cvs-The Best Way to Calculate Your Total and Present Your Coupons

[howesmath]

Originally Posted by oscamaya How do you keep the cashier from scanning the coupons in whatever order they want to? I was there the other night and gave her all CVS q's and ecb's and she asked if I had more coupons before she ever started scanning those. So of course I gave them to her. she looked at all of them and spread them all over the counter and then started scanning in whatever order. Some of my coupons beeped and she told me I couldn't use those so I just took those back and didn't fight it. But I kept my eye on the 10/50 that i specifically gave her first. She waited until the total got down to 18.45 before she told me that I couldn't use it. I told her that if I couldn't use it then to just cancel the entire transaction. She said "well it will only let me scan so many coupons, but i guess i can try it" so she scanned it and it worked and my total went down to 1.38. But it took forever and a line was forming behind me because they told me I had to check out at the pharmacy. Why do I HAVE to give all my coupons right up front and why does she get to decided what order to scan them. I was mad when she told me she wouldn't take the 10/50 when my order total originally was 63.xx. Am I right to be angry?

I hand them my $/$$ coupons, ECB's, CVS CRT coupons & CVS booklet coupons first. I leave all of my mf coupons in my binder. After all of the CVS coupons have been scanned, I then hand over my mf coupons. If a cashier asked me if I had any more coupons when I handed him/her the CVS coupons, I would either act dumb or say, "I'll give you the rest after you scan those in." I've never had them ask for all of my coupons up front, though. Even the cashiers who insist on scanning the mf coupons first when I hand everything over at once don't ask me if I have more coupons when I give them only CVS coupons.

The $10/$50 will come off at the end as long as your original pre-tax total was $50 or more. It doesn't matter that your total is now less than $50, it matters what it was at the beginning. I've forgotten to give a cashier a $/$$ coupon before and given it at the end. It is never a problem as long as my pre-tax total before coupons was enough for the coupon. I had a cashier tell me once that it wouldn't work when I had forgotten and gave it to her at the end. I nicely asked her to try to scan it and, of course, it worked.

[CRW]

In New York:

CVS coupons (CRT's, ECBs, and $/$$) reduce the amount that you pay taxes on (e.g. if you spend $20 and use a 4/20 CVS Q + a $10ECB then you'll only have to pay taxes on the remaining $6).

Manufacturers coupons do not reduce the amount that you pay taxes on (so if you spend $20 and use $14 in manufacturers Q's you'd still have to pay tax on the full $20).

CVS coupons cannot be used to cover tax but manufacturers coupons can (so if you owe $2 in taxes you could use a $2 manufacturers Q to pay that amount and take your total down to $0 but you could not use a $2ECB to pay that amount).

[pennywatcher]

Originally Posted by mojopixie My very friendly cashier who was and talking about upcoming deals suggested I hand the Q’s in the following order here in GA… $/$$, CRT's, CVS, ManQ’s and then ECB’s. Now, after reading all of this and her suggestion, I am really confused! Any Georgians here know which way is the best way to hand them in? Any advice is greatly appreciated

I'm in Atlanta.

I always do the $/$$ coupon first. That removes any potential argument about whether my total met the $$ or not.

Unless you are working in the realm of negative subtotals, it doesn't make any difference in what order you present your other coupons/ECB. Without negative subtotals, the cashier's logic is sound. Use the most restrictive coupons first. ECBs are like cash so use as few as you can.

Once your coupons/ExtraBucks exceed your pre-tax total, that's when it makes sense to do the manufacturer's coupons last. There are examples of the calculations earlier in this thread.

[hot_tamale]

Originally Posted by liane66 Has anyone been having issues with the tax amount lately? I always present my CVS coupons first then manf coupons, but since Mar. 1 I've been paying tax on the full amount (no more of the manf. coupon paying or birnging down the tax.).

Yep, same thing here in KY. I thought it was just me miscalculating, but it's happened 3 times. But, my OOP has still been less than $1 so I'm still way ahead of the ballgame.

This whole thread has my head spinning but I do have a better idea of how to check out. My problem is that I can have a plan ready, and know exactly how I'm going to do things, and then my CVS will be out of stock on an item or two and it just throws a wrench into my plan. Anyone else experience this?

Thanks!

[RutgersKittyn]

Great thread...it adds a whole new dimension to the CVS "game"!

