As many of you know, Portland is a test market for Walgreens new Rewards Card program. I asked Brittany, our Walgreens expert, to explain how the program works and if it’s something to get excited about.
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If you live in the Portland area and you shop at Walgreens, you probably have a Walgreens Rewards card by now. You might look at the ad and see statements like “10x points” and “500 bonus points” when you purchase select items. These statements might have you a little confused. What do these bonus points translate to in dollars? The short answer: not much. The day these bonus points ad up to much of anything, I will make mention of it.
Here’s a little rewards card 101:
:: $1 spent = 10 points
When you spend $1 at Walgreens you will get 10 points. When you spend $.99 at Walgreens you will get 0 points (kind of stingy).
:: You must spend REAL money
When we say $1 we mean $1 of REAL money. You are going to have to actually spend some cash to see any points accumulate on your account. If you purchase the Frixion Gel pens this week they will cost you $1.99. Technically you should receive 10 points. But then you use coupons and your total comes to $0. Because you actually didn’t fork over any real money, you get 0 points.
For this reason, I have a bathroom cabinet bursting at the seems with Walgreens purchases and I have about 300 points to show for it.
:: 2000 points = $5 rewards certificate
You must accumulate 2000 points in order to get a $5 rewards certificate. That means you will have to spend $200 in order to get a $5 rewards certificate. That means for every dollar you spend you will get 2.5 cents back (assuming you EVER reach 2000 points).
:: What 10x points translates to
If an item in the ad says 10x points it still won’t amount to much. Lets say you purchase a $3 item. If you multiply this by ten you get 300 points. Remember you need 2000 points to get your $5 reward. This means your points will be worth roughly $.75.
If you want an easy way to figure this out, just multiply each dollar spent by 2.5 cents. If you have 5x points, then take that number and multiply by five.
:: 500 bonus points
Sometimes you will get bonus points for buying an item. Just remember that 2000 points is $5. So 500 bonus points would be $1.25. In most cases, this won’t be enough to make the item a good deal.
:: Redeeming Your Rewards
In order to ever see your rewards you will need to create and account at the Walgreens Rewards website and redeem your rewards.
Is it Worth it?
After reading this you might wonder if it is worth the hassle to bring your rewards card to Walgreens at all. The answer is absolutely yes. If you shopped at Walgreens before the rewards card days you will remember having to clip countless Walgreens coupons out of the ad. Now when you scan your Walgreens card, all of the in-ad coupons are automatic. Without the card you will miss out on a lot of deals.
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Sylvia Brown~ You are rude! Start your own blog!
Do you have an updated guide to Walgreens? I heard their program has changed. Thanks!
I’m pretty sure the cards has changed since the pilot. I’m an employee and I’ve heard different things about the card than the Kansas City, etc. pilots. Different rules apply, specifically to Walgreens brands. Also, we’ve heard nothing about stopping rr’s
It sure would be nice if you updated this site. Walgreens no longer uses the RR card. When I logged onto here, I became a little confused, as I have been told my RR card was phased out a long time ago – and then I noticed that the last info was posted her on 2010!
I like the idea of getting information from you – but not when it is 2+ years old!
Thanks, Sylvia
I am not in the Portland area but was offered a card by my local Walgreen and I accepted. Just wondering if I will still receive RR’s and the points as well?
is there a way to sign up for the rewards program online?
I noticed that you talked to Brittany, a Walgreens expert. I commented on a post about the 10X, 40X points yesterday. I am interested in getting in touch with her to see if she can straighten out the problem of getting all my points I feel I should have. The gal I talked to yesterday really did not know much about these points. Can you help me??? Thanks
I’m sticking to CVS!
Well I just redeemed 2000 points for a $5.00 reward cert and chose the “download and print” option, I completed my transaction and nothing downloaded, no pdf, no pop up, nothing. Then I get an e-mail confirmation that says I have downloaded and printed it!!! I fired off a complaint and told them I already feel cheated by this new rewards system and now I feel cheated out of the legitimate points I earned! ARGH! This is why I shop at Rite-Aid!
I think this stinks not getting RR. Is it in just portland or vancouver too??? If I dont get RR, probably will not go there as much anymore.
i love to save some points because it also saves me some money.
Why can I not find the website for the rewards points?
