riteaidlogo

Rite Aid is the last of the three major drugstore chains, and they also enjoy giving their merchandise away.  I think that the system at Rite-Aid is simpler than that at Walgreens or CVS, so it’s a good one for newbies to start with.  I even have family members who do it!  :)  Rite Aid has always seemed somewhat strange to me, because they give away lots of stuff one week, and then there will be nothing worth going in for for a week. You never know with them. 

I hope this will answer any questions you might have about getting started at Rite Aid. If there’s anything I missed, please let me know!

Weekly Ads

Rite Aid puts out a weekly ad, just like the others.  I personally think that Rite Aid’s regular prices are even more outrageous than the other two, but again, the sales are the key.  (Just beware that if the ad says 25% off, it might still not be as good a deal as you were expecting!)  You can view their weekly ad on their website here, or you can view it in advance on deal-seeking websites, such as Slickdeals drugstore forum (try looking in this thread for the current week) or Hot Coupon World’s Rite Aid forum. 

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.

Single Check Rebates

The heart of the Rite Aid system is the Single Check Rebates.  When you buy eligible items, you pay the shelf price, and part or all of that amount will be refunded to you at the end of the month.  It’s an easy system to learn.  After signing up on the website, you will enter all your receipt information (store number, transaction number and date) and the program will automatically choose which rebates you’re eligible for.  If there’s a problem, you can contact them about it to have the problem corrected. (I once had to fax a receipt in to prove that I bought a certain product, for example.) 

You can enter as many receipts per month as you wish, but you can only request your check once, so don’t do it until you’re done shopping for that month’s rebates!  There are sometimes special rebates that appear, as well, such as a Huggies rebate that lasted a few months. When you purchased five packages of diapers, you would be eligible for a free voucher for another pack.  Those special rebates are requested separately from the monthly rebate, but it’s pretty self-explanatory when you see it in their system.  At the end of the month, you can go in and request your check. If you forget, no fears! As long as you’ve entered your receipts, it will eventually be automatically shipped to you.  That’s one reason that it’s a good idea to enter your receipts immediately.  The other reason is that you really don’t want to lose them before you enter the information!

Coupons

Rite Aid accepts manufacturer’s coupons and store coupons, and you can stack them together.  There used to be a policy against printable coupons, but that has supposedly been lifted (my own stores didn’t have a problem with it to begin with.)  I wish I could be more encouraging about this, but as far as I can tell, corporate doesn’t really give the same answers when asked about coupon usage, so it will really depend upon your particular store. 

Living More Card

There is a money-saving card available at Rite Aid as well. It’s called the Living More card.  This is honestly something I don’t really have first-hand experience with, because it’s only available for seniors.  I still look like I might be a senior in high school, even though I’m thirty years old, so I wouldn’t bother trying to pull a fast one on anyone even if I were inclined to. :)  If you’re 55 or older, though, you’re eligible for a Living More card that gives you 20% off your purchases on the first Tuesday or the month, and 10% off on every other Tuesday. You’ll also get 10% off on Rite Aid brand products every day. This isn’t applicable to sale-priced items or any of the other restricted items, like alcohol or tobacco or stamps.  So, if you’re the right age, you might as well get a card, but I don’t know how useful it will be, since as I’ve said… without a sale, it’s really too expensive to buy much in Rite Aid. More details on the Living More card.

The System In Practice

One more quick note about Rite Aid.  When the deals are good, it’s pretty easy to make a little profit on the rebate system, without any hassle from the cashier.  Any time there’s an item that’s free or almost free after SCR, check to see if you can find a coupon.  If you use a $2 coupon on a $10 free SCR item, you’ll pay $8 at the register, but you’ll still receive $10 when you get your check.  Then, you also want to combine these with $5/$25 coupons (there’s been one available all year with different expiration dates. Currently, that coupon can be found here on the Rite Aid website, or at coupons.com.  If you’re buying all freebies–that’s $5 more of profit!  You can also use that to buy $20 worth of free after rebate or free after coupon items, if there are any that week, and $5 worth of merchandise that you need. (I am thinking toilet paper. I usually try to work toilet paper into overages like that.)  I bought my daughter an Elmo DVD the first time I did that. It made me happy.

Contacting Rite Aid

If you have a problem, question or comment, you can contact Rite Aid by email, or you can call them at  1-800-RITEAID (1-800-748-3243). The phone number for the Single Check Rebates is 1-888-213-9920.

Now get out there and get shopping!