Crowcery
"2 for $5", member prices, instant savings, bottle deposits, eco fees: by the time a Canadian grocery receipt reaches SUBTOTAL, half a dozen different mechanisms have adjusted the numbers. Here is how each one actually prints, chain by chain, and then one full receipt reconciled line by line to the cent.
The plain kind just shows unit math under a grouped line (Loblaws-family shown; the (2) prefix means two units on one line):
The promo kind is a "buy N for $Y" deal. Loblaws-family stores print the regular price and the deal in one annotation row, with KB (their tag for the promo, seen on "key buy" style deals):
Two cartons that would have been $4.99 each ($9.98) rang in as the 2/$8.00 bundle: the line total is $8.00 and the $1.98 saving never prints as its own line. If you buy only one, most of these deals charge the regular $4.99 (some multi-buys pro-rate instead; the annotation row tells you which price applied).
At Loblaws-family stores a member deal prints in two rows: the item at full shelf price, then a negative MEMBER PRICING row right under it:
You paid $3.50 for the bun. The discount belongs to the item directly above it.
Sobeys-family receipts (Sobeys, FreshCo, Lawtons) print three different savings lines that look alike but mean different things:
| Line | What it does to the price |
|---|---|
| YOUR DISCOUNT -$X.XX | A real deduction: subtract it from the printed item price. |
| INSTANT SAVINGS -$X.XX | Also a real deduction (a per-item coupon), same math. |
| YOU SAVED $X.XX | Informational only. The item price above it is already the reduced price; this line just brags about the gap to the regular price. Do not subtract it again. |
This distinction is the single most common receipt-math mistake: adding up items and subtracting YOU SAVED lines double-counts the saving and your total comes out under what you paid.
Costco prints instant savings as separate negative lines pointing back at the item they discount by its item number:
$6.00 off item 597726: you paid $20.99. The trailing minus marks the deduction, and all TPDs also sum into the TOTAL DISCOUNT(S) line at the bottom of the receipt. More in the Costco receipt guide.
Two line types add money and often get mistaken for errors. Bottle and can deposits print per drink, grouped when the item line covered several units (DEPOSIT 1, then 3@$0.10 for three cans). Depending on your province some or all of the deposit comes back when you return the container (Nova Scotia, for example, refunds half): see deposits and eco fees by province. Environmental handling fees (NS ECO FEE $0.40 J next to a pack of batteries at Walmart) are not refundable, and on receipts we checked the eco fee itself was taxed. Whether tax applies to deposits varies by province and product; on the receipts below it did not.
Yes, for store discounts: member pricing, multi-buy deals and instant savings come off the price before sales tax is calculated, so the tax line is a percentage of what you actually paid. You can see it in the Costco example above: the HST base included the -$6.00. This is also why a receipt's tax line can look "too small" when you estimate it from shelf prices.
This is a real Atlantic Superstore receipt (Nova Scotia, 14% HST; identifying details altered), with deposits, a member-pricing discount, multi-quantity lines and a mix of taxed and untaxed items. Let's verify every number on it.
Sixteen item lines. Added up as printed (the multi-quantity lines already show their line totals), they come to $111.16.
One MEMBER PRICING row: -$1.49 off the sesame buns. $111.16 - $1.49 = $109.67.
Six drinks were bought (1 + 2 + 3), each with a $0.10 container deposit: $0.10 + $0.20 + $0.30 = $0.60. $109.67 + $0.60 = $110.27. That is the printed SUBTOTAL, to the cent.
Only three lines carry an H flag (the lemonades): $2.50 + $5.00 + $7.50 = $15.00 of taxable items, exactly what the tax line itself declares ("15.00 @ 14.000%"). 14% of $15.00 is $2.10. Everything else, deposits included, was untaxed on this receipt. Notice the taxable base is $15.00 out of a $110.27 subtotal: most groceries are not taxed. (What the H means, letter by letter, is in the tax codes guide.)
$110.27 + $2.10 = $112.37. Every cent accounted for: items, minus discount, plus deposits, plus tax on the taxable base only.
Available in Canada; English-language receipts; not offered in Quebec. Or try the read-only demo first, no signup needed.
How to read a Superstore or Loblaws receipt
How to read a Walmart Canada receipt
How to read a Costco receipt
Superstore & Loblaws tax codes (H, MRJ, HMRJ)