Walgreens New Balance Rewards Program: Questions Answered + Lots of New Info
So I headed to Walgreens today to really get a handle on the New Walgreens Balance Rewards program… and that I did! Here are the main questions that I got answered today by testing many of the Weekly Deals:
(1) Do the Balance Rewards on each participating item/items have a limit? Can you purchase double the amount required and earn double the Balance Rewards?
Well, I am excited to let you all know that from what I can see there is not a limit. Now of course that doesn’t mean you need to go clear shelves and hoard items, but it is nice to know that you score additional Balance Rewards. Plus, I like, that unlike Register Rewards, you can purchase all of your “like” Balance Rewards items in the same transaction. For example, I purchased 4 bags of Halls Defense Drops in the same transaction and received 2,000 Balance Rewards points! 🙂
(2) If a Balance Reward deal requires a certain amount needed to earn the reward, will using manufacturer’s coupons deduct from the total needed?
From the deal I tested today, the answer is NO! Awesome news for all of us couponers! I tested a deal which requires you to purchase $15 worth of participating products to earn 5,000 Balance Rewards points. Well, after manufacturer’s coupons my total dipped below $12 and it is still showing that I earned 5,000 Balance Rewards! Yay!
(3) When will my Balance Rewards show up in my account?
Right Away! In fact, you will see the Balance Rewards you earned on your receipt print-out. Plus, you can immediately go online to view all of the points you have earned.
(4) When can I redeem my Balance Rewards?
From what I can tell, right after you earn them! When I got home from testing these deals, I went online to see if I could redeem the Balance Rewards I had earned with an online purchase and it did give me the option to apply them.
(5) Can you pay with Balance Rewards to earn additional Balance Rewards points?
From reading through the comments, it appears that you cannot! If you do, you will not earn additional Balance Rewards points. So keep that in mind when planning out your transactions and shopping trips. On a positive note, you CAN use Register Rewards to pay for transactions where you are earning Balance Rewards and you will still get the points back! And if you use Balance Rewards to pay for a transaction that includes Register Reward items, you will still get the Register Rewards back. So a great way to make use of both rewards programs is by using Register Rewards to pay for Balance Rewards transactions and Balance Rewards to pay for Register Reward transactions. 🙂
So hopefully that helped to answer some of the questions you may have had. I will try and answer even more as I continue to test deals this week. Also, here’s a recap on how to sign up and the general guidelines of the Balance Rewards Program:
Walgreens has rolled out a brand new rewards program called Balance Rewards! You can enroll in-store, online or via the mobile app and begin earning points and special savings, and start redeeming rewards starting this Sunday, 9/16.
Earning Points
Balance Rewards Members will earn points with the purchase of specified products and/or services during specified promotions periods. Online orders delivered to your home will earn points as if purchased in store. Online orders picked up in store will earn points after the items have been picked up from the store. Points will be awarded to the Member’s account 3-5 days after purchase. Members can also earn points for making healthy choices, such as getting an immunization or participating in Walk with Walgreens (walk.walgreens.com).
*Walgreens reserves the right to limit points awarded with respect to any offer or promotion to reasonable household quantities. On a return and/or exchange the Points will be deducted from the Member’s account that was used for the original purchase.
Redeeming Points
Your points will be equal to the following rewards, redeemable for redemption dollars:
When you choose to redeem your points, they will be converted into redemption dollars to be used on your purchase. Redemption dollars cannot be paid out in cash or in store credit.
*Point Promotions will not apply to rain check items purchased after the promotion has ended. Points will not be earned in a transaction where Redemption Dollars or Store Credit is used. 
Point Promotions and Redemption Dollars will not apply to and Points cannot be earned on purchases of: alcohol; dairy; tobacco; stamps; phone/prepaid cards; money orders/transfers; transportation passes; lottery tickets; charitable donations; or pharmacy items or services that must be excluded by law as determined by Company. Points will not be awarded if in Company’s reasonable opinion the merchandise purchased will be used for resale or commercial use and any Points awarded on such purchases will be forfeited.
Points Expiration
Keep in mind that if you do not earn or redeem points for 6 consecutive calendar months, the membership will be deemed to be inactive and all accumulated Points will beforfeited. For active Members, all Balance Rewards Points expire on a rolling 36 month basis.
