I used to be a HUGE Walgreens couponer (it was my favorite place to coupon!), but when they started the BR program, I dwindled fast. I now only coupon there with RR or for items that are cheap OOP and I get Balance Rewards from time to time on some purchases or Rx fills.

So I finally almost have 5,000 points (wow... $5 since September?) and I don't know how to use them. Do I have to spend them all at one time or can I chose an amount from my savings that I want to apply to a purchase? And what if I don't want to use them yet? Do I have to tell them when/if I do want to use them? And can I use them if less than 5,000?

I miss the old Wags before Balance Rewards! :'(

Thanks for your help!

Okay, congrats on getting close to 5,000!

When you redeem for the FIRST time, you need to have 5,000 points. Once you have 5,000, then you can redeem those points on nearly anything you want (read the link for exclusions!).

If you wish to build up points, you cannot use points to pay for points items. You can use RR to purchase points items and use points to purchase RR items.

If you have any other questions, please do ask! HTH!

Here's the link to Walgreens regarding the Balance Reward program. It'll have their tier redemption, as well as exclusions.
Program Details | Balance Rewards | Walgreens
http://www.walgreens.com/images/bala...conditions.pdf

Happy Coupon'ing!!
Just me, Buffie married to my Best friend & Soul-mate and momma to Brigit (aka Briggie or Princess Briggie), my fur-baby Bunnie!

I am new to this point system too.

I just got 8000 pts today. When I look at the app, it says only $5 is available. Why is that? Does this mean I cannot use all 8000 in my next transaction? TIA

You can only use them in increments of five so like 5 10 15 or 20 etc

Lets say you buy something and it costs 7.00 and you want to use your points, you can only use 5000 if you have 8000 but let's say you had 10000 you can pay with them but it will take all 10000 points meaning you lose 3000 points

Read my post in this thread, it has links to exclusions on what you cannot use your points for. And it gives the redemption tier.

dangxstef explained it pretty well.




You'll have to remember the tier redemption values:
(1) 5,000 points = $5
(2) 10,000 points =$10
(3) 18,000 points =$20
(4) 30,000 points =$35
(5) 40,000 points =$50

You can redeem points above your total, like if your total was $18, you can redeem 18,000. BUT you lose 2,000 points because 18,000 points equals $20. So, for me, if I know I'm redeeming points, I try to keep it close to those values. And if I can't, I redeem at the point below my total and pay the difference OOP.

Also, when you redeem points, it applies to your tax as well. Not like RR's where you couldn't use it to pay for tax.

HTH!

Happy Coupon'ing!!
Just me, Buffie married to my Best friend & Soul-mate and momma to Brigit (aka Briggie or Princess Briggie), my fur-baby Bunnie!

Thank you for your post, OP! I find myself avoiding Walgreens because of this very thing - I don't quite "get" the whole program. I prefer RA and CVS. It's much more straight forward. The whole points thing has me confuzzled.

I completely agree, Mav!! Even reading WAGS match-ups make my brain go, "Whaaat??" Between the points, RRs, & filler items involved, I'd rather stick with my trusty RA that I rarely have issues with. I wish the program were easier for everybody to understand not just couponers who are used to basically "decoding" store languages.

Exactly! I never did get the hang of filler items and balancing the number of coupons versus the number of products.

And they wonder why sales are down and people aren't cashing in their rewards?

another question. How come in the ad today it said something like 18000 = $20? it thought 18000 would equal $18? why?