I thought it would be helpful to have an "Intro To CVS"

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Introductions & Definitions:

Hello, loyal AFC reader and CVS shopper! The purpose of this document is to give you a basic overview of how the CVS deals work … This overview gives you the basic background behind CVS’s ExtraCare / ExtraBucks program, while the companion document (still under construction at this time), gives you advice on how to manage your ExtraBucks and do deals by rolling your ExtraBucks.
ECB: Extrabucks
CRT coupons: Coupons printed at the end of your receipt.

Both ECB and CRT coupons are specific to your CVS account, which means you can not use them without your specific CVS card. If you have multiple CVS cards, you will not be able to use a ECB/CRT coupon coordinated w/ card #1 on a purchase being made w/ card #2.

CVS ExtraCare card:

You can obtain you CVS ExtraCare card from any store, just ask for it at the register. They will give you a short form to fill out, and then give you your card. After just 2-3 days of completing that form, you can go ahead and call CVS customer service (1-800-SHOP-CVS), and ask them to register your card so that you can see your account online. It will take them another 48 hours or so to get everything activated, but you will be up and running very quickly.

The ECB program is tied to your CVS card. If you forget your card at home, the cashier can manually enter in your phone number. The register then will pull up the information on the last card scanned that is associated with this phone number. Assume for a moment that my household has two cards, one for my spouse and one for myself, and both are tied to the same phone number. Further assume that my spouse went to CVS this morning, and scanned her/his card for my purchase. If I forget my card the next time I go to CVS, and give the cashier our phone number, the register will pull up my spouse’s account since her card was the last one to be scanned.

Also, if a phone number is manually entered, ECB and CRT coupons will not print. Your card needs to be physically scanned for coupons to print on your receipt.

ECB’s:

You earn ECBs. They are printed at the end of your receipt, so you will have to clip them and use them on your next purchase.

You earn ECBs in one of two ways. First, at the end of each quarter, CVS rewards it’s customers by giving them 2% back (in the form of ECB) of the total amount spent during the quarter. The 2% is calculated after coupons. CVS also rewards $1 for every 2 RXs filled @ CVS. The $1 is reflected in your quarterly ECB total. Secondly, ECB are earned through promotions, such as “Buy XX, receive $YY in ECB.” The required amount to receive the ECB is calculated before coupons. You do not have to buy all the products for that particular promotion in the same transaction, unless specifically stated in that promotion. In fact, they can be bought anytime, at any store, as long as the purchase is made during the time period the promotion is valid.

If you are participating in a current ECB promotion, it will take 48 business hours for your account to reflect your purchase and the ECB to appear in your account. It is possible for your online account to reflect the purchase before the 48 business hours have passed, but this does not guarantee that your ECB coupon will print before the 48 hour time period.

ECB coupons can be used to purchase nearly anything in the store. Please note that the excluded items are prescriptions, alcohol, tobacco, and Gift Cards.

ECB coupons expire EXACTLY 4 weeks from the date they are printed. By exactly, I mean, exactly! If your ECB print on July 1st at 12:00 PM, they expire July 28th at 12:00 PM. If you go in at 6 PM on July 28th, the ECB will beep. Of course the cashier/manager will manually input it for you (since the expiration date has not passed), but it’s good to know what to expect.

If your ECB coupon expires, you may call CVS (1-800-SHOP-CVS) to have them reset. Unlike ECB coupons, CRT coupons can not be reset once expired. But do not necessarily discard expired CRT coupons, as you may find occasions where a cashier will accept the expired CRT coupons (presumably in the name of “customer service).

ECB coupons can be printed online at the CVS ExtraCare website. If you print your ECB coupons online, they will not print again at the store. On the other hand, if your ECB coupons are printed on your receipt, they will still show up online. In fact, ECB coupons will continue to appear in your account online until they expire. Although ECB coupons can be printed online multiple times, they will only be accepted once. Once that code has been scanned, it will not be accepted again.

At many stores, the CVS sale prices for the following week are put into effect Saturday afternoon/evening. Although the sale price for an item may be in effect, your purchases will not count toward and ECB promotion if you go ahead and purchase it Saturday evening. If a “Buy $20 in Revlon products, and get $10 ECB” promotion” is supposed to start the following week, and you buy Revlon products Saturday night, you may well get the sale prices, but those purchases will not count toward the ECB promotion.

Combining CVS and Manufacturer’s coupons:

CVS accepts manufacturer's coupons. CVS also issues their own store-specific coupons. Most often, you will find these printed out at the bottom of your receipt. But also, you will sometimes find pre-printed coupons (or coupon booklets) in various places throughout the store (and occasionally they will send them to your mailing address).