Register Rewards
Register Rewards will continue in its current form for the foreseeable future. Register Rewards is a couponing program while Balance Rewards is a comprehensive loyalty program that offers exclusive savings and the opportunity to earn points and instantly redeem rewards.
And if you are curious, here are the deals that I tested out today that earned me a total of 11,000 Balance Rewards….
Bought 4 bags of Halls Defense Supplement Drops 17 pk 2/$3
* Buy 2 = 1,000 Balance Rewards points (which equals a $1 reward)
Total = $6
Used (2) $1/2 17 ct+ coupons found in the 9/16 SS
Paid $4
Got back 2,000 Balance Rewards points for buying 4 packages (which equals a $2 reward)
Bought 4 packs of Stride ID Gum 14 piece 2/$2
* Buy 2, get 1,000 Balance Rewards Points (which equals a $1 reward)
Total = $4
Used (2) buy 1 get 1 free Stride ID gum coupons found here – use zip code 62946
OR use the buy 1 get 1 free Stride Gum manuf. coupon found on the Target Coupon Site here (page 7 for me) or the new coupon found in the 9/16 SS
Paid $2 (for 4 packs)
Get back 2,000 Balance Rewards points for buying 4 packages (which equals a $2 reward)
Bought Mitchum or Lady Mitchum Deodorant 1.5 to 2.7 oz $1.99
* Buy this product = 2,000 points (in the weekly ad it states you get 1,000 points, but at my local Walgreens the signs stated 2,000 points and I did in fact earn 2,000 points!)
Used the $0.75/1 or $1.50/2 Mitchum or Mitchum for Women Product coupon found in the 8/19 SS or 9/16 SS
Paid $1.24
Get 2,000 Balance Rewards points (which equals a $2 reward)
Buy $15 worth of participating Product below = 5,000 Balance Rewards Points (which equals a $5 reward!)
Coca-Cola products 12-pack 3/$11
Coca-Cola products 2 liters 4/$5
Nabisco Cookies or Grahams 10.5 to 16 oz $3.49
Belvita Breakfast Biscuits 5 pk $3.49
Hershey’s Pieces, Drops or Reese’s Minis 8 to 10.5 oz 2/$6
Planters Peanuts 16 oz 2/$7
Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Shaved Meat 9 oz 2/$5
Kraft American Singles 12 oz 2/$5
I bought…
4 Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Almond Pieces 2/$6
1 Nabisco BelVita Breakfast Biscuits 5-pack $3.49
Total = $15.49
Used 4 $1/1 Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Almond Pieces coupon found here (need 2 computers)
Paid $11.49
Got back 5,000 Balance Rewards points (which equals a $5 reward)
So for testing these deals out and really getting a handle on how the program works, I don’t feel like I did too shabby. I spent out of pocket for everything pictured above a total of $18.73. Plus, I earned a total of 11,000 Balance Rewards which basically equals $11 worth of rewards. So after factoring that in, it’s like I spent $7.73. But hey, this was money well spent as it helped answer quite a few questions regarding the Balance Rewards program! 🙂
Thanks Collin! I was grilling the Walgreens manager about how the new program works today…everything you said above is coinciding with the information I received today!
That’s great to hear! 🙂
How do others feel about this new program? I’ve stopped shopping Wags for a long while simply because I felt like it was too much work to keep tabs on coupon to item ratio. Plus, shelf clearers in town made it just plain no fun to shop there. While this seems easier to manage, it also seems less beneficial due to not being able to “roll” your Balance Rewards. Thoughts?
PS: it’s “paid”, not “payed”…sorry, grammar geek here. (Please, no one bite my head off, it in no way negates my appreciation for Collin’s work!)
Whoops! Just corrected those mistakes! 😉 Thanks for the heads up!
Etiquette geek here. It’s considered impolite to publicly correct someone’s spelling or grammar.
Yes, I totally agree with you…some people…ugh!
