Tips: Tips & Tricks for Rookies (and Vets, too)

[too-old-now]

Read Mrs. Pinecone's FAQ sticky over and over and over until you have it memorized. Call 1800 SHOP CVS every 6 months to have them send you a Rx transfer giftcard coupon.

Don't include me in this RAOK drawing - but maybe you should include Mrs P since she wrote the terrific summary up.

[Castingbread]

I found out a couple of weeks ago (during the Viactiv deal) that if the store is out of stock they can take the numbers off of the price tag on the shelf and ring it up; you pay for it as if you got the product; they write a raincheck that says paid and you turn it in for stock when it is in stock! I was able to get all 5 viactivs using $1 coupons this way! I think this will be a big help. My manager didn't know how to handle out of stock ECB items, but there happened to be a higher up CVS guy there when I asked.

[seedlady]

Originally Posted by Cookie4253 " clearanced everywhere else marked as "clearance get it while it lasts" but it is FULL price"

i call this the "last chance to pay full price" tag.

[couponnewbiemich]

Never, ever shop without your cell phone, in case you have trouble with a cashier or manager and need to call corporate on the spot. This has happened to me twice, and in each instance I've had to go home and recount the whole incident to CS. Then they have to forward the incident to the DM and it takes 48 hours for them to get back to you.

It's much easier when you're standing in front of the manager and can just hand over the phone or have corporate call the store and you don't even have to get the DM involved.

[ShoppingDiva]

I scanned through the posts and didn't see this already listed. It may be but I missed it. Sorry if it's a repeat.

If they are out of something, ask them to substitute. Of course this won't work if it's an item you are hoping to earn ECB's on. But I did this on some TP last week. I needed to bump my total up some to reach a total so I could use my $4/$20. I wanted the Cottonelle 12 pack that was on sale but they were out. I asked if they would substitute 3 - 4 roll packs and they did. Yep, you guessed it, I was able to use THREE coupons instead of the one I would have used on the 12 pack which gave me two more dollars to work with to get more free stuff!!

[no1g8r]

This will seem obvioius, but if you have multiple CVS stores in your area, keep track of which ones are coupon-friendly, coupon-tolerant, and coupon-unfriendly. Patronize those that are coupon-friendly.

I usually strike up a conversation with the cashier. I'm a guy, apparently rare to also be a couponer. I use this to my advantage. While the cashier is ringing in the coupons and the prices is steadily going down, if I have a new "to me" cashier, I always say "wow, I'll never laugh at my wife for using coupons again" (the CVS card is in her name - though I'm the bigger couponer of the two of us).

This usually elicits some form of response. Yesterday my cashier, an assistant manager, said "oh, they're great. I routinely buy $400 of groceries a month and spend about $120". So now I know that she's not only coupon-friendly, she's coupon-savvy. I'll be using her store as my primary deals store from now on, despite the fact that it's more out of the way than most of the others.

[pennywatcher]

This has been touched on a little, but I'd recommend that you go to CVS one day and just walk the aisles taking notes.

I have a mental list of items that are under about $0.50. These are things I wouldn't go out of my way to buy, but that I can use if I have them. If I go to the store and want to print out my CRT coupons before my real shopping, I can buy one of these cheap items to do so. If I have to adjust my coupon to item ratio, I can add some of these items.

I have a mental list of items in the register area that I can use. Sometimes an item in my order will ring up cheaper than I expected, and I need to grab something quickly to make up the difference.

I have a mental list of items that we can never have too many of. If my regular shopping list comes to $45, I can add $5 worth of these items and then use a $10 off $50 coupon.

[pennywatcher]

Some folks are finding the next couple of weeks are looking bleak for rolling their ECBs. One thing you can do when you're in that sort of situation is have a friend or family member look over the ad. If there is something there that they need and they think is at a good price, offer to buy it for them and have them reimburse you. They save a trip to the store, and you get to turn your ECBs into cash so you can start over when the sales look better for you.

[seedlady]

Originally Posted by dkhegler What does Point Balance mean - I checked my account online and it said my point balance was 12.12.

it means that so far this quarter( which ends about the 15th of sept) you have donated 12 dollars and 12 cents of your hard-earned money to cvs....and if you get that number over 25 dollars by the 15th (i think...maybe 14th)..of sept. then they will give you a bonus gift of 50 cents. each and every time you spend 25 dollars real u.s. cash money, they hold onto it, and give you 2 genuine silver (colored) quarters in a few months. that is the value of the triple bucks- you only have to spend 8.34 to get your fifty cents. it resets to zero each new quarter. the money you get will print on or after oct.1.

[cuzisaidso]

Be sure to factor in some down time from CVS. What I mean by this is to get your ECB's to the point that none of them expire for at least a couple of weeks. This way you don't have to feel pressured into going there just so you don't lose ECB's. You don't want to get burnt out on shopping there.