~Step 7: Saving at CVS
This week I am going to show you how to save at Walgreens. I personally love Walgreens, I get some of my best deals there. It is a little more complicated than CVS but the benefit is that you can do the deals an unlimited amount of times. CVS limits the deals and can track them with your CVS card. Walgeens on the other hand doesn’t have a Customer Loyalty Card so they can’t track the number of times that you do the deals.
GETTING STARTED
1. Weekly Sales – Walgreens publishes a weekly store ad that generally runs from Sunday to the following Saturday. These Ads can usually be found in your Sunday paper, online at Walgreens.com or you can pick one up at any Walgreens store. Every week I post a Walgreens Shopping List with highlights of the best deals for that week. The Walgreens Shopping List matches the current sales with available coupons to help you save time. *The weekly ads can vary by region so be sure to check your local ad before heading out.
2. Mid-Week Sales – Occasionally Walgreens will run a mid-week ad, this generally happens during the Holiday Season. When they do run the mid-week sale I will post a Walgreens Shopping List for that ad with all of the highlights and coupon match-ups.
3. Monthly Sales – Every month Walgreens has several items that they offer Register Rewards on for the whole month. Every month I post the Walgreens Monthly Register Rewards and match them with the available coupons. These are great items to add to the weekly sales for even more savings. Periodically throughout the month Walgreens may place the monthly Register Reward items on sale which will help maximize your savings even more.
4. What are Register Rewards (RR)? – Register Rewards (RR) are an incentive that Walgreens offers on certain products. When you purchase an item that offers a RR they will give you a catalina coupon that can be used on your next purchase. These coupons will print from a small machine near the register. Unlike the CVS ECB’s that are treated like cash, the RR are treated like coupons. *Be sure to keep these in a safe place because if they are lost they cannot be replaced.
5. How to earn Register Rewards (RR) – Take a look at the weekly sales ad or the Walgreens Shopping List. Look for items that will generate RR when you purchase them. The ones that save you the most money are the items that are FREE after RR.
6. Register Reward Guidelines
- RR cannot be used on tobacco, alcohol, tax, lottery tickets, money orders, stamps, dairy, or any gift cards or pre-paid cards.
- RR are treated like manufacturer coupons at the register.
- RR cannot be “rolled” into the same deal. If you do roll the RR into the same deal you will not be issued another RR.
- RR cannot be “rolled” into a deal by the same manufacturer.
Example:
Triaminic is offering a $5.00 RR when you buy (wyb) 2 products. Theraflu is offering a $3.00 RR when you buy (wyb) 2 products. You will not be issued the RR for the second item if you use the RR from the first item because both items are manufactured by Novartis.
TIP 1: When I know the manufacturer of a product I listed it with the sale item to help you when you use your RR.
TIP 2: I suggest writing the name of the manufacturer on the RR to avoid losing out on future RR.
- You can only earn one RR per transaction.
Example:
Triaminic is offering a $5.00 RR wyb 2 products and you need 4. Purchase them in two different transactions. If you purchase all 4 in one transaction you will only earn a $5.00 RR. If you purchase them in two different transactions you will receive (2) $5.00 RR, one for each transaction.
7. Turn your RR into a profit – This can be achieved by using manufacturer, Walgreens and/or $/$$ coupons on items that are offering RR.
Example:
Renu Multi-purpose, $9.99
Use: $2/1 printable coupon
Earn: $10.00 RR
Final Price: FREE + $2.01 profit
8. Rolling your RR – Once you have earned a few RR you can start “rolling them. What this means is that you will use the RR that you have earned to purchase new items that offer RR. By “rolling” your RR you will significantly reduce your out of pocket expense week after week. *Purchasing items that you don’t really need to earn RR is a common practice. There are several things that you can do with these unwanted items you just need to think creatively. You can donate them to homeless shelters, food banks or even nursing homes. They can also be sold at garage sales or used in gift baskets or as stocking stuffers.