Thanks for your info, Collin!! I absolutely agree with you, Heather Y! I haven’t shopped wags in over 8 months. As if it wasn’t ENOUGH of a headache before… I am in no way interested in ever going back there! EVER! How awful is it that the majority do not know their policy and it’s like a nightmare trying to get them to adjust a coupon down by a measly penny! Besides there isn’t a thing I could even need badly enough to chase down their deals. Thanks to Collin and CVS I have a great stockpile. I even used my RRs at my grocery store because they accept them. I’m just gonna stick to CVS I love everyone there, their reward system is customer friendly and they have amazing deals plus I’m addicted to the coupon machine. I hope someone from wags corporate is reading this. If I cared about wags I might go as far as emailing them to express my dissatisfaction, but unfortunately for them, I just don’t care enough. They would have to change their system drastically for me to ever go back there.
If you try emailing them, they just forward your email to the store manager anyway (in my experience). Umm, if I didn’t get my issue resolved with the manager IN THE STORE, why do I need you to forward my complaint to them again?! I want it escalated so someone else can fix it :p
I’ve emailed a compliment about a beauty advisor and got no response back whatsoever. Compared to the other horrible employees, she was a genuine surprise! When I mentioned it to a manager weeks later, he said they get lots of compliments (doubtful). In other words, they don’t give a flip!
Corporate & District people see it as a problem that originated in the store so it needs to be fixed at the store. The store manager should be trying to find a way to compensate or apologize to you profusely. Sounds like the management at the location you shop don’t have much management experience at all. 🙁 I know this is a problem with some of the more busier stores.
Wow…Walgreens wants to make it so confusing, but Thank you Collin for testing it out.
Hi Collin! I signed up online, would you know how i could get a card that matches my balance rewards number? thanks
I signed up online also, I just asked for a card today and she synced it with my account.
I already had the walgreens mobil ap for my Iphone, I just updated and logged in with my info and now my card is on my phone. If you choose not to carry the card, you can enter your phone number on keypad (I know because I signed up online but never received a card).
Thanks for explaining this. It make it easier if customers are already somewhat familiar with the program when they come in. The only thing here that is wrong is that 11,000 points wouldn’t be $11. It means that you have earned enough points to redeem for $5 or $10 off your purchase. Or you can keep accumulating the points until you earn enough to redeem for $20, $35, or $50. You can only redeem for thoses set amounts.
thank you fefe I’ve been DYING to figure out how you can use the rewards do you can only use this increments? Like if you had something that was 3.99 you would have to buy something else to get to the 5$ limit to use the 5,000 points?
I haven’t had this scenario yet so I’m not sure. My assumption based on the way other wag policies go is that you would have to spend at least $5 to get to redeem $5 worth of points. But like I said, I’m not sure so I could be wrong…
I was wrong. I just found if your total is less than $5 you can still use all 5000 points to pay for your purchase. But you still have to use 5000 points to pay for that purchase.
thank you for letting me know!
I am thinking that as long as you keep rolling your RR from week to week it might be nice to just stock up on the points and use them for christmas shopping or something but who knows lol 🙂
How do you redeem the points in store? When you redeem does it only count towards the subtotal and not the tax the way that RR work currently? Does it count as a coupon?
So I read through the info and one question I still have is about RR. If you use your card to purchase a RR item in one transaction and the same item in another transaction, will you still get the RR in both transactions since they will be able to identify which members have already received a RR on that item?
You can do it. I did it 6 times with the glade today. I got all of my RR’s.
I’m confused. Today I bought 2 blistex both at different wags. The first one printed my 2 RR. For my second I used $2 glade RR and paid tax. It never printed out my second RR. Was I suppose to get a filler or something.
Did you use an actual card or just your phone number?
You can do either… when I went in today I just gave them my phone number.
I am actually super excited about this new program. And thank you, you answered a lot of the questions I had.
Thank You for the help understanding the new program. I think I’ll go try the $15 coke & candy deal! You just can’t have too much junk food!
YAY! thanks collin for testing some deals for us… i’ve been holding out and waiting to hear others’ opinions!
I’m wondering if you can rack up more than 50,000 points or is that the max. And does anyone know how to use the points? Does it ask the cashier and they hit yes or no?
You can keep racking up points, but can only redeem a max of 40,000 ($50) in one transaction. It will show up on the keypad if you have enough points to redeem. It will ask you if you want to redeem them.
Thank you Collin!
