Do you find this true at Walgreens??

[barbiegal7]

Hey guys!

So I usually stick to CVS and their ECP's for drugstore items because Walgreens is quite a bit farther from me (I have THREE CVS stores within 1.5 miles of each other thanks to CVS taking over Longs drugstore! LOL!), but there were so many freebies this week at Walgreens, I've been thinking about making the trek. On another coupon site I was on, people had a LOT of complaints about Walgreens and how they gave up on their Register Rewards. Wondering if you guys have had these issues?

1) That manufacturer's coupons cannot be combined with the RR's.
2) That if you use an RR on an item that would also GIVE you an RR, it won't print it out. In other words, you can either use a RR on the item or get the printed RR from the item, but not both.
3) The RR's expire very quickly.
4) You must buy the same quantity of products as you have RR's. For example, if you have five RR's, you must buy five products.

This sounds like a major hassle if true. I usually do two register transactions at CVS - one to get all my ECP's and then use those ECP's to make a purchase on another item or items that I need. Sounds like Walgreens frowns on this heavily, and I don't want to make two trips to a drugstore that far.

Thoughts??

Thanks!
Rene'

[californiashopper]

Originally Posted by barbiegal7

Hey guys!

1) That manufacturer's coupons cannot be combined with the RR's.
2) That if you use an RR on an item that would also GIVE you an RR, it won't print it out. In other words, you can either use a RR on the item or get the printed RR from the item, but not both.
3) The RR's expire very quickly.
4) You must buy the same quantity of products as you have RR's. For example, if you have five RR's, you must buy five products.

1) I've read that some stores will not allow you to use a coupon on an item that will produce a RR, but all three of the stores I go to do allow it. I've never had a problem with RRs not printing for items that I use coupons on.

2) You can't use a RR from the same manufacturer or the new RR won't print. However, you can use a RR from a different manufacturer and still get your new RR.

3) They expire in two weeks.

4) Your coupon and RR count together cannot exceed your item count (except that the Wags in-ad coupons don't count in your coupon total). So if you are using two Manufacturer coupons and two RRs, you would have to purchase at least four items.

I completely agree with you that CVS is MUCH easier to navigate. However, CVS does limit you to one item on most of the ECB deals, whereas Wags only limits you to one per transaction (or some stores to one per day). That means that if you are willing to do multiple visits or your store allows multiple transactions (assuming they have things in stock, which is always iffy at mine), then you can stock up a bit more.

[vagabond2]

I shop Wags ....a lot....I've not even been to CVS this week

I use mq's with RR's all the time

I used RR's to pay for several items giving RR's last night...no problem

RR's expire two weeks or so but ECB's expire as well......and usually I'm rolling it along anyways....right now I have $40 in RR's which I'll use in the next two weeks...last night I used $14 and got $17 back! Perhaps its the catalinas that one gets that sometimes expire that week or the next day? But that is a different story and man did we have fun using the catalinas to buy?? 120 bottles of Sally Hanson nail polish last week

I have to stop and think on the last as I never have this issue come up....hmm sometimes I'll have my items and just add RR's until it won't work anymore...how many items vs RR's ...I can't think...LOL

the bottom line is if you don't like Wags don't go....some weeks I never enter CVS and after the way the manager and pharmacist acted last week (probably why I've not been back) I certainly will not be going back to the one close to me.....rude, rude people hired there

[bnkkey]

I agree cvs is much easier but normally your limit is one.Wags I can keep going till they run out!!LOL Last night I used mf / my rrs..no problems and they printed rrs.Now you cant use the same rr and turn around and use it to get the same item unless they are rolling.I love my free stuff!!

[NGO1331]

Originally Posted by barbiegal7

Hey guys!

1) That manufacturer's coupons cannot be combined with the RR's.
2) That if you use an RR on an item that would also GIVE you an RR, it won't print it out. In other words, you can either use a RR on the item or get the printed RR from the item, but not both.
3) The RR's expire very quickly.
4) You must buy the same quantity of products as you have RR's. For example, if you have five RR's, you must buy five products.

