Couponing at CVS

CVS has a store loyalty program called the Extra Care Card. You can sign up for, immediately receive and begin using your card at your local CVS store. Be sure to give your email address as they will periodically email store coupons (ie. $4 off your next $20 purchase – $4/$20).

Extra Care Bucks (ECB’s) are CVS rewards that are used as cash in the store. ECB’s print out at the end of a transaction from a catalina machine adjacent to the register.

Many times there are items advertised as “Free After ECBs“.  When you purchase these items, a “coupon” (ECB), prints at the end of the transaction for the purchase amount of that item. When first starting, these are not technically “free” as you have initially paid out of pocket (OOP). The trick is to “roll” your ECBs by then turning around and using them to pay for the next transaction. By rolling your ECB’s and using manufacturer’s coupons, you will really end up getting many items free.

Point to remember:

• Have the cashier scan your Extra Care Card before you start to check out.
• With your Extra Care Card, you will earn 2% cash back on each in store and online purchase. This cummulative 2% is converted to ECB’s every 3 months.
• With your Extra Care Card, you will receive miscellaneous store coupons at the end of your transaction after ECB’s have printed.
• You earn 1 ECB for every 2 prescriptions purchased in the store or online.
• One manufacturer’s coupon and one CVS store coupon can be stacked per item. Thus you can have twice the number of coupons as the number of items in a transaction (no fillers needed).
• ECB’s are equivalent to cash rather than a coupon, further reducing the concern for the coupon-to-item ratio.
• Many items which generate ECB’s have a limit on the number that may be purchased while receiving ECB’s. Once that limit is reached, no additional ECB’s will be generated (in that nor other stores for the limited item).
• ECB’s do have an expiration date. Normally, it is four weeks from the date they are generated. Keep your printed ECB’s organized to make sure you use the earliest expiring first. Sometimes, a store manager will accept expired ECB’s. Ask first! It is a loyalty program, they want your business.
• ECB’s are not transferrable. They can only be redeemed with the personal Extra Care Card with which they were generated.

I try to minimize the amount I spend out of pocket (OOP). To do this, when I make a store visit, I plan multiple transactions (or scenarios) trying to use ECB’s earned earlier to pay for the next transaction which will earn the same amount or more ECB’s.

“Money Makers” occur when you combine a manufacturer’s coupon with a “Free After ECB’s” item. You are not really “making money” as in being paid cash by the store, but you spend less out of pocket  money (or fewer ECB’s) than you earn in new ECB’s.

At checkout, I have found the following order works very well:

• Ast the cashier to scan your Extra Care Card.
• Have all your items rung up.
• Present any CVS $4/$20 store coupons. Your total could drop below $20 after all your other coupons.
• Present any CVS store coupons.
• Present any manufacturer’s coupons.
• And finally, use your ECB’s (oldest first).

If you are paying with ECB’s totalling more than the transaction total, they can manually reduce it to what your total is (you will lose the reduced amount) or you can add another item to make up the difference. I use my calcluator to keep up with my total.

Build your confidence by starting with simple, one or two item transactions. Then, move on to more complicated, multi-transaction scenarios. My goal is not only to roll ECB’s, but to grow them creating overage to pay for other items needed!