Walgreens IVC Book - Employees, can you help?

[Lady Margaret]

I don't know if this has already been addressed or not...

Wags employees or those "in the know" - what's the word on whether the IVC booklet are Wags Qs or MF Qs?

I look at them and see the following:

*W logo
*UPC coded as a store Q (not a MF Q)
*wording "good only at Walgreens" & "Good at Walgreens"
*no remit for redemption address

This tells me it's a store Q

However, it also has the wording "Manufacturer coupon good only at Walgreens" (emphasis mine)
That part there tells me that a cashier can deny me stacking because this Q is a MF Q...says so right there...

Also, what does "not valid with any other offer" really mean?

Argh.

[GreatFun]

These are manufacturer coupons good only at Walgreens.

The manufacturer electronically reimburses Walgreens for the value of the IVC coupon. i.e. the cash register keeps track of the IVC coupons that have been used by customers and the manufacturer is "billed" accordingly. Because this is all done electronically, the cashier does not need to keep the actual coupon.

So, as far as State sales tax is concerned these are treated as manufacturer coupons.

At one time Walgreens allowed people to combine a store coupon with an MC. But now they have added the "manufacturer coupon" language to the IVC and it's YMMV as to whether you can combine them. If the IVC is scanned first then it will "attach" to all of the items that go with that IVC and any subsequent MCs you use will beep UNLESS you have enough fillers to meet the coupon-to-item count. If, however, the IVC is scanned last you will not need any fillers and nothing will beep.

Also contrast this with the coupons in the weekly ad. The weekly ad coupons are NOT manufacturer coupons -- they are true store coupons because Walgreens is not reimbursed for these. And there are no beeps when combining the in-ad coupons with MCs regardless of coupon scanning order AND they do not "count" when computing the coupon-to-item count.

[swtchks]

The IVCs aren't true MQ either.
All MQs start with a "5" and have redemption instructions on them. Wags can claim these are MQs all they want, but they are not MQs

[Coupon Crazy Lady]

Thanks for the great info... repped!

These are manufacturer coupons good only at Walgreens.

The manufacturer electronically reimburses Walgreens for the value of the IVC coupon. i.e. the cash register keeps track of the IVC coupons that have been used by customers and the manufacturer is "billed" accordingly. Because this is all done electronically, the cashier does not need to keep the actual coupon.

So, as far as State sales tax is concerned these are treated as manufacturer coupons.

At one time Walgreens allowed people to combine a store coupon with an MC. But now they have added the "manufacturer coupon" language to the IVC and it's YMMV as to whether you can combine them. If the IVC is scanned first then it will "attach" to all of the items that go with that IVC and any subsequent MCs you use will beep UNLESS you have enough fillers to meet the coupon-to-item count. If, however, the IVC is scanned last you will not need any fillers and nothing will beep.

Also contrast this with the coupons in the weekly ad. The weekly ad coupons are NOT manufacturer coupons -- they are true store coupons because Walgreens is not reimbursed for these. And there are no beeps when combining the in-ad coupons with MCs regardless of coupon scanning order AND they do not "count" when computing the coupon-to-item count.

[Supergirl9801]

Here we go again...I'm grabbing popcorn and pullin up a chair...anyone else lol!

[nrpeace17]

The IVC booklet coupons are not true mfr coupons, regardless of what they are labeled as in the book. They start with a "0" on the barcode and have no official remittance information, which technically makes them store coupons that are reimbursed through the manufacturer.

[Merczilla]

The IVC's I've tried to use recently have all beeped and will not scan at my store. I hand MF's first, then ad coupons, then IVC's. The Planters wouldn't scan, nor would the Sugarfree Theraflu or the Lubriderm. They had to price adjust all these items (still got my RR's though). So even though I give in the "correct" order, they just won't scan at all at my store for whatever reason, so the "no beeping" may not be true for all.

[nuffsaid]

Here we go again...I'm grabbing popcorn and pullin up a chair...anyone else lol!

oh please!!!! Can I have butter on mine?

