Josh Elledge - Chief Executive Angel
I love shopping the drug stores. Walgreens, CVS, and RiteAid are among my favorite retailers throughout the country. I love the feeling of a basket loaded with amazingly discounted health and beauty items, paper products, cleaning supplies, food, and a “˜grab bag' assortment of freebies.
Some weeks, I'm not sure how these retailers turn a profit. If you watch my column, you'll frequently see me share products for 70% to 100% off at these corner-store retailers. It wasn't always this way for me. Many years ago, I eschewed such retailers for fear that I would pay a huge penalty for their convenient locations and small store navigation. It's true that shelf prices are higher than a big box retailer like WalMart or Meijer – but I don't shop the drug store to pay retail prices. There are a series of discounts you should know about if you want to save big money at the drug store chains.
7,929 Walgreens stores dot the map. A small percentage of shoppers are fully taking advantage of all the discounts available to them at these locations. These discounts include: manufacturer coupons, store coupons in the weekly ad and monthly coupon book, register rewards, and recently added: Balance Rewards. If all these methods of savings seem overwhelming, you'll see the value of following the deals I list each week in this column or at our website.
The 7,300 CVS locations don't bother with in-ad store coupons but you can receive discounts when you scan your ExtraCare card in the store. There's also a handful of offers sent via email and plenty of what they call “˜Extra Care Bucks'. They also awards additional rewards quarterly based on everyday purchases. Currently, you'll earn 4% with a special double rewards promotion on all purchases made between now and December 15th. – but you'll need to sign up in store or on their website.
You can print coupons to use at any one of 4,632 RiteAid locations from their website. You'll need to watch a brief ad video first – but when combined with manufacturer coupons, it's a good use of time. Additionally, RiteAid offers +Up Rewards.
Walgreens' Register Rewards, CVS' Extra Care Bucks and RiteAid's +Up Rewards are coupons that print at the register when you check out – or in Rite Aid's case applied to your wellness card. An example would be a $2 coupon that you can use on your next transaction. In most cases, your next transaction can take place immediately afterward while in the store, or you can come back later and redeem it. Rite Aid would be the exception as you can not redeem them until 6am the following day. Be careful not to forget, however, because these “˜rewards' have expiration dates – and the value of a $10 earned reward is zero. That's no savings at all!
New on the savings scene is Walgreens' new Balance Rewards program which allows you to accumulate points on select purchases and cash them out for rewards you can use on a future purchase. Buying two select Neosporin products this week, for example, earns you 5000 points. You can also earn points for getting a flu shot, filling prescriptions, and going for a walk when you log your miles at http://walk.walgreens.com/. At lower point levels, you can count on $1 earned for each 1000 points. However, it's better to bank your points for a little while. When you earn 40,000 points, you'll have $50 to spend in store. You can learn more and enroll now at http://walgreens.com/balancerewards/.
If you've been unfamiliar with these various discount programs, I know they may feel overwhelming at first. The sooner you get started taking full advantage of all the discounts at your favorite drug stores, the sooner you can start cherry picking the best deals each week. You can then start pocketing lots of extra cash for your family.
