Walgreen's Q & A
Here are some answers to the most common Walgreen’s questions I receive, in hopes of putting some of your Walgreen’s confusion to rest!
- My Register Reward coupon is beeping and the cashier wont except it. Why doesn’t it scan correctly?
This has to do with your coupon to item ratio. You can ONLY have one coupon per item purchased and Register Rewards count as coupons. Walgreen’s Store coupons DO NOT, so feel free to use as many of those as you want.
Lets say you purchased 4 items, had a Manufacturer coupon for each one and wanted to use a Register Reward. Since that’s a total of 4 items and you are trying to use 5 coupons the register will beep. This is when you outsmart the register, though, and throw in a “filler” item. You could throw in a pack of gum or some other really inexpensive item. After that you should be good to go.
- My Register Reward didn’t print. I purchased the correct items and the cashier/manager will not give me one because of (whatever reason). What should I do?
First off like I’ve said so many times, 80% of Walgreen’s cashiers/managers have no clue what there talking about when it comes to coupons and Register Rewards. When they tell you somethings let it go in one ear and out the other, really just ignore what there saying. Your next step, though, if they refuse to give you a Register Reward or some sort of store credit is to call the Catalina company directly: 1-888-8Coupon. Have your receipt in hand, tell them what items you bought that should have triggered the Catalina/Register Reward and they will usually mail you one. It does take about 2-3 weeks to receive it but hey, its better then not receiving one at all!
- The cashier told me that if I use a Register Reward or use any other coupon my new Register Reward will NOT print. Is this true?
The ONLY time this is true, I repeat the ONLY time is when you accidentally chain a Register Reward Deal. Which basically means you cant use the Register Reward from the same deal you just did to get another Register reward on the same deal again. For example you cant use the RR’s from the Bayer deal to do the same Bayer deal again if you want the RR’s to print.
Other than the above you CAN use Register Rewards and coupons and the new Register Reward WILL print out. Like I said the cashier and managers most of the times have NO CLUE what there talking about!
- Whats a Walgreen’s Rain Check and do they expire?
You can receive Rain Checks when products are out of stock. A lot of times sale items will go out of stock quite quickly and this is the time when you want to ask for a rain check. All you need to do is tell the cashier you need a rain check for whatever item. She will then write out the item and the current price for it. When its available again you will get the price written on your Rain Check. The best part is these NEVER EXPIRE, so take advantage of them when you can!
- Can I do two of the same Register Reward deals in the same transaction?
No, if you do you will ONLY receive one Register Reward from the same deal, not two! Always separate your transactions if you want to do the same Register Reward deal again!
*If you still have more questions check out the Walgreen’s store guides here and here.
you really know your stuff – i had a rebate rewards problem – and you solved my problem – your one rockin chick!
I went to Walgreens the other night to get some of the deals and when I checked out my Register Reward didn’t print. It was the manager and she said when you use coupons the RR won’t print. She ended up doing it for me anyway, but I just thought I would mention it. I am going to try another Walgreens, but I will ask first if they do the RR with coupons.
Thanks for all the info. Now I can coupon at Walgreens with some extra ammo! 🙂
At my Walgreens, the store coupon did count. I tried to buy 3 Garnier Shampoos (even though the limit said 1) with 3 manufactures coupons. This was my second trip, so that was all I was purchasing. Well the 3rd manuf. coupon did not scan. Then I remembered your tips about #’s of coupons to item ratio. So, I ran to the Christmas clearance and grabbed something for $.24. Thanks for all your tips, otherwise I would have never known to do that.
Kim,
Im glad some of my info helped! I hope you had a great Walgreen’s run!
Awesome post, very helpful. I have a question though. If you want to take advantage of a rebate and you get a raincheck but have to buy it outside of the rebate period, how does that work?
THANKS for the great information! I’ve just recently moved back to an area with Walgreens and have been taking advantage of all the specials. Your tips will help out greatly. I didn’t realize the number of coupons to items ratio, am sure that will help me out lots. Thanks again for sharing!
