Walgreens 101

Walgreens is one of my favorite stores to shop at. People laugh when I tell them that, but this is the store that I can get cleaning products, makeup, medicine and more for next to nothing. Their deals on these items can't be beat. It's worth checking out... we fill almost all of our prescriptions there, so we are there often enough to take advantage of those. They seem to be on every corner in Vancouver, so they are convenient also.

Walgreens 101

Weekly Ad Coupons (also called IVC's = Instant Value Coupons). These can be found in the Sunday edition of your local paper and you simply cut them and use them at the store to get the price on the coupon. These can be STACKED (stacking means that you are using more than 1 coupon on the same item) with manufacturer's coupons (manufacturer's coupons are clearly noted at the top of the coupon as such and they come from MANY sources including your Sunday paper, online sources, tearpads on display in the stores, peelies (or stickers) on the product itself, etc.

Coupon Booklets. Walgreens has been putting out monthly fliers and can be found at the front of the store. These are loaded with extra coupons and are great to pick up. Coupon match ups (which I will be posting) will often include  some of those items. They also sometimes have coloring books for $1.00 that are loaded with coupons as well. 

Register Rewards (RR). These are coupons that print out at the register after you pay for your order. They will be for a specific amount. Some will be for the full price of the item. Others will be for a X amount if you spend Y amount on a certain product or combination of products. I am going to use two examples to try to help explain this. Example 1: Buy Colgate toothpaste for $2.99, get a RR for $2.99. Example 2: Spend $20 on SC Johnson cleaning products, get a $10 RR.

You CAN get both promotions in one transaction. If you meet both promotion requirements, you would get rewards totaling $12.99.

You CAN use manufacturer's coupons with your purchase and still get the register rewards. If you have $5 in manufacturer's coupons, you would then be paying $15 out of pocket at the register, receiving $10 in RR and end up spending only $5 for $20 worth of cleaning products.

You CAN'T use the SC Johnson $10 RR and repurchase the same SC Johnson products and expect to get a new $10 RR. You can purchase them and use the $10 RR, but you will not get a new $10 RR. You CAN use the SC Johnson $10 RR and then purchase the Colgate and get the $2.99 RR. Different promo, different RR.

You CAN'T have more coupons than you have items in your cart. This sometimes happens if you are using multiple RR and/or multiple coupons. If you have 10 coupons including Register Rewards you are redeeming and you only have 8 items in your cart, you would need to grab 2 "fillers". I sometimes grab seasonal pencils, they are usually around  .20 cents or similar. Or I will just pick something inexpensive from the ad coupons that we could use. This isn't often a problem, but it is worth mentioning. The cashiers often don't know why their machine is beeping at them telling them they can't take more than 8 coupons, but you'll know that it's because you have 10 coupons, and 8 items!

You have to pay attention to the ad and promotional details. Sometimes they will throw in certain size requirements or only certain types of things are included. Example: Spend $15 on Nyquil, get a $5 RR. And it may only included very specific types of the Nyquil product. I usually just compare the pictures in the ad if I have any questions.

You CAN use RR for any purchase except for gift cards, prescription drugs, or cigarettes.

You CAN'T get cash back for coupon overage. There are MANY times where if you are stacking a register reward, MQ, and IVC that you will actually be getting paid to buy those items. Your cashier will NOT give you cash back. Their register won't allow it. It's best to make sure you are covered with other items you need that you are paying either $0.00 or above for your shopping order.

Sign up for the Walgreens email list, and they periodically send out coupons for $5 or $10 off your purchase. They are typically $5 off $25 purchase, and you just have to make sure your total is $25 after all coupons and register rewards are deducted.

You can click here to view the weekly ad. Remember, you can pick the ad up in the store, they always have PLENTY of copies. So, if you don't get your Sunday paper, view the ad online and then just get the ad as you walk in.