I want to give you all a heads up and let you know about a major change that’s coming our way. We will be seeing a Walgreens Balance Rewards card launching in September.
Many of you know that Walgreens tested a loyalty program in select markets last year. We don’t know how much of the test market program will be carried over to the new loyalty program but some of the basics, like the rewards card, will be included.
Here is some of what we know…
- Walgreens Balance Rewards will allow customers to earn and redeem Bonus Points and get personalized offers
- You’ll be able to enroll in the store, online and with the mobile app
- You will earn Bonus Points when you make purchase items featured in the weekly ad, from Pharmacy or with personalized offers
- You can redeem 5,000 points as $5 to pay for your purchases
- You can’t use Bonus Points for Alcohol, Gift Cards, Prescription Co-pays, Stamps, prepaid cards, dairy, tobacco.
- Bonus Points expire after 36 months from date of earning or after 6 months of no activity
- You must be a Balance Rewards member to get the sale price
- You will be able to manage your account with the Walgreens mobile app or on-line
I suspect that ultimately one of the largest influences on the new program will come from a drugstore in the U.K. called Boots. Walgreens and Boots recently announced a merger and management has indicated that they are looking to the Boots Rewards program, known as the Boots Advantage card, for ideas for the Walgreens Balance Rewards Card.
Walgreens employees will get to test the new loyalty program this month before it’s released to the public in September. I also expect to see changes and tweaking during the first year. I don’t think how the program gets rolled out is what it will look like a year or two from now. Walgreens will have the ability to track purchases with the card, so I am hoping we do see some reasonable limits so we all have a better chance of finding deals on the shelves.
I’ll share facts and details as they come in and we’ll learn more as we get closer to September. I just wanted to give you all a heads up and share the facts currently available on the program.
(Thanks R for all your help! :))
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
Will RR’s still exist? If so, will u get points from a purchase with an RR?
RR’s will be ending. I believe I was told the end of August. You will still get RR’s they will just be on a card rather than printing out. Employees will be getting thier cards the 15th of this month and customers are supposed to get their’s at the end of the month.
@Kim that’s not true. RR’s will not be ending anytime soon. RR’s will not be put on the card or anything like that. Card is simply there to rack up points which you can then use to get $$ off your purchases.
I just talked to a manager of the store I go to, and he said he is already ordering all the way through Black Friday, and he is still seeing RR deals all the way through. He said the points system will be in addition to the RRs. He is an avid couponer as well, and said he doesn’t think the points system will be as bad as everyone thinks.
I heard that they are phasing out RRs
Ugh. I like the RR program now.I hate points programs. They set the limits so high its not even worth your time usually.Guess I’ll be switching to CVS shopping mostly.
Not even going to try and guess how long its going to take to get that 5000 points to get the measly 5 bucks back.If its anything like my other points program cards it will take the whole 36 months to earn them.
I’ve heard rumors that its $200 bucks out of pocket
I’m pretty sure if you’re a loyal Wags shopper, it probably won’t take that long. And they have bonuses for purchasing items, so its not like you only get points for OOP spending.
Except that many of us are loyal Walgreens shoppers only BECAUSE of the good deals we can get by combining coupons with a register reward. Remove that aspect of it, and we won’t be so loyal anymore. It’s not Walgreens that we’re loyal to; it’s the deals we’re loyal to. Where they are, is where we’ll spend our money.
I found out the switch just this Sunday but i didnt know all the details like you have explained above. Wow!!??
In December of last year, Walgreens failed to renew it’s National Account with Express Scripts. The were the only pharmacy to stand their ground. Unfortunately for WAGS, they are now losing $$$ and $$$ (Millions) of dollars. Hope this new program isn’t just another reason to shop at CVS, RA, Walmart, Kroger, Randalls, etc. They shot themselves in the right foot back in December and now it looks like they are aiming at the left foot. Go Figure!
That contract was renewed a couple of weeks ago. I believe it goes back into effect September 15th.
The Express Contract has now been renewed – I’m working on a post about that actually.
FYI, we’ve reached a deal with ESI.
You’re Welcome.
I won’t shop there if they are doing this. My friend lives in KC and the points never were equal to the amount of a register reward you would get and it took forever for points to post to her account. BOOOO!
More of a reason to shop at CVS. At CVS they don’t make you jump through hops to get great deals and no filler item needed. I’m glad they are doing this though. I’m actually shocked that it wasn’t sooner. For those that always find the empty shelf, I’m sure someone will figure out away around the system. Oh well…that’s why I LOVE CVS!!!
