6 Giant Food Checkout Habits That Cost Marylanders as Thanksgiving Approaches

Load a digital coupon at Giant Food and hand over a paper one for the same item, and you can’t use both.

With Thanksgiving shopping coming up, small slips like that add up at the register.

Here are the Giant Food checkout habits that cost Marylanders.

1. Letting Your Points Lapse

Giant Food’s Flexible Rewards points expire on the last day of the month after you earn them.

Points from your November trips, for example, run out on December 31, a cutoff we’d flag even though no program is perfect.

Unused points are non-refundable.

Points you activate for a special offer follow a different rule, since they expire if you don’t use them on that product within the offer window.

Points have to be designated in your online account, and the savings then land on your Giant Card for your next shopping trip.

2. Pairing Paper and Digital Coupons

Giant Food’s coupon policy bars manufacturer coupons from being used in combination with Digital Coupons.

If you’re holding a paper manufacturer coupon and a digital coupon for the same item, you have to choose.

A manufacturer’s cents-off coupon doubles up to 99 cents.

Digital coupons, though, don’t double.

So a 50-cent paper coupon can take $1 off the price, while a 50-cent digital coupon stays at 50 cents.

3. Pumping Gas Before Designating Points

At a Giant gas pump, you scan your Giant Card or enter an alternate ID to verify your account.

The gas discount only works on points you designated to gas through your online account before going to the pump.

Skip that step, and you’ll miss the discount on that fill-up.

Once you designate points to gas, they have to be redeemed in that category.

Giant recommends allowing up to 24 hours for savings to appear, so designating in the pump line could be too late.

Designate the day before.

4. Digital Coupons on Reduced Items

A reduced, discontinued box of cereal at Giant Food can still take a printed manufacturer coupon.

Giant's coupon policy excludes Digital Coupons from that rule.

So a digital coupon you've loaded for that cereal won't apply to the reduced box.

Your loaded coupon goes unused.

A printed coupon would still work on that box.

5. Ordering Pickup With Grocery Savings

Say you've designated points to Grocery Savings, then you place a Giant Pickup order.

Giant's rewards FAQ says Grocery Savings can't be redeemed on a pickup order right now.

Special Rewards and Giant Delivers orders fall under the same limit.

Because designated points can't be moved to another category, those savings stay on your Giant Card.

That means your pickup total comes in without them, and the same cart could cost less on a store trip.

Check before you click.

6. Returning Items Bought With Digital Coupons

Giant says you can load and redeem each digital coupon only once.

A redeemed digital coupon can't be added back to your account, even when you return the item.

Say you return a jar of pasta sauce you bought with a $1 digital coupon.

The replacement at the register costs $1 more, since you can't use that coupon again.

A loaded coupon can't be removed from your card by hand, so load coupons for items you plan to keep.

Coupon Load Times

To use digital coupons at Giant Food, you need a Giant Card.

Giant's Digital Coupons FAQ says they're typically available within 10 minutes of loading them to your card, though it could take longer.

So a coupon you load while you wait in line may not be ready when you reach the register.

Weekly Ad Prices

Online prices in Giant Food's Weekly Ad update by 8 a.m. Eastern time on the day new prices take effect, unless it states otherwise.

If you see a discrepancy, contact Customer Service for a price adjustment.

Giant reserves the right to limit how much of a sale item you can buy at the sale price.

Rain Checks for Sale Items

When Giant Food runs out of a sale item you came for, its rain check policy lets you ask for one at the customer service desk.

In stores, the limit is 6 rain check items.