TIP: Remember when “rolling” your RR be sure that you are not using one from the same manufacturer as the item you are purchasing or into the same deal.
More Ways to Save
1. Monthly Coupons – Every month Walgreens publishes a pamphlet filled with Walgreens coupons that can be used on various products throughout the month. These coupons can be “stacked” with manufacturer coupons to maximize your savings. The pamphlets can be found near the weekly store ad display.
2. Walgreens Publication coupons – Walgreens has various publications that they either display or sell in their store. Currently you can purchase the Children’s Activity Book for $0.99 and it has several Walgreens coupons for children’s items. You can also pick up the following publications free of charge, located near the pharmacy: two different Healthy Savings books and the Diabetes and You magazine. All three publications are filled with Walgreens coupons. As new publications become available I will post about where you can find them and what coupons they offer.
3. Walgreens Extra coupons – When you’re visiting their website to check out the Walgreens weekly ad you will also find a printable ad with a variety of Walgreens coupons. Check it out a lot of times they will offer coupons for items that are on sale that week.
4. In-Ad coupons – These are coupons usually found in the weekly store ad. They are Walgreens coupons so they can be combined with manufacturer coupons to maximize your savings. They usually have a limit on the number of items that you can purchase with that coupon, so be sure not to exceed the limit otherwise you will pay full price for the additional items.
5. Clearance Items – Walgreens usually has a designated area for their clearance items usually on the end caps. They also have clearance items throughout the store. You will recognize these items by the orange stickers on the shelves. Clearance items are a great way to save especially when you combine them with coupons. YES, you can use coupons on clearance items.
6. Rain Checks – If Walgreens is out of an item that they currently have on sale be sure to ask one of the associates for a “Rain Check”. Rain Checks are a great way to save more money. The “rain checks do not have an expiration date, so you can hold on to them until a coupon for that product becomes available or they are issuing a RR when you purchase it. Another great way to save.
7. Peelie Coupons – Always keep your eyes open for coupons that are attached to products. Recently Walgreens had Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice on Sale for $1.99 and they also had a $1/1 Walgreens coupon available in their monthly coupon pamphlet. Well there was also a $1/1 manufacturer’s coupon attached to the product, so I ended up getting the Ocean Spray for FREE.
LET’S GO SHOPPING
1. Get Ready to Shop – Sit down with the weekly Walgreens ad and/or my weekly Walgreens Shopping List and create your shopping list. Then gather the coupons that are associated with the items you will be purchasing.
TIP: Bring a calculator and some back up coupons just in case and item is out of stock and you have to do some last minute changes.
2. Multiple Transactions – To get the most bang for your buck you’ll want to do more than one transaction. Why? So that you can maximize your savings by “rolling” your RR. Take a look at the Renu Multi-Purpose example that I gave you, this could be your first transaction. In the second transaction you could use the $10.00 RR that you earned from the Renu to maximize the savings of your second transaction. *When doing multiple transactions be sure to have your coupons organized by transaction, this will make the check out process easier.
3. Coupon Rules – The Walgreens cash registers will not allow you to use more coupons than the number of items that you are purchasing. RR are considered coupons so make sure that you account for them. If you find that you have more coupons than items you may want to purchase what is called a “filler item”. A filler item is a product that you can pick up cheaply, like a clearance item, a piece of candy or even a pencil. This will bring your product count up while keeping your costs down.
TIP: Remember you can use manufacturer’s coupon, Walgreens coupons and in-ad coupons for the same item, this is called “stacking”. Stacking coupons is one of the best ways to maximize your savings. These coupons can also be used on products that offer a RR.
4. Presenting coupons – There is an order that you should present your coupon in when checking out in order to maximize your savings and avoid the register from beeping.
- $/$$ Walgreens coupons (ex. $5 off $25 purchase)
- Register Rewards (RR)
- Manufacturer coupons
- Walgreens coupons
- In-ad coupons
TIP 2: RR can not be used towards the tax. Tax is an out-of-pocket (OOP) expense.
