I have a confession to make. I don't shop every store in my area. I used to shop every store and I found it was a lot of freaking time and energy. A lot. I got burned out, big time. Since then I scaled back a bit and picked a few stores to shop at. I hadn't so much as stepped foot into Walgreen's until last Friday in years. I headed back to my favorite Walgreen's a little nervous. I live near another one, but I used to shop at a specific one in Moore Oklahoma all the time. I loved it, the cashier knew me by name. And I was horrified to see it damaged after the tornado, and am so happy it has been repaired and reopened. I decided to go there to show my support of the Moore recovery. I was a bit nervous though, it's been so long and they have new programs! I have been couponing for 4 years and was a little worried to make mistakes. Silly, I know.
I walk in and who is there to greet me? My favorite cashier, who asked where I have been! It was just like riding a bicycle, I got back on and went wonderfully.
Walgreen's is a unique animal. Much like CVS they issue their own currency via Register Rewards. Like other programs you have to pay up front for your items, and you get a coupon worth so much off your next purchase. You can get great deals, and even make money in items at Walgreen's, if you know how to work it.
Walgreen's has a rewards program called Balance Rewards. I am honestly still learning this animal so I will add more tips and tricks as I learn them. From what I understand, thank you favorite cashier, Balance Rewards is a savings card that you must use to get certain sale prices. This card will also allow you to earn points on certain items you buy. Every 1,000 points you earn, that is 1$ savings you can use on another purchase. There is one caveat to these points. If you use your points to save on item, you will not earn points for that purchase. So make sure you are buying something that you won't earn points on. You can track your rewards on your receipt so you know how many you have. Balance Rewards is a free program so sign up!
In addition to Balance Rewards, Walgreen's has Register Rewards (RR) that I mentioned earlier. Register Rewards have their own quirky rules. First is they print after you pay, so they are on your next purchase. You can not use a RR to earn another RR on the same items. This rule is a little complicated so let me give you an example. If you want to buy two tubes of Crest toothpaste. You buy one, use your coupon and earn a RR, if you use that RR to pay for the next tube of toothpaste a new reward will not print. This means you must stagger transactions. If you are buying two tubes of toothpaste and two bottles of shampoo, you need to do toothpaste, then shampoo, then toothpaste, then shampoo in order to get your max rewards. This can be time consuming and confusing. I strongly suggest writing out a plan ahead of time, and be respectful of other customers in line. If you are doing 17 transactions, making the customers wait behind you could end up with you getting nasty looks or your tires slashed. RR also expire so make sure you use them! They can not be replaced if you lose them and I don't believe they are connected to your card, though that might have changed.
The third tricky rule I want to cover at Walgreen's is their number of coupons per item policy. Walgreen's allows one manufacturer and one Walgreen's coupon per item. That is it. If you want to use one Walgreen's coupon, one manufacturer coupon and a RR from a previous purchase you can't. In order to circumvent this policy you have to buy something else. This policy has added ten pounds to me, because the easiest thing to do is add the cheapest item in the store. Which at my Walgreen's is always some small candy item. My kids love this policy because I always have little suckers or candy in my purse but my hips hated it. If the register won't allow you to use all your coupons, check and make sure its not because you need to add another item!
Walgreen's does issue their own coupons. You can find these is two places, either their weekly add which has coupons right in it sometimes. Walgreen's also has books every month chock full of coupons. From my experience these book coupons are never advertised in their ad, but sometimes you will see them on the store signs. Pick up a booklet in the front of the store on the rack with the ads.
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