If a rebate item is Out of stock during the whole month the rebate is valid Walgreen’s a lot of time will have it rollover to the next month too. The only way you will realize this, though, is when you submit your rebate and see you have gotten credit for it. This happened with the L’Oreal. It was free after rebate for November but since it was out of stock so much they let people purchase it in December and still get credit.
Another thing you can do to make sure you get credit for an item your buying after the rebate period, is to call Walgreen’s EasySaver program-888-324-3028 and explain to them the situation with the out of stock product. Usually they can note this on your account and when you purchase the item they will still be able to give you credit for it.
Hope this all makes sense!
Can anyone explain?? I went and bought 8 garnier, had 8 garnier coupons, added a filler item for .25. My total was 2.12. Tried to use a RR for 2.00 and they didn’t even scan it. They said I couldn’t use it because an item to dollar amount ratio??? Something like that. How am I supposed to use up a 2.00 RR?
The reason why this didn’t work is because of your coupon to item ratio. Since you bought 8 Garnier and used 8 manuf. coupons there is NOT any way to use an additional manuf. coupon. A register Reward is a manuf. coupon, so it needs to have a product available to attach itself too.
Next time you do this just add in an inexpensive “filler”. Like a .25 piece of candy or something. Then the RR will have somethins to attach itself to and go through with no beeps.
Hope that makes sense!
hello,
I have question about the fillers for overage. Does the overage works only to the items without coupons? I am new to this coupon thing and thank you for the dove deal.
No, you can use coupon overage towards any products, even if they have coupons. You just want to make sure your total doesn’t go in the negative before checking out.
Oh and you’ll also want to make sure you don’t have more manuf. coupons, then you do items or else the register will beep (like I talked about above).
I did add a filler. As I wrote, I threw in a filler item of index cards that were marked .25.
They didn’t even try scanning it. They said it was because I had too many coupons to the dollar amount???
I’m new to this, so I have a couple questions. I rarely shop at Walgreens, so wasn’t aware what types of deals were available. What is a money maker? Is this cash/gift certificate they give back to you and how do you spend it? How do you know what products are eligible for register rewards? Is it posted somewhere? I noticed that several of the posts say to use 2 or 3 coupons from the Sunday paper. How are you able to get more than one coupon? Do you buy multiple papers? Thanks so much for your help! This is a great site!
I do buy a few papers each week to get more coupons.
Before I answer your other questions, though, read my Walgreens Store Guide Posts (there are two). Just scroll down on the right hand side of my site and you’ll see a spot that says store guides. Read those and then let me know if you have any other questions.
You can also read my Couponing 101 post, which is on the left hand side under Information Station.
Thanks for the links! I think I got all my questions answered, except I still don’t understand what a moneymaker is. Thanks again!
Here are 2 Examples of Moneymakers:
The Right Guard: It’s on clearance for $1.49. When you purchase it you get a $2 Register Reward to use like cash on your next purchase… so in a way you are making .50 since you ONLY paid $1.49 and are getting $2 back.
Another examples is the Sambucol:
Sambucol Cold & Flu Relief (30 tablets) $12.99. You’ll be able to use the Walgreens $10 store coupon, plus the $4 manufacturer coupon. Those two coupons will end up taking $14 off your total, leaving you with $1 in overage since the cost of the item was ONLY $12.99. That would be called a $1 moneymaker, which you will be able to use towards other items that you’re purchasing.
I hope that makes sense!
Thanks so much! I went to Walgreens last night and was told I could only use on register reward per transaction. Is that right? I understand the whole item to coupn ratio, but I had a couple items that I didn’t have manufacturer coupons for, so I thought I could use all 3 of my RR. She said I could only use one, but I didn’t see that printed anywhere on the RR. Thanks for your help!
