Updated September 26, 2009: Walgreens has been making modifications to their Register Reward program recently and I have updated the information within this post to reflect current practices.
It is possible to get fabulous deals and free items at Walgreens if you follow a few simple tips and tricks.
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Make a list and stick to it. Walgreens has great loss leaders, or weekly sale items that are deeply discounted, but they also have very high everyday prices. Makes sense when you think that a store actually loses money on a loss leader, but it serves as bait to get you in the door with the hopes you’ll buy something at full price. Make a list of the loss leaders and stick to it.
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Be prepared for your first few trips to take a little longer. Walgreens does not label their sale items very well. Whether they do that on purpose is debatable. That means it take effort when you start shopping at Walgreens to find all the sale items you need and want. Use the staff as a resource and ask where sale items are.
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Clip the in-ad coupons. The sale items advertised on the little-coupon-looking things in the paper actually are Walgreens coupons. If you want one of those items you need to clip that coupon and give it to the cashier or your item will be full price.
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Use manufacturer’s coupons AND in-ad coupons. You can use both a Walgreens in-ad or store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon for the same item. If the total amount of coupons exceed the value of the item then try to hand the cashier the manufacturer’s coupon first; coupons ring through better that way.
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Buy the quantity specified. In my experience, if something is advertised as 2 for $5, then you need to buy 2 items to get that price. The first one rings at full price and the second one is discounted.
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Watch the cashier ring. Pay close attention, especially when you are getting started, to the cashier as they ring your order. If the price isn’t right, then speak up. Don’t hesitate to ask to be shown the product from the sale flyer or to have the item removed from your order.
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Use fillers if your coupons exceed price paid. Walgreens has such great deals that some weeks you may actually have coupons that fully exceed the value of your items – in essence they should be paying you, but they won’t. Think ahead and pick up a couple of “filler” items that can bring your total to something greater than $0. I personally use the $1 box of cranberries, because it is the lowest price per ounce I’ve seen for those.
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Understand how Register Rewards work.
- A Register Reward is a manufacturer-issued coupon that is good for a specific dollar amount off your next purchase. It will print at the end of your transaction and the clerk will hand it to you with your receipt.
- Note which manufacturer sponsored the Register Reward you earned (it is printed on the Reward somewhere) because if you pay with that Reward for products from that same manufacturer that should produce a new, different Reward it won’t. See the scenario below for more details.
- You get a Register Reward when you buy specified products or combinations of products; the specified combinations of products are usually advertised in their weekly sales flyer, although some combinations are good anytime throughout a month and others aren’t advertised at all.
- A Register Reward has an expiration date – so be sure to use it. They do not accept them past their expiration dates.
- You do not need a special loyalty card to get your Register Rewards.
- You cannot have a higher number of manufacturer-issued coupons than you have actual items in your order and a Register Reward counts as a coupon. Some stores count a “$1 off 2 items” coupon as two coupons. Call your store to verify their policy.
- Follow this scenario to understand some benefits and limitations of Register Rewards:
- Let’s say you buy 1 toothpaste for $4 and get $4 in Register Rewards. Now, if you think “ah, I am so smart, I am going to buy another $4 toothpaste, but use that $4 Register Reward to pay for it so I get it without paying anything out of pocket…” Nope. Their registers are smart and won’t let you do that. But, if you want to get multiple Register Rewards from that toothpaste…
- Then you can ring another transaction that creates a new receipt and buy another toothpaste. If you pay with cash/credit (anything other than a Register Reward issued from the same manufacturer) you’ll get another Register Reward. Make sense? But…
- If you have Register Reward from a toothpaste offer one week and there is a deodorant offer the following week that generates a Register Reward, you can use this week’s Register Reward to pay for next week’s and it will work fine, as long as the manufacturer is different. This is how you can end up paying very little out of pocket because one week’s Register Rewards pay for the following weeks products.
Your turn: What have you learned about bargain shopping at Walgreens?
Carrie:
This was very helpful!
Jane
I also love to use the walgreens brand paperplates, 5-9oz cups as affordable “filler” items as they are inexpensive and we certainly use them in my house.
Crystal – Thanks, I hadn’t thought about those as fillers, but will in the future. Thanks! –Carrie
I have found that if I have more coupons than items, the register will not take all my coupons. For example, I can’t buy three items, use three coupons, and then try to pay for the items with a register rewards coupon. Have you also run into this problem? Is there any way around it?
[...] wipes and diapers. Thanks to Crystal for a starting point for this list. New to Walgreens? Read this post to learn how to save tons there. Read this to understand how to read this shopping [...]
Thank you so much for your website and explanations–I really like the way you explain things in detail–concise, to-the-point and easy to understand and put into practice. THANK YOU so much–it helps us to save time saving money!!
I went to Walgreens today and tried to use my rewards. I had coupons for the cookies I was buying so they said I could not use the rewards. They said that you can only use the rewards if you are buying something that you don’t have a coupon for. Is this true?
