a fee that SNAP can’t cover, but check the current terms before you rely on it.

SNAP excludes hot foods at the point of sale, and Rouses says its Hot Line serves fried chicken and fried pork chops every day for lunch and dinner.

If those are hot when you pay, SNAP won’t cover them.

Gift Cards Online

Rouses sells two gift cards online, a physical reloadable card and an e-gift card, with a $5 minimum on each.

Shipping fees apply to the physical card, and the e-gift card needs no shipping.

Your recipient receives an e-gift card by email within minutes.

Online orders run from $5 to $250, and a card over $250 has to be bought in a store.

Rouses’ return policy says every gift card sale is final, so you can’t return a card for a refund or an exchange.

Cake Orders at the Bakery

Rouses lists cupcakes at $5.99 for six and $10.99 for 12, so two half dozens cost you 99 cents more than one dozen.

A full sheet cake runs $48.99 to $84.99.

That's a $36 spread.

A half sheet runs $32.99 to $52.99, and a quarter sheet runs $22.99 to $30.99.

At Rouses, traditional and filled king cakes run $11.99 to $47.99, but those prices are for in-store purchases only.