Although specific to NJ, I hope this can help a few people out. It's a great, detailed list of "commonly found" items, and whether they are taxable or exempt (starts on Page 6):

http://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/.../sales/su4.pdf

I found this on the State of New Jersey Division of Taxation's website, under their FAQs. I assume most states have a similar website, so maybe that would be a good place to start looking!

[shami]

Originally Posted by Lydunn I do xx/xx cvs and then manufacturer and then ecbs not sure if I am saving more or not here in Ohio.

I'm in Ohio and that's how I do it too. May not be the best way, but I almost always have to rework my scenarios in the store because of oos items. I'm just not that good at math to do all of this on the spot.

I'm going to have to try though.

[pennywatcher]

Originally Posted by cvswannabe I'm new at CVS and thought I had worked out my senario but when I got to the register I only owed .50. I'm not complaining but I want to make sure I know how to calculate so I'll be prepared. This is what I did:<snipped for brevity>

ECBs reduce the taxable total.

You had $26.87 in merchandise taxable at 6%. You had $16.49 in CVS coupons or ECBs. That means only $10.38 was taxable. $10.38 at 6% is $0.62.

$26.87 merchandise
+$0.62 tax
-$16.49 CVS coupons and ECBs
-$10.15 manufacturer's coupons

= $0.50

This post has more details for Georgia.

[lifeskills13]

I have a question, My sister was the one who taught me how to do cvs deals..and since then i have been giving my M.coupons before my ecb's and not having a problem with tax..she lives in pa and i live in ohio. I tryed doing the pay with ecb then coupons..it still didn't make a difference to me..why is that?

[jamarchlewski]

Thank you thank you!

Repped you!

Originally Posted by howesmath In Florida, the ECB's, $/$$ CVS coupons and CVS CRT's will allow your subtotal to go negative if you give them to the cashier first. If you give them last, then they will adjust the ECB's to only allow the subtotal to go to $0.00. If you have $40.00 worth of stuff and use a $15 ECB, you are only charged taxes on $25 worth of stuff, no matter which order your coupons are rung. The only difference is whether the register will allow your subtotal to go negative or not. It will if all of the CVS coupons, including ECB's are put in first. If they are put in last, they will adjust them so that your subtotal is $0.00. At most stores in Florida if you use store coupons, if you use store coupons, the registers will deduct the store coupons before calculating taxes. You do have to pay taxes before mf coupons, though. Here's an example of what happens if you give your $/$$, CVS CRT's and ECB's first and then mf coupons: (1) Palmolive @ $1.49 = $1.49 (1) Milk @ $3.49 = $3.49 (1) Bags of Candy @ $2.50 each = $5.00 (3) Colgate Toothpasts @ $2.99 each = $8.97 (2) Renu Travel Packs @ $2.49 each = $4.98 (1) Playtex Sport Tampon @ $4.99 = $4.99 Subtotal = $28.92 CVS Coupons: $4/$20 $1 CRT Coupon $15 ECB Mf Coupons: $0.40/1 $0.75/1 $0.50/1 $1/1 $1.50/1 $2.50/1 $2.50/1 Subtotal = $-0.23 Tax @ 7% = $0.38 Total = $0.15 I was charged taxes on $28.92 - $4 ($4/$20 CVS coupon) - $1 ($1 CVS CRT) - $15 ($15 ECB) - $3.49 (Milk is nontaxable in FL) = $5.43. If I gave my ECB last then, the register would have only allowed my subtotal to go to $0.00, not to -$0.23. I would have still been charged the same amount of tax, but the ECB would have been adjusted to $14.77. My subtotal would have been $0.00 and my total $0.38 instead of $0.15. It wouldn't be a big deal in this case, but I have had receipts where the subtotal is close to -$1.00. In that case, it would make more of a difference.

[momto3]

Ok so I guess for me I'm going to have to give the $/$$ coupons then the manufactorers and lastly the ECB. I went in this morning for the May deals and gave her the ECB's and chased my little boy around while she was doing that and then told her that I also had these coupons (manuf.) she said she was sorry but that she would have to void my transaction and rering it that she was told they must ring the man. Q's before any ecb's. I apologized and told her that was fine. I guess I really shouldn't complain about paying tax only on an item. I guess this is why they had started reorganizing my q's when I give them to the cashier.