Today is the first day of the new Walgreens Balance Rewards program! I was a little nervous but everything went off without a hitch. I was able to buy multiple bonus deals in one transactions with no problems and I had some nice surprises!
GLADE WARMERS
I’m super excited to report that the Glade Scented Oil Warmers are not only giving us 1,000 Balance Rewards points ($1 – $1.25), it’s also working for the monthly Glade PlugIns Scented Oil deal! I was so hoping that would be the case. 😉 So you’ll get an additional $2 Register Reward, which makes it a $2 to 2.25 money maker! WOO HOO!
Walgreens Deals
Buy (3) Glade Scented Oil Warmers 3/$4
(3) $1.00 off Glade PlugIns Scented Oil Warmer or kit or (SS 08/26/12)
= $1.00, Get $2 Register Reward & 1,000 points ($1 – $1.25)
TOTAL = $2 to $2.25 Money Maker!
GLADE EXPRESSIONS
These are still printing the double $1 Register Rewards making them a $1 Money Maker after coupons. Boy, my house is going to smell great. 😉
Glade Expressions Starter Kit 7 oz $2.99
$2/1 Glade Expressions Fragrance Mist Starter Kit printable
= $0.99, Get Back (2) $1 Register Rewards
TOTAL = $1.01 Money Maker!
WALGREENS BALANCE REWARDS
Here are some details about my transactions today with the new card & some Balance Rewards program tips!
- If you signed up on-line you can still attach your account to an actual card in the store.
- I was able to buy multiples in one transaction (like 4 Mitchum & 4 Stride ID Gum) and earn points for all of them.
- If I paid with points – I still got Register Rewards.
- If I paid with points for a transaction where I should have earned more points – I did not.
- So pay with Register Rewards for your points transactions if you can and pay with points for your Register Rewards transactions if you can.
- Manufacturer’s coupons did not interfere with any of my points earned.
- Points earned show up on my receipt, making it easy to keep track!
So how did your shop go? I can’t wait to hear! 🙂
(Thanks Frugal Bengal, Shannyn and Frugal Finders for your e-mails!)
{ 95 comments… read them below or add one }
I am glad it when well for you because it didn’t for me. It shows it was offline on my receipt and when I tried to add it in my app it says the transaction didn’t exist and when I called them they couldn’t add it either. All they said was to wait till tomorrow and see if it worked then. So I am just waiting.
Just hold on to your receipt. If it doesn’t show up, they can add your points later.
I did one transaction with the ID2 gum and some other items. They took my Rewards card, and then once again, they had to void the transaction because I used RRs to pay, and they forgot to ask before pushing the payment screens for their registers. They treat the RR like coupons not cash payment, so inevitably, they have to void the whole transaction and start over. Well, be cautious if this happens to you all as they then forget to ask for your new Register Rewards card. So darn, my points didn’t show. They said to call the toll free number on back of your receipt to request adding on missed points.
i don’t know what time you were there but at our store the rewards program went down at 3 ( i am pacific time). if you have your receipt and its not showing up tomorrow i would take it back and have the manager maybe do a return and re-sell it to you.
The cashier didnt let me add my phone number for one of my transactions, so I didnt get the points, but when I got home I just went in online and put in the info from my reciept and it posted my points. Try adding yours!
Ok the nice pure water gives big points. If u want points fast then try buying 5 cases.
The same happen to me, I was hoping to use those points to buy more things. Now I have to wait until they fix the problem. 8(
My trip went pretty good too! I spent out of pocket $30.00. BUT I left with 10.00 in R.R. and $10.00 on my New balance reward Card. I acually saved 56.06 and was a 73% savings.The only bad thing was I did 4 transactions and it did show my point balance but on the last two transaction it went offline. I had already gotten to 11,000 points and they said to look it up online to find the new balance. Overall pretty good trip! I think I’m gonna like the New Card!!!
Is the cottonelle deal still active even with the new rewards program???
The cottonelle deal is still active till Sept 23. i got the little info paper leaflet with my RR last week.
