Ex-TK Maxx Employee Says There’s A Secret Code To Find Out If You’ve Got A Bargain

TK Maxx presents itself as the go-to place for bargain hunters, but one former employee has revealed a way shoppers can know for sure whether they're getting the best deals.

Bags, clothes, kitchen appliances - TK Maxx has it all, usually at a fraction of the cost. It's a treasure trove for those looking to find designer brands on a budget, and the Channel 5 documentary TK Maxx: How do they do it? looks into exactly how the company manages to offer such deals.

Former senior merchandiser Daniel Baker shared some alleged secrets of the store for the documentary, claiming a code-system used by the company helps provide details about the items.

The code, found on the label, would probably typically be dismissed as unimportant by customers who are more focused on the price, but Baker has claimed just a single number could indicate whether the price you're seeing is actually a good deal or not.

In the documentary, Baker explained the numbers featured on the labels typically go from one to nine, though staff are said not to use a few of them. The main ones are 'one, two and seven', according to the former employee, with each number offering different details.

Channel 5

“One means produced for TK Maxx," Baker said, assuring you 'can get good value for money on a type one'.

"It could be that just the sheer volume they are producing means they can price it cheaper," he explained, though the former worker added: "The real bargains you are looking for are a two and a seven for sure.

"The number that is really exciting to a customer is number two because that means it’s genuine stock that was sold at a higher price somewhere else. It’s excess stock or something like that.

"That’s normally when you are getting the bargains, or the thing that’s quite exciting.”

The number two means 'close out buy', which means it is 'unsold from another brand', while the number seven references a 'packaway', 'which means it’s been packed for a previous year, like Christmas crackers bought in January for a following year'.

Baker said hunting down the numbers on the labels is 'part of the treasure hunt' in the same way that searching for items you want is.

"When I got into a store as I’m constantly going ‘oh that’s a type two, that’s a real bargain there'," he said.

LADbible has reached out to TK Maxx for comment.

TK Maxx: How do they do it? airs on Sunday (1 May) at 7pm on Channel 5.

Topics: Fashion, Shopping, TV and Film, UK News

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.