Walgreens 101

Walgreens is a drugstore and general merchandise store that sells health and beauty items, as well as office supplies, toys and grocery items. These are the terms you need to become familiar with when shopping at Walgreens:

  • Register Rewards: A coupon for a discount on your next purchase that prints at checkout from the Catalina machine. These coupons are technically manufacturer’s coupons but can only be redeemed at Walgreens.
  • Monthly coupon booklet: This is a small coupon booklet that contains Walgreens store coupons that can generally be found next to the weekly ads.
  • Megasaver: Denotes items that are on a special sale price for a one month period.
  • Instant Value Coupons (IVCs): Walgreens store coupons that can be found in the monthly coupon booklet or any other coupon booklets available.
  • 7 day coupons or in-ad coupons: These are Walgreens store coupons that can be found in the weekly ad.
  • Fillers: These are small and inexpensive items that are sometimes needed in order to be able to use a Register Reward on your transaction.

How to Get FREE Stuff at Walgreens

  • The first way to get FREE stuff at Walgreens is by taking advantage of Register Reward (RR) promotions. These Register Rewards usually require you to buy items, pay for the item and at checkout a coupon (Register Reward) prints that allows you to save on your next shopping transaction.Register Rewards Facts
    • You can use manufacturer coupons when taking advantage of Register Rewards promotions. The use of manufacturer coupons will not prevent the register reward from printing!
    • Register Rewards cannot be rolled! This means that you can not use the Register Reward you received from purchasing one item to buy more of the same item on a future transaction. If you do this, the second Register Reward will not print. This is how Walgreens tries to “limit” the number of deals per person.
    • Register Reward offers are usually one per transaction. For example: If the offer is buy one bottle of Pantene shampoo for $4.99 and receive one $4.99 Register Reward at checkout, only one $4.99 Register Reward will print if you buy two or more. You need to do separate transactions if you want to take advantage of the Register Rewards offer more than once.
    • Register Rewards are manufacturer coupons. This means that they need an item to attach to. This is often referred to as a the coupon/item ratio. The coupon/item ration pertains ONLY to manufacturer coupons and the rule is: You need to have as many items as you have manufacturer coupons. Manufacturer coupons that read “$x off two or more items” are considered two coupons.
    • Register Rewards generally expire within 2 weeks, so make sure to use them before then so as not to lose the savings they provide.
    • You cannot use a P&G Register Reward to purchase P&G products.
  • The second way to get FREE or cheap stuff is by combining Walgreens store coupons with manufacturer coupons. Even though Walgreens store coupons may be labeled as manufacturer coupons, they are store coupons if their barcode starts with the number 0 instead of the number 5 that generally precedes the barcode of manufacturer coupons.

Things to Remember When Shopping at Walgreens

  • The key to a smooth shopping experience at Walgreens is planning your purchase in advance or developing scenarios. This  plan of attack will help you maximize your savings.
  • The secret to minimizing your out of pocket expense is by breaking off your transactions and using Register Rewards from the first transaction on the second and so on. Remember to be polite and let others go ahead of you if you have more than two transactions planned.
  • There is a right way to hand your coupons when shopping at Walgreens:
    • Any $/$$ or % off Walgreens coupons
    • B1G1 manufacturer coupons
    • Other manufacturer coupons
    • Walgreens store coupons (monthly coupon booklets, in-ad coupons, etc.)
      Because most Walgreens coupons are really price changing codes rather than money off coupons, you want to use these last. You want the register to think the item is full price when you use your manufacturer coupon. Then, use the store coupon to reduce the price to $0.59 or whatever the coupon is for. If your store is quick to use store coupons first, keep your store coupons out of sight until after all your manufacturer coupons have been scanned. Put manufacturer coupons on top of the products to help them get scanned first.
    • Register Rewards
  • Before you leave the store, make sure to check your receipt and Register Rewards to verify that all Register Rewards and discounts you expected were awarded.  It is easier to correct situations right after you complete the transaction.
  • If you aren’t a regular weekly Walgreens shopper and you know you’re going to get a Register Reward, have another transaction planned so you can use it right away. This solves the problem of having to remember when they expire. Think of items you need weekly: milk, the Sunday paper, etc.

Walgreens FAQ

  • My Register Reward didn’t print! What do I do?

There are a few reasons why your RR didn’t print: You bought an item that was not eligible for the deal (type or size), the Catalina machine was off or broken, the RR deal had ended already, the RR has not started yet, you did not purchase the right number of items or you didn’t hit the purchase amount needed to trigger the Register Reward, or you paid with a Register Reward you received for buying the same item, or from the same company for the same amount. If you bought the right item, the Catalina machine was on, and you bought during the correct offer period,  you can do two things:

  • Contact the Catalina company at 1-888-322-3814. Explain your situation and they should be able to send you the information you need to get your RR in the mail.
  • Return the product and surrender any RRs that may have printed. Then rebuy the item at another register.
  • I had a horrible shopping experience. What do I do?

Call Walgreens Consumer Relations at 1-800-925-4733 from 7:30am to 5:00pm Central Time, Monday through Friday and calmly explain what happened.

  • I let my Register Rewards expire. What can I do now?

The first thing you may want to do is ask your cashier if they accept expired Register Rewards. However, it is very likely that they don’t and you are unfortunately out of luck. Make sure to keep Register Rewards visible in your coupon holder to make sure you use them before they expire.

  • Does Walgreens have an official coupon policy?

Walgreens does not have a public coupon policy. However, there’s a policy FAQ document that has been emailed by Walgreens Corporate to customers.  Click here to read more about Walgreens Coupon FAQ.

Also, we now have a way to print rebate receipts…

It all starts with the circled button…

  1. Hit the middle button on the left side of the keyboard pictured above. It wasn’t labeled, so we’ll call it the Gift/Rebate button.
  2. It will prompt the cashier to select either “Gift” or “Rebate” receipt, make the selection depending on which you need, then press enter.
  3. Scan the item and proceed as normal. A second receipt will print out at the end of your transaction. You can see what it looks like below…

If you need multiple items on one receipt, you’ll need to repeat the whole process for each item. If you need a gift receipt, follow the same instructions, but select gift instead of rebate.