I bought 4 iD gums in two separate transactions (did four transactions today). I only received register reward points the first time I bought two packs, the second time I didn’t receive any points. The cashier was nice enough to point it out, but it was my last transaction and I just didn’t want to hassle with another return (did one for a separate mistake, that was mine).
Check your gums, maybe you bought stride bubble gum, that happenend to me. Just return them and buy ID gum to get your points.
Don’t know if someone commenting below, but you could have done all of them in one transaction as they still give you the points. Even the manager didn’t know that, but I saw this hint on this site, so knew it would work. So until they code a item number limitation on their cards, it will work this way. I rang up 12 packs of gum as I had 6 B1/G1 coupons and I got all of the points, which was 6000.
Thanks for the info. I have a quick question. If you make a purchase and it’s 2$ and you have 5,000 points (5$) on the balance reward card will it take a portion of those points to cover the purchase or do you have to make a purchase 5$ or more?
you can only use point for a min of $5, nothing smaller.
you can redeem the points for smaller purchases if you would like, however you will lose the remainder of 5,000 points that you redeem.
No overages.
Kristen, call the 1855 number on the back of your rewards card. Have your receipt ready and they can add points on for you.
I was excited to get the 2000 points for the mitchum instead of 1000. I didn’t get the glade warmers, not realizing it didn’t come with the oil. Sine it was a money maker, kinda wish I had now.
I am a little confused on how to redeem your points though. Do you have to cash them out in 5000 increments? If you earn 1000 points, can you cash them in for a $1 reward?
i called the the balance rewards program and the representative told me that you can only do 5000, 10000, 18000, 30000, 40000……this means you cannot redeem 1000 points for a dollar….hope this helps
I am confused. Do you get a card. I registered online and I dont have a card, do I get one at the store.?
Yes, they give you one at check-out. They will find it with the phone number you used to register online. I registered online last week and got my card in the store a couple of days ago using my phone number. HTH.
I too signed up online & when I went to WalGreens they tried to sign me up for a card since I had never received my card but then they said they were having issues with the new system & for me to try again later???!!! I would think we should receive our cards in the mail but IDK….
Yes, You’ll be able to get an actual card if you would like. 🙂 They can give you one in the store and connect it to your phone number. Just ask next time you are in the store.
So, since I asked about this when I was in today and they didn’t know how to link a card with my account that I signed up online. What do I tell them to do so that I can get a card tomrorow? I am a card person and NOT a telephone number person so really want the card. Thanks Christie, I experienced everything you said you did today also except for this one issue.
I was told no matter if you have a card or not, you still have to put in your phone number for each transaction.
no once you scan your card into the register it brings up your rewards number. You only need to enter the phone number if you opted for the cardless membership or signed up online. You can link cards by having the cashier go into the transaction function and there is a button to link card. You can only link one card to each membership.
Christie? True? I so have a phobia about telepones and this would about kill me.
You do need a phone number to attach to the card.
So why do you need a card if you have to put in your phone number every time anyway. Makes no sense to me. hmmmm…
I have to put in my phone # every time at Fred Meyer’s & Paul’s Supermarkets (NW stores).
You don’t have to have a card, it’s just an option if you like to have one. Maybe it’s because I work with so many people in my “real” job that have been the victim of identity theft, I’m paranoid about having to input my phone number and have people see it in line behind me. LOL. So I like the card vs phone number.
You can get one online… Did any one else have issues with their points not showing up and that it was showing as offline as in the points. Even when Iook online to see my points it shows that it is not working. I really want to double check my points but I can’t because it says offline
Yes. i did 4 seperate transactions. I didnt get points for two trans. equalling 2,000 points. it just says offline. I used my phone app and they scanned my phone. the problem with that, is that you have to keep logging in, because it logs out automatically. when i went to add my receipts, it just says that transaction doesnt exist. i used manuf. coupons, and reg. rewa. coupons. I dont know how they get the amount that i’m supposed to put on the “order amount” that it asks for when adding a receipt. i guess i have to call.