1) You are able to use MFR coupon with RR's. If your RR didn't print when you use a MFR coupon, that's either
a) You buy the wrong item (it happened lately with the Razor)
b) The machine did not work correctly.

2) It's true UNLESS the item is rolling this week (like the Razor or Herbal Essences)

3) Yes. I think they expire in 2 weeks

4) Yes. However, after all the coupons are scanned, you could ask your cashier to void certain items that you dont want (but need them as fillers).
I have done this earlier (accidentally), and the computer did not prompt anything when my cashier took an item off.

[kimberlydiam]

So let me see if I understand this, if I use RR on items that produce rr's I can't use the rr's from the same items but must be from a different one,

buy shampoo get rr
must use the rr on a differnet item and get new rr
then use new rr on another shampoo?

IS that right?

[iowa*dealshopping*mom]

Walgreens is awesome!! This week is especially good, but most of the time there is at least 1-2 Free/dirt cheap items that are worth picking up!!

I've never had a problem combining MQ's and RRs--nobody should, the store's wrong if they don't allow you to! You may need a filler item so you don't have more coupons than items!
#2 seems to be true most of the time. They don't want you to get a RR from a product and then turn around and get the exact same one with the RR. I guess that could get a little confusing/frustrating if you're trying to get two different products from the same manufacturer and the RR doesn't print.
I've never had a RR expire! I've only been doing this for a few months, though. They make it pretty easy to want to back to the store and spend those RRs!

I've always understood (and I've never had a problem) that you must have one item for each RR or MQ you have. So add up the RRs you want to use PLUS your MQ's (don't need to count Wags Qs, at least I think that's what lucy said, and we'd don't question her authority around here---lol) and that's the minimum number of products you must have. That's why you'll hear people talking about "cheap fillers"----cheap products you can buy to count as an item so you can use your RRs on the transaction!

I think it depends on your Walgreens what kind of atmosphere or attitude you can expect. I regularly do 2 or 3 transactions right in a row and the cashiers at my Wags just laugh along and cheer on my savings (it helps, I think, that I try to go in off hours and I always let others go ahead of me). My local Wags got very few bottles of the Vaseline lotion (the FREE!! one) and I just mentioned while checking out that I was hoping to get more of it and they said the truck comes in Saturday, they'd put a bottle of it in the back with my name on it!! I almost feel guilty for getting so lucky.
Yeah, some of the "rules" can be frustrating, but it's worth it to get in on the savings!
I've only been at this for a few months, but I can't believe how much I'm saving by picking up things when they're cheap/free rather than when we are in need and forced to pay full price. I can't believe I didn't do this before!!
Good luck!!!

[barbiegal7]

Sorry to be dense, but what is a "Catalina?" If I could get 120 bottles of nail polish, I'm dying to know what it is! LOL!

With the three CVS store I use, they never limit me to how many ECB's I can use. If I have 12 printed out from the first transaction, they'll let me use all 12 on one item to get it free or pretty cheap. So to me, the deal isn't that great at Wags if I have to use the RR's on several items. Hey, to each their own!

I'm actually much better at getting good deals on grocery items than I am the drugstore stuff. Don't know why, but boy, I had a doozy of a Vons trip a couple of weeks ago - 78% off! That was a record for me!

Thanks for all the answers, everyone.

Rene'

[barbiegal7]

Hey Iowa mom - you sound so excited about your Wags deals! Very inspirational for me!

OH! I didn't catch the filler items. It never occurred to me that I could just get some cheapy items to bring the qty. amt. up to what I would need to spend the RR's. That makes sense. It's like the cheap spices at CVS.

Okay, I'm going to give it a try. Will report back on how it worked out.

[vagabond2]

catalina is like the RR but its actually a coupon to be used in that store....Last week there was a $5 when you bought 3 nail polishes and I would purchase 3 nail polish, get another $5, over and over. I did this at a total of 6 stores so that I never wiped out their stock plus I told others about this.......my oop was either .36 (.35 being tax) or .56 (depending on which store I went to)

Somebody (mtnhoney where are you?) got over 175 bottles!!!

as you said to each their own