Store rain checks can be a frugal shoppers best friend. Not only are you able to obtain the product at the sale price after the sale is over, it allows you time to possibly obtain more coupons to maximize your savings by stocking up or take better advantage of drugstore rewards programs. Rain checks are usually good for up to a month.

Today for example, I went to Walgreen's to purchase Ragu Pasta Sauce and Skippy Peanut Butter which are both on sale 3/$5 (three for $5.00). If you buy 6 items total (6 Skippy or 6 Ragu or mix and match) Walgreen's will give you a $4.00 Register Reward (Walgreen's Cash sponsored by the company the makes the product you are purchasing).
In last Sunday's coupon circulars there were coupons for both items for $1/2 (dollar off two).
Here is the scenario:
6 items at 3/$5 = $10
Minus (3) $1/2 Qs = $7
Register Rewards earned $4
Total cost after coupons and register reward = 6/$3 or $ .50 cents an item!
(I have been shopping drugstores for awhile now and have Walgreen's gift cards or other register rewards to pay for the $7 up front out of pocket cost).

My intention was to purchase 6 jars of peanut butter and 6 jars of pasta sauce. Walgreen's had 6 jars of peanut butter but only two jars of pasta sauce. More than likely they will not get more stock of pasta sauce before the sale ends. I purchased the 6 jars of peanut butter and received my $4 register reward and asked for a rain check for the sauce.

Now, after the sale is over Walgreen's will honor the sale price of 3/$5 with no problem with the rain check. The problem is, the catalina machine that prints the register rewards will not print one because the sale is over. To overcome this, I asked Walgreen's to write up the rain check for the sales price minus the register reward. This means that the rain check is written up for 6/$6, the cost after earning the $4 register reward. They were happy to do so.

When I make my purchase I will also use my (3) $1 off two coupons making them 6/$3 or the magic price of $ .50 a jar. And, I don't have to worry about trying to spend a register reward before it expires. I could use the register reward from the peanut butter transaction to pay for the pasta sauce transaction but then the $4 register reward would not print for the pasta sauce. You see, you can not use a register reward to buy products that earn register rewards made by the same company. Clear as mud?

The peanut butter and pasta sauce register rewards are both sponsored by the company Unilever. You can do as many transactions of peanut butter and pasta sauce as you want and as long as you meet the requirement of purchasing in sets of 6 you will receive a $4 register reward for each set. However, if you use a register reward earned from this deal to purchase another set of 6 the catalina machine will not print another $4 register reward.

If the register reward did print it would mean that you would get the $4 discount and another $4 register reward for the same transaction. This is called rolling register rewards and it's not allowed on products made by the same company. Now, that said, if you have register rewards earned for purchasing another companies products such as a Proctor & Gamble item, you can use those to pay for your Unilever items and still have the Unilever register reward print for your current transaction.

Walgreen's is one of the more tricky stores to shop good deals at because of the many conditions you have to meet concerning their rewards program and therefore not my first choice to shop. However, when it comes to Ragu pasta sauce for $. 50 a jar, how can you pass that up!

So back to my original topic, always ask for a rain check on out-of-stock items. The worst that can happen is that you don't use it and you end up throwing away a piece of paper. Remember to recycle.