"Hidden" limit for Walgreens Balance Rewards deals... and store coupon auto-load to card coming soon

A Walgreens insider shared this information with me today but didn’t want to be credited by name… so here are some updates on Walgreen’s Balance Rewards program from “Walgreens Insider:”

Walgreens corporate sent an email to stores atating that they have noticed a decline in FREE After Register Rewards sales since the inception of Balance Rewards. They are asking the stores if the Balance Rewards program is affecting the FREE After Register Rewards sales due to limiting.

(Limits for Balance Rewards deals are not shown in the ad, but…) The register alerts the cashier that the card has been used an excessive number of times and needs management approval to continue. The magic number appears to be 20 transactions, I’m not sure if it flags #20 or #21.

Also today is supposed to be when IVC’s (and in-ad coupons) are automatically deducted with card use. Not working yet. Still have to be scanned.

Interesting stuff. The general consensus on many blogs is that people aren’t as keen on Balance Rewards as they were on Register Rewards, especially with having to spend your entire balance of rewards at once, on items that don’t generate other rewards. I wonder if that’s part of why people aren’t taking as much advantage of the free-after-Register-Rewards deals since Balance Rewards rolled out.

I also think it’s a little sneaky not to put the Balance Rewards limits IN the ad — how are shoppers supposed to figure out how many times they can do a deal if that’s not posted? Several readers have written over the past few weeks to say their card suddenly “stopped working” and wouldn’t award rewards to them anymore after doing the same deal. This may be why.

This is also the first I’ve heard of the IVC and in-ad Walgreens store coupons being automatically deducted when your card is scanned. That IS a nice change… but then, if everyone needs the Balance Rewards card to get the sale prices in the first place, what is the point of having a physical coupon book at all? I wonder if it will go the way of much of the print Walgreens ad and move to an online vs. paper offering…

Maureen32164 says

October 15, 2012 at 7:37 am

FYI – you don’t need to spend your entire BR balance at once, but you do have to spend the points in increments of 5,000 points. At the lower numbers, 5,000 points = $5. If my order came to $5.78 before tax and I had 12,000 points in my account, I could pay with 5,000 points and cover the remaining $0.78 and tax with cash. The program would ‘allow’ me to spend 10,000 points to cover the entire $5.78, but I would forfeit the value of $4.22 if I chose that option (I would have to choose it; the 10,000 points would not come off automatically). The higher BR numbers have greater value (18,000 BR = $20, and 40,000 = $50); if I want to get the benefit of the bonus values earned for accumulating a pile of BR points, I do have to spend the whole amount at once. If I have 40,000 points and want to get the full value of $50, I will have to spend all 40,000 points in a single transaction, but I do have the option of spending those points in eight 5,000 point increments (totaling $40).

IMO, the RR deals are noticeably on the decline (fewer of them and not very desirable items when they are offered), and the number of sale items generating small BR awards grows with each ad. It really, really angers me that BR points will not be earned on any item that is paid for in BR points. Since points can’t be rolled and the RR program is drying up, I have become extremely selective in what I am willing to buy at Wags that generates BR points or RR.

A few weeks ago, I skipped the energy shots ($3.99 Free after RR) and the 3M allergy nasal plugs ($9 Free after RR). Prior to BR, I would have picked up the nasal plugs for family members who have allergies, but the number of RR each week has been dropping and the BR deals have not impressed me, so I passed on the freebie because I didn’t want to find myself having to use a $9 RR within two weeks on things I did not want or believe to be good deals. The fact that Wags does not allow RR or BR points to be used on dairy played into my decision.

I did pick up two Cepacol lozenge deals two weeks ago ($1 free after RR) because I wanted to try them and I knew it would be easy to spend two $1 RR. Last week, I got one tube of Colgate toothpaste (free after $3 RR because I had a $1 MQ). I had enough coupons to get three free tubes, but again, I did not want to be stuck holding three $3 RR, so I only got one. There weren’t any other RR deals I wanted that I could flip with the toothpaste, and there weren’t enough non-RR or non-BR sale items I wanted that would have allowed me to buy the toothpaste + other items to purchase with 5,000 BR points and flip with the $3RR earned from the toothpaste.