Christie, you are so awesome!! I’m so grateful to you for trying out all of those things so that you could help us all out. Thank you!! My transactions went super smoothly and I didn’t have any issues. I bought 3 of the Glade warmers and the Expressions and got the double $1RR as well as the $2RR, so great money maker on those! Also got two Stride gum and the bottled water, and got all the points I was supposed to get. Last thing I picked up was two Blistex moisture melt in two different transactions and got RR for both. What a great day! I will be very happy to be able to go back and forth between RR and BR since we can’t use the BR points to get more points. Hooray!
Woo Hoo! 🙂 And you are very, very welcome!
I was also told that this is the last week they will be printing RR, after this week, it will all be BR with NO RR. Which is gonna be hard for me, that means more out of pocket to be able to get my bargains.
I have not heard that. Christie posted on another page that this program is not replacing the RR at this time and that we will continue to see RR deals in the coming weeks. It may replace them eventually, but she said for now RR will still be going.
that’s not true i’ve seen the ads for the next 2 weeks and there are RR’s. And unless they change it (which they could) as of right now there are RR items for black friday.
As an employee of Walgreens, I will assure you that at this moment in time, we will continue to do the Balance Rewards Points, Register Rewards, Walgreens Monthly Coupons, and Ad Coupons. 🙂
Yea! Thanks for the info Kendra!
I had a great trip.
First I did 2 transactions of:
colgate toothbrush, colgate toothpaste and Blistex and 2 fillers. Used coupons and RR like “normal”.
My third transaction was big and I got all the points I was supposed to get! I bought Finest Natural (or whatever they are called) iron supplements and vitamin C bogo50%, 2 mitchems, 3 coke & 2 reeses, 4 halls, 2 revlon concealors bogo50%, 3 glade, 10 ID gums. My total was 51.xx and I got 34,500 in points total.
Then to test things out I then bought 1 mitchem just to see if I would be able to get those points again…and I did.
Then I bought colgate toothbrush, toothpaste and blistex again, but paid with 5,000 points and got my RR. When I checked out and said i wanted to redeem points, a screen came up and asked if I wanted to use 5,000 points for $5.00 or if I wanted to use 10,000 points for $6.xx (which was my total after coupons). I chose to only use 5,000 points and pay the rest in cash. duh 🙂
Isn’t that funny? No I don’t want to use my $10 to pay for $6. LOL. 🙂
Glad you had a great trip!
Thank you so much your points on the new program, I had been soo confused up until now! So I might just not give up shopping at wags after all 🙂
I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty cool actually! 🙂
If you have been at Walgreens in the past few hours…their Balance Rewards system has completely crashed. But don’t worry, as long as you used your card in-store, the points will show up in your account when the system comes back online. 🙂
I signed up online, so I’m technically cardless. The Clerk said I didn’t need one if my phone number came up (which it did). Yikes!
@Liza –If you get your prescription there that’s why it’s in the system. 😉
I thought the same thing with mine.
My cashier said that the cardless feature was crashing their systems on Saturday when the managers were all trying it out – so they weren’t even allowed to tell customers about that feature.
Also, does anybody know if I get 40,000 points and I want to turn it into $50 redemption dollars, if I have to use them all in one transaction? Or could I use only $20 of the $50 and have the remaining $30 stay in my account? I like never spend $50 in one transaction, but I want to reap the most of my rewards! Thanks!
You should be able to use $5 at a time if you’d like, so you don’t have to use $50. 😉
if you do not redeem the 40,000 together then they are only worth $40 instead of $50. Every time you spend 5,000 it is only worth $5. They reward you for making larger purchases.
I did my first trip today and it went great. I used the Walgreens app on my phone so the cashier just scanned my phone and it brought up my account information. She told me their systems were running really slow because of the registrations of cards but I didn’t have a problem. I got 5000 points with the B1G1 50% vitamins deal and it printed my point balance on the receipt. No problems at all!
Yay, I love hearing this!
i like the point im gonna save it up to buy some gifts or diapers.