Susan, the way it was explained to me at my Walgreens was that I can use one Register Reward coupon per item purchased. If I have 4 items and 5 RR coupons That won’t work. I can only use 4 of them. I think that is also true if I am using Manufacturer coupons along with my purchase, at least that seems to be how it has worked for me. I just try to make sure that if I am using coupons and I want to use a RR I count the number of items and the number of coupons to make sure they are the same. If not, I buy a cheap filler item to make the number come out the same. Does this make sense to anyone else? Am I way off base? I am new to this program too!! This is just how it was explained to me and perhaps it wasn’t explained very well. But I, too, have had trouble using RR along with coupons. I was told that I had too many coupons. So, I think this is the solution, but I am more than willing to be corrected!
@Janna, I’m new to this too and just had to call the Wags customer relations line to verify this very thing. Each RR is a manufacturer coupon. You are allowed one in-store coupon and one manufacturer coupon per item. The in-store will not have an impact on the RR, but you can’t do 10 MC (including the RR for pay) and 9 items. The number of items has to equal or exceed the MC. I was also told by Cathy at ChiefFamilyOfficer.com to remember that the $X/2 coupons attach to the 2 items. I hadn’t thought of that one. She also suggested that when spending the RR, buying a product from the same manufacturer (not simply the same product) may be a problem. I haven’t had that situation yet.
One other comment of note from the rep was that there are “rumors” they may be doing away with the RR and going for the loyalty card like CVS.
hi if R.R are going away that would be a shame..i was just discussing this with my friend who just starting shopping there..who also told a friend..and on and on….
So I thought that this would be really silly I bet that since they started R.R more people are shopping there..yeah probably more work for evryone since they need to be stocking up more,manager is busy all the time fixing transactions,cashiers take longer to do multiple transaction…so this would mean its costing more to walgreens to hire more people,and overtime?, but still there is a lot!! of people shopping there now!..I go there multiple times a week and I am telling you I am seeing that they are running out on products,a thing that i didnt see much before and also the clearance section is almost empty! great place to look for fillers! what do you guys think?
I saw the information you had in your posting from last week for Walgreens for the Aussie hair products. I was at the Coon Rapids Walmart, Wednesday morning. I bought 2 Aussie products and had the $2.00 off 2 coupon that you had mentioned. The cashier told me that the register wouldnt print me a register reward for the products because I was using a manufacturers coupon. I stated that it should and she continued to argue with me. She said that we could try it with my coupon and see what happens. It did print the register rewards which the cashier still insisted it wouldn’t do. In the end, I got the 2 products for $.99 each like you stated and also the $2.00 register rewards. I was also told that if you purchase something that will print a register reward you can’t use a previous register reward to pay for it? It seems not all Walgreens are the same.
I am learning, that all locations are different and to keep looking.
When I first started, I had problem after problem in certain locations, so kept going to different stores. I LOVE two that i’ve finally found. I accidentally left without getting the in store coupons scanned and thought I would have a hassle getting it taken care of. The manager was the cashier at the slow time when I went back and I told him I thought it was going to be a “big deal” and he said, “If anyone EVER makes it a big deal, you just come and tell me”. Yay!
Then I noticed this store seemed to be invaded by a coupon “bandit”. I laughed with one of the clerks about it. They just thought it was a nice thing to do to clip coupons and stick them on products all over the store. I will definitely be there on a regular basis!
I’ve also had cashiers and customers laugh with me as my order has been pennies out the door. Cashiers telling me “I’ve never seen it (the cat machine) do THAT before!” Meaning spit out numerous RR in a row. I had 10 this morning.
Oh, and I think I need to have cards printed with a number of the blogs and coupon sites. It takes too much time explaining to multiple people what and how i’m doing this! LOL
Quite honestly I think Walgreens needs to get their act together. I went to Wags today and purchased several items from the list with rr’’s….purchased one of the Schick Fusion Razors for my Husband and used the $4 coupon…I received all my rr’s except the $6 for the razor. Also I did not use any rr’s to pay for the purchase plus had fillers. I purchased the “exact razor” that is in the add even..of course there were no sign or shelf labels.
I shop at the WBL wags and I’m finding this store in particular is poorly run..seldom have all items..problems with rr’s etc…the register reward items are seldom ever labeled..I’m beginning to think that is on purpose.
I think that a customer loyalty card would help..I know it has limits…but could be less headaches.
I found another walgreens last week and had a great experience.
I have been shopping at Walgreens since April. It took me a solid 4 months to figure out the system and feel comfortable with the transactions. I frequently encounter cashiers and even managers who don’t have a accurate understanding of how the rr’s work. Kind of sad when the customer knows more than the employee! From my experience, the employees working in the cosmetics check-out are more friendly and helpful. It also pays to learn where the clearance items are grouped together (each store has a different area). If I need a filler, I sometimes will purchase a 99 cent greeting card. Last week, I spent $ 2.02 (plus rr’s) for $55.00 in merchandise (and earned $16 rr’s). Transactions like that feel great!
Penny-
This is what I read on another site:
The Fusion razors in the orange packaging are NOT generating the $6RR, so do not purchase those. The Fusion razors that are generating the Register Reward are in a blue package.
