Getting Started at Walgreens

Walgreens rewards their shoppers with Register Rewards.

Register rewards (commonly called RRs) are coupons from the Catalina machine that print after you make a qualifying purchase. Most RRs are what we call “On Your Next Order” (OYNO) which can be used like cash on your next order (this could be the very next order you are making at the register).

Sometimes you may receive a Catalina coupon for money off a particular item or an advertisement for a current or future register reward deal.

How do you get a Register Reward?

Buy the exact items advertised to receive the RR. Using coupons on these items should not affect whether your RR prints. If it doesn’t print, it is likely because the Catalina machine isn’t working. Insist that they rering you on another register if your RR doesn’t print and you feel like you should have.

If you complete more than one register rewards deal in one transaction, one reward for each different RR deal should print. You will not receive more than one rr for the same deal in the same purchase. If you want to purchase multiple identical items, you will need to complete separate transactions.

If you purchased the right items and didn’t get rr, you can return the items on the spot or call the Catalina company 1-888-322-3814. Have your receipt in front of you because they need some info from it. They’ll be able to see if the machine was working and if you bought the right products. It does tend to take a few minutes for the call and then you have to wait to get the RR which takes 6 – 8 weeks.

How do you spend a Register Reward?

Generally, you can use your RR just like cash on your next purchase, but of course there are exceptions:

Most RR’s explicitly say that they can not be used on tobacco, alcohol, tax, lottery tickets, money orders, stamps, dairy, or any gift cards or pre-paid cards.

As stated in the fine print, you cannot use more RR’s and manufacturer coupons than number of items you are buying. This is what we call coupon to item ratio. As long as you are buying as many items as you have RR & manufacturer coupons, you should be able to use more than one RR. Store coupons do not affect how many manufacturer and RR’s you can use. If you don’t have enough items, grab something for a quarter or less and use your RR for that item. The amount doesn’t matter.

Here’s what I mean…. say you are buying 3 bottles of Suave shampoo and have 3 $0.50 coupons and 1 RR for $2 that you want to use to pay for these items. Since you have a total of 4 coupons according to the register (they count an RR as a coupon), the register will beep when the 4th coupon is scanned and you won’t be able to use it. In order to use it, you will need to purchase a 4th item. This can be any item in the store and can cost anywhere from 1c and up. I usually get individual holiday pencils on the seasonal aisle.

You cannot “roll” RR’s into the same deal 99% of the time. So if you buy an item and it earns an RR, you can not use that RR to pay for a second identical item and get an RR for that one as well.

Here’s what I mean….. if you use an RR from purchasing a bottle of Suave to pay for your purchase of a second bottle of Suave, you will NOT get another RR. The best way to “roll” is to use your Suave RR  to pay for a different RR deal. You can then use the RR’s from the 2nd deal, to purchase more Suave.

How to use coupons at Walgreens

You can read through the Walgreens coupon policy here.

More ways to save at Walgreens

Walgreens puts out at least 2 coupon booklets per month. These can be found at the beginning of each month near the front door where you pick up the weekly ad. They also put out a few extra coupon booklets throughout the year. Many of these you have to request at the Pharmacy.

See all the Walgreens deals here.

(Thanks for the help on this Coupon Katarina!)