CVS For Rookies 101

[kskallen]

Originally Posted by cuzisaidso Yes, please see this post.

Thanks so much! I hadn't seen that post before, thanks for pointing it out. HCW is so big, I knew I was bound to miss some important info! :)

[Drew's Mommy]

I know that I have seen this answered somewhere else here, but I cannot find it. When you are trying to figure out tax on your items before you head up front to pay, do you figure tax on the manufactures coupons or before? What about ECB -is there tax on those as well? I thought that I had this figured out, but apparently not.
Also, how many times are you allowed to use $/$$ coupons? I have used them more than once on each of my family's cards without problems, but I am just wondering if anyone else has had any problems when using them more than once?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!:Wave:

[seedlady]

Originally Posted by luvsgoldens Just to be clear ( I am operating on my 4 year olds brain today) before I head up to CVS for my first trip ever, if i purchase $22 worth of stuff before taxes and lets say I have manuf coupons that take the total down to around $10 I can still use the $4/$20 coupon? In the future if I have these ECBs I can use them along with the coupons with the same $22 purchase? I am sorry so dense headed today but just don't want to get there and be really embarrassed. Thanks again for all your help!

for this example- pay no attention to tax.

pretend you have a sister who does not use coupons. she buys stuff that adds up to $20.11. she pays. she leaves. ok so far?

now you go in- buy the same things she did. $20.11. give the nice clerk your 4/20. woo-hoo- now you owe 16.11. pay. leave.


even better- get your $20.11 . use 4/20. use ecb if you have one- or two- then random crest and tide, and folgers- whatever you bought, look to see if you have a coupon for that size and brand.

pay somewhat less than 16.11.

( call sis to brag- then duck!)

[luvsgoldens]

After reviewing all of Kim's hard work and her advice I went on my first CVS spree with 4 year old in tow. I had a coupon for a transferred prescription for $25 and after reading everything hear I thought it would be great to use the $25 to start my ECB balance(sound so technical). Long story short I think I did ok. My total bill was $49.98, I used the $4/$20 coupon, $16 in manuf coupon and the $25 gift card and ended up with $4.98 oop (if I didn't need hairspray so desparately to keep bangs out of face to read all the ads) I would of ended up .30 oop. Then I added up the ECBs and got $20.58 in ECBs. So does this sound good or am I doing anything wrong?

Also my question is this, I thought I would have one total at the bottom with all the ECBs but it printed out an ECB for every item. On the ECB it says limit one per customer so can I only use 1 ECB next time I go or do they mean only one ECB from that particular item cause it would be really nice to use all $20.58 if I need to.

Thanks so much for this thread for rookies I would have never in my lifetime understood this without your help and and hard work to guide us newbies.

Wendy

[kdownie]

Originally Posted by maryalene Great thread! Thanks so much for all the info! One question I don't see answered is how long the ecb's are good for. Do they usually expire after a week or a month?

The exact date will be printed on the ECB, but most expire in 1 month. The coupons that print on the bottom of the receipt sometimes usually expire after about 2 weeks.

Always check though, because strange things happen occasionally!

[faeryedark]

Originally Posted by debbysr I have a couple of questions, one is are the ecb's that print out, are they just like "real money"? and the second question is are these "tied" to the card that purchased the products? My son has a card and sometimes does the "deals" but I did not know if I have to use his card to use those ecb's. and the other is, when I tried to use the ecb's on one of my transactions it beeped and would not let me use them, I said to the cashier that I thought that they were just like cash.... he said what the heck it's Christmas and pushed them on through. He also made the commit tht he thought they were like money.

To a point yes, they're like real money. You CAN"T use them on certain things like gift cards for instance, and you have to use all of it or lose the remaining balance. And, yes, they are tied to the card that was used.

[seedlady]

Originally Posted by lexelle One question....what is the best order to use coupons?

$/$$, then ecb, then manufacturer.

if you want to spend a little more money, you can use $/$$, then manu. then finish with ecbs.

[jennymid]

Thank you so much! I'm an employee at CVS and was always wondering how in the world all these people were getting buggies full but only paying pennies. I needed in on this!

[seedlady]

Originally Posted by debbysr Why do you have to give in a certain order, why does it make a difference. Then when you say "if you want to spend more" do it another way, what do you mean by "if you want to spend more"?

if you want to spend the least amount possible, use $/$$, ecbs, then manu. (the manu.s can pay part of the tax.)

if you don't care, you can spent $/$$, then manu. then pay ecbs, then the rest in cash.

[manders13]

Thank you for taking the time to do this for everyone. I am new to this whole couponing thing but i got some really great deals! Thank you!