No, that is NOT the case. You can use as many RRs as you want, as long as they don’t exceed the cost of your transaction. Let the cashier read the fine print on the Register Reward it does NOT state anywhere that you can ONLY use one per transaction.
I hope you’re able to find a coupon friendly cashier next time your their.
what do you mean by calling the catalina company? Is this Walgreens or another company that handles the print outs or what? If it’s the latter, can I call that no. if I’m at a grocery store and didn’t get the catalina that I’m supposed to? Thanks!!
Yes, the Catalina company deals with all the “Catalina” type print outs (like Register Rewards). You can call them whenever you don’t receive the Register Reward or any other type of Catalina. They will just need your receipt number and will be able to tell if you bought the correct items. If so, they will send you a Catalina/Register Reward in the mail.
I have been reading these posts and I would to say a few things. Some of you have mentioned that you have gone to buy items that are on sale and Walgreens is always out of the products. Do you know why? It is because customers who come and either way more than the store limit in one or multiple transactions instead of being nice and sticking to a reasonable amount which is normally 3-4 (a reasonable store limit.) I work for Walgreens and while I am all for saving money and buying items on sale, I’m the one that deals with customers that are unhappy that we never have sales items in stock. Well when we have customers who clean out our shelves by being greedy it certainly isn’t fair for the next customer looking to get in on the good deal. So just remember that the next time you buy more than the limit, the next time it could be you that is disappointed that the store is all out of the item you wanted to buy.
Walgreens is in the process of updating their coupon procedures so that you will no longer be able to use multiple coupons in order to create overages in your favor.
hi! I look forward to the matchups but I have had a problem with Walgreens. Maybe, someone else has…
I wanted to use my coupons that I have printed from home and my local store manger acted as if I was a felon…she took my coupons back to the “backroom” and came back with them and told me they would not take them, they were not good? WHAT! I printed the coupons from our sources…like smartsource…coupon bug…or the manufacturer….I am so excited to be able to save, I would NEVER “steal”, it is too much fun to see the savings…the cashier informed me that hey had lost $500 the prior week because they couldn’t get reimbursed. The manager was so rude and obnoxious and she completely embarrassed me that I have sworn NO WALGREENS in my family. Anyone else had an experience like this? How would you handle it?
I actually used the same/exact coupons at Kroger the next morning. So they are legit.
Cindy,
I would call corporate right away regarding this! How they treated you is so out of line and innappropriate. I’m in shock a manager did this.
I would just explain to corporate what happened in detail. I would also make sure to let them know that you printed off coupons from legit sites (Manuf., SmartSource and so on) and that it is very sad people are made out to feel like criminals just because they want to use coupons.
Hi there! I just had a quick question. I’m sure I can find the answer here but I’ve been reading post so long to day I have a headache lol.
Regarding the 3 coupons that you can possibly use on one product..whats the difference between the store coupons and the booklet at the front of the store? Are they completely different? I know the manufacture coupons are different from the stores own coupons..but just wanted to know what was the difference between the store and savers booklet coupons so the machine don’t beep when I try. I’m going to be new to Walgreens.
Plus..so you can use more than one RR coupon on one transaction as long as you don’t go over the ratio and put the balance in the negative?
T,
The in ad Walgreens coupons and the EasySaver coupons are different. The EasySaver coupons are valid all month long and the in ad coupons change weekly. You can stack an in ad coupon and an EasySaver coupon. The register will take them both and won’t beep.
You can also use more then one RR per transaction. The 2 things to remember, though, are (like you stated) don’t let your transaction go in the negative and also make sure that you have enough item to cover the coupons you’re using. Since RR’s are manuf. coupons they have to have an item to attach themselves to, so if you are only buying 2 items and have 2 manuf. coupons for those items and also want to use an additional RR, then you’ll have to purchase an inexpensive filler item. Hope that makes sense!:)
I also work for Walgreens and I love to save money just as all of you do!