I don’t know why you would need to blog on a walgreens website about how much you hate walgreens. Blogs such as these are set up for people who enjoy shopping at their stores can go and talk about the deals they found while shopping. My advice to you is to never again post on Wild for Wags about how much better CVS. Instead you can go post as many times as you want on Wild for CVS’s site about how much you love CVS, For us loyal Walgreen shoppers this new reward program really hurts, primarily because it does resemble the program already established at CVS and i can’t talk for the other Wild for Wags readers but the reason I shop at Walgreens is too avoid that nasty card.
Good riddance!
I just contacted Walgreen’s online…everyone exhale… REGISTER REWARDS ARE HERE TO STAY!! here is a copy of the conversation verbatim
Hi! My name is Lisa M.. How may I help you?
Customer: I just learned of the Walgreens Balance Rewards program launching in September. I would like to know if this is in addition to register rewards or will this be replacing register rewards?
Lisa M.: I am happy to assist you. Please allow me 2-3 minutes to research this for you.
Customer: Thank you !
Lisa M.: The Walgreens Balance Rewards is separate from Register Rewards. Below is information regarding the Balance Rewards/
Lisa M.: • Earn points on products and services.
• Receive special sale pricing on select items.
• Earn points for filling a certain number of prescriptions and for actively participating in
Walk with Walgreens
I heard they are doing away with the RR. I also heard that if your purchase $10 worth of product per say and get it down under $1.00 with coupons you get ZERO points. Someone also mentioned you have to spend over $200 out of pocket before you get a $5 giftcard. I sure hope this isn’t true!!!
Spend 200 to get 5. Thats sounds about right for a points program.What a bargain….not.LOL!!
My cousin works for Wags and while she hasn’t gotten the rewards card yet (she said maybe next week), she said Wags has no plans to do away with the RRs. They have a contract with Catalina Marketing (couponnetwork.com) and while the RR deals might fall off with the roll out of the new rewards program, they have no plans to drop the national catalina deals.
Walgreens will be taking Express Scripts once again in September. I know with the beta program, the rewards were easy to accumulate. Don’t just assume 5000 points is going to take a long time to earn.
My cashier said that register rewards are gone as of 9/1 in Wisconsin, and the rewards program will be launched in its place.
Hi all. I just talked to a rep via chat. This is what info I got. Have a great day.
Please wait while we find an agent to assist you…Hi! My name is Pauline G.. How may I help you?Customer: Hello. How are you? I heard that Walgreens is launching a new points system. Is this true?
Pauline G.: Hello! I am good, thanks for asking. I’ll be more than happy to address that for you.
Pauline G.: It is called Balance Rewards and starts on September 16, 2012 and enrollment is free.
Customer: Do you have literature you can send me?
Customer: Will the RR’s be phased out?
Pauline G.: The Balance Rewards department may have some. You can contact them at 1-855-225-9225. Nothing has been mentioned about it being phased out.
Customer: Thank you very much. Have a wonderful night.
Pauline G.: You’re welcome! Thank you for contacting Walgreens.com and be well. It was my pleasure to assist you. Following the closing of this chat is a short survey about the service I provided you that is like a grade for me that will only take a few moments to complete. It is underlined by the words “click here” once the chat session has ended. Have a great evening! Local store or pharmacy issue? Contact Customer Service using one of our feedback forms
http://www.walgreens.com/mktg/contactus/contact-us-landing.jsp
I work for Walgreens. RR are not going away. T getl to 5000 points won’t take that long depending on how often you shop with us. It will be a good program.
Really kinds sounds like this card could be similar to the cvs card?
I talked to two Wags associates tonight and they said the GM assured them that the card will be IN ADDITION to RR’s. I hope they are right. I shop at Wags to AVOID CVS. CVS is just too confusing for me and time consuming.
YesI hope so too. I would much rather shop walgreens than CVS because of the limitations of the card.Because sometimes I would like to purchase more than one razor considering I live in a household that contains to 2 adults and a teen. We go through lots of personal care items around here.:)
I have a “favorite” cashier at Walgreens who will actually find me in the store to make sure I know about all of the “freebies.” Anyway, last Sunday she told me that WAGS was going to be switching over to a card like CVS, but that from what she could tell, I was really going to like it. So. . .fingers crossed. . .