I did go in on Saturday, October 6 to take advantage of the 3,000 extra BR (one day only) generated for spending $15 on select beauty items. I bought four Simple facial cleansing wipes ($6.49 regular price that were 33% off that week and earned 1,500 BR points each). They rang up at $4.34 each with the 33% off, and I used a total of $7.50 in coupons. Each package generated 1,500 BR points (6,000 total), but I did not get the bonus 3,000. The cashier said it might take a few days to show up, but since the 6,000 showed on the receipt immediately, I called the BR customer service number when I got home. The rep told me I did not earn the extra 3,000 points because I used coupons, which reduced the total to under $15. I pointed out that there were no stipulations about coupons in the advertised promotion, and after checked the wording, she agreed with me and added 3,000 to my account.

Wags appears to hate coupons in general, and I am not talking about extreme couponing, but just regular use of coupons. They act as if they are not getting reimbursed for MQs, which puzzles me. It’s always irritated me that I have to buy extra fillers just to use RRs on items being purchased with MQs, and now that I have to separate RR items from BR items while keeping track of total number of items vs coupons when using RR, it’s too much trouble. And ten bucks says it won’t be long before Wags makes sure every sale is a BR deal, so I won’t be able to use my BR points to purchase sale items unless I willingly forfeit the BR points I would earn from purchasing those items.

So anyway, yesterday, I bought two Lindsay olives, four packs of Ricola sugar free drops, and an extra Sunday paper (for the coupons). I used coupons on the olives and cough drops, and paid with last week’s $3 toothpaste RR and some cash. I currently have 19,000 BR points and no RRs. I could have used 5,000 BR points to buy the 10-count Advil Congestion Relief on the $6 Pfizer rebate (Sunday coupon), but CVS has the 20-count package for $7.99 with a $1 ECB eligible for the same rebate, so I bought at CVS because it’s a better deal.

Wags has made me very appreciative of CVS’s customer-friendly coupon and ECB policies. I get a whole month to use ECBs, I don’t need fillers to use them, they roll – even on like deals, I earn $5 for every $50 spent on beauty items, and I earn quarterly points for OOP spending. CVS has the 98% rule on ECBs earned for spending $X (if the deal is $10 ECB for spending $30 on select items, I will earn the ECB for a total above $29.40 and do not have to throw something else in to push the total above $30. )I can use my ECBs on milk if I want to (which is always competitively priced and frequently on sale).

I will not make any purchases at Wags at this point unless the deal is terrific. I am holding onto my BR points to use on Black Friday, and after that, I will go back to what I am doing now – cherry picking a few sale items while making sure I never have more than a few dollars in RR at a time.

Comments

letsshop says

October 11, 2012 at 3:06 pm

Hope we make a big dent in their pockets !Then they will know how ware are feeling too (O:
D. Clawed says

October 11, 2012 at 4:59 pm

This whole program annoys me. All I’ve bought since inception is 4 packs of gum and one prescription. I have NO NEED to go in there anymore. I am seriously thinking of moving my prescription to cvs because of the puny reward too .50 cents! Really? Prescriptions can run form a few dollars to hundreds of dollars and all they give is 500 points. Pathetic and insulting. I was a weekly Walgreens shopper and hauled loads of product out of there with the savvy use of coupons. (Not shelf clearing loads…but I would usually do “the deals” twice of sometimes 3 times. I wonder if we are a big enough group to really matter to Walgreens. I hope so.
dolrskolr says

October 11, 2012 at 6:35 pm

in Free after register rewards? Again, they’ve completely lost me with this new program. How or why would they be connected?

You know, if it takes this much brain power to figure out SOMETHING, get LITTLE in return, it’s worth NOTHING to me which, in turn, is NET ZERO for them.
Maureen32164 says

October 15, 2012 at 7:37 am

FYI – you don’t need to spend your entire BR balance at once, but you do have to spend the points in increments of 5,000 points. At the lower numbers, 5,000 points = $5. If my order came to $5.78 before tax and I had 12,000 points in my account, I could pay with 5,000 points and cover the remaining $0.78 and tax with cash. The program would ‘allow’ me to spend 10,000 points to cover the entire $5.78, but I would forfeit the value of $4.22 if I chose that option (I would have to choose it; the 10,000 points would not come off automatically). The higher BR numbers have greater value (18,000 BR = $20, and 40,000 = $50); if I want to get the benefit of the bonus values earned for accumulating a pile of BR points, I do have to spend the whole amount at once. If I have 40,000 points and want to get the full value of $50, I will have to spend all 40,000 points in a single transaction, but I do have the option of spending those points in eight 5,000 point increments (totaling $40).

IMO, the RR deals are noticeably on the decline (fewer of them and not very desirable items when they are offered), and the number of sale items generating small BR awards grows with each ad. It really, really angers me that BR points will not be earned on any item that is paid for in BR points. Since points can’t be rolled and the RR program is drying up, I have become extremely selective in what I am willing to buy at Wags that generates BR points or RR.