HTH
Thanks Angela…I’m going to have them exchange and rering the razor…I love how they used a picture of the worng product in their ad…
At my Walgreens yesterday, there were signs posted about the RRs that said that items free after RRs were limited to one per person, per day. Did anyone else see these signs in their Walgreens?
Also, yesterday the cashier almost didn’t accept my coupon for the Zantac because it had a picture of the 24ct and I was trying to purchase the 8ct. ARGH! Thankfully, her manager knew that it was OK.
Stupid newbie question- can I use more than one RR in a transaction? I went to Wags the other day and got a bunch of the “free” stuff, and I have a pile of RR to use. I have had my eye on the kids’ version of a Sinu Cleanse and would love to use a few to pay for it…
Penny – if its not to far from you, the Wags on White Bear Avenue and Beam is fantastic. I’ve never had any problems there.
Cath – reread Carrie’s post. Yes you can use more than one RR in a tranaction, as long as you have the same amount of RRs and Manufacturer’s coupons as you do items. You can only use 1 RR on the sinus cleanse you want because its one item. But, if you add some cheap filler items you can use as many RRs as you have products.
Wags is tough to get the hang of, but keep at it.
If you have a bunch of RR to use this week, the 8 pencils for $1 in-ad coupon could be your answer! I went in with $41 worth of RR and thanks to the 16 pencils I bought, I was able to use all of my MQs and 10 RRs. My total savings with RR & coupons was $69.02! So, keep an eye out for those kinds of deals to give you high item counts to be able to use a lot of your RRs since there are so many good RRs this month!!!
I just started with your site and have already saved alot of money. Thank-you!!
A Duluth Walgreens is no longer participating in register rewards ( a posted sign there this week).
I’m still learning too….so just want to make sure….do the WAGS coupons in the monthly or healthy savings books count as a coupon like the manufacturers’ in the coupon to items ratio and the need to get fillers? I’m thinking I’ve been using fillers when I don’t need to. thanks for all the help….this site is AWESOME!
A great filler is single pencils if you have kids. Lots of time they are on sale and they are very cheap.
I got my first RR last week and I have a question. I see that posters have used RR on filler items, but the cashier who checked me out told me that I can only use my $2.49 RR on something that is $2.50 or more. Did she mean to say my total had to be $2.50 or more, like I can use it to take $2.50 off my final total even if the only item in my cart I don’t have a MC for is $1.00?
Tina – The post-coupon, pre-Register Reward value of your items must be higher than the value of your Register Reward. Meaning, you cannot pay a total bill of $1.00 with a $2.49 Register Reward and tell the clerk, “keep the change.” You need at least $2.49 in products to use a $2.49 Register Reward. Hope that helps!
That makes sense. Thank you!
Another trick that I use at Walgreens is I look through the ad before heading to the store and clip in-ad coupons for items I could buy that are less than $0.50. Since you can only have as many manufacturer coupons (including Register Rewards) as you have items, this allows me to buy cheap filler items using a Walgreens coupon to bring my total number of items up to my total number of coupons. (Walgreens coupons don’t count against your total number of coupons.)
I learned something new today about RRs. I’ve been doing the Wags thing for 6 months now and thought I had it all down. I understood that if you have 5 coupons you needed to have 5 items in your cart. This includes MFR, Wags, and RR – all are considered coupons. BUT I DID NOT KNOW that if you use a $3 RR to “pay” and the item you purchased was expected to print a $3RR then the RR will not print. As explained to me by the store manager (Lexinton MN) you cannot use a RR of $X to purchase an item that will generate another RR of the same $X. This is the first time in 6 months that I have experienced this. Perhaps I was lucky every other time?? Or perhaps this is something new. But it totally threw off my plan and took more time at the register (because I asked them to void the transaction completely)
In your post above you said: “If you have Register Reward from a toothpaste offer one week and there is a deodorant offer the following week that generates a Register Reward, you can use this week’s Register Reward to pay for next week’s and it will work fine, as long as the manufacturer is different.” But at my store at least, this will not “work fine” if the RR for each item was the same $ amount. Wow – I’m always learning something new at Wags.
SarahBeth, I also found this out at the Plymouth WGs. I am new to this and so asked the cosmetics salesperson a ton of questions and she mentioned the “you can buy an item with RR, but it won’t give you a RR.”
Is this consistent at all stores??
I was at Cub today and a lady in front of my used what I think was a Walgreens register reward.
Can you use Walgreens register rewards at Cub???
Andrea,
You sure can! But not at all of them. HarMar Cub wouldn’t let me, but the Rice St one just south of 36 questioned it, then told me to try it & said if the register accepts it, he’ll take it. I think it depends if they’re corporate-owned. Wish I could get a list of those which accept them.
Does anyone know of a central place where the register rewards are all listed with the expiration dates? I could not find anything on the Walgreens website.
Did I read that you can use RRs to pay for a Walgreens gift card? Has anyone tried that? They sell other gift cards also like Amazon and ebay. I would love to use my RRs on those.