The CVS coupon policy allows for the use of one manufacturer and one CVS coupon on the same item. However, “register logic” built into the CVS transaction processing system, requires that you have at least as many items as you have coupons you are using. So if you are buying 1 item, and have a manufacturer and CVS coupon that item, you will need to purchase an additional item (can be anything; from a candy bar to a coke) if you plan to use ECBs in that transaction. There is a separate sticky-thread detailing “register logic”, so please refer to that.

Overage at CVS:

CVS registers are programmed to not allow overage. If you buy 5 Colgate Toothpaste's on sale for $1.25 each, and plan to use 5 $1.50/1 coupons, the first 4 will scan without a problem. However, the last coupon will beep, and the register will not accept the coupon. The register will display a message to the cashier stating that the coupon has “exceeded limit” and it will prompt the cashier to modify the coupon to the max value (which is included in the prompt). In this case, the last coupon will be modified to 25c since:

5 items @ $1.25 each = $6.25
- 4 coupons @ $1.50/1 = $6.00
Difference is = $0.25

Therefore, the register will not let the last coupon to exceed the $0.25 “balance.”


BOGOF sale on items qualifying for a ECB promotion:

If an ECB promotion requires a certain number of items to be bought to qualify for the ECB reward, both items will count toward the promotion. For example, if Oral-B toothbrushes are BOGOF (buy-one-get-one-free) and there is currently a “Buy 3 Oral-B products and earn $5 ECB” promotion, you only have to buy 2 sets of the BOGO toothbrushes (4 total), instead of buying 3 sets (6 toothbrushes total).

If an ECB promotion requires a certain amount of money to be spent to qualify for the ECB reward, and the item is BOGOF, the amount is calculated after the sale price, so the free item is not applied toward the promotion.

Let’s assume that Oral-B toothbrushes retail for $3 and they are BOGOF while there is a “spend $10 in Oral-B products to earn $5 EB” promotion. If you spend $3 and buy two, only $3 will apply toward the promotion (not $6), because the free item was a part of the sale. ECB are calculated after sale prices (but before coupons).

Using coupons on a BOGOF sale:

Although the CVS coupon policy does allow for 2 coupons to be used when a item is BOGOF (one for each item), it is ultimately up to the store manager to accept both coupons.


Using coupons on clearanced items:

Coupons can be used on clearance. However, if your store has to enter in clearance items manually (will show up on receipt as generic “taxable item“ rather than a specific item), they will have to enter in the coupons manually as well because the register will not will not recognize a item to apply the coupon to, as the product was entered in a generic format. I have had mixed results in having those items count towards the ECB deals.

Company Background and useful reference info:

Corporate phone #:1-800-SHOP-CVS (1-800-746-7287)
Website: http://www.cvs.com

You can do the following activities @ the CVS website:
• View the weekly circular
• Track your ExtraCare account
• Contact CVS through the “Contact us” link

Nicely done, GBM! What a great reference page this will make. This oughta help a bunch of newbies...but I'm waiting for the sequel!!!!!!

Me too, shopa! Let me know when you've finished writing it!!

Thank You !!

This is a great help to us newbies.

Silly man...

Great info. Thanks so much.
I have one question that this "manual" did not mention:
In the case when there is BOGOF item, if we use coupon for each item, would the system beep?
eg: revlon lipstick is BOGOF this week, if I buy 2 lipsticks, scan my cvs card (since the cashier always ask for it first), then use 2 manuf coupons, would the cash register beep? If yes, does it mean I have to scan the cvs card afterwards?

Thanks

You're welcome chicken-feet! And glad you decided to join AFC!

I don't usually have coupons beep just because I'm using 2 coupons, one for each item in the BOGOF deal.

However, the Revlon coupons are wierd, and they are beeping no matter whether they are used on BOGOF products or not. It's not across-the-board, but there are enough reports of it from enough different places to conclude that it is something specific with this coupon in certain registers. HTH.

ok great, thanks GreatBearMagnus

No prob! Don't be a stranger around here!

Thanks for the helpful info. My problem with CVS & ECB's is I don't use half the stuff you have to buy to get ECB's.

That one, I can't really help you with, other than to suggest that you could give the items to charitable organizations, who would then see that the items are provided to people who would use and benefit from them.

YOU may not, but someone on your Christmas list might!

For example, my dad loves any type of new-age razor. When Titanium was linked to ECBs, I used my coupons to get the Razor + another coupon to get the refills and I earned ECBs for the product. I rolled my ECBs so it was little $$ out of pocket after the first $3 (out-of-pocket) investment/purchase. They did this promo for 4 weeks -- thus I have at least 4 razors + 4 packs of refills for my dad and he will think it is a great gift. Because he won't spend the $$ to buy this razor at full price.

Wonderful! Thanks for the guide!

Donate it or give it awayinthe parking lot!

I'm reading this ten times or more cause I just know there is gonna be a pop quiz soon. Thank God I found this site, this post alone has given me enough information to get me started on my CVS journey. Thank you so much for for posting such a great guide, I'm looking forward to the next part.