You are welcome! 🙂
Can you still give your card/phone number and NOT pay with balance rewards? Meaning, rather than not earning them by paying with them, can you still earn them? (does that make any sense….?)
You can choose to not redeem your points and just continue to accumulate them:)
Thank you, Fefe!!!!
Thanks for the info…it makes more sense now. Is it better to sign up online or in the store?
Yes thanks for the info Collin, u are awesome….!!! I am already up to 2500pts, by buying the water that is $1.99 x3 today and refilling 2 prescriptions!!! I think I am liking/loving this new program
how many points per prescription?
500pts each prescription
So I went to wags today and used register rewards and a store credit to buy things and it did not give me the points. I think I will be backing off from wags a bit
What was your transaction?
Collin noted this in the “Redeeming Points” section above “Points will not be earned in a transaction where Redemption Dollars or Store Credit is used.”
It seems that if you saved the store credit for later you would have earned the points.
does it keep track of what you buy. like if you buy have to buy 2 of an item to get 1000 points and they only have one of that item in stock, can you buy that one and then buy another from a different store and still get your points like cvs does?
yes you can….any time you buy items that get points, it tracks at the bottom of your reciept
Hope you’ll consider doing a video, to go over this.
I just have to say,,,way to make it more complicated…
it seams like a lot of bother.. cant use this with that and have to keep these seperate from these… just a way of them not giving you the money because you messed up… i shopped there today and did not get all my points and i did nothing that i should not of done… very sad!!!!!!
I just got home from Walgreens. I earned my points but also got 2 rr’s, I am confused why it didn’t all go into my “points”. The cashier basically just shook her head at me, like, I don’t know either!
I think the balance rewards are different than register rewards. So you’ll still earn both.
I think you should do a video for this one!
I love this idea, but am worried that this will be like the Amazon Mom bait and switch. High point values now, back to the hundreds in a couple of months. Either way, another nice way to save some money. Thanks for the info!
i am thinking the same thing, you get larger points now and then in few months its hard to get points or they only give points on stuff u dont buy or use/need
My Walgreens said that points will only be very high at the beginning while rolling out new program.
when I went in it did not show my rewards because it was offline it was so busy the program. will ck to see if it really worked if not bak to the store tomorrow
wow. i it might be to our advantage to do one cheap point earning item first and see if points are working before you do a large cost or number of items transaction.
Great info….so what you are saying is you can use your BRs (someone has to start the abbreviation) to pay for items that do not have BR points to be earned so you do not lose points on a purchase of these items?
So can you use them to buy items that have RRs and no BRs and still receive your RRs? And RRs can be used to pay for items that earn BRs without penalty?
So can you save up your BRs for up to 3 years before they expire…my thought is to save up for Christmas shopping (i.e. toys, candy and decorations)? Black Friday deals are usually fun for filler items.
Katherine, I’m not certain, but from what I understand I think you are right on everything. I was thinking saving BRs for photos, but Christmas works too!
Thanks for testing this out for us, Collin. You rock, as always! 🙂 I’m totally sure you know more about coupon policies than the managers/associates. 😉 Love your site and visit several times/day!
Is the Balance Reward card come in the mail after we register?
*Does – sorry!
I am still confused…please do a video! 🙂
I shop mostly at CVS because of “no fillers”, their extra store dollar and percent off coupons and being tied into Saving Star. Whenever I did shop at Wags, I didn’t roll my RRs but used them at Meijer because I felt I could get better deals there. I will sign up for this program but I don’t see this program making me shop there more than I have been. I like the 3 years to use points and being able to buy multiples of the same items in 1 transaction but also see the ” no limits” leading to the possiblity of more shelf clearing.Thanks for all the details Collin. 🙂
I agree. I’m not a real big fan of Wags and not sure if this will change my mind either. I love CVS – no hassle – it is what it is policy! It’s going to promote the shelf clearing for sure. No thanks. I did sign up but not rushing over to check it out.
