CVS General Information

2008-05-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

How do you get great bargains at CVS? There are lots of deals to be had every week but the BEST deals are found by using the Extra Care Reward program which gets you Extra Care Bucks (ECB).

What are ECBs? ECBs are like CVS money that you earn by purchasing certain advertised items. Every week and month there will be new deals at CVS, some of which will earn ECB’s when you purchase them. You can spend them on anything in CVS (except alcohol and tobacco and in some cases gift cards).

How do I earn ECBs? You need to first go into CVS and sign up for an Extra Care Card. This can be done instantly at the store itself or you can sign up online, which will take a week or two before you will receive it. Then you should purchase an item or items that will earn you ECB’s (either a weekly or monthly deal or both.) After you use your MF coupons and pay for your items your ECB’s and sometimes store coupons will print along with your receipt. BE SURE TO KEEP THE ECBs THAT PRINT. These are now like cash that you will use the next time you use your card.

How do I spend ECBs? Once you have your ECB's attached to your receipt, cut them up into individually and file them in a safe place. When you go to use that card again to do another deal you should lay down your ECB's only after you have presented all other coupons. Lay down the largest ECB that is under the amount due and keep doing this until your total is lower than your lowest ECB or you run out of ECBs. You do not get change from ECB's and you want your out of pocket (oop) to be as low as possible. This is why you use your ECB's in that order.

What’s the best way to spend my ECBs? Ideally you would spend your ECB's on things that ALSO earn more ECB's. This is because you are essentially paying for your item WITH ECBs and earning MORE ECBs simply by “buying” the item. This is called “rolling” your ECB’s.

How do coupons work with ECB’s?Once you understand the way you earn and spend ECB's it's a lot easier to throw coupons into the mix. Just remember that your goal with each transactions is to spend the least amount of money and use the least amount of ECB's as possible, while still earning ECB's that are hopefully equal to or more than the amount you have spent. So always try to use the $/$$ coupons first, MF coupons second and your ECB's third to maximize your savings.
A good example of how you can make money off of products using coupons is the following example (a monthly deal May 2008.)
For this example let's assume you have 2 ECBs, one worth $4 and one worth $3 Buy:
3 Adidas Deodorant $4.99 each
3 Aquafresh TP $2.99 each
2 Colgate 360 Toothbrushes $3.99 each
Total before coupons is $31.92

Use:
$4/$20 (welcome email or from www.iheartcvs.com)
3 Free Adidas Coupons (found in the All You magazine)
3 $1/1 Aquafresh (printable)
2 $1/1 Colgate 360 Toothbrushes (printable)
1 $4 ECB
1 $3 ECB

You will earn $14.97 ECBs for Adidas, $8.97 ECBs for Aquafresh and $7.98 ECBs for Colgate

TOTAL OOP (out of pocket)- $.95,
TOTAL ECBs spent- $7,
TOTAL ECB's EARNED-$31.92,
net GAIN in ECB's of $25.

What CVS coupons are available and where can I get them? There are CVS coupons that may come in your email (or you can sometimes get them elsewhere like http://www.iheartcvs.com) that take a dollar amount off your total. This is BEFORE coupons if you hand it to the cashier first. So it would be like $4 off $20 purchase...then use your other coupons, then your ECB's to make your total out of pocket (OOP) as low as possible and hopefully earn more ECB's.

Can I have multiple cards and should I use multiple cards?It is perfectly fine to have more than one card and a lot of bargain shoppers do (a lot of us just use variations of our names to keep the cards straight.) The main reason for having multiple cards is that ECB deals usually have a limit on the number of times you can do them per card. It's best to start out with just one card and build it up and get used to it before you start opening other cards. However, if there is a particularly hot deal or something that is a deal on something you really need to stock up on, it might make sense for you to expedite getting several cards. We are always here to help you organize and manage multiple cards of course, so just ask!

If I have multiple cards can I mix and match ECBs on them? No. ECBs are card specific meaning that you can only use ECBs with the same card you used to earn them in the first place.

Is there a way to buy Gift Cards using ECBs? You must have enough manufacturer coupons to cover the price of your gift card.
Example: If you want to buy a $20 gift card, you must have a total of $20 in manufacturer coupons.Have cashier ring up all the items, including the gift card. Know in advance how many ECBs you will be using. Give coupons in this order: $/$$, ECB, store coupons, then manufacturer coupons. This makes the register allow using your ECBs to buy the gift card.
You may also try telling the cashier you want X value of gift card and hand cashier enough ECB's to cover it. Of course it depends on the cashier. Attempting to buy giftcards can be tricky and may not work, so just be preapred for that going into it.

Where can I find out what deals are going on this week/month at CVS? You can visit here to see a copy of the ad for the week/month that you are looking for. You should feel FREE to ask questions about CVS in general on the regular coupon blog about this week/month's specific deals.

Does CVS accept expired coupons?Some will take expired coupons but YMMV.

CVS Raincheck Policy:A rain check should be issued when the store doesn't have the product on hand that they normally carry to obtain the Extrabucks. The store manager would write the rain check including the sale description, the sale price, then minus the Extrabucks. Once the products are received at the store the cashier would sell you the product subtracting the Extrabucks value.

Walgreens Information

2008-05-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

RR- Register Rewards- These are coupons that print up after you buy certain items advertised in the weekly Walgreens ad. It will be “Buy Product X at $3.99 and get $3 in RR. These RR can be used like cash on your next purchase.

FAQ about RR-

Can I use multiple RR’s in one Transaction? This depends on your store. Some allow you to use as many as you want, others will say one per transactions and some will say one per day.

Can I use my RR’s to pay for an item that also EARNS a RR? Yes and no. Usually, if you use a RR to pay for an item in the same deal or by the same Manufacturer another RR will not print. However if you use a RR from Deal 1 to pay for Deal 2 it should usually work. Ex. Zantac RR can pay for a Venus Razor that also earns a $6 RR. If you are uncertain, feel free to ask me about a deal you would like to try.

Can I roll my RR’s into a gift card? Not anymore. :(

What is the best way to use my RR’s? One way to make your RR’s go far is to “roll” them into other RR deals. As we said before you have to be careful that you don’t roll them into the same deal, but if they are different deals this is a GREAT way to get items for cheap or free. Example of “rolling” from May:
You have $10 RR from a P&G(proctor & gamble) deal.
Your transaction might look like this:
Buy:
2 Nabisco Cookies for $5
Venus Razor for $9.99
Before coupons your total is $14.99
Use a $4 off Venus coupon and your $10 RR and your new OOP (out of pocket)
is $.99 and you get a $3 RR for the cookies and a $6 RR for the Razor.

Easy Saver Catalog- This is a catalog that is available at your Walgreens store or can be viewed and printed off of the Walgreens website- http://www.walgreens.com This catalog is filled with coupons that can be used on items in conjunction with weekly Walgreens coupons and manufacturer coupons.

Walgreens Coupons- Walgreens runs their ads every week and there are always Walgreens coupons in the ad. There are also coupons in the Easy Saver Catalog called Instant Value Coupons (IVC). Therefore you can use three coupons on one item! A manufacturer coupon, a Walgreens coupon and an IVC. If you also use a RR you need to either be sure to scan the RR first, or get an extra item (called a filler) to make the item to coupon ratio match up.

Frequently Asked Questions

CVS General Information

Walgreens Information