{"id":366716,"date":"2026-08-09T08:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T08:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366716\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T08:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T08:48:17","slug":"check-your-receipts-heres-what-to-know-about-the-publix-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/366716\/","title":{"rendered":"CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS: Here\u2019s what to know about the \u2018Publix Promise\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Have you ever gone to Publix for a grocery trip, only to find out later on that you\u2019d been overcharged?<\/p>\n

Well, it turns out you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s reportedly what happened to one customer who took the Florida-native grocery giant to court last year. <\/p>\n

While the case was ultimately dismissed, it shed light on an important policy the grocer offers: the Publix Promise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE LAWSUIT<\/p>\n

According to the class-action lawsuit, the customer \u2014 identified as Wendy Koutouzis \u2014 was shopping at a Publix store in January 2025 when she noticed that pork tenderloin was on sale for $4.99 per pound.<\/p>\n

Per the lawsuit, Publix Extra Lean Pork Loin Tenderloin was advertised as being on sale for $4.99 per pound – down from its original price of $6.99 per pound. (Public Record)<\/p>\n

As a result, Koutouzis purchased a package of the tenderloin, which was labeled as 2.83 pounds. <\/p>\n

However, when she went to check out, it instead rang up as 3.96 pounds, the lawsuit shows.<\/p>\n

When Koutouzis went to check out, she found that the pork tenderloin was listed as a higher weight than was shown on the label. (Public Record)<\/p>\n

As such, Koutouzis was charged $19.78, instead of the expected $14.12, court records claim. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a roughly 40% overcharge.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost customers do not realize that the weight of the product has changed because Publix\u2019 POS is programmed so that the total price of the product matches the total price on the customer\u2019s receipt or the POS screen, so to avoid detection,\u201d the lawsuit reads. \u201cAnd the customer\u2019s receipt does not list the weight of the product but only the alleged savings and the total price of the product.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit shows that Koutouzis’ receipt falsely listed a $7.92 savings after her purchase. (Public Record)<\/p>\n

The lawsuit goes on to accuse Publix and its workers of failing to fix the POS system or alert customers about the problem, as doing so could hurt the company\u2019s revenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublix regularly displays a lower price per ounce on the stickers on the shelves when the customer never receives the lower price per unit as advertised,\u201d the lawsuit continues.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not where it ends, though. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit included other examples of this issue at Publix stores, including with turkey, chicken, ham, apples and baby formula.<\/p>\n

One of the other examples included in the lawsuit is a Kentucky Legend Turkey Breast, which weighed 1.75 pounds but was charged at 2.19 pounds. The receipt then falsely listed a savings of $4.38. (Public Record)<\/p>\n

Due to these incidents, the lawsuit accused the company of deceptive trade practices and unjust enrichment.<\/p>\n

But earlier this year, a judge dismissed the case, citing the \u201cPublix Promise<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE PUBLIX PROMISE<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a chain policy guaranteeing that if during checkout, the scanned price of an item is higher than the advertised price, Publix will give the customer one of that item for free.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Publix will charge the lower price for the remaining items if this happens, the policy states.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Publix posts modest sales growth as food inflation squeezes shoppers]<\/p>\n

As such, a court order states that Koutouzis failed to establish that she had suffered enough to warrant the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is because she successfully obtained a refund for various purchases, negating any injury that she could have suffered due to (Publix\u2019s) allegedly deceptive practices,\u201d the order reads. \u201cAnd as to the other purchases for which she did not receive a refund, (Koutouzis) fails to explain why she could not avail herself of the Publix Refund Policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Court records show that Koutouzis has appealed the decision.<\/p>\n

You can read through both the original complaint and the court order below.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Have you ever gone to Publix for a grocery trip, only to find out later…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1107,6919,28,575,2159,139,141,140,2231],"class_list":["post-366716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-courts","tag-features","tag-florida","tag-food","tag-money","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-publix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}