I was told again by a Walgreens supervisor that they were doing away with register rewards and it would go to card. Its frustrating when the employees tell you conflicting things and they don’t know whats going on. I know they are learning it to, but its so confusing
Comparing this program to cvs’s, it’s still inferior. It doesn’t limit quantities and the rewards don’t “roll.” The value could also decrease at any time since it’s not dollar for dollar. I’ll stick with cvs. 🙂
Does anyone know how to use the BR when paying. Like do you have to only use them in 5$ increments. Say you had 6000 points and you only wanted to buy 3.99 worth of stuff (before tax) could you use 3999 points to pay for it OR would you have to buy a “filler” to get to the 5$ limit before you could use your BR points?
THANKS
Have to get the “filler”.
I’ve read from others experiences (their FB page) that if you have sufficient points to redeem (5,000, 10,000, etc, since they can only be redeemed in those increments) that the cashier will be prompted to ask you if you want to use your reward points. So…problem here is…let’s say you go and buy a soda and a pack of gum, costing $2.43- and you say “sure, I’ll use my points!” then next thing you know you’ve just used your points- ALL OF THEM- even though your purchase of $2.43 did NOT amount to the $5.00 value they’d assigned to the points (keeping in mind the value of the points, dollar-wise, is arbitrary and can change at any time)- you still just *wasted* the remaining points…
so what I’m saying is- make sure you have a large enough purchase, if you want to redeem your $5, $10, $15, $20 or whatever points- to make sure they don’t get wasted…
I have not personally confirmed this.
I am almost positive I made this mistake today. I was trying alot of different things in small proportion to try to understand the program. Sometimes it would prompt me to use my points and other times it wouldn’t. From what I remember I bought the Blistex and it prompted me to use my points. I asked the cashier if it would just take the 2,000 points and she thought maby yes. First mistake I should’ve called a manger. It seemed to have taken 5,000 points. I am chalking it up to lesson learned and will never try to use my points if it isn’t a full 5,000.
I just got back from Walgreens after reading Collins post from yesterday (thank you!) and it all worked really well except that I went to redeem my points, which I had racked up to 5000 on a .99c item and it took ALL the rewards! So, they called the manager and he said that you can only redeem in 5000 increments, he gave me a coupon for the $4 and now I know! I was the 1st to try to redeem in them so it was a learning experience for all but no more complicated than their program already and seems similar to Staples program.
I was lucky as I worked with my favorite sales clerk at Walgreens. We went through her register screen. When I was thinking of paying with rewards, both of us noticed that the smaller total of $1.99 would use all of my 5000 points. It shows right on the screen. I opted to pay with cash. The one mistake I made was that I paid with rewards when I was suppose to earn rewards. Three was nothing in the employee instructions that said you couldn’t do this as we went over her instructions. It is in the phamplet about the program. It just doesn’t help if the employee can’t guide you to make good decisions. After talks with manager and I called number in booklet which was useless. The manager void the entire transaction and the 5000 points were put back in my account and we rerang everything. I paid cash and received all the rewards. I don’t find this new system very complicated. It is new and in a week or two I think I will get how to make it work.
does anyone know if you can use the points at pick n save like you can with RR
Could you please explain how and why you can use RR’s at other stores such as Pick n Save (someone earlier also mentioned Meijer)?
I don’t think I like this new system, so with the old system if I buy 3 thing that gives me back 8 RRs, I can then turn around and purchase $10 worth of items in my next transaction, and only have to pay $2 oop. Now with the new system I have to earn at least 10,000 points to redeem my BRs. That’s stupid. I may try this new system a few times but don’t think I will be shopping at wags for too much longer. It’s said because my nearest cvs is 25 min. Away.
so from what i can see, it is better to wait until you have 40,000 points to use them on something, cause you make an extra $10 that way. you get $50 instead of $40. am i right??
There isn’t a Wags in my hometown but in the town where I attend school there is one and I’ve been hitting it up quite often here lately. However, the employees there, with the exception of one guy, are HORRID and RUDE. I’ve just been shopping Wags regularly since August 2012 and I’ve already pinpointed the employees to try and avoid. Todays trip was a nightmare. First, I was told I couldn’t use the BOGO coupon for the gum because it said redeemable at Wal-Mart and that it was coupon fraud, then the old lady wanted to get an attitude w/ me; I was being as nice and respectful as I could even though my blood was boiling! Then I asked about the new balance rewards program and if she needed my phone # and I was told no, that it would recognize it. How that was possible I don’t know but at that point I was so mad I just wanted to get the heck outta there. When I got home I then noticed that she took one of my coupons and didn’t even scan it. If my Wags trip today wasn’t enough to lead me to drinking, I don’t know what would!! Ha Ha Ha
I cross through the “redeemable at” part. The uneducated cashiers can’t tell the difference between redeemable at or redeem only at.
