8 Tops Markets Policies New Yorkers Only Learn About at the Register
“Wait, since when?” isn’t something you want to ask halfway through a grocery checkout.
But at Tops—and any grocery store, for that matter—a familiar shopping routine can bump into a policy you’ve never heard.
These are the Tops Markets policies some New Yorkers learn about at the register.
1. Four-Coupon Ceiling
Tops Markets caps how many manufacturer coupons ring up on the same product each day.
The register enforces a hard ceiling of four coupons on four of the same branded item, per customer, per day.
Four is the wall.
A fifth coupon on that same box of cereal just won’t scan as a discount, no matter how many you brought.
Tops also won’t take a manufacturer coupon worth more than the item’s price after every BonusPlus discount already applied.
No cash comes back when a coupon is worth more than what’s left to pay.
2. Overcharge Refund Rule
Tops Markets has to post a refund policy for an overcharge somewhere a shopper can find it.
New York’s weights-and-measures law is what forces that posting.
The same law defines a large overcharge as a scan that runs 25 cents over the shelf price on anything $2.50 or less.
Pricier items get a 10 percent cushion instead.
The state checks.
A county weights-and-measures inspector can walk into any Tops, test items at random, and fine the store when too many ring up over the shelf tag.
Many shoppers never go looking for that posted notice until a receipt already rang up high.
The Math Behind Tops’ Overcharge Line
On a $12.99 item, the cushion grows to $1.30, since the rule shifts to 10 percent above the $2.50 mark.
Skip checking your receipt against the shelf tag, and you’ll never find out which side of that line a Tops scan landed on.
3. No-Receipt Store Credit
Tops Markets doesn’t need a paper receipt to process a return, but skip it and the payout changes.
A BonusPlus card can stand in for the receipt when you ask for the refund.
Without a receipt, though, Tops’ refund policy still switches to store credit on a gift card, priced at the item’s lowest sale price ever, not what you paid.
It’s not cash back.
A refund paid by debit card comes back as cash, too, and a refund by check takes fifteen days to process.
4. Double-Coupon Catch
Tops Markets doubles a manufacturer coupon worth 99 cents or less, but only for a shopper who scans a BonusPlus card at checkout.
Tops caps the doubling at four coupons per item, per day, per household.
No card means no doubling.
A coupon worth a dollar or more rings up at face value.
Tops also won’t pair a manufacturer paper coupon with a manufacturer eCoupon on the same item, even when both would otherwise qualify.
5. $25 ID Checkpoint
Tops Markets raises the bar once a no-receipt refund crosses $25.
Below that line, a BonusPlus card is usually enough to get the no-receipt refund started.
Above it, Tops’ refund policy requires both your BonusPlus card and a valid, unexpired driver’s license or another government ID.
The total decides.
Store managers can still deny a refund at their discretion, or wherever state law says no, regardless of the receipt or the card.
6. Alcohol Return Exception
Tops Markets treats an alcohol return differently than everything else on the receipt.
In New York, Tops will only refund a bottle of beer or wine if it’s still sealed.
An opened bottle only qualifies when there’s a quality problem, and even then, you have to fill out a product complaint form.
There’s no refund without it.
Pennsylvania Tops stores run an even tighter version, refunding unopened beer only, with alcohol refunds limited to registers inside the store’s licensed area.
7. Young at Heart Signup
Tops Markets runs a standing discount for shoppers 60 and older, called Young at Heart.
Turning 60 doesn’t flip the discount on automatically.
Sign-up comes first.
You have to sign up in person, at the customer service desk or the pharmacy counter, on the first Tuesday of the month.
This Tuesday, Oct. 6, is the next signup day.
Once enrolled, a 6 percent discount on groceries and out-of-pocket pharmacy purchases loads onto the BonusPlus card automatically, with no new signup needed after that first visit.
Skip that sign-up, and you’ll see nothing extra come off at the register.
Psst! How much do you know about New York’s grocery and food history? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
New York Food IQ
Answer these questions on New York grocery and food history. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Which small New York village calls itself the birthplace of Jell-O?
8. Proof of Service at Checkout
Tops Markets has handed veterans and active military an 11 percent discount on their whole order every Veterans Day since 2014.
It doesn't come off automatically.
You have to bring proof of service to any Tops location that day, a veteran ID, active-duty orders, or retired military paperwork.
The discount then comes off the whole total right at checkout.
The offer skips online orders, the pharmacy, fuel, Tops Xpress, gift cards, and office services, and by law it skips alcohol and tobacco, too.
Leave that ID at home, and you'll pay full price like everyone else in line that day.
The 11 percent only shows up one day a year, when the cashier sees the card first.
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