All went smoothly in NE La., even got the $2 on glade !!!
woohoo thanks for posting this i had so many questions about this program and this has answer a lot of them
Does any one if the points that are based on certain dollar amounts track over multiple purchases in a week or does it have to all happen in one purchase? i didn’t see a running total toward the total at the bottom of my receipt like they do at rite-aid when it requires a certain dollar amount to get the reward. i just didn’t think and bought 2 cheeses (2/$5) and got home to realize that I would have gotten 5000 pts if I had spent $10 more (ie coke products). I could go back later this week to get $10 in coke if it will prompt the points based on my earlier cheese purchase too.
It has to be in the same transaction
Luckily I went early enough today and got my br card before the system went down. Must be lots of people signing up! My WAGS actually had extra staff today to help customers through the process and answer questions. My cashier was very knowledgeable about the program; yay! My transactions went so awesome! I bought the ID gum in two different transactions just to see if i would receive points each time, which i did. I got the (2) $1 rr on the Glade starter kits; wish I had more of those $2 coupons! I missed out on the mm with the warmers, I didn’t even think about trying that one! I am just about to open my last carton of Diet Coke(horror), so that br deal came just in time! Also did the Hefty br deal. The rr deals I did today were Glade, Herbal Essence, and Blistex. I did the rr deals first, and used them on the br purchases and had no problems receiving all my points. I didn’t actually try to redeem any points yet, so will see how that goes when the time comes!
Anybody know if you can use your Balance Reward Points to purchase gift cards? It would be so much easier to get to the $50 point amount and just buy a Walgreens $50 gift card since you cannot use points to still gain points. TIA.
In the rules it says you can NOT use the BR to buy giftcards, tobacco and the like.
the only bad thing about it, its they are not setting limits and the shelf clearing will only get worse in my area. :0( since you no longer have to do a lot of transactions to get the points.
I think this might end soon. My store manager who I got to be friends with said that items that are on full rewards right now, will be limited to One per card. Like the Blistex that is on rewards right now. The card will act a lot like the CVS card where it will track the deals and limit how many you can do. So I guess we need to stay tuned, but certainly this new system requires a whole shift in thinking when shopping at Walgreens. More interestingly, you’ll probably see people carrying multiple cards, one for every family member and keep going back. What is sad, is that our store here says they constantly get people who try to return the items that they got RR for, and they try to crack down on this because the RR doesn’t track. So wonder if you return a item under the new system, if it is smart to take back your points.
The rules says that BR you get from a transaction will be deducted if you return the items purchased. They scan the reciept so the system will take off any points added to start with.
I can answer this one. Yesterday, I had bought 4 packs of the iD gum and a few of the RR items in one order. After I paid, the machine ran out of paper to print the RR’s. So I did a return/rebuy to get my RR’s. I just checked the BR balance on my phone app. It will let you look at your transactions…even the ones with no BR’s! It showed where I did the return/rebuy. The first order before return has a 2000 pts. Then return transaction shows a – 2000 and the rebuy has the + 2000 points.
Side note: The cashier was able to scan the “barcode” on my app the first time. Then the other orders I had to enter my phone number. So far, you can enter it during the checkout process if you forget.
I did the ID gum deal and that worked great with the points.
Also, today the Mentos sticks of gum were $1.34 at our Walgreens, so I used my coupon for a $1 off two, and also the $1 off two in the Walgreens monthly so each were $.34 cents.
Also, this is a deal I want to share with everyone. There was a P&G coupon for $5.00 off a Gillette ProGlide when you buy a ProGlide system or disposables. Right now, the Mach 5 system razors (one has two cartridges and the Olympic version only has one, but is electric) is on sale for $9.99 and if you buy two, you get back $10.00 rewards. The sales clerk told me to buy two of them and then use two of the coupons (B1/G$5 off next) and it worked. So I bought the ones with the two cartridges for $9.99 x 2 = 19.98 less $10.00 in coupons and got $10 RR, so I got both for a money making .02. Was really surprised this worked, and always love getting really good razors for free.
