A couple other Chicagoland-area coupon blogs recently posted some updates on goings-on at Walgreens and Dominick’s that may interest you.
First, Chris over at Deranged.me has a Walgreens update:
I’ve gotten more information on the Walgreens rewards card that will be rolling out the end of August/beginning of September… Here’s a brief recap from a “reliable source” who obviously doesn’t want to be identified.‘Don’t know if you’ve heard already, but with the new balance rewards cards, points are not roll-able: If you buy something with points you will not be able to use those point towards anything else with points and still earn more points. Basically you can only use the points on stuff that is not on sale or has a sale price, because you cannot accrue points for redeeming points.’
So what they’re saying is that the way we structure deals now – back to back transactions rolling the RRs from one deal into the next – will not be allowed under the new program, nor will we be able to earn points on items purchased using points.
Second, Carrie over at Frugalistic Mom attended a Safeway bloggers’ event and has some updates on Just For U:
After you use a one-time deal, it will disappear from your online interface and your shopping list, so in case you forget you used it, you won’t be expecting to get that discount.Personalized deals should now be good for an entire product line, not “select varieties.” Safeway now realizes that if this is a personalized deal, and there are no shelf tags, there is no way for the shopper to figure out which varieties are included!
If you bring in a digital manufacturer’s cents-off coupon and you have a manufacturer’s cents-off coupon loaded onto your card, the register will accept whichever is a higher value. If the paper coupon is a higher value, the checker will accept it and leave the digital coupon on your card. If the digital coupon is a higher value, the register will apply that and the checker is supposed to hand you back your coupon.
Refunds for Just for U discounts that fail to come off at the register may no longer be as easy. In the past, it’s been very easy to get a refund — just show your printed list or smartphone screen to either the cashier or the service desk, and in my experience you get the cash back just like that. Now that Safeway is confident that most deals should work as promised, they’re not going to be so quick to hand over refunds.
Read more at the above blog links.
jen120976 says
Well, I guess shopping will be much quicker now because I won’t need to go to Walgreens anymore. I guess they’re taking pointers from JCP!
christina23 says
Looks like my shopping will be cut as well…I have a Walgreens and a CVS diagonal to one another at an intersection so travel isn’t an issue either. Haven’t been doing a lot of shopping at Walgreens past couple of months anyway so it will not be hard to elminate them from my list of stores.
cschelthoff says
Heard from two people this week alone about problems with the Walgreens pharmacy. My mother filled three prescriptions for 90 days each – total was almost $700 (no insurance coverage). These were new prescriptions. She was told that only prescriptions transferred from other stores like CVS (mentioned specifically) would get the $25 gift card. Another person was told her mother’s prescription would be ready at a certain time. She drove over and was told it would be another five minutes – then ten minutes – then after almost 30 minutes was told that the medicine wasn’t in stock. I think that the CVS estimate of retaining 50% of the newly acquired Walgreens pharmacy customers is grossly underestimated!
coupontimkim says
So does this mean you can’t use a just for u loaded coupon and a paper coupon combined at Dominicks? I wasn’t aware if this was the case and have been bringing in coupons and combining anyways. I thought I was getting really good deals by doing this LOL. Anyway Dominicks trumps Jewel in some ways with their personalized deals. We try to eat somewhat healthy and I really appreciate some of the organic produce discounts and 20% total coupons I loaded recently. They are really starting to win me over in some ways. Otherwise I was never really attracted to Dom’s.
coupontimkim says
Just wanted to make a comment about using the Walgreens coupons at Jewel. On 7/29/12 I went to the N/S Jewel in Elmhurst and my Wags Manufacture coupon wouldn’t scan. I had the cashier call over the manager who I knew to be the head cashier and is for what I know to be very knowledgeable of the coupon policy. He tried the coupon as well and said there was no way to overide the coupon bc they were no longer acceptable. I informed him that the coupon stated “Redeemable at Walgreens” and not “Redeemable ONLY at Walgreens” which was the new stipulation to the policy. Leo (who was very professional BTW) said he was afraid the store wouldn’t be reimbursed and wouldn’t take it. I told him that on Jill’s site Jewel had responded on the policy and confirmed this coupon would be acceptable bc of the verbage. He said if I brought in the policy he would accept it. We will see????