In my store here in North Central Arkansas some of the employees have told me that the rewards card will start in September, but their understanding is that within the next year they will phase out the Register Reward programs. I am hoping that this is not so. Where I live the only reason to shop here is for the sale items and register rewards because their prices are usually a much higher on all their products. I like Walgreens I can only hope they don’ t get rid of RR’s, otherwise it’s the dreaded Walmart for me….
anybody heard anything about limits? Will we only be able to get one or two items per card, like cvs.
Thats one reason I don’t like the CVS card. Its not worth my time to shop there for one razor or one deodorant or whatever the current sale happens to be considering it is much further from my home which costs me alot in gas and the fact that I have a family of 5 so I do sometimes need to purchase more than one of something and would rather not pay full price for it if I don’t have to.
Without knowing the details, it’s hard to say for sure, but this sounds a lot like the program they ran in the test markets. One which I hated (as the bonus point deals were never as good as the RR deals the rest of the country had).
But my biggest complaint was that in the test markets, points were awarded AFTER manufacture coupons – that made all the ‘amazing’ get 5x bonus points (and similar) deals worthless for couponers…
I share your issue about the post-coupon point accrual. I stopped shopping at Walgreens during the test program because of it, and is my only concern about the new program at this point. I like Walgreens and don’t want to quit shopping with them, but this could be the end.
Thats doesn’t sound good.:(
I hope that the rewards card limits the number of items that can be purchased on each promotion- like cvs does. There is a lady who clears out our store of all inventory every single sunday morning at opening time for anything with 100% register reward. No joke- a while back when carmex was on 100%reward, she put the entire cardboard display in her shopping cart. Frustrating to those of us who would like 1 or 2.
LOL! OMG that’s crazy!! Well, that’s one aspect that I do agree with. Although the limitations at CVS are usually 1 or 2, after a couple years of couponing, I honestly DO NOT need to buy 5 bottles of mouthwash every week. I’m completely stocked for like, the next year and a half. I’ll replenish every 3 months or so with a bottle or two here, but I really won’t cry about it if I can only get ONE of the deal. I think CVS has the right idea and that being upset about not being able to get a lot of a really good deal is not going to kill us couponers. I only coupon for my family so I can’t speak on behalf of those that donate to everything, but as for my couponing needs, which expands to my family and some friends, what I have in my stockpile right now is more than sufficient. I don’t even have room for anything anymore. But that’s just my opinion–I think just getting 1 quantity of a good deal is fine. I honestly don’t need more than that or it would just be temptation and waste of OOP money. Lol
We will just have to deal with it
Exactly! i don’t think it’s as bad as everyone is making it out to be. Seems to me, and maybe I’m wrong, that we will still get our RRs and it will limit the shelf clearing and we might get an extra bonus along the way just for having the card. Am I right?
That’s what I’m thinking, too. I mean, if it sucks, Wags will lose customers and $$$. They certainly wouldn’t want that!
I like CVS much better! 1¢ cost me a $4 RR today 🙁
Walgreens has too many confusing rules, it took 4 associates to ‘try’ & explain why I didn’t qualify for the RR……..
@ Linda Pierce did you read the sale tag. because some people don’t even bother reading….they need to read the fine print to.
I am looking forward to some changes, I rarely get in on the RR deals because they are gone by Sunday morning. Employees at my Wags said that they have shoppers clear them out at midnight.
I agree. Great to have a card to make it equitable for all shoppers to get a good deal. I still don’t like their filler item system when you use a Mfg coupon and a RR to pay for an item. Hope they will fix that when they are fixing other things.
I was in a Rewards Card test market and it was awful. I sure hope they took some complaints into consideration. Does anybody know at this point if points will be based on your pre-coupon total like at Fred Meyer or if it will be post-coupon like the test program? I might be done shopping at Walgreens again come September. Very sad.
like everything in life there are bad and good things with everything. The greatest advantage is more people are going to get the sale items not just one person so im happy for those who dont have a cvs or rite aid and walgreens is there only choice. And its sad to hear i miss these i miss that because just one person took it all. If they dont get rid of rr’s it will be great. AT rite aid they have a similar program you get points for every oop money you spend plus up rewards (rr’s) but if walgreens get rids of rr’s then it wont be a good program. i heard that if you buy things with your points you wont be getting new points. Plus not all of us take prescriptions all the time to walgreens. gee i can’t even remember when was the last prescription i took. so reaching the points wont be so easy for me. but i have more choices like cvs and rite aid which are already my favorite drugstores anyway
I shopped at Wags yesterday and was given a letter from management that states: “As of September 15, 2012, RR’s will no longer be given. We will be switching to a customer loyalty card. More details will be available soon.”