Excuse my numbers- $4.99 is 40 points ( versus 49) NOT 400 (versus 490).
And 3X points may get us 30 points ( if we spent $3) not 300.
Ha! Wishful thinking I guess.
I like not clipping coupons, but really miss my RR. You have to search each week to find something that even offers a RR, even then…often it’s not something I want. I hope they can it soon, too!
I do love not having to clip the in-ad coupons. I also love that items ring up at regular price, then the clipless coupon is deduced. If I have a coupon that exceeds the value, it doesn’t beep anymore. Also no more trying to figure out which order to hand over coupons to avoid beepage. That said, the points are pretty much worthless. I don’t spend much money there, I only shop for the free or nearly free items. I love being able to roll RR into more RR and not pay much out of pocket. I noticed that the test area ad sometimes greatly varies from the national ad. This week’s looks very similar, but other weeks we’ve had 1 RR item and the national has 4-5 RR items.
Appreciate all the info-I was just thinking I should look it up-so you saved me some time.
I spend very little out of pocket, so probably don’t have many points.
I have noticed some slow weeks this summer for deals-but this week was terrific, so maybe it is passing-also did fairly well last week also. Got great school deals also.
Really like not clipping coupons.
I really don’t like this program. I think the fact that the dollar amount that you have to spend is AFTER coupons is the major turn off for me. It is not worth it to spend $200 to earn a $5 gc (I think swagbucks is a much more efficient way to earn a $5 gc- not a wags gc of course). Also earning points for whole dollar amounts is ridiculous.
I do like not having to clip wags coupons, and if this program was just in addition the the RR program, it would not matter- but we have been also missing out on some of the better RR deals that non-test markets are getting.
Totally not worth it. I really hope this does not continue too long, I need some more shampoo!!!! 🙂
What really bugs me is when the 3x (or whatever) point offers replace what would be a free after RR & Q offer in other areas. Not only do we lose the ability to immediately use the RR on our next transaction, but the 3x points become nothing if we get the cost under $0.99.
Shameless plug, but if anyone is interested you can click my name to head to my blog and take a look at the comparisons I’ve been doing between the national and test market ads. It’s really annoying when you realize just all the value we’re missing out on!
I have stopped shopping at Walgreens due to this program. Where they offer us bonus points equal to $1.50, other areas are getting $5RR. This is not equal, and the deals are no longer as good.
It is worth it to not have to cut coupons. And yes bonus points ( few and far between of 1000/2000) make it worth it. However $5 Amazon gift cards & other goodies are 3000 points to start. Also, they don’t round. So if you spend $1.99 you’d expect to see 190 points – alas no. You get 100 points. My $4.99 got me 400 points not 490.
This is a trial & everyone needs to get in and make noise. It’s a bad program, when you consider we don’t have CVS around to give them competition & Rite Aid is not stable right now.
When I do my posts & look at other cities getting RR & all we get is 3X points when you buy 3 and we use coupons to bring that total down- we may get 300 points if lucky- it makes me sick. They are looking at this to take the place of RR. From a couponer/frugal stand point this is a bad program.
I’ve already earned 2 $5 certificates, and I pay no attention to the points, what I have earned is just from buying what I would have anyway. I think a couple times I bought things with 1000 point bonuses, and that is why they added up so fast. The best part is, as you mentioned, not having to worry about clipping out the ad coupons. Also, the prices show up on the receipt as the regular price and then the clipless coupon shows up as a price reduction, so when I am using a manufacturer coupon that brings the item to free I never get hassled by the cashier, because it is not as obvious anymore.
I’ve not paid much attention to the points portion but I love not having to clip their coupons to get the deals.
Last week to get the Listerine Zero for 1.99 you had to clip the coupon in their ad. I don’t know if this was an oversight, but the coupon didn’t say “clipless” and the right price did not come up without it. So, so much for the “clipless” coupon caveat!
Once in a while, they’ll have an additional in-ad coupon that you have to scan. It’s weird because all the others are clipless. Oh well, you still have to scan the monthly coupon book coupons too.
I don’t know if they still do, but when they first came out with the cards they had a sign up bonus of 500 points or something like that.
Yes, you will get the sugn up bonus points once you fill out your profile, or something like that, on line.
Thank you for explaining this. I have been wondering what the deal is. C:-)