5. Troubleshooting
- If the cashier cannot get a coupon to go through request that they void the item off of your order. It is much easier to void the item before the transaction is completed then to try and do it later.
- If you didn’t get a RR and purchased the right items immediately request a manager a lot of times they can correct it right then and there and you won’t lose your coupons that you used. If the manager is uncooperative in fixing the error you can always call the catalina company @ 888-322-3814. Be sure that you have your receipt they will need some of the information on it. Once they get the information they will be able to see if the machine was working properly and if you purchased the right items. If they determine that you were suppose to receive a RR they will send it to you in the mail, it takes about 6-8 weeks.
TIP: Before moving on to the next lesson, take some time to really master Walgreens. These lessons are going to always be posted here so there is no hurry. I just want you to be comfortable working the deals there.
Good luck and remember I am here for you.
Next Weeks lesson: Step 9: Saving at Rite Aid
Had trouble at Wags today.
Trans 1:
Stay Free $1.99
All $3.50 (with in-store coupon)
Filler $.25
Less MQs:
Stay Free -1.00
All -2.00
Balance Due $2.74 which I paid OOP
Recieved $2 RR on Stayfree
Trans 2
Conair hairbrush $2.00
Paid with $2 RR from Stayfree
I was expecting a $2 RR from Conair from the Catalina machine but nothing spit out.
I had them void trans 2 and tried it again but this time bought Stem-U-Dent. Same thing happened, no RR. By then the manager was there and she told me that it was because I wasn't buying anything else. So, I had them reverse it and they tried it again with a filler item so I'd have a balance to pay. Same thing happend. I had them reverse that too. She then told me that I couldn't roll RR that way.
Do you think this was a faulty Catalina machine or is there something I'm not understanding about the Wags RR program? I has hesitant to call the Catalina 800 number... By this time 4 Wags employees were looking at me like I was a criminal. I mean maybe there is somtehing I don't understand.
If Stayfree, Conair and Stem-U-Dent are all $2 and you get a $2RR back, couldn't one theoretically Roll one $2 RR through these three products over and over again (by going to different stores or doing it once per day, etc).
Let me know what you think. Thanks for your site!
Sounds to me like the manager didn't know what she was talking about. She changed her reasoning a couple of times. From the information that you gave me I don't see why it wasn't printing the catalina's. Each of the products that you were purchasing are part of the mid week promotion (the ad can be found on their website), each one of the products was from a different manufacturer so that is not the problem. The $2RR should roll from one to another with no problems, you don't need to go to another store to do it or only do one per day. It should have worked. I am wondering if the catalina was not updated with the new promotions or possibly not working properly.
I am heading out to Wags in a little while I will try to duplicate your transaction and see what happens. I am pretty close to all of the employees and they won't treat me like a criminal. Even though I feel like one when I walk out of their store only paying a couple of dollars for a ton of stuff.
Sorry that you had a bad experience
I just got back from Walgreens and had no problems, so it must have been the catalina machine.
Tran #1
Stayfree, $1.99
Less $1 coupon
Received $2RR
Tran #2
Conair Brush, $2.00
Used $2RR from Stayfree
OOP: $0.18
Received $2RR
So after that I am not sure why you didn't received the RR. Sorry
Hi Robin (AKA Wags Ninja),
Thanks for doing the same transactions, that was very kind of you. I'm going to try it again tmrw. I'll let you know what happens.
Assuming I can get my $2RR to roll, can the store limit me on how many times I roll it? Can I just keep rolling between Conair and Stayfree? I can't see any where that it says there is a limit on how many Conair Brushes I'm allowed to buy... assuming I do everything in seperate transactions.
If I fill up my basket with Stayfree and Conair Brushes do you think someone will say - - Only one per customer? I don't think the Wags I frequent (3 of them) really know the policies and I could totally see that happening.
