How to shop at Walgreens

Walgreens is a complicated so I thought I should post a guide on how to shop at Walgreens.

Walgreens Weekly Ad Coupons:

These are coupons found in the weekly store ad. They usually advertise a price (ie: Dawn Dish Liquid 99¢) and most have a limit on how many items you can buy with the coupon. You must use the coupon in order to get the advertised coupon price. If the coupon says Dawn Dish liquid 99¢, limit 4 then you can buy 4 Dawn and use the one coupon. Once the coupon is scanned it will subtract a certain amount that will make all 4 Dawns 99¢. If you buy more than the limit then you won’t get the sale price for all the items. These coupons can be combined with all other coupons. Also, you don’t have to cut them out! Just show the cashier the coupon you want to use and they will scan it or type in the coupon code.

Walgreens In Store Coupons:

The Walgreens Coupon book is found at the front of the store with the Walgreens Weekly Ad. The booklet has Walgreens coupons called Instant Value Coupons – IVC. These coupons can be combined with manufacturer coupons. They usually have a limit of how many items you can use one coupon on but sometimes will work for more than the limit. I recommend doing separate transactions if you want to get more items than the limit. These coupons do not have to be clipped either.

Walgreens Register Rewards: (this is where is gets a bit confusing-stick with me)

Walgreens Register Rewards – RR – are manufacturer coupons that print out when your transaction is complete. They are coupons that are used on your next purchase. When doing a deal that earns Register Rewards you CAN use coupons! Coupons have no effect on the deal. If the Reward doesn’t print then you either bought the wrong items/not enough items or there is a problem with the system/Catalina machine. Usually the manager will resolve it. When you earn a Register Reward you can use it to buy other items that earn Register Rewards, but not on the same deal. For example: Buy Tylenol for $3.99, earn $3 Register Rewards. Then buy Gillette Razor for $7.99, use $3 RR from Tylenol, earn $4 RR for Gillette. You cannot use the $3 Tylenol RR to buy more Tylenol and earn another reward. Using the Reward will cancel out the Register Reward that you should be earning. But, you can use Register Rewards on OTHER deals earning Register Rewards.

Coupon Rules: (this is the big one-why we call items -filler items)

Walgreens registers will not let you use more coupons than items purchased (excluding Walgreens Ad Qs & IVCs). So, you can buy 1 item, use an IVC and a manufacturer Q and it will be fine, but if you try to use a RR too it will not let you. Add a cheap candy or pencil (filler item)  to your order and the register will accept the coupon. If you want to buy 1 item you cannot use 2 RRs to pay for it because the number of coupons is exceeding the number of items.

Coupon Order:

The best order to give the cashier your coupons is Manufacturer Coupons, then IVCs, then Walgreens Ad Qs, then Register Rewards. That way there is a possibility for overage (not all stores will allow it though). For example: Gum is regularly priced $1.19, use a B1G1 coupon which will deduct $1.19 then use the Walgreens Weekly Ad Q that makes the gum 2/$1 which will deduct $1.38 from your order. That means you get the gum free plus 19¢ overage.

My Walgreens Deal Posts:

Walgreens deals are generally the same in all states (double check your ad though). When I post a deal, I post in this format:
Item & Price & Page number
-Coupon to Use
= Price After Coupon (Total OOP)
Rebates or RR Earned

Thanks to Couponing 101 for helping put this together.