Does Publix raise prices during BOGO discount sales at Florida stores?
Does Publix raise prices during BOGO discount sales at Florida stores?
Clayton Park, USA TODAY NETWORK - FloridaTue, October 20, 2026 at 9:02 AM UTC
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For Florida's biggest grocery chain, BOGO deals are a huge draw, but does Publix raise regular prices on items offered in its Buy One, Get One Free sales?
"Like many others, I sometimes wonder if Publix increases their price before they offer it as a BOGO?," wrote Tom Williams of Lake Wales in Polk County after reading USA TODAY Network-Florida's recent reports on Publix BOGOs, including one that compared prices during the discount sales to what Aldi and Walmart charge for the same or similar items.
To learn the answer to Williams' question, on Oct. 10 and 11 we checked the regular prices of 10 former BOGO items at a Publix supermarket in Port Orange, Florida, to see if they match what the Lakeland-based grocery chain said customers were "saving" during the Buy One, Get One Free sale.
Here's what our examination found.
What were the former Publix BOGO items we checked?
In mid-September, we looked at the prices of the following 10 BOGO items:
General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal ("Large" 16.8 ounce)
Gevalia ground coffee (12 ounces)
Hunt's Tomato Ketchup (32 ounces)
Cottonelle Ultra Clean Bathroom Tissue (4 "mega" rolls)
Nellie's Free Range Large Brown Eggs (one dozen)
Nature's Own Bread (20-ounce loaves)
Springer Mountain Farms Boneless Chicken Breasts
Hebrew National bun-length beef franks
Slim Jim meat sticks (14-count)
Sunset Wild Wonders snacking tomatoes (12 ounces)
Why some items were swapped in our before/after comparison
Upon checking out the Publix store at Westport Square in Port Orange on Oct. 10 and 11, we found that Cinnamon Toast Crunch was still being offered in a BOGO special and that the supermarket did not have Hunt's Tomato Ketchup in 32-ounce bottles, nor did it have any containers of Sunset Wild Wonders snacking tomatoes.
The store did, however, offer Hunt's Tomato Ketchup in 28-ounce bottles, so we compared the per-ounce price of both it and the 32-ounce bottles offered in September's BOGO sale.
The Westport Square Publix also was selling "giant size" 23-ounce boxes of Post Honey Bunches of Oats cereal at its regular price, which was another one of the more than 200 items offered in September's BOGO specials, so we looked at the before and after prices on that item in place of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
And Publix was carrying a different version of Sunset brand snacking tomatoes: 12-ounce containers of the company's "Sugar Bombs" grape tomatoes, so we compared the regular price for that in place of the Wild Wonders item offered in September's BOGO special.
Some price changes are outside of Publix's control
One important caveat: prices can change because of external factors and not necessarily because of decisions by Publix.
Some items have recently risen in price, not just at Publix but at grocery stores across the country, because of tariffs and escalating transportation costs.
On the other hand, some prices have dropped because of increased supply.
Case in point: the U.S. Consumer Price Index report for September showed while overall inflation rose 3.7% compared to a year ago, national average prices for some groceries (including coffee, beef, seafood and tomatoes) rose, while others (including eggs, bacon and chicken) fell.
Here are the findings of our before/after price comparison:
Now for the results of our investigation. (Note: The "savings" listed when offered as BOGOs in September are what the chain was saying the regular price was at the time.)
Honey Bunches of Oats
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $8.49. Regular price as of mid-October: $8.49.
FINDING: Price match.
Gevalia ground coffee
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $14.99. Regular price as of mid-October: $14.99.
FINDING: Price match.
Hunt's Tomato Ketchup
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $2.99 for 32 ounces (9.3 cents per ounce). Regular price as of mid-October: $2.29 for 28 ounces (11.4 cents per ounce).
FINDING: Price jump.
Cottonelle Ultra Clean Bathroom Tissue
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $7.49. Regular price as of mid-October: $7.49.
FINDING: Price match.
Nellie's Free Range Brown Eggs
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $5.99. Regular price as of mid-October: $5.99.
FINDING: Price match.
Nature's Own Bread
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $4.69. Regular price as of mid-October: $4.59.
FINDING: Price drop.
Springer Mountain Farms Chicken Breasts
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $6.99 per pound. Regular price as of mid-October: $5.79.
FINDING: Price drop.
Hebrew National Beef Franks
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $8.99. Regular price as of mid-October: $9.69.
FINDING: Price jump.
Slim Jim Meat Sticks
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $5.29. Regular price as of mid-October: $5.29.
FINDING: Price match.
Sunset snacking tomatoes
Publix BOGO "savings" price in September: $4.99 per pound. Regular price as of mid-October: $5.99.
FINDING: Price jump.
Verdict: Publix regular prices mostly match BOGO 'savings'
Of the 10 former BOGO items we compared, regular prices in October of five matched the stated "savings" prices during the previous month's discount special.
In three cases, regular prices were higher, and in two they were lower.
If Publix were in fact raising prices during its BOGO sales, then its regular prices afterwards should be lower across the board than the stated "savings" prices during the discount specials.
That was not the case in the admittedly small sample size we examined.
In general (when also factoring in changes in average prices nationally regardless of grocery chain), it appears Publix is being truthful when stating "savings" prices during BOGO sales.
Clayton Park is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida. He covers everything from insurance, utilities and home prices to groceries, gas and auto prices as the Florida consumer pocketbook reporter. If you have news tips, please send them to cpark@usatodayco.com. You can get all of Florida's best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://news-journalonline.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does Publix raise prices during BOGO discount sales at Florida stores?
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