The Drugstore Game: CVS

The Drugstore Game: CVS

Once you have gotten the hang of couponing at your local grocery store, it's time to step it up a notch and try what's known in the couponing world as The Drugstore Game. 

Oddly enough, drugstores are the best place to buy most paper products, healthy and beauty items and cleaning supplies!  Drugstores like Rite Aid, Walgreens & CVS offer rewards programs that can be used to stack savings to get some extremely great deals.

It took some time for me to learn how to play this game.  It can become confusing at times but I'm going to explain it as simply as possible to help you get started.

Working the deals at CVS

CVS has a rewards program that uses a card called an Extra Care Card.  You can sign up for a card at any CVS store or online.  I do recommend getting on in store because you can start using it right away.  If you sign up online, expect to wait about 2 weeks for your card to come by mail.  You will need an Extra Care Card to get these unbelievable deals.

Each week CVS puts out an ad that can be found in the Sunday paper or in store.  Some sale items will show 2 prices.  One is the sale price and the other is the price after Extra Care Bucks(or ECB's, as they'll be referred to as from now on).  You pay the sale price and the ECB's print out on the bottom of your receipt.  These ECB's can be used as "cash" on your next purchase! 

Here's a sample of what an ad looks like:

Let's go over this ad real quick.  Colgate Sensitive toothpaste is on sale for $4.99.  You will receive $4 ECB's when you purchase one.  The cashier will need to scan your Extra Care Card to get this price & the EBC's.  In fine print at the bottom of the ad, it will show the number of times(limit) you can receive EBC's on this item.  The scan is kind of hard to read, but it states "extrabucks rewards offer limit of 2 per household with card".  This means you can buy 2 tubes of Colgate Sensitive and receive 2 ECB's for $4 each.  If you buy more toothpaste, you will get it at the sale price but will not get ECB's. 

ECB's aren't always that generous.  Sometimes it can be buy $30 and receive $10 ECB's or buy $10 and receive $3 ECB's.  The key to to really maximizing your savings at CVS is to use coupons and "roll" your ECB's.

So let's apply coupons to our example:

So we know that Colgate Sensitive is $4.99.  There's a 50¢ off 1 coupon for it.  CVS does not double coupons.  You will pay $4.49 out of pocket(OOP).  You will receive $4 ECB's.  Tear the ECB's off the bottom of your receipt carefully, leaving the bar code intact. 

Now here's were you'll see massive savings.  Buy 1 more Colgate Sensitive toothpaste. Your total will be $4.99.  Use another 50¢ off 1 coupon & $4 ECB's.  You will only pay 49¢ OOP AND you will receive another $4 ECB's!  

So for 2 Colgate Sensitive toothpastes you paid $4.98 OOP.  You received a total of $8 in ECB's, making this deal a $3.02 moneymaker(MM)!!!

 (Please note: You will not be actually “making money". The store will not be paying you cash for shopping there.  However,  you will be “making money” in that you will be spending less out of pocket than you get back in ECBs.)

Now you can buy more items that give ECB's back, spend your ECB's on something you really need or save them for another sale.  ECB's do expire so be certain to check that.  You don't want to lose them or let them expire.  That would be the same as throwing $4 in the trashcan!

Things to know about shopping at CVS

1. Scan your card at the kiosk every time you go to CVS. This machine is fondly called "Magic Coupon Machine" in the couponing community.  And that's exactly true.  Everyday you can scan your card and the machine will print out coupons.  These are CVS coupons, not manufacturer coupons.  Scan your card until the machine says "No more offers available today".

2. Register your Extra Care Card at the CVS website.  Occasionally you will receive an e-mails with money saving coupons.  I believe you get $4/$20 just for signing up! If you get one of these, make sure your PRE COUPON total is over the total needed to use the coupon. Give the cashier the $4/$20 coupon FIRST. Then give your coupons.

 3. Become familiar with CVS's coupon policy.  Print your copy here.

Here are the key points to keep in mind:   

• CVS/pharmacy accepts one manufacturer coupon and applicable CVS/pharmacy coupon(s) per item, unless prohibited by either coupon offer.  This means you can use 1 manufacturer coupon and 1 CVS coupon per item, often called stacking. 

• Two coupons may be used on a Buy One, Get One Free promotion as long as it does not exceed the item total
  o Ex. Suave Shampoo is on sale for $2.00 Buy One, Get One Free and the customer is purchasing two shampoos; customer may use two coupons for $1.00 each and pay the applicable tax. 

  Buy One, Get One Free promotions may be combined with Buy One, Get One Free Coupons. Customers are responsible for paying applicable tax
  o Ex. Suave Shampoo is on sale for $2.00 BOGO and customer has a MFG coupon for Suave BOGO. Customer will receive both items for free but will need to pay any applicable tax.

CVS Accepts the following coupons:

1. Manufacturer Coupons (this includes both coupons from newspapers / magazines / other print sources ans well as manufacturer online printable coupons)
2. Store Coupons (this includes CVS store coupons found in their weekly fliers, in-store coupon booklets, CRTs and purchase based coupons)
3. Competitor Pharmacy Coupons (they do not, however, accept any other type of competitor coupon)
4. Extra Care Bucks (called ECBs for short, they are like a Catalina from the grocery store that is printed out at the cash register on the bottom of your receipt)

Okay, it sounds confusing.  I admit it! But shopping at CVS is one of the best ways to get free razors, hair care, cheap diapers, cleaning products and more.   Please leave a comment with any questions!

Live Frugal. Live Happy.