On a different deal today they didn't want to accept 2 Man Qs on a B1G1 deal (Chinet). She insisted on only accepting one. I asked her to scan the second Q, just to see what would happen because I had a different understanding. She did and it worked just like it was suppose to. The Just For Men rang in at 8.99 instead of 6.99. They were reluctant to change the price for me but they finally did. They gave me a bunch of BS... if they change the price I won't get the RR... they were wrong again, the Catalina spit out the correct RR (I asked the Manager to test it on another register and then void the sale). Then I checked my RR at the register before I left and I thought the manager was going to have a heart attack when she saw the extra $5 I got for having a purchase over $25. She tried to tell me I wasn't suppose to get that...
I also had another incident when they didn't want to accept a Man Q I printed from Target. It clearly stated Man Q on it and I pointed out that Target is just the suggested retail establishment in which to use it. I even showed them the Direction to Retailers section.
I've only been shopping at Wags for three weeks. Each week has presented a challenge with a 'lesson learned' associated with it. It's gotten to the point where I tell the cashier (and then the manager) how the Wags program actually works. I don't want to mislead anyone who works at Wags or do anything that's outside the rules of their progam. I'm happy to play by those rules and have little or no OOP!
Overall the Wags employees seem nice, etc... they just don't know the policies... they get backed into a corner and make up the rules as they go along. I can only imagine what will happen when a B1G1 sale comes along and I have a B1G1 MQ...
Thanks again.
Wags Ninja in training,
Jen
Walgreens is great once you master it! I suggest to anyone shopping there to become friends with everyone that works there. Since I have done that they go out of their way to help me, in fact many of them subscribe to my blog, even the regional manager.
As for rolling over and over, yes you can do it but, there are no limits. However the store manager can enforce there own limits if they see that you are abusing the system. I usually roll it a couple of times and then move on to another store and do the deal a couple and then move on again. That way I am not being a nuisance and not clearing the shelves.
I have found that they rgenerally don't know their own policies, so I always carry a copy of the coupon policy with me and I find myself educating them on how the system works.
As for the 2 coupons for a B1G1, they were right their policy does state that you can only use one coupon, since you are only buying 1. Go to the couponing 101 section of this site and you will find a copy of the Walgreens coupon policy. But, this is one of those cases that your mileage may vary. My Wags doesn't enforce it, I don't know if that is because they are afraid (LOL) to tell me different because I have taught them about how the system works or because the don't know (and I'm not telling)!
When they didn't want to change the price that is when you whip out the weekly ad. It will help to avoid them making their own rules. If they still refuse just politely ask them for the phone number to the corporate office, they will change their tune real quick.
Bottom line just be firm but friendly and if they aren't going to budge walk away from the deal there is always another one just around the corner.
Keep up the good work and don't give up! Wags is one of those stores that as soon as you can work out all of the kinks you will be handsomely rewarded.
Hi Robin,
Went to a different Wags today and all my deals worked just like they should! Thanks for all your help.
Jen
I am now a converted believer in saving money at Walgreens ... I truly believed that they cost way too much money and always went to a large chain to get my "deals".
Last week was the first time I had actually walked into a Walgreens and was pleasantly surprised. I went on a Tuesday morning that happened to have been the same day as a major snow storm. I was the only customer in the store. Not only did the assistant manager help me find all the stuff that was on my shopping list (printed from their website) but helped me figure out which coupons to use and how to get the most RR per transaction and use them on the next. We ended up doing 8 transactions. I got over $160 worth of merchandise for less then $50. I didn't buy anything that my family wasn't needing or that wasn't on my shopping list for Walmart. A 70% savings on things I needed anyway has made a convert out of me! I know that every time I walk into the store I will not get the same caliber of service I did this time, but I will definitely go back again and again.
I learned a lot from this first trip and through your website that will help my family save a ton in the future. Thank you sooo very much!!!