Collin,
Thanks for personally testing this and answering some of the remaining questions! You rock!
Keep in mind, it’s a new system and they want everyone to sign on so they’re keeping it as favorable as possible in the beginning. Mark my words. It will get worse. At kroger when they first brought out their “discount card” they were giving us milk for 49 cents. And there would be about a dozen super deals every week. Now you have to use the card just to get normal prices. They do it for marketing info to track your purchases. They don’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts to give us deals. In 8 to 12 months, I’m sure many of the double dips will disappear. I personally despise shopping at Cvs because I hate keeping track of the stupid card. And if my mom or father in law asks me to pick something up, then I gotta keep track of their card and their rewards too. And I can’t just hand them an ecb. I have to make sure it’s a particular one that goes with their card or they can’t use it. PITA. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll adapt. I’m just not happy about it!
Uh.. I think I’m done with shopping at wags…. it’s too confusing and a total pain. My time is way more important than spending extra time trying to figure out the best transactions for an overly complicated system like this. Plus, I ALWAYS have way better luck at CVS.
as far as I know they will be getting rid of RRs they are just trying to get this new program up and running before they do away with the RRs. Correct me if I’m wrong though, just what I had heard from Walgreens employee.
No offense to any Walgreens employees, I absolutely LOVE the people at our store, but a lot of the employees know just as much about this program if not less than we do. Our Walgreens manager even told me that they all were to watch a 5 minute video about the balance rewards and then there were magically suppose to understand everything about it. It’s not their fault, but most Walgreens employees are really misinformed.
I had good luck with it. I’m glad I went in to try it! I did almost have a women push me out of her way with her cart, though! Unreal!
i just read all the comments and now im really confused (joking) I am a CVS shopper, I only used to go to Wags when something was really good. So depending on how my cashiers and managers handle this new program I will give Wags a try but continue to shop at CVS regularly. I just hope CVS dont change because that would be terrible !@-@! Thanks for all the info, I feel ready to try the new program…………………………………………………….
I had an easy time getting points and using RRs today. My local walgreens lady fashions herself a coupon diva. BUT, the one thing she said that concerned me was that once you reached the 40,000 point mark Walgreens would “make you” cash out the $50 before you can start earning points again. I don’t see any commentary about that. I didn’t specifically read that in the rules. I don’t know what her basis was for saying that, but if that’s true that would be another thing to be mindful of (like expiration dates on RRs, etc). You’d have to make sure you’re constantly spending them so you don’t earn too many.
Maybe this was already covered but if I use points to buy something do I also get RR’s?
Anyone know if a gift card is considered store credit? (If I pay with a gift card, I will not earn points?)
Could you have used the B1G1 Belvita coupon on this deal? Are those specified on the coupon included in the deal?
I don’t think most WAGS will carry the flavors specified.
If the ad says buy 2 and earn 5,000 points do you earn 2,500 if you buy one? Or do you just earn nothing?
You earn nothing-today I bought only 2 of the glade warmers, not 3 for the 1000 points, and I earned zero points 🙁
Does it accumulate throughout the week like CVS so that if you buy another glade later in the week do you get your 1,000 points?
This is why I stick with Target! I can print the coupons I want (stack them too) and be done with it. I don’t have enough time to figure all this out! Why can’t they make it more simple?
Any way you would be willing to make the weekly deals list with JUST the RR, for those of us who are not interested in the new program? It is very hard to figure out what the good deals are now. I’d rather know how much I am spending and saving with each trip, not months down the line after redeeming the new balance rewards.
I love that Collin added the print out your list feature. I just go through and eliminate what I am not interested and it takes minutes. You can do this and only select the RR items. Elimated the Balance Reward items and you are good to go. I remember when I would copy and paste the whole list and print it out and lots of pages to go thru now my list is only two or three pages and so much more efficient. One of my favorite features of Hip2Save. Thanks Collin!