More Than a Little

I spend most of my shopping time at Walgreens, so I think it’s time to fully explain how their system works.  Currently, the deals at Walgreens mostly depend on Register Rewards.  There used to be an EasySaver rebate program, but it ended in April.  It was great because you could buy the rebate items and get reimbursed on a gift card (which doesn’t expire!) PLUS 10% (or you could get a check for the actual amount.)  There are rumors that this is being replaced with something else, but in the meantime, the biggest savings are coming from sales, coupons and of course, Register Rewards.

Weekly Ads

You know how weekly ads  work. Every week, there’s something new on sale.  The items in the weekly ad are sometimes cheaper than you’ll find them elsewhere, but sometimes not. In other words–you can’t assume that it’s a good price because it’s “on sale”.  The drugstores mark up their prices so much that sometimes even their reduced prices are a joke.  The weekly ad also contains some in-ad coupons.  These coupons are only good for the current week.  They usually have a limit marked on them, but that limit only applies if the cashier enforces it. The register will automatically multiply the coupon savings for the number of items you’ve purchased.  For example, if the coupon amounts to fifty cents off the regular price of an item, limit two, but you buy six, the register will subtract three dollars automatically when just one coupon is scanned.  If the coupon says something is 4/$5, you don’t have to buy 4 of them to get the savings.

My Sunday paper never carries the Walgreens ad, but never fear! You can check it out on the Walgreens website.  It’s also posted in advance (sometimes weeks or even months!) on various deal-seeking forums.  Hot Coupon World Walgreens forum and Slickdeals drugstore forum (check for the Walgreens thread for the appropriate week–this thread is helpful for that.)

For help putting together your shopping list, try the above links, or use the lists at Southern Savers (she always has good lists!) or The Grocery Gathering at becentsable.net.

Register Rewards

Register Rewards (RR) are coupons that print out at the register when you buy qualifying items.  These coupons give you money off your next transaction at Walgreens.  They’re valid on anything that the store sells… with a few notable exceptions.  They exclude prescriptions and items prohibited by law, as well as tobacco, alcoholic beverages, sales tax, lottery tickets, money orders, transportation passes, postage, dairy, Prescription Savings Club membership, health care services and gift cards.  The fine print is somewhere on the coupon itself.  Each RR has the face value, a bar code, the Walgreens logo, the fine print and who the RR was sponsored by printed on it.  There’s a pretty short expiration date… usually two weeks–so don’t forget to use them!

Since the rebate program went away, there has been at least one thing listed as free after  RR every week, and often several things.  They’ll be in the weekly ad, or sometimes you just read about them through the magic of the internet.  The forums I mentioned above really help with that.  There are also usually various Register Rewards deals that don’t result in free items, but that just enhance the current sale price. Sometimes the RR is printed when you buy only one item, but sometimes it requires multiple items to be purchased in one transaction.  There’s no way to track items in separate orders, so make sure you buy everything you need for a RR in one order.

Register Rewards can be a little tricky to use.   I’m just going to get that out upfront. In theory, you can use them like cash to reduce the amount you have to spend on your next transaction. In practice, however, there are a few rules that have to be followed in order to use them. This is especially important when you have large orders and large numbers of RRs in play.

