When I started couponing, I thought that drugstores were very daunting. There were so many rules, and talk of points or “funny money” as my husband calls it, and I did not know where to begin. After my first six months of couponing, I decided that I had to try to tackle drugstores, namely due to Black Friday posts that I had seen within the couponing community. All drugstores offer amazing deals, resulting in tons of free product, especially around the holidays. I went into Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS in one night, made very mistake possible, and had very friendly cashiers try to help me understand the ins and outs of couponing in drugstores. Your first (several) time at a drugstore may seem a bit more difficult, but trust me, it is worth it! Hopefully these drugstore posts will help you to avoid (most of) the errors and misconceptions that I ran into.
Store Coupons
Walgreens has several types of store coupons. Every month, Walgreens releases a monthly savings guide with great Walgreens store coupons for hundreds of items in the store. These coupons can be found at the front of the store, near the weekly store ad. These coupons CAN be stacked with manufacturer’s coupons, and the great thing about these coupons is that they only need to be scanned once and they will come off for as many times as you have items, no coupon cutting necessary!
There are also several miscellaneous coupon booklets throughout the store, usually around vitamins, cold medicine, diabetic care, etc, and they are full of both store and manufacturer coupons. The store coupons can be stacked with manufacturer’s coupons as well. There are also coupons at walgreens.com that can be added to your Walgreens account, and will come off once as manufacturer coupons (meaning can be stacked with store coupons).
Funny Money (aka. Balance Rewards Points and Register Rewards)
As this is the most complicated part of drugstore concepts, I am going to address this first. Many stores will give you money back that must be used at the same store. Walgreens utilizes two systems; Register Rewards, and Balance Reward Points. As long as you do not let them expire (usually 2 weeks for Register Rewards, and 3 years for Balance Reward Points), they are like cash off of your next purchase.
Register Rewards “RRs”
Register Rewards are printed from the Catalina machine at checkout when you purchase items that have a RR offer. These RRs are manufacturer coupons, good on your next purchase of (almost) anything in the store. The limit to earn these RRs is one per transaction. That means that if you purchase two of the same items (or two of the same items from the same company for the same amount, i.e. $1 Pantene and $1 Tide, both P&G companies), you will not receive both Register Rewards. You will need to purchase the items separately.
When you spend these Register Rewards, you can purchase almost anything in the store, with the exception of the usual lottery, tobacco, alcohol, etc. Your total before tax must exceed the value of your RRs. Although there is no limit to the number of RRs that you use, you must pay attention to the number of total coupons and total items in your transaction; which is where a little creativity pays off. Walgreens registers allow one manufacturer’s coupon to be used with one item. As these are manufacturer’s coupons, you must have at least as many total items in your transaction as all of your manufacturer’s coupons. For example, if you are purchasing a Crest toothpaste with $0.50/1 coupon, and would like to use your $3 RR, you will need to have one additional item for the second “coupon” to attach itself. Fillers are small items in the store that are very cheap, but allow the coupon to “attach” to the item. As I mentioned before, the in-ad coupons are a great source of items under $0.50. Also, clearance items go as low as $0.05, printing a photo is $0.10, and the little caramel candies at the register are $0.33.
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Additionally, “rolling rewards”, meaning using one reward to pay for the same deal, will not result in an additional reward. If you purchase 2 Pantene and get back $5RR, you can purchase two more Pantene in your transaction, and you could use the $5RR to pay for your transaction, but you will not receive another $5RR. The best way to “roll” at Walgreens is to alternate RR promotions with Balance Reward Promotions, or alternate RR promotions from one product to another (i.e. Tide promotion for transaction #1, and Scott toilet paper promotion for transaction #2).
Balance Reward Points
In order to receive Balance Reward Points, you have to sign up for a Walgreens card (free and takes one minute). You receive points for purchases that are offering points back. You can purchase as many of the items that you would like in one transaction and receive points for all qualified purchases. On the bottom of your receipt there is a points section that will indicate the number of points earned or redeemed on your transaction. You will also earn 10 points for every dollar purchased as well. If your points do not appear on your receipt, let the cashier know, and they can fix them after the fact with a manager.
You can redeem points after all of your coupons have been applied by asking your cashier to use your points. NOTE that you will NOT earn points if you use points to pay for your transaction. A good way to use points is for items that produce RRs, and then use RRs to pay for points items, as indicated above. Rewards can be redeemed in increments of 1,000, which is $1.00. The more points you save, the more valuable they become.
How to Get the Most From Your Transactions
First, some key points (hehe) to remember
1. RRs can not be used to get RRs for the same product
2. You cannot pay for a Balance Rewards points transaction with points
3. Your total number of items must be equal to or greater than the total number of manufacturer’s coupons
4. Any “Spend $$, Get $ Off” offers thresholds must be hit AFTER store coupons have been applied, but before manufacturer coupons have been applied. (don’t scroll up; no, I did not cover that one before!)
As you can see, there is a TON to learn about couponing at Walgreens. I would recommend trying out one or two deals at a time, until you really get the swing of things. The good news is that since their policies are a little more complicated than a grocery store that I have found their staff is very patient, helpful, and accommodating, and also very knowledgeable about their policy. Another great option (my favorite place for checkout!) is the beauty counter. There are usually no lines there, and it allows me to take my time and make sure that everything goes well. As long as you do your homework, you can find an amazing amount of free items and money makers at Walgreens; and an inordinate amount of caramel fillers 🙂