Our biggest problems with “bargain-seekers”? Remember that the sale lasts all week so when you are trying to buy 15 Nivea body washes, someone else will not be getting theirs…
Also, I do not believe that 80% of Walgreens cashiers do not know what they are doing. We have to be honest and expect our customers to do the same. This means don’t try and use two manufacturer coupons on one item, don’t try and use a Loreal coupon on Rimmel, make sure the size on the coupon is the size you are buying, and…if your Catalina does not print…DON’T start yelling. If it is legit, we will get you taken care of. When you start to make a scene then expect some attitude back.
I also recommend checking out in cosmetics. It is not as busy AND they sometimes have coupons on your items from the cosmetic department…
I have tried twice to use both store and manufacture coupons at target and the cashiers will not let me use both they claim to loose out on money because they can only claim one coupon in their reports not both is this true or is it possible to use both i really would like some feed back on this and also i have been having trouble with them excepting my printed coupons claiming they will not scan and the number under the barcode is not correct
Jamey,
You need to call and/or email corporate regarding this. They will email you their coupon policy which clearly states you can use a manufacturer coupon and a store coupon on one item. Then just bring their policy with you next time you shop their.
When I was checking out, the manager said I could only use 1 RR. He was very rude. What should I do?
I’m confused…=o(
I went to Walgreens this morning and purchased Colgate toothpaste that is FREE after the RR (it printed out) and I also purchased deodorant (about .50 after RR). I had coupons for these items as well but I was told if I used them then the RR would not print out. Is this true?
No, it’s not true. You will get the Register Rewards even if you’ve used coupons.
Thanks Hip2Save for your help!
Sorry for all the ?’s but I have another one regarding Walgreens. I have two RR’s (one for $5 and one for $4.50)…as long as I purchase more than two items I can use these without them beeping correct? Also, I think I remember reading that you cannot receive cash back so you could purchase “filler” items in order to “go over” a bit. What I’m most confused about is not knowing if I can purchase something (example: another tube of toothpaste for another $5 RR) and use previous RR’s to pay? I’m not sure if you’re allowed to do that.
Thanks so much for your help and your awesome website!
Hi,
Yes, you are correct about having to purchase a “filler” item and making sure your amount is over the RR amount before using it to pay for your items.
You also can purchase another item that will generate an RR and still pay with an RR. Just make sure the RR you’re paying with isn’t from the same deal that you want to get a new RR from. Hope that makes sense.
I dont know what to do, my Walgreens are getting really picky and wont even let you use internet coupons or buy more than one product that generates RR. I am so sick of fighting for a deal when I am not doing anything wrong, they make you feel like you are trying to get one over, I am in central florida, tampa bay area Am I the only one having problems
nancy
I am oh so frustrated….I just got off the phone with walgreens consumer relations, they are mailing me their policy regarding register rewards and they told me you are NOT allowed to use a coupon for an item that generates a register reward, if you use a manufacture coupon for an item the rr will not come out.
I called due to this happening to me on sunday in a suburb of detroit michigan. She stated that this is always their policy it hasnt changed, also i had her check with a supervisor and she returned with yes that is correct. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON, ANY SUGGESTIONS BESIDES NOT SHOPPING AT WALGREENS (that would be awful)
I also had a very bad experience at Walgreens today. The manager told me, that corporate has instructed them to accept just one RR coupon per transaction. I have never had a problem at this store before when using multiple RRs, I am in Portland, OR.
Just a heads up, the manager at our local Walgreen’s confirmed that the Register Rewards will not print if you use any on the order. He has received numerous complaints and forwarded them to his District Manager but there is not a published policy on this. He has agreed to “make it right” but apparently, it is a programmed function now. You can either insist on them giving you the RR manually or break up your transactions to not apply any to items that generate RR. The good news is that they may switch to a frequent shopper card instead.
I signed up for The “Carrott Club” today as your the post says you will recieve a coupon to use with their product on sale this week and there was no coupon!!!
