Founding Scout Alpha
Penny turns fast-moving community clearance tips into a cleaner regional scouting workflow: lead → item identity → store/region → scan → evidence → confirmation.
Independent project. Not affiliated with or endorsed by The Home Depot. Community reports are leads, not guaranteed prices.
Install
We’re using the website as the launch hub first. Android can be distributed directly once the signed Alpha APK clears the release gate. iPhone users can install this guide to their Home Screen now; native iOS distribution comes after Apple signing is ready.
Release build is being prepared.
Android build pendingNative Penny for iOS needs Apple signing. Until then, keep Penny one tap away as a Home Screen web app for guides, updates, and community links.
Start here
Enter a legitimate community/manual Home Depot lead with SKU or barcode, optional store, region, reported price, and source time. Penny keeps it visibly unverified.
Use the region filter so a busy national feed doesn’t bury what matters around you. A find in one store never implies every store has the same price or stock.
Use UPC, EAN, or Code 128 to identify the product candidate. A barcode can help identify an item; it does not prove its current store price.
Receipt capture and on-device OCR are review-first. Penny does not silently turn a receipt parse into server evidence before you review it.
The data layer supports store observations and confirmations, but the current mobile UI does not yet expose the final observation-submit action. We’ll publish the tutorial only when that button is actually in the release build.
Home Depot community playbook
These are common public-community scouting patterns. They are not Home Depot promises, and store policy or local outcomes can differ.
Match the SKU/barcode on the product itself. Don’t assume the nearby shelf tag belongs to it, and don’t treat an online or community price as proof of the local register price.
Community sources increasingly report that tag age and markdown history are more useful than relying on cents endings alone.
The historical rule says .06 and .03 can indicate later markdown stages. Current 2026 sources disagree on how reliable that timing remains, so Penny treats it as a clue — never a countdown.
Clearance can remain in the item’s regular home, not just a dedicated clearance rack. Seasonal transitions, endcaps, nearby overhead storage, and older tag pockets are common scouting areas.
Use community lists to choose what to scout, then verify locally. Inventory, markdown timing, and whether an item is even carried can vary by store and region.
A $0.01 result is commonly described as an internal removal state, not an advertised promotion. A store may refuse the sale. Be respectful and accept the store’s decision.
If you buy something worth reporting, keep the receipt. Share only the minimum needed to support item/store/time/price and redact unrelated payment or personal details.
A stale lead, normal-price scan, or out-of-stock result helps the next scout. Penny is designed to value contradictions and negative observations instead of only exciting wins.
Don’t alter labels, move barcodes, hide merchandise, bypass access controls, or pressure employees. Penny is for legitimate scouting and evidence, not gaming store systems.
Community
For launch, the cleanest path is a direct Facebook Group and/or Messenger link from Penny. Later, if we want chat inside Penny, we can add a first-party community chat and optionally connect Facebook sign-in after the Meta app is configured.
Build notes
This section is intentionally part of the site so founding scouts can see what is real today instead of guessing from social posts.
FAQ
No. Penny is an independent clearance-scouting project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Home Depot.
No. It is a lead. Store, region, time, inventory, and local policy can all change the outcome.
Public native iOS distribution requires Apple signing/distribution. We are deliberately waiting to buy into app-store distribution until the founding Alpha proves itself.
No. Receipt OCR is review-first in the current Alpha. Raw evidence should remain private unless a minimum sanitized derivative is intentionally submitted.