My cousin works for Wags and she has seen the ads up until October and there are definitely RR deals along with bonus reward point deals. If Wags drops RR’s there is no way possible for them to compete with CVS & Rite Aid (as they both give rewards for purchase).
Maybe they are going to rename Register Rewards to something else?
Why is everyone going ON AND ON about this being a replacement program? Call corporate and ASK! They clearly are telling customers this is a card bonus program in ADDition to the RR program people! Sheesh!!
DITION to the RS!
I work for a walgreens and I was told and I read that if you purchase ‘product X’ not only will you get the sale price but you can get a bonus points. Like buy folgers coffee and get 50 bonus points. Also you don’t need a card to get the sale price. Sale price will ring no matter, you would just lose out on any bonus. It is nothing like CVS, sale price with card is not required. Just an extra way to get more rewards and get more customers thru the door. It is eventually going to replace the weekly ad coupons but not until more customers participate in the program. I highly doubt they would get rid of the RRs because it makes them soooo much money. Just thought I would share what I read and answers I was given. Thanks!
I too also work for wags, and the actually training states that in order to get sale prices and use wags coupons you must be part of the program, not just about bonus points only.
I’m a RX tech at Walgreens and we’ve been told RR Will continue thru 2013 in the several markets.
This is similar to when RiteAid rolled out their new cards, with the UPs loading to the card. Everyone was up in arms, saying they would never shop at RiteAid again, blah, blah, etc. Chill people.
If it resembles what the test markets were such as Kansas City…….it blows! Hopefully they have tweaked it and it will be better but when I lived in KC I pretty much quit shopping Walgreens because the RR’s were non-existant after a few months and it took forever to get to the cash out point level. Basically it was $200 AFTER coupons and not before.
what a sad day… I have no words for the sadness I am feeling, I just talked to the manager at my local wags and she said that they are phazing out RR’s completely but not for a few months to give people a chance to get used to the new system but eventually it WILL happen. 🙁 :'(
This is the conversation I had with walgreens customer service today! 🙁 🙁 :'( BOOOOOO
Hi! My name is Charon J.. How may I help you?
Customer: I am wondering, I have been reading a lot about a new reward program that you guys are having and I was wondering if this is in fact going to take over the register reward program that you have or is this going to be in addition to the reward program you are having, the manager at my local store was not sure of the answer to that question but he thought thinks that it is going to take over it.
Charon J.: I’d be happy to assist you with that question. To be polite and provide you with exceptional customer service, may I ask who I am chatting with today?
Customer: my name is Heahter
Charon J.: Thank you Heahter. The new program will be a replacement.
Customer: can you tell me why walgreens is doing this? I love the register reward program and just do not understand why it is being taken away when from everything I have read the new program was a major failure in the test market?
Charon J.: We have decided that this program will be a better option for our customers.
Customer: is this your way of getting rid of all the couponers from the walgreens chain?
Customer: not “your” way but walgreens
Charon J.: That is not our intent. The full details of the program will be released to customers in late August. I hope that once this happens that you will see the good in the program.
Customer: can you tell me when the register reward program will end?
Charon J.: I do not have an exact date yet.
Customer: I have read a lot of the details of the program and to be quite honest it does not look that exciting, I actually fear that I will no longer shop at walgreens when this happens, and that is sad because walgreens is (was) my favorite store….
Charon J.: I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Customer: thanks… 🙁 sad day for sure…
Charon J.: You’re welcome. Is there anything else that you need assistance with today regarding the Walgreens.com website?
Customer: nope you have ruined my day enough thanks
Charon J.: I do apologize that you feel that way. Is there anything else that I could have personally done to assist you?
Customer: no you were wonderful and answered all my questions very prefessionally and I should not say YOU ruined my day…. WALGREENS ruined my day 🙁
Charon J.: Thank you and I do understand your position. I will be sure to pass it along because your feedback is important and that is how change comes about.
