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Couponing at Walgreens can seem a little intimidating even for a well-seasoned pro, but that’s only because there are so many ways to save.
Once you know how to coupon at Walgreens, it’ll quickly become one of your favorite places to shop, both online and in-store.
With multiple rewards programs, weekly sales, and the ability to stack coupons, not only will you save money, but you’ll earn rewards points—before you know it, you’ll be walking away with a bag full of your favorite skincare items and household products for free. Keep reading to learn the ins and outs of how to coupon at Walgreens!
Couponing at Walgreens: A How-To Guide
Something that’s great about Walgreens is that you have the option to coupon two ways:
- Using physical coupons from the monthly coupon booklets at the front of the Walgreens store
- Clipping digital coupons on the Walgreens website or mobile app, attaching them to your Balance Rewards account
How Do I Use Digital Coupons (Paperless Coupons)
While the Balance Rewards program offers tons of ways to save money, it also helps simplify the couponing process by letting shoppers go paperless.
Here’s how to attach a digital coupon to your Balance Rewards account:
- Download the Walgreens app on your phone or sign in to your account online
- Click on the “Weekly Ad & Coupons” section
- Browse through all coupons, sort by category (like “Personal Care” or “Recommended for You”), or use the search bar to see if there are coupons for specific items you need—then click the clip button below each coupon to add it to your account
- Go to Walgreens and grab all the items on your shopping list
- At checkout, use the pin-pad to put in your phone number and watch the screen as all your coupons are uploaded, slashing your grand total
- Coupon will stay on your account until they expire, so you can reuse them as many times as you want
If you’re already in a Walgreens store, you can use the Walgreens app to see if any items you picked up have available coupons too—here’s how to check:
- Go back to the “Weekly Ad & Coupons” tab
- Click on the barcode icon in the upper righthand corner
- Scan your item’s barcode and see if the app can finds any coupons you can clip
Can I Stack Coupons at Walgreens?
Walgreens will let you use two coupons per item as long as you’re using one store coupon (monthly booklets, weekly ads, digital clippings) and one manufacturer coupon (Register Rewards or manufacturer coupons from reputable online sources).
When stacking discounts at Walgreens, it’s also important to remember that a manufacturer coupon can’t be worth more than the item you’re using it on. For instance, if you want to use manufacturer coupons on a Buy One, Get One Free promotion, you can only use your coupon on the qualifying item you’re paying for.
As long as the coupon’s value isn’t higher than the price you’re paying, you’ll be able to combine manufacturer coupons with promotions like these:
- When buying two items in a Buy One, Get One 50% off sale, use two coupons
- Use a coupon on orange-tagged last chance items
However, even if you follow the rule of one store coupon and one manufacturer coupon per item, the only digital coupons Walgreens will accept are the ones attached to your Balance Rewards account—so most coupons need to be a printable coupon and physically brought to the store.
Other Coupon Policies to Know
Last but not least, the remaining Walgreens coupon policy guidelines to know are as follows:
- Walgreens is not Bed Bath and Beyond—they do not accept expired coupons
- Walgreens is also not Walmart, so they won’t honor competitors’ coupons
- All coupons have no cash value
- Coupons that appear blurry or altered in any way will not be accepted
- Manufacturer coupons must have a valid redemption address
- Walgreens has the right to limit items to customers if quantities are above what would be considered normal household use
How Can I Get Free Stuff at Walgreens?
Unfortunately, Walgreens doesn’t accept any “free product” coupons, but there are still ways to get products for free, or close to it:
- As a Beauty Enthusiast, you’ll have opportunities to get bags full of free gifts with any $20 beauty purchase—and the products in these bags can be worth over $40
- If you stack manufacturer coupons, store coupons, and promotions, you can get items for a fraction of their actual cost, and earn points and Register Rewards that exceed what you paid, making your item free in the long run
- Saving up your Balance Rewards points will let you cash in on big purchases without paying a cent. Read our blog on how to redeem Walgreens points.
Two Types of Walgreens Rewards
There are two reward programs at Walgreens that you’ll need to know: Balance Rewards and Register Rewards. Both programs have their own set of rules for earning and using rewards, and have specific ways to maximize savings—this guide will outline everything you need to know about each.