A few weeks ago, I skipped the energy shots ($3.99 Free after RR) and the 3M allergy nasal plugs ($9 Free after RR). Prior to BR, I would have picked up the nasal plugs for family members who have allergies, but the number of RR each week has been dropping and the BR deals have not impressed me, so I passed on the freebie because I didn’t want to find myself having to use a $9 RR within two weeks on things I did not want or believe to be good deals. The fact that Wags does not allow RR or BR points to be used on dairy played into my decision.

I did pick up two Cepacol lozenge deals two weeks ago ($1 free after RR) because I wanted to try them and I knew it would be easy to spend two $1 RR. Last week, I got one tube of Colgate toothpaste (free after $3 RR because I had a $1 MQ). I had enough coupons to get three free tubes, but again, I did not want to be stuck holding three $3 RR, so I only got one. There weren’t any other RR deals I wanted that I could flip with the toothpaste, and there weren’t enough non-RR or non-BR sale items I wanted that would have allowed me to buy the toothpaste + other items to purchase with 5,000 BR points and flip with the $3RR earned from the toothpaste.

I did go in on Saturday, October 6 to take advantage of the 3,000 extra BR (one day only) generated for spending $15 on select beauty items. I bought four Simple facial cleansing wipes ($6.49 regular price that were 33% off that week and earned 1,500 BR points each). They rang up at $4.34 each with the 33% off, and I used a total of $7.50 in coupons. Each package generated 1,500 BR points (6,000 total), but I did not get the bonus 3,000. The cashier said it might take a few days to show up, but since the 6,000 showed on the receipt immediately, I called the BR customer service number when I got home. The rep told me I did not earn the extra 3,000 points because I used coupons, which reduced the total to under $15. I pointed out that there were no stipulations about coupons in the advertised promotion, and after checked the wording, she agreed with me and added 3,000 to my account.

Wags appears to hate coupons in general, and I am not talking about extreme couponing, but just regular use of coupons. They act as if they are not getting reimbursed for MQs, which puzzles me. It’s always irritated me that I have to buy extra fillers just to use RRs on items being purchased with MQs, and now that I have to separate RR items from BR items while keeping track of total number of items vs coupons when using RR, it’s too much trouble. And ten bucks says it won’t be long before Wags makes sure every sale is a BR deal, so I won’t be able to use my BR points to purchase sale items unless I willingly forfeit the BR points I would earn from purchasing those items.

So anyway, yesterday, I bought two Lindsay olives, four packs of Ricola sugar free drops, and an extra Sunday paper (for the coupons). I used coupons on the olives and cough drops, and paid with last week’s $3 toothpaste RR and some cash. I currently have 19,000 BR points and no RRs. I could have used 5,000 BR points to buy the 10-count Advil Congestion Relief on the $6 Pfizer rebate (Sunday coupon), but CVS has the 20-count package for $7.99 with a $1 ECB eligible for the same rebate, so I bought at CVS because it’s a better deal.

Wags has made me very appreciative of CVS’s customer-friendly coupon and ECB policies. I get a whole month to use ECBs, I don’t need fillers to use them, they roll – even on like deals, I earn $5 for every $50 spent on beauty items, and I earn quarterly points for OOP spending. CVS has the 98% rule on ECBs earned for spending $X (if the deal is $10 ECB for spending $30 on select items, I will earn the ECB for a total above $29.40 and do not have to throw something else in to push the total above $30. )I can use my ECBs on milk if I want to (which is always competitively priced and frequently on sale).

I will not make any purchases at Wags at this point unless the deal is terrific. I am holding onto my BR points to use on Black Friday, and after that, I will go back to what I am doing now – cherry picking a few sale items while making sure I never have more than a few dollars in RR at a time.
ktustis says

October 15, 2012 at 9:25 pm

Cvs accepts all competitor’s pharmacy coupons for new and transfered prescriptions. This alone has earned me over $200.00 this year! Much better than the .50 you get at Wags!
Maureen32164 says

October 16, 2012 at 3:25 am

This is what I’ve read about Black Friday deals (she’s usually accurate)

https://www.iheartwags.com/2012/10/1123-black-friday-rumored-deals.html#more

I would only want the shampoo deals, but if these rumored RR deals are offered as BR deals instead, I’ll just buy some cheap toilet paper and hang on to a few BR points for the odd good deal that comes up. The BR points don’t expire for three years so long as you use your card at least once every six months.