The Savin' Queen: Shopping at Rite Aid and Walgreens

Some of the best deals I get come from Rite Aid & Walgreens! They are great places to shop when you use coupons. Here is some basic information you will need to help you save money at Rite Aid & Walgreens.

Single Check Rebates-

Each week, Rite Aid offers discounts on certain items via Single Check Rebates (abbreviated SCR.) This rebate program is quite possibly the easiest out there as you don't have to mail anything in. Simply go here and create an account.

You can use coupons and it will not lower your rebate amount.

Example of SCR on a single item-

March 2010

Rebate #19

VALID ONLY ON PURCHASES FROM 03/07/10 to 03/13/10**

$2.00 Rebate
Vicks NyQuil/DayQuil

Purchase One (1):

• Adult Liquid, 10 oz.

• Liquicaps, 20 ct.

• Children’s Liquid, 6 oz.

**Rebate valid only on products purchased between the dates shown above. Purchases made outside of stated dates will not be honored for the rebate.

Offer valid 03/05/10 - 03/11/10 in select California stores and 03/07/10 - 03/13/10 in all other stores.

LIMIT ONE (1) $2.00 REBATE

Example of SCR on multiple items-

(Can have multiple receipts)

March 2010

Rebate #24

Valid from 02/28/10 to 03/27/10

$25.00 Rebate
J&J

Purchase Fifty Dollars ($50.00) Worth of Select Products:

• St. Joseph Aspirin

• Motrin IB

• Tylenol Arthritis Pain....

Offer valid 02/26/10 - 03/25/10 in select California stores and 02/28/10 - 03/27/10 in all other stores.

LIMIT ONE (1) $25.00 REBATE

You can see what rebates are offered online here, as well as in the weekly ad. Most rebate offers are only valid for 1 week, beginning on Sunday and ending the following Saturday. There is most often also a limit of 1 SCR submitted for a certain item. However, there has been the random rebate that lasts all month and has a limit of 3 or 4, so keep an eye on the fine print!

After you shop, come home, sign in here and click, "Enter Receipt." You'll be prompted to enter 4 pieces of information from your receipt: the store number, transaction number, register number and date. After that, your rebate information will take 2-3 days to process, then it will be available online for you to view. Rite Aid will send you email updates regarding the status of your receipt information.

Rebates come in the form of a check that can be either used at Rite Aid, or deposited into your bank account like any other check! Rite Aid will only send out 1 rebate check per rebate period, which usually last about a month. If you shop there weekly, you'll enter your receipts each week, then after the rebate period ends, you can request your check online by clicking the "Request check" button. If you enter your receipts and forget to request your check, Rite Aid will automatically send it to you after 2 months. Just don't forget to enter your receipt information!

Store Coupons-

Rite Aid generally has a number of store coupons available that can be combined with manufacturers coupons.

Maximizing your Savings -

There are a couple of ways to maximize your savings at Rite Aid. Their normal prices are quite inflated, so just stick to purchasing Single Check Rebate items. If there is a rebate available all month for a certain product, instead of rushing out to buy it, wait for a sale! Most often there are also coupons available for these items. By combining all three the sale, rebate and coupon, you can almost always get items for Free each week!

Rainchecks-

Rainchecks will be honored for all rebate offers during any promotional rebate period. Rainchecks must be used within 30 days of issuance to purchase the product on rebate and qualify for the rebate.Your receipt must state “Raincheck” under the participating rebate product item to qualify for rebate.

Walgreens offers a month long coupon book that can be found in the front of the store.
You can use Walgreens coupons and manufactures coupons for the same item.

You will find the items in the weekly sale ad flier that print Register Rewards (RR) when you purchase them. RR’s are the equivalent of in store cash. You may use them on your next purchase. However, you can’t roll them over and over with numerous transactions of the same product. So if you are buying five toothbrushes that give you RR's, you will have to do five different transaction but you can not use the RR from the first transaction to pay for the second one.

The cash register is wired so that it will not take more coupons than you have items for. If you have three items in one transaction, you may only use three coupons. The register counts a RR as one coupon. So...., if you have three items, three coupons and a RR, you’ll need to grab a “filler item” (for me it’s usually a pack of gum or another cheap item) or you’ll completely screw up the transaction.

Now, when you pay, use RR’s first, then in store coupons, then manufacturer coupons. Hand them to the cashier in that order because, most likely, the cashier will not know there is a specific order to ring them.

There are some great clearance deals, so be sure to check out the end caps.
If your store is out of a product, you can get a rain check.