Balance Rewards
Here’s how the Walgreens Balance Rewards program works:
- It’s a points-based loyalty program
- You’ll need to sign up in-store or online before shopping
- Your Balance Rewards account will be tied to your phone number—and to spend rewards points, you’ll need to type in the zip code you used when signing up
- After each shopping trip, points are digitally added to your account
- Once you get enough points, you can use them like real money, covering some or all of a shopping trip
- Points expire one year after they’re earned, as long as you shop at least once every six months to keep your account active
Register Rewards
These rewards are printed like a receipt and given to you at checkout for purchasing qualifying items listed in the Walgreens weekly ad. Additionally, here are the other ways Register Rewards differ from Balance Rewards:
- You don’t need to sign up or provide a phone number to be eligible for a register reward
- There’s no digital component (unless you want to look up the Walgreens weekly ad online), so you have to bring the physical coupon with you on your next shopping trip
- Coupons aren’t tied to any specific item, but also won’t cover an entire purchase—they give you a certain dollar amount off of a purchase, such as $10 off a purchase of $25 or more
- Register Rewards are manufacturer coupons (keep in mind that Walgreens only allows one manufacturer coupon per item purchased)
- They expire 14 days after they’re printed, so you have to use them fast
The Register Rewards program is an older system that’s pretty self-explanatory—Balance Rewards is what can get confusing. But, using the Balance Rewards program to your advantage will make couponing at Walgreens a breeze.
How Do You Get Balance Rewards Points?
Walgreens weekly ads and big yellow price tags on shelves don’t just tell you what’s on sale at Walgreens, but what products qualify for rewards, and how much of a reward you’ll be getting.
To meet the qualifying purchase requirement, you’ll have to spend a certain dollar amount or buy a specific number of items—for instance, to earn the listed number of rewards points, you may need to spend $10 on a brand of hair care or buy two bottles of toothpaste.
There’s no limit on Balance Rewards, so to use the same example, if you wanted to spend $20 on that qualifying hair care brand and get double the points, you’re more than welcome to do that.
How Does the Walgreens Point System Work?
The listed number of Balance Rewards points could be a number like 3,000, rather than a dollar amount (although usually both are listed)—but don’t let that confuse you.
The point system to reward dollar ratio is really easy to remember.
Here’s how Walgreens points work:
- 1,000 points is equal to $1 of rewards
- You don’t have to spend all your rewards points at once, but you can only redeem them at predetermined dollar amounts ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $20, $50)
- The maximum amount of points you can redeem is 50,000 points per transaction ($50) and 100,000 points per day ($100)—meaning you’d have to check out two separate times to use $100 of rewards
More Ways to Get Balance Rewards Points
Besides tracking your point balance and checking out the weekly ad, creating an online Walgreens account opens up a whole new world of savings. If you’re trying to learn how to coupon at Walgreens to rake in the most rewards, setting up an online account is the way to go.
Beauty Enthusiast Program
By opting in to the Beauty Enthusiast program you’ll get 5,000 rewards points ($5) for every $50 spent on cosmetics, skincare, hair care, fragrances, and all other beauty products. You don’t have to spend $50 in a single trip either—your spending is digitally tracked and you’ll be rewarded whenever you reach $50.
Balance Rewards for Healthy Choices
Walgreens doesn’t just care about your spending, but also your health. With Balance Rewards for Healthy Choices, you can earn points for participating in activities like daily exercise, or by making healthy lifestyle changes like quitting nicotine or drinking more water.
You can also join a four-week challenge, where you’ll earn 100 Balance Rewards points for every week you complete, and after week four, you’ll spin a wheel to earn even more points as a celebration for finishing.
Stacking Savings with RebateKey
After learning how to coupon at Walgreens with rewards programs, store coupons, manufacturer coupons, and promotions, it may be hard to believe that there’s another way to save—but there is.
By signing up with RebateKey, you not only have access to Walgreens coupons, but you also get automatic cash back from Walgreens with every purchase. Getting rewards points is great, but getting a check in the mail is even better—it’s free money you can spend anywhere you want.
Join RebateKey today to get started with a Walgreens promo code today!
Sources:
Walgreens. Become a Beauty Enthusiast. https://www.walgreens.com/balancerewards/beauty.jsp
Walgreens. Balance Rewards for Healthy Choices. https://www.walgreens.com/steps/brhc-loggedout.jsp
ICANGWP. What’s in Walgreens Beauty Enthusiast Sample Bag. https://icangwp.com/2019/01/30/whats-in-walgreens-beauty-enthusiast-sample-bag-unboxing-icangwp/