coupontimkim says
So since I coupon a lot now I don’t spend enough at any given store especially Jewel to accumulate a lot of fuel rewards. I earned 20 cents off a gallon at Jewel and was excited to think I would get a deal on gas. I couldn’t really more money since they have an expiration date (why does gas expire :)). I guess it’s a smart sales tactic to save money. Shell gas was $3.85 at two Shell stations and was only $3.59 at Costco. It was still cheaper for me to get gas at Costco even with my hard earned fuel rewards. Kinda seems like Shell may raise the price to compensate for the fuel rewards program possibly. Just like Jewel raises the prices on items it consistently sells on a B1G1F. Hasn’t anyone noticed for instance the Thomas English Bagels are $5.25 a pack approx. Kinda high for a few Bagels. Common get real? Who the heck is buying a pack of Bagels for that price unless they’re from an expensive bakery? Brownberry bread which I love is the same way and is usually B1G1F at Jewel. At Dom’s it was cheaper by almost a whole dollar for two loaves and I only needed to buy 1 to get the deal. I’m not fooled by these sales tactics and I hope you are all not either. The proof is in the prices themselves and the bottom line speaks volumes. Jewel does have a few good deals, but not many. I stick to the good deals only. Regardless, every store even Costco has their good deals even though they don’t have a lot of coupons. At Costco you can get specialty grains like Quinoa and Ferra organic and really cheap. Yeah you have to buy a membership, but you earn enough money back to pay for the membership. Cereal is best to buy at Jewel, but then again it’s not very healthy. Remember that you are what you eat. A few good deals to get some unhealthy food is ok, but don’t overdo. I realized that almost all my deals were for canned food, boxed food, candy, soda. Some stuff like razors and toothpaste are the best deals, but then again that stuff isn’t that healthy either. There is a cost for all of us to pay in the end??? I hope you all do some research on it. I’m doing some and its a little scary, but important to look at all the angles when it comes to our consumption. There are ways to make your own soaps, toothpastes, etc which don’t have any chemicals in them at all and cost pennies to make. Do you love your kids and want them to be healthy? Limit the crap. I got off topic and I’m sorry, but we should be aware and not do things blindly. Do what you gotta do to get by for the time period. Everybody goes through a rough patch. Stores respond to your every purchase though. You vote with your dollar and maybe, just maybe if we vote for products produced here, healthier foods, safer cleaning products, etc we would make a healthier environment for us all.
coupontimkim says
and thanks for sharing that experience. I had the exact same RR from the razor deal too. I had no proof, but I had read somewhere exactly what you were stating and the cashier wouldn’t have it. Thanks for the link Jill. I will be sure to have it handy next time.
coupontimkim says
Jill I think you posted how in the future E-coupons were going to eliminate paper coupons if it were possible. Apparently the Dominicks in Elmhurst has possibly already set their registers to not accept two manufacturer coupons (1 being the loaded just4u and 1 paper). I did the following deals you posted.
1) TWO FREE Barilla Microwavable Pasta Meals (This I couldn’t locate on the site)
2) .99 Planters Nutrition Peanut Butter
3) $1.29 Hellmann’s Mayonnaise
as well as some other stuff, but my focus was on these. The problem may have been that I was at self checkout bc there were no registers open, but I can’t confirm it for certain. Any way, my Just4U coupons deducted automatically from my bill and I asked the standby cashier if she would scan my paper coupons bc they wouldn’t scan for me. She said they weren’t scanning bc I probably had Just4U coupons uploaded that were preventing it from scanning meaning I couldn’t double manu cpns. She was right about the items, but it seems the scanner didn’t register my scanning the coupons at all. If it was working properly my paper coupon for the peanut butter should’ve trumped the .89 cent Just4U coupon and put it back on my card. I’m kind of confused now about where these Just4U coupons came from? Are they from coupons.com like you were referring to yesterday? The Just4U definately states manufacturer coupon on my receipt. It seems we are being told we can use both of these for now, but I’m finding that isn’t the case or at least not at my Dominicks. Did I have a dead beat cashier or is this really the case? Thank you
Frugalista says
thanks for the link!