Then, i did try to use a $3.00 off Gillette disposables coupon and then stack it with a buy one Gillette disposable and get one free, and they said this wouldn’t work. They are on sale right now for $7.99 so was hoping to get two for $7.99 – $3.00 coupon. I always have been able to use a coupon on the first and get the second free when there is a second B1/G1 free…has anyone else had luck?. (The sales clear said that the system looks for two items on the B1/G1 coupon so you can’t use another coupon when you buy the first..help!!) I was surprised by first set of coupons on the Gillete ProGlides worked, but this second stacking didn’t…hmm…the mystery of coupons.
So you bought 2 Mach 5’s or 2 Proglides?
Sorry for confusion..but I bought two ProGlides which are on sale right now for $9.99 and if you buy two you get $10 in RR. So they did take the two $5 off ProGlides if you buy ProGlide, so I got the two razors for .02 money maker.
I did it again tonite, but this time, used one of the $5.00 off Proglide when you buy a ProGlide, and then also a $4.00 off ProGlides, so it pay $1.00 plus tax after the 9.99 sales price and $10.00 reward back, which is still a great deal.
They did confirm at our Walgreens that I could do the deal where I have a B1G1 free coupon and also a coupon off the one I buy. So right now, there is a $3.00 off Gillette Disposal razors, and then also a B1/G1 free Gillette Disposal razors. So they are $7.99 right now. I’ll buy one using my $3.00 coupon, getting that one for $4.99 and then get another one for free. Drives you crazy that the coupon policy constraints are so differently interpreted Walgreens to Walgreens. Right now, a lot of the college kids who have years of experience are gone, and it seems like many young new kids on working and don’t have any knowledge. So I just ask them to try the coupon and it of course usually works.
I was able to get 2 Gillette razors $9.99 each and 2 Mach 3 turbo razors $11.99 each and used 2 $4 off Proglide and 2 buy Proglide and get Mach 3 razor free which deducted full amount of $11.99 2 times. And I had $5 in BR so $6.98 out of pocket and received $10 RR.
Wow…that was a good one. I did buy the ProGlides that had two cartridges in them instead of the Olympic version or battery versions that had just one. I didn’t even look at the Mach 5’s which was allowed by the coupon B1G1…was this one or two cartridges? . Sometimes, coupon stress gets in the way of clear thinking…am I alone on this? Would like to not always feel like somewhat of a criminal for using coupons. 🙂
does anyone know if the Blistex RR is rolling? I might go try tomorrow but am not impressed with the whole card thing….. They’re slowly weaning us off of register rewards. Probably by christmas we won’t have them anymore.
I wonder if there will still be jingle cash??
I don’t know… I guess walgreens merged with another pharmacy chain and that is the reason for balance rewards…. I don’t like the card in fact i HATE the card. My walmart ad matches the price after register rewards so i’ll probably be doing that from now on. Or I will shop at CVS
I bought 3-Musketeers candy bars for just $1.25 a bag this morning. They are on sale for 2/$5.00 with 1,000 br. I used the $1.50/2 q available from http://www.coupons.com code 77477 (supersaver member). The q in the Sept. coupon book did not stack with this b/c these were 11 oz. Still $1.25 is a good price for a bag of candy.
I did my first balance card run this morning – went great! They were out of water (boo), but bought 11 Mitchum deodorants and 14 gums (I get 5 papers, and also share coupons with a friend that gets 5 papers). Also bought 2 Aussies and rolled $2 RR into big transaction. Got 29,000 points. If I were able to buy 2 cases of water, I’d be at $35 mark. My OOP is around $23 (for all plus Aussie), so this will be free for all gum, deo, and 2 cases of water (i have to go back and buy) – PLUS $8 moneymaker!!!! (now what to do with $35?? lol)
🙂
I haven’t tried the new system, but it seems to me that there are too many rules. I particular don’t like the having to use all 5000 or 10000 points in one transaction and not being able to spread the points over several transactions. Also, if the RRs go, you are going to be paying more OOP for your purchases. Just don’t think it will be worth the hassle. Seems to me that Walgreens needs to charge fair prices on their merchandise and stop trying to make their customers play games. Many of us don’t have time to play.