• Only one RR will be printed per deal per transaction. If toothpaste is free after RR (which, it usually is…) and you pay $4.49 for a tube of toothpaste that gives back a $4.50 RR,  you can actually buy as many tubes of toothpaste as you want–but you must pay for them in separate transactions.  If you buy six tubes of toothpaste in one transaction, you’ll still only get $4.50 back.  If there’s a completely separate RR deal, say on shampoo, it will print it and the toothpaste with no problem.  You just can’t do the same deal twice in one transaction.
• You cannot use a RR produced from one deal to pay for the same deal. At least, you can’t do it and get another RR.  Generally, this is why you should take note of who the sponsor is–if it’s listed as Colgate, then don’t buy another RR-producing item by Colgate.  You may, however, use that $4.50 Colgate RR I used as an example above to pay for a deal by another manufacturer that produces a RR.   I will warn you that if a RR fails to print and you used a (different) RR to pay, the staff may tell you that’s why.  Unless it’s from the same manufacturer, it probably isn’t.  Be careful to double-check who the parent company is, since that’s the one that will probably appear.
• You must have one item for every coupon that you use, and RRs are technically manufacturer’s coupons. (Because they’re manufacturer’s coupons, sometimes other stores will accept them. Publix is one of the ones most often mentioned–I don’t have a local Publix so I can’t really vouch for that myself. I have heard rumors that a few Kroger stores will accept them, too. You can always ask your local stores.)  Walgreens-specific store coupons do not count towards this limit.  When one shops specifically for coupon items, it can be tricky to make the number of items and the number of RRs match, which is the main reason they’re sometimes difficult to use.
• Items purchased in order to increase the number of RRs (or other coupons) you can use are called “fillers”.  A good filler is very inexpensive–fifty cents or less. Preferably, it is something that you’ll be able to use. There are often novelty seasonal items fairly cheaply (pencils for 8/$1 are often in the ad) and those would be great as fillers.  Royal brand jello or puddings are regularly 3/$2 for the gelatin or 2/$1 for pudding.  Knee-high stockings, travel-sized tissues, candy bars, clearance items, individual mailing envelopes (I bought a huge stack of these recently at 3/$1!)  I try not to stress out about spending a little money here because I’m saving so much elsewhere, but I do try my best to get useful items.  This is just a necessary cost to use the RRs sometimes.
• You CAN use manufacturer’s and store coupons on an item and it will still produce RRs.  If one doesn’t print, they sometimes like blaming it on coupons.
• The light on the machine will be green if it’s on and working, or red if it’s not.
• You will have to pay your tax out of pocket–in other words, if your total comes to $5.05 and you have a $5 RR, you may not be able to use it because you can only use them on the non-sales-tax portion of that total.  You generally pay sales tax on the pre-coupon amount of your order (in most areas.)
• I have had a couple RRs expire.  My Walgreens will accept them without even noticing, at least, they will if it’s recently expired.  Your own store may vary, but it’s worth a try.  I would personally just try it–if it beeps, throw yourself on the mercy of the cashier. You may be pleasantly surprised.  If one store doesn’t let you do it, try another.  You could always call first to ask what their policy is if you’re concerned.

That’s a lot of detail, and I hope it doesn’t sound scary. It’s easier once you get started and see how it works.  For a newbie on the RR system, I would probably do a couple of different things. First, I wouldn’t try juggling multiple RR transactions.  I would also try to make sure I used the RRs I earned in a second transaction before I even left the store, or I would use them in another store, if I could find one.

As you become proficient with acquiring and spending Register Rewards, you’ll figure out the art of “rolling” them.  That means that you earn a RR in one deal, you can then use it to buy a separate item that produces a RR from another manufacturer. You would then use that second RR to purchase the first item again in order to get another RR.  You can continue this indefinitely, or until you have exhausted the stock or the patience of every Walgreens employee in your general vicinity. ;)  This is kind of complicated so I wouldn’t attempt it as a newbie.

Coupons

Walgreens accepts manufacturer coupons, including internet printables (IPs), as a matter of corporate policy.  You can use one manufacter’s coupon and one store coupon per item.  You can two use coupons on items that are on a Buy One Get One free (B1G1, or BOGO) promotion.  You can use a B1G1 coupon on a B1G1 sale, making them both free.  There is an email from Walgreens Corporate to a slickdeals member that clarifies some of the key points–some people print this out to have on hand in case they’re questioned.

It is usually preferable to control the order in which you hand over your coupons.  In most cases, give them in the following order: purchased-based coupons (ex. $5/$25), manufacturers coupons, store coupons. Doing it this way occasionally allows coupon overage if the combined total of the two coupons is more than the product price, but if you do the store coupon first, then the manufacturer’s coupon will probably beep.

Prescription Savings Club

Walgreens offers a Prescription Savings Club. It costs $20 a year for individuals, or $35 for families. It is designed to save you money on your prescriptions, but since I’ve never used it for that, I can’t really compare how good it is for that.  It offers a 10% discount on all Walgreens-brand items and photo services. The discount is loaded onto a membership card, which can be scanned at the register to pay for your items.  If you scan the card, it will automatically take that 10% off, or you can wait until you get home and enter the receipt information on their website. (That’s what I usually do.)  There’s a slickdeals forum thread that contains more FAQ about the program from a couponer’s perspective.  My membership has paid for itself several times over already and I’ve been a member less than half a year. Also, you get a coupon book worth $50 just for asking about the plan at the pharmacy! It usually has a $2/1 Walgreens diaper coupon in it, which is worth its weight in gold during the B1G1 diaper sales…

Those are the main things you need to know as far as Walgreens goes.  If there are any other questions, please ask!  I’ll be happy to clarify anything that I didn’t explain well enough, or that I didn’t cover.