Walgreens Basics: The Easy Saver Catalog Explained

Walgreens does not have a rewards program per say. You don’t need a rewards card to take advantage of the sales prices. What they do offer is a rebate program, register reward program, and extra in-store coupons that can be combined with manufacturer coupons.

Each month Walgreens puts out its Easy Saver catalog which contains extra store coupons and a list of items that are eligible for rebates for the month. The catalog is found in the front of the store along with the weekly sales flyers or at the checkout counters. You can also view an online version at the Walgreens website.

Each week Walgreens publishes a sales circular that contains the new sales for the week. Some of the items on sale will need an in-ad coupon to be presented to the cashier to get the sales price. These coupons are printed right in the circular and will say coupon good at Walgreens on them. You do not need to clip the in-ad coupon. Simply open the circular to the page with the coupon and have the cashier scan it. These coupons are just a store discount and are not turned in so if you do clip them, the cashier will just throw them away. If it helps you to clip the coupon so you remember to use the coupon, do. It’s not a big deal either way.

Also, once the in-ad coupon has been scanned, it will apply to each item associated with that coupon that you are purchasing. That means that if you are buying 5 boxes of Kleenex tissue with an in-ad coupon, the coupon only needs to be scanned once to get the discount on all 5 boxes. Or rather you do not have to hand over 5 clipped in-ad coupons, just one will do.

It’s important to remember that Walgreens in-ad coupons can be combined or “stacked” with manufacturer’s coupons. That means that along with the in-ad coupon for Kleenex tissue you can use any manufacturer coupons you may have. You can also “stack” the coupons found in the Easy Saver catalog along with manufacturer coupons for greater savings.

You will notice some items listed in the weekly circular have little white, green or yellow boxes below them that show additional savings.

If the wording says “less Coupon”, this indicates that you need a coupon from the Easy Saver catalog to get the discount.
These coupons are called Instant Value Coupons or IVCs. There should also be a picture of a small oval with the words Easy Saver Catalog next to the item.

If the wording says “ Register Rewards* Good on Next Purchase” this means that after you purchase the item for the original price indicated, a Catalina coupon in the amount of the discount will print from the register.

These Catalina coupons are used as “Walgreens cash” to purchase anything in the store with a few exceptions such as prescriptions, gift cards, and stamps. You will need to read each RR (register reward) for exact exceptions.
It’s important to remember that RRs are not instant savings. They are savings applied to future purchases.

RRs are coupons that are sponsored by the companies of the items you purchased. There are several rules you need to be aware of regarding RRs. RRs are not tied to a rewards card so you can do as many “deals” as you want. However, be aware that the system is set up so that you can not “roll” your RRs on the same product or same company’s products over and over. In other words, you can not use RRs earned from one company’s product to purchase the same product and have the RR print again.
Say you purchase Tide laundry detergent and that earns you $1 RR.
*You can use the earned RR to purchase another bottle of Tide but another RR will not print.

*If you purchase another bottle and don’t use the earned RR, another one will print.
This goes for all items made by the same company. Say also this week Crest toothpaste is earning a $2 RR. If you use the RR from the Tide purchase to buy the Crest, you can but the RR for the Crest will not print because both these products are made by Proctor & Gamble.

*Now, say you earn a RR from a product not made by P&G. You can use this RR to purchase the Tide or Crest and have the Tide or Crest RR print. This is the only way you can “roll” RRs.
So, you can do the deals once or over and over again and save the RRs you earn for future purchases or other items. Or you can do multiple transactions alternating the use of the RRs from the two different companies’ promotions (assuming two different companies have promotions going on at the same time, which they often do). If there aren’t two different company promotions running at the same time, you usually can save them for a promotion running the next week.

*Important, RRs expire about two weeks from the date they are printed so you need to use them up fast.

If the wording says “less Mail Rebate”, this means that you will receive the discount after you send in for the rebate from the Easy Saver Catalog.

Each month Walgreens offers a number of items that will earn rebates. These items are printed in the Easy Saver Catalog. These items usually include a few that are Free After Rebate or FAR.

To take advantage of these savings, you must first purchase the items incurring upfront costs. You will then need to submit your receipt to Walgreens for your rebate. There are 2 ways to get your rebates. You can submit your rebates online. Go to http://www.walgreens.com/ and click EasySaver Catalog and follow the instructions or Submit your rebate by mail. When submitting by mail, you will need to send your original, dated Walgreens cash register receipts with the rebate item, price circled and the offer number written by price and the rebate form found in the catalog in one mailing. You do not need to send UPC codes. Whether you submit your rebates online or by mail you can track all your rebates. Visit www.walgreens.com/easysaver and click on rebate status. You can only submit for rebates once a month so it’s best to wait until the end of the month to do so. It generally takes 7 – 12 days to process your rebate request. If you enter your receipts online but do not submit for the rebate in the allotted time frame, the online system will automatically do it for you and send your rebate in the form of a check. If you send in by mail, pay close attention to the submission deadline.

You can choose to have your rebates sent in the form of a check or Walgreens gift card. If you choose the gift card option, you will receive an extra 10% bonus on all purchased rebates. Your gift card is good on any purchase in any Walgreens store. Each month you can apply your rebate savings to your existing gift card. No waiting for a new one to be mailed to you. You will receive a postcard letting you know your card has been recharged.
The best part about the gift card option, now you have a way to purchase the next month’s rebate items with little or no out of pocket expenses and continue to do so over and over.

Additional rules:

You must have as many items as you have coupons. The register won’t accept more coupons than you have items. Register Rewards count as coupons as do any of the store coupons. So if you find you have more coupons than items, throw in a couple of cheap filler items so that you have the same number of items as coupons.

Walgreens will not give money back so if your coupons are going to bring your total negative, throw in a cheap filler so the register will not have issues.

When handing your coupons to the cashier, it’s best to hand over the RRs first. Otherwise, the register sometimes won’t want to accept your other manufacturer or store coupons.

If the items you want are not in stock, always ask for a rain check. If the item you want earns RRs, the rain check should be written to reflect the price after the RR. This is because the RR will not print after the sale is over.