Practical Application: Always check your receipt

Now that the groundwork has been laid on this blog, on with tips you can use!

This first one is BIG. Always, always, always check your receipt right after you checkout at the grocery (or any other) store. I'd say one in every 10 times I go through a checkout line, I find that I have either been charged twice for an item OR not given the price that the item was labeled.

It is important to do this right after you checkout. If you get all the way out to your car, you're not going to feel like going back in the store. Having the store correct its mistake is very easy at the customer service desk. Unless it's the day after Christmas, it won't take but a minute.

Side note: Treat your cashier with respect! No one is perfect, and it's more likely to be computer error (sensitive scanners or incorrect price programmed) than to be your cashier's fault. Besides, what does your cashier stand to gain by charging you twice for your laundry detergent?