After reading all these questions and having my own experience, I really think I am going to be done with Walgreens!!! Why make it so difficult? I didn’t think it was that difficult, following the rules, but I had a BAD experience today. Can you explain why this happened to me: I bought a good bit of stuff with coupons but I had plenty of “free” items, I thought to be able to pay with my RR-and it didn’t work.
I bought: four loreal hair dyes (used 4 coupons), 2 cereals (used one coupon), 6 jellow (used 1 in store and 2 man. coupons), 2 cookies (one coupon), 3 rice krispies (1 coupon). Why couldn’t I use more than 1 RR???????? I was very annoyed when I left the store-the cashier said I exceeded my coupon to item ratio-NO I DIDN’T!!! Goodbye Walgreens-I think I am sticking with CVS!!!
I *think* I have this figured out, correct me if I am wrong.
“I bought: four loreal hair dyes (used 4 coupons), 2 cereals (used one coupon), 6 jellow (used 1 in store and 2 man. coupons), 2 cookies (one coupon), 3 rice krispies (1 coupon). Why couldn’t I use more than 1 RR???????? I was very annoyed when I left the store-the cashier said I exceeded my coupon to item ratio-NO I DIDN’T!!!”
If you use a coupon that says $1 off 2, it is going to attach itself to those 2 items. It seems like you only had 1 item that didn’t have a coupon attached, so you could only use 1 RR coupon. I could be wrong, but that is my take on it.
Hey annon. this the last annon. who wrote about my bad experience. Thanks for your thoughts. If that is the case, which I can understand it may be, then I will try walgreens again. I didn’t realize if the coupon was for 2 then that means two items were tagged. Thanks!!!
Why do stores always have to make us feel like felons for being smart and getting a good deal!!!
i went to walgreens last night and tried to use two coupons on the bayer quick release b/c they had a bogo free. she said i couldnt use both coupons b/c i was already getting one free. i always was able to do it in my home town -kenosha, wi, but now im in eau claire, wi.. she got me sooo mad. but is that true
I could find any healthy savings coupon. I found septe
mber coupon booklet near the register . I could not find any triaminic coupon in the sep coupon booklet? Pl. Clarify.
I just had a Walgreen’s manager refuse my comuter print-out coupons. He told me ALL Walgreens stores have been told to not accept them as to too much coupon fraud taking place. Your thoughts?
I am a Manger at walgreens and in our area, it depends on a store to store basis most times. Some store manangers will let you use the coupons and some wont, it just depends..you might want to try a diffrent walgreens in the area, and my suggestion is get to know your cashiers and ALWAYS checkout in cosmetics its much easier..I am a coupon/barginer, I spent 29.00 today before i left work and saved 160.00..
Ok, I read Walgreens 1&2 and the Q&A but I’m still a little confused. I thought I had it figured out until I tried going there the other day. The cashier told me that if I use a RR when I’m paying that my RR won’t print out. I bought the Fusion razor ($9.99), used a $4.00 off manufacturer coupon and wanted to use a $2 RR. I new I need a “filler” item to use two coupons so I grabbed a halloween pencil. But after my transaction my $6 RR didn’t print-she said because I used one when paying. Does this mean I just need to try a different store? It will make it harder to save if I can’t use RRs to pay and then get some printed…
I noticed in the ad it will sometimes advertise,purchase this use this coupon and this coupon and you wil also receive a RR. They advertise it in their flyer. Pick up a flyer and show it to the cashier. The Asst. Mgr tried to tell me that and than I read the Ad to her. Also I have noticed that if you jump on the specials on a Sunday,their catalina machines are not set for the new items yet especially at the beginning of a new month. Hope that helps. I also suggest finding the right cashier and knowing her schedule. As long as you follow your coupons,buy what they say etc,their shouldnt be any problems. I think there are a lot more people couponing today because of the economy so they are getting a little overwhelmed with us..LOL…Good Luck!