Even the store manager in my store didn’t understand that you can buy multiples in one transaction and get all the points. I was buying gum and she said it has to be separate transactions like RR deals, and I said I didn’t think that was true. And of course it does work with everything in one transaction and she was convinced newly. I bet in the future they will limit it to one per card, like CVS so even multiple transactions won’t work.
If I am understanding correctly, this system will force you to spend at least $5, $10, etc. every time you make a purchase in the store or lose your points if your purchase amounts fall somewhere between increments of 5. For example, if your purchase is $14, you can pay with 10000 points and then pay the rest OOP or you can use 15,000 points and lose 1,000 of them because your purchase wasn’t $15. Am I right?
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you don’t have to redeem points every time, you can choose when you want to use them. this is the breakdown of how you can redeem points.
(1) 5,000 points = $5
(2) 10,000 points =$10
(3) 18,000 points =$20
(4) 30,000 points =$35
(5) 40,000 points =$50
But yes in your example if you had a $14 purchase and wanted to pay nothing oop then you could redeem 18,000 points for $20 but you would lose $6. or you could redeem 10,000 points for $10 and pay $4 oop. HTH
Can i use the 1$RR from Glade expressions to buy Glade warmer? Would i still be getting 2$RR for Glade warmer? I see that both products are from Glade. Technically i should not receive RR but i am wondering if there was a glitch in this too?
So to clarify I can’t use a BOGO free coupon and a $ off coupon for the same items? I was hoping to use the BOGO razor coupon and the $5.00 Off razor coupon in the same transaction??
Yes you can use a BOGO coupon and then use the $$ off coupon for the one you’re paying for.
Sorry I didn’t clarify better, The BOGO coupon pays for the “Free” Item and the $$ Off coupon takes $$ amount off of the one you’re paying for out of pocket. Many store workers do not understand how this works so if you have any problems make sure you take the store policy and ask for a manager (not assistant Manager)
Yes, I agree as I mentioned in my follow up post above too
. I was totally sure the clerk was wrong in that I have always been able to use a coupon on the one I buy, and the B1/G1 free on the free one. She was a more senior person in a St. Paul area Walgreens. I let it go telling her tho that I don’t think this follows the Walgreens policy. But she was nice enough to allow me to use two B1/G$5.00 off on two ProGlides, which I was expecting to work. They are $9.99 each and you get back $10.00 RR. So $9.99 x 2 – $5.00 – $5.00 – $10 RR = .02 money maker. And these are really nice razors…This is a great deal.
Hey I have a great scenario for lots of free stuff for wags!! Roll 2 Travel size cottonelle wipes RR with the blistex RR and all will be free!! If you were going to buy TP then you could roll the blistex RR onto your TP as well for better savings with coupons. I’m needing to stock up on baby wipes and chapstick for my little guy so i’ll be doing lots of these since i’m the only one in my town that does the RR deals at my wags and they had like 50 wipes and probably 40 blistex. Woot Woot!
Oh, are the cottonelle travel size still working this week ? Do you know how long this goes through ?
As far as I knew they wernt working I was doing 82 ct one gives u a 2 rr so 1.49 oop still not bad
I did the travel size and got RRs….. Did several transactions and am going to roll them back and forth with the blistex tomorrow!
Sorry, I’m a newbie here…what do you mean when you say you’ll “roll” something?
Is the glade expressions still printing double $1RR?
About two hours ago it was.
I want to make sure if I use my point from the gum 5,000 = $5.can i buy things that accumilate points also? I want to use that $5 for the mitchum the get the razors with the points to end up with the RR of $10 trying to make the oop as low as possible.
No Heather – you will not earn points. So you are better off rolling between points and Register Rewards.
Got it thanks. I had a feeling it was going to like this i did the razors then gum and mitchum but i need to call customer service i only received 5,000 point not the 10,000 i should of received. ;-(