Walgreens 101

If you're new to Walgreen's, and need to know how Register Rewards work... or even if you need to know what Register Rewards are, you have come to the right place!

Register Rewards (also known as: RR) are 'coupons' that print off when you buy certain items at Walgreen's. Every week you can check the Walgreen's ad to see what will give you RR's. Most of the items are weekly, running from Sunday-Saturday. Some are monthly, so you can buy that item anytime during that month, and get the RR's for it.

With RR's you have to pay upfront for the item, and use the RR print out for your next purchase. You CAN use RR's to pay for things that will give you more RR's IF the RR you're using to pay for it wasn't from the same item.

Let's say Colgate toothpaste is on sale for $2.00 and when you buy 1 of them you get a $1.50 RR print out. That means you will come out of pocket $2, but will have $1.50 to spend on your next order. So, you're toothpaste was really only 50¢ when it's all said and done!

Now, lets say Herbal Essence Shampoo was on sale for $2.50 and you get $2.50 in RR when you purchase 1. Let's also say you have a coupon for $2.00 off any Herbal Essence product.
You will come out of pocket (oop) 50¢ and will get a $2.50 RR to be used on your next order.
Which means your shampoo was really a $2.00 money maker!

Ok, I hope everything is making sense so far!

RR's are considered "manufacturer coupons," so you may only use 1 per item when purchasing something.

Let's say I want to buy a $25 canister of formula. Obviously no one RR print out will be that high, so I will need to use "filler" items. Filler items are usually something very cheap. Cheap gum, candy, drink, baby food jar, etc! So I have:
$5 RR coupon
$9 RR coupon
$8 RR coupon
$5 RR coupon
Total RR's to use: $27
BUT- there are 4 of them, meaning I have to buy 4 items. So in order to get my $25 can of formula for free, I need to buy 3 cheap items as "fillers."
So in my case, I will grab 3 jars of baby food for 79¢ ea. 3x 79¢ = $2.37
$2.37 for baby food, and $25 for formula totals: $27.37
So I can use my 4 RR print outs to get my formula and baby food for 37¢ out of pocket!

A good way to look at it is like this:
I personally, am going to be buying formula on a weekly basis anyways. So I'm going to be spending roughly $35-$50 during the week on baby food, and formula. Why not buy items that will give me RR's (get the items for free) and use my RR's on my formula and baby food?
So you can either look at it like I'm getting my formula and baby food for free, and paying for the other items I'm getting, OR I'm getting the items for free and paying for the baby food and formula-- which I would be doing anyways?!?

Some Extra Pointers:
Always grab an ad, located in the front, for when you're shopping through the store! Sometimes an item will be on sale, but it wont show it on the shelf! Also, sometimes an item will give you a RR if you purchase it, but wont show that on the shelf either! Carry the ad with you to make sure you're getting the right deals!

Also, I always ask the clerk if the RR printer is working, before I go buying things to get RR's. You never know if the printer is down, or they might be out of paper rolls for the machine! It HAS happened before!

EDIT: You can only buy 1 per item, per order- to get the register reward for that item!
Let's say shampoo is $2, and you will get $2 RR. You can only buy ONE per order, to get the $2 RR for each item!

Because alot of the items are free after RR's are considered, they may go fast! It's best to get your deal shopping done at Walgreens very early in the week! You could also ask the clerk what day(s) your store restocks, so you will know for the future!

I think that's it! If you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me!