Charon J.: We at walgreens.com look forward to serving all of your prescription, photo and drugstore needs and as always, be well! If you have any local store or pharmacy issues please contact Customer Service on our feedback form
I work at Walgreens and just did the training for the new Balance Reward Card. According to the training, in order to get the sale price you will have to be a member of the Balance Reward. When signing up for these free program, the customer choses to either have a card or to be a cardless member. All a person has to do is enter their phone number in the key pad if they chose cardless or if the customer doesn’t have their card on them. Bonus points can’t be used till 5000 points are earned but anytime after that the customer can chose when to use them. The training did state that if a customer choses to use their reward points they won’t earn any bonus points on that shopping trip. Not all items qualify for points either like tobacco products and gift cards.
That is incorrect, you AbSOLUTELY have to be a member of the balance rewards program to get the sale price advertised in the flyer.
i just got my card yesterday and today i bought two maybelline mascaras (featured in the ad) and a bottle of nice water and i got 500 points. I think it may have been because it was my first purchase on the card, but that is a pretty good amount. you receive points for things that are advertised.
I think that people who hate CVS’s limits are probably the people who clear the shelves at Walgreens. Not that it is hard to clear the shelf of all 6 products they have available for a major sale:) I had to laugh at the comment that at CVS you can only buy one razor a week and it does not cover all the household members. EVERY week CVS is offering some razor and if you coupon you probably are giving away razors and toothpaste as they are easy to amass no matter where you shop. I personally will wait and see as far as the new program at Walgreens. I did not like the old program so it has no where to go but up (or out). The filler thing where you get a dollar register reward and end up spending most of it on a filler to use it was useless. Most of the time I spent it on an item I would never have bought if I did not have to have a filler so what good was the reward? The empty shelves were frustrating since rainchecks did not give you the same deal and getting to the store at opening on Sunday morning was still not a quarantee of getting the sale item as you had the employees sucking up the stock before it reached the floor. I also think that the comment that a Walgreens blog is for bascially only people who love Walgreens is silly. I am not loyal to any store but rather loyal to the best use of my cash and my family.
Agreed.
In regards to people who clear shelves, I blame the Waalgreens employees who allow them to do it. The ad always states the limit of coupons per offer, and there would be no shelf clearing if the cashier wasn’t willing to do the multiple transactions needed to get the rewards.
We live in the KC area where the card was a tested market. I can tell you that we had “Points” instead if RR. Your ads would say 2.00 RR our ads would say 200 points. Now.. There were at times when a Catalina would print from a promotion but no RR and points. The points add up very quickly and I have to say it was nice to see product on the shelf! Only inconvenience was the limit on 1 card ( 1 key Phob and 1 charge card size card) we have 3 shoppers in the home. Look forward to seeing what they do with this new program.
I chose to go “cardless” so I don’t have to worry about another card or worry about which set of keys I am carrying. The only downside I see to going “cardless” is that I was told I HAVE to enter my phone number right away at the beginning of the transaction because once items are scanned I can’t get the sale prices (unless of course it’s voided and we start over). As an employee, I’m kind of dreading the whole thing, but eventually it will become habit to ask. The first few months of constantly trying to get people to sign up will be hectic. I just hope the sale tags specifically in BIG print say something about “this is the price for rewards members” because we’re going to have lots of angry customers expecting the sale price. Anyway…. when you carry a card, you can scan it during the middle of the transaction and it will still work.
I see a lot of comments saying RR’s are here to stay, some from actually Walgreens employees. I was told the new points system rolls out on the 16th of September by the manager of my local Walgreens. And I saw the ad scan for that sales week and there is ONE RR deal. ONE! The rest is all bonus points. So, RR’s are really here to stay, huh?? I used to shop at Walgreens each week now I’ll have to figure out CVS or Rite Aid because I’m not dealing with this point system stuff. I hope Walgreens realizes that they’re screwing up their own business doing this and change it all back.
There’s actually more than one in the ad for 9/16. I know they can be a little hard to read with so much going on but there are several RR deals, and quite a few monthly ones. I’m actually excited about the points since I will have 3 years before they expire instead of two weeks. 🙂 Plus, I don’t have to worry about losing them. It’s all tied to my phone number or my card.
Perhaps the RR advertised on couponnetwork will be the ones that stay, and the old RR advertised in their weekly ads will be the ones phased out?
What a mistake that Wallgreens has made. They were ahead of companies like CVS until now. I like gettting the lowest price without having to sign up for a program and carrying a card. People are not sheep and go where the best prices and services are. I WAS a loyal customer for 50 years until they throw this bs program at customers. Branding your customers by this method turns me and mine off bigtime. I’ll be shopping for a new drugstore now.
I am not receiving my Balance Points for Prescriptions, WHY?