Walgreen's 101

Walgreen's, like CVS, is a great place to find deals on anything from the expected drug store medications and vitamins to personal care products, household products and even food.

To start with, Walgreen's always has store coupons in their advertisements that you can pick up in the store or they usually come in your local paper. You can always use a manufacturer along with a store coupon if you have one available. This is called stacking and should be allowed at any store.

Walgreens has recently changed thier rebate program. They used to offer a rebate catalog that also offered coupons. This was called the EasySaver Catalog which is no longer availalble.

Rebates are still offered at Walgreens, just now as many or in the same fashion. Now you will find a few items marked with red tags throughout the store with tags noting the rebate amount and dates. So far the only items I've come across with rebates since they changed the system is seasonal items. I don' t know if you can still get teh 10% bonus for putting it on a gift card or not, but this use to be the case.

Another great thing that Walgreen's offers on a regular basis is something called a register reward (RR), sometimes also called a catalina. RR's are coupons triggered by a purchase at the register. Sometimes they are coupons for a $ off of an item, other times they are good for cash off of your next purchase.

Sales with RR's are often advertised, but at times are a surprise. They are often triggered by purchasing a certain number of a particular product. If you know what triggered a $ off of your next transaction and wish to do the order again, keep in mind if you used the RR you received for purchasing the items won't be triggered if you use it on the same deal again.

For example... say a $2 RR is offered if you buy 3 Crest toothpaste or Scope products.
You buy 3 toothpaste and receiver your $2 RR
-If you use the $2 RR and purchase 3 more toothpaste or Scope you won't receive another RR.
-If you pay with cash and don't use the $2 RR you will receive another $2 RR.
It's best in this situation to pay with cash each time and use the RR on a different brand item that is offering a rebate or a good buy on something else you need.

Most stores are only allowing you to redeem 1 RR per transaction now, so keep that in mind when figuring each order. Many times it benefits you to do multiple transactions anyway, but sometimes the limit can be frustrating as well. Just keep it in mind and if you want to use more than one in a transaction that they may not allow you to and you may have to cancel your order and refigure how you want to do your orders or be willing to pay the difference out of pocket and use the RR another time. Sometimes a store will limit you, sometimes the cashier will and you may find that if you frequent one or two stores you know their quirks.

Some have reported that their stores have allowed them to use RR to purchase or reload a gift card and then they make another RR purchase and are able to "roll" their RR this way. Some stores allow this and some don't- YMMV (your mileage may vary). I have never done this as there always seems to be something I can use my RR on before they expire.

Those working at the cosmetics counter often have coupons and samples to share just for the asking and are very willing to help you. They love to have you come to their registers to check out and receive bonuses for having certain numbers of customers. If you are a regular at any Walgreen's try to use the cosmetics counter when you can and you will most likely be rewarded with a nice familiar smile and help with coupons if they have any for the products you are purchasing.

Important!!! You can't have more coupons/RR per transaction that you have items! If you have 3 coupons and a RR and you only have 3 items to purchase, the last coupon/RR will not scan... you need to add a filler item (something inexpensive or on clearance is fine, or purchase something you would need to buy anyway) and the coupons will all go through fine.

Walgreens is a great place to shop for deals on household items, meds, and sometimes groceries. If you combine sales, Walgreen's coupons, manufacturer coupons, register rewards, and rebates you can often spend just pennies on the dollar for your purchases or even come out ahead.

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W Card

Meant to be a prescriptions savings program, but gives the advantage of 10% back on most Walgreens brand purchases & photofinishing. There is a $20 individual fee, or $35 for a family. You can enroll online or in the store.

You also get $50 in Walgreens coupons just for asking about the program.