Walgreens is a confusing place to shop when it comes to coupons and getting the best deals. If you need to check out their coupon policy, you can find it here.
Im sure you have all heard of the Walgreens Register Rewards Program. Register Rewards(RR) are manufacturer coupons that print out of a “catalina” machine at the end of your transaction. The Register Rewards are good on your next transaction and can be used on almost anything in the store (see store for exclusions). It does not require a customer card. Because of this there are no real limits on how many times you can do a deal, BUT rolling your deals is a bit more complicated. Register Rewards are manufacturer coupons and Walgreens cash registers will only allow 1 manufacturer coupon per item.
When you get a Walgreens ad you will also see 2 different prices for some of their sale items.
One will be the sale price and the other will be the price after Register Rewards (called RR from here on). You pay the upfront price and then receive your RR’s along with your receipt.
Now this is very important…RR’s are MANUFACTURER coupons. You have to have one item per RR. And here is where it gets really tricky.
You can’t roll an RR into the same deal you got it from.
For example:
This week Dial Nutriskin Body Wash is on sale for $3.99 and you get back $3 RR.
So it’s like paying $.99 for your body wash.
You cannot purchase a product from the same company and get a register reward again. You need to do a transaction in the middle with a product from another company to break it up.
Sample Walgreens Scenario
Whew, that’s confusing! Here’s an example of a scenario:
Now you can do the Dial deal again with the $4 RR from the BioTrue Deal.
Transaction #1:
Dial Nutriskin Body Wash $3.99
total oop $3.99
receive back $3 RR
Transaction #2: (remember you cannot do it on the Dial again with the Dial RR)
BioTrue Multi Purpose Solution $4.99
small piece of .50 cent candy (you must have a “filler” product to use the RR, remember it is a manufacturer coupon so it has to have a product attached to it)
-$2 coupon on Bio True (coupon #1)
-$3 RR (coupon #2)
total oop $.49
receive back $4 RR
Some things to remember about Walgreens:
- sometimes they will have a few RR deals from the same company. You can't roll any deal from the same company regardless of if it is a different product. If you try your RR will not print! An example is a big company like Proctor and Gamble. They might have 2 items that produce RR’s that week. Even though they are different items, they are the same parent company. So check those items out seperately.
- have extra "fillers" when you go up to the register. Walgreens won’t let you go under $0 so you need to make sure that you have things to bump your total up if you need to.
- You must have one item per coupon (this doesn’t include coupons that require you to buy more than one of a product) this INCLUDES your RR.
- Walgreens will allow you to use 1 manufacturer coupon with 1 store coupon per item. When you are using mfg. and store coupons, always hand over the manufacturer coupons first and the Walgreens store coupons last. Why should you do this? If you are using 1 mfg. + 1 store coupon and it is more than the cost of the item you would get what’s called “coupon overage.” Coupon overage is when your coupons are more than the cost of the item and you can use the overage towards other items in your transaction. If you use the manufacturer coupon after the Walgreens store coupon the register will “beep” because it thinks that the value of the coupon is greater than the value of the item. This is because the store coupon took down the value of the item. But if you hand over the mfg. coupon first the register shouldn’t beep.
- Rain Checks: Walgreens does issue rainchecks and they are valid for 30 days. (even though a manager told me yesterday they never expire...so check with the store when they issue the rain check to be sure.
- Buy One Get One Free Items(BOGO): If Walgreens is having a BOGO sale, you can use 2 coupons for the items since you are purchasing 2 items. If you have a BOGO coupon for a BOGO sale, you would get both items FREE. Most cashiers will allow you to do this.
- Clearance items: Walgreens has two kinds of clearance tags: orange and yellow. The orange tags are issued from the corporate office so the clearance price would most likely be valid at all Walgreens locations. The yellow tags are specific to each individual Walgreens and you most likely won’t find the clearance price at another store. You can use Walgreens store coupons and manufacturer coupons on clearance items.
- Multiple Transactions: If you are planning to do a few transactions, it may be convenient for you (& others) to check out at the cosmetics counter. Also, be sure to check with the cosmetics employee for manufacturer coupons. I know here in Antigo they keep a stash of coupons behind the counter.
