The Drugstore coupon game? Confusing

[overwhelmedshopper]

ok so I am new to this and I ran last week to rite Aid and Cvs to go get my Free stuff and all the discounts I saw. I think Im realizing that its not really
free this stuff most of it. its an ongoing game of a running tab of Up rewards and cvs rewards. So if you dont go into these drugstores weekly your not realy getting this stuff free because it always is a discount for the next week.
am I correct?

[$Saving!]

ok so I am new to this and I ran last week to rite Aid and Cvs to go get my Free stuff and all the discounts I saw. I think Im realizing that its not really
free this stuff most of it. its an ongoing game of a running tab of Up rewards and cvs rewards. So if you dont go into these drugstores weekly your not realy getting this stuff free because it always is a discount for the next week.
am I correct?

True, the ECB's, RR's and +Up rewards are "rolled" into future deals, so that when you use them (they are cash), you only end up paying sales tax on future purchases when they're combined with MQ's.

Most of them don't expire for a couple weeks, so that gives you time to use them on items you want.

The purpose of doing it is to build a stockpile of the items you want. But paying once for some items and then getting many more free really does work out in the long run.

For instance, I keep a spreadsheet of every receipt from every grocery and drug store I shop in. At Rite Aid, for instance, I've purchased $2,573.01 worth of merchandise since January 1, 2011, I've paid (out of pocket which includes sales taxes of 6.75% and food taxes of 2%) $471.83, which equates to an 81.66% savings off of shelf prices.

Yes, it's worth it

[$Saving!]

Oh, and I might also add, that in my area, some of the grocery stores take the ECB's, RR's and +UP rewards as 'competitor coupons' and they are treated as cash there as well.

In fact, this week I used $16 in RR's on fruit that was on sale at a grocery store. Since I used MQ's on the items I bought at Walgreens to get the RR's, my overall savings on fruit and items from the drug store was over 75%.

Yup, couponing is a game, and one that you can win everytime you use them.

[isis]

Yes, it is a game that you need to play week in and week out. I suggest though, to stick with 1 drug store while you are still new. Otherwise you will get overwhelmed and burnt out trying to chase deals at all 3 drug stores.

[fluttervale]

I consider my register rewards (of whatever form, any sort of buy this and get $$ off your next purchase) part of the savings on the INITIAL item.

But then it counts as "cash spent" and you can use register rewards to earn them.

For example, one week I had earned $10 in CVS$$. I don't remember what I bought. The next week I used those CVS$$ to earn $10 more CVS$$. So basically the second item was "free" with the purchase of the first. If that makes sense. I'm at CVS every single week so I roll my rewards. Now I'm spending $10 or so a week out of pocket, but getting $20 or $30 of goods every week. It's a big savings!

[motherofmolly]

that initial payout to get the rr, ecb or up is the cost. then if you do it just right, you can keep your oop fairly low and continue to roll into the next deal. i am not much into the pharmacy game. i only go if it is free after coupon or i really really need it. if an item is free after coupon, then i mm with getting a rr (walgreeens) back, then i will do more than one deal. then i use those rr's to buy the items i need but dont have a coupon for normally.