[Mikki 316]

This was posted by Great Fun in another thread:

posted by Great Fun

justamom2six is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT about this. (i.e. IVCs and MCs no longer working together.) That is why you have to have the IVCs scanned LAST. (Note that by IVCs I mean any "walgreens" coupon that says "manufacturer coupon" on them -- I do NOT mean the 7-day ad coupons because those are truly store coupons while the coupons in the monthly booklets, the Diabetes magazine, etc are not truly store coupons because they get reimbursed by the manufacturer for these coupons.)
Anyway, if I buy Theraflu and only Theraflu in a transaction and they scan the Theraflu IVC in the D&Y magazine first and then the Theraflu MC, the MC will beep. This is why you have to scan the MCs first and then the IVCS.
Now, I have discovered a workaround for this for my stores that INSIST on scanning all IVCs first. You need fillers. So, if I want to buy 1 Theraflu and nothing else and I'm in a store that will insist on that IVC first, I buy 1 filler.
It gets weirder too. Let's say I want to buy 10 Theraflus and nothing else. If the cashier scans the Theraflu IVC before my 10 Theraflu MCs then the register will "attach" that Theraflu IVC to all 10 of my Theraflus and will NOT allow any MCs UNLESS I also buy 10 fillers (i.e. any item for which I don't want to use a coupon.)
I know all of this to be fact because my stores have been this way for a few months and I live in an area where many of stores INSIST on scanning all IVCs first. If I play the game of withholding IVCs and pulling them out after the cashier scans my MCs then they void the order and start over!! Anyway through experimentation I have figured out what I describe above.
For example, in my example above with 10 Theraflus, if I bought only 5 fillers (ie any other 5 items for which I have no MC) then the cashier scans the IVC first and then starts scanning the Theraflu MCs. 5 of the MCs will go through but the 6th one will beep. At that point I can have her scan a caramel (or some other filler) and then have her try the 6th Theraflu MC again and VOILA, it will scan just fine. But then if I tell her to try scanning the 7th Theraflu coupon, it will beep. But if I throw in another caramel, it will be fine. etc
So, bottom line is, if the IVCs are scanned BEFORE the MCs, the IVCs (not the 7-day weekly in-ad coupons but the various booklet coupons that say "manufacturer coupons" on them) affect the coupon-to-item count AND they don't count just as 1 coupon -- They count as N coupons where N is the number of items you purchased for which that IVC is good for.
The easiest thing of course is to have IVCs scanned last and then none of this is a problem but if your stores insist on IVCs first then you are still fine as long as you follow the formula above and buy enough fillers.
Also just want to add that this has some very freaky results if you don't know how this works. For example -- let's say that I want to buy 1 Theraflus, 1 Lipton Tea, and 1 Colgate toothpaste and I want to use the D&Y Theraflu IVC, and an MC for each of the products. I hand the cashier all of my coupons and she insists on scanning the IVCs first so she scans the D&Y Theraflu IVC. Then, let's say she scans the remaining MCs in this order: Theraflu MC, Lipton Tea MC, Colgate MC. Guess what will happen? First, the Theraflu MC will scan just fine and then the Lipton Tea MC will scan just fine but when she scans the Colgate coupon, it will beep and say "No item sold for this coupon"!! Now of course at this point the cashier is very confused because she knows that I bought the Colgate and she can't figure out why it would say "no item sold for this coupon" But it's because at this point the register has counted that I have purchased 3 items and I have already used 3 coupons (it counts the IVC as 1 MC) However, if at this point I have her add a filler to my transaction and then have her rescan the Colgate coupon, it will scan just fine!

[GreatFun]

The IVC booklet coupons are not true mfr coupons, regardless of what they are labeled as in the book. They start with a "0" on the barcode and have no official remittance information, which technically makes them store coupons that are reimbursed through the manufacturer.

You are incorrect. OUR definition of a store coupon vs a MC are very different than the industry's definition. We look at a coupon and say "well the barcode doesn't look like the MCs we see on other MCs because it doesn't start with a 5 or a 9 so it's a store coupon" or "Well it won't scan at any other store therefore it is a store coupon." BUT that is how we couponers define it.

A retailer defines it differently as does your State Sales Tax office. The legal definition/distinction between the two types of coupons depends on following the money trail. And it comes down to one very simple question: "Does the retail store accepting the coupon get reimbursed for that coupon by a 3rd party (i.e. the manufacturer)?" If the answer is "yes" then that coupon is a MANUFACTURER coupon. If the answer is "no" then the coupon is a STORE coupon.

The in-ad coupons in the Walgreens weekly ads are STORE coupons because Walgreens is NOT reimbursed for these by the manufacturer.

HOWEVER, the monthly booklet coupons, the D&Y magazine coupons, etc that state "manufacturer coupon" on them are MANUFACTURER coupons because Walgreens is reimbursed for the amount by the manufacturer. The cash register records the fact that these coupons were used and at the end of some time period the manufacturer is "billed" for the amount. This all happens electronically and the actual coupon isn't mailed in and that is why there is no redemption information.

It doesn't matter what the coupon looks like, what the bar code looks like, whether a cash register at another store will beep when its scanned, or if it has horns growing out of it. Looks don't matter, the money trail does matter. If the manufacturer reimburses the retailer for the coupon then it IS a manufacturer coupon. Period.