Updated! Original poster was GreatBearMagnus


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 Extra Care Bucks program.

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. You can also register for one online if you are willing to wait a week or two to get it in the mail.

If you filled out the form at the store, you can go online and register your card with all your information, or 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. The advantage of seeing it online is you can check your spending there. You can also use it to purchase items online and get discounts and have it count toward your spending for the quarter (more on that in a moment). You cannot get ECBs when you shop online.

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. You may want to use cell phone numbers instead of home phone numbers to link to your card to avoid this!

ECB: Extra Care bucks
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. For Example: 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.

How to Earn ECBs:
1. At the end of each quarter, CVS rewards it’s customers by giving them 2% back of the total amount spent during the quarter. The 2% is calculated after coupons and is given in the form of an ECB. You will see at the bottom of your CVS receipt a total amount spent for the quarter. It will say “Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter Spending is $ XX.XX”. Multiply this number by .02 and you’ll get an approximation of what you’re getting back.

2. CVS also rewards $1 for every 2 prescriptions filled @ CVS. The $1 is reflected in your quarterly ECB total. Always scan that card at the pharmacy counter!

3. ECBs are earned through promotions, such as “Buy this product, receive $X in ECB.” Sometimes the promotion says “buy $X of this product and get $Y in ECBs.” The required amount to receive the ECB is calculated before coupons. So, if you have to purchase $10 worth, you can do that and then have $10 of coupons and still get the ECB promised! 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. Your receipt will print at the bottom and keep track of how much you have toward a spend $X get $Y promotion. Be aware that there are both weekly sales that are printed, and a monthly sale book. The weekly sale flyers are typically in the Sunday paper. The monthly books are only available at the store. Both can be viewed at cvs.com.

Your ECBs will print immediately when you have earned it at the bottom of your register receipt. (Except for the quarterly spending. Watch your receipt for an announcement of when the quarterly ECB will print. This is usually about 2 weeks after the quarter ends. Once they start printing, when you make a purchase the ECB will print at the end like normal.)

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. In some areas, this also includes diary.

ECB coupons expire 4 weeks from the date they are printed.

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. Of course, YMMV!

When you are shopping for the monthly sales, many times the ECBs are not “turned on” right away on the first of the month. Always call customer service if this is the case when you make a purchase and ECBs do not print.

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 (unless you have a cashier that will force the coupon through). 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.”

YMMV, but there are cashiers who will force the coupon through at full value anyway.

When you use a $X off of $X at CVS...
--this is the total before coupons but after sales
--you cannot "stack" these, meaning if your total is $22 and you have a $5 off of $15, you can't use a coupon to get your $22 down to $17 and then use another one to get your $17 down to $12.
--some stores/cashiers will let you use multiple $X off of $XX coupons IF your total is higher than the $XX combined. Ex: If you have 2 $5 off of $15 coupons, your total must be $30 or higher before coupons.
--If you are able to use two $X off of $XX coupons, the barcodes must be different. You cannot use two of the same barcode coupons at the same time.
--You can use an ECB for a total smaller than the ECB is worth, but you'll lose the difference. Example: if your ECB is for $10 and your total is for $5, you'll lose $5. You don't get change. In some states, you still have to pay tax, so your ECB will not cover the tax portion of the total due. Also, if you live in one of those states, you'll never get a $0 out-of-pocket.

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. YMMV in having those items count towards the ECB deals.

CVS "register logic", or Understanding how your CVS Register works (updated from op of mjloves2shop)

Total item count = each unit scanned counts as one to the total item count (items in store, GC, stamps, cigarettes, photo orders, etc.)

So the register logic says that if a customer purchases 8 items the most coupon deductions that can be rung in is 8. 10 items equals 10 deductions max and so on. “Coupon deductions” can be CVS coupons printed from the register or online, CVS $X off of $XX, manufacturer coupons, and possibly ECBs.

When you head for the register, count the items in your cart. Then I count the coupons you will use. If you have more than the number of items in your cart, you will likely have the register beep because register logic says that you aren't entitled to more deductions than items purchased even though CVS does allow for you to use 2 coupons (one manufacturer plus one CVS) on one item before using ECBs.

Most cashiers will force a coupon through manually when the register complains (aka beeps). You do have to be careful though because CVS does not allow you to get certain items for discounted or free with their ECB program. This includes stamps, cigarettes, and in some areas dairy.

Typically, the logic you would use is to present all your coupons before ECBs, but if you have some of the excluded items mentioned above, you will want to present your ECBs before coupons. The register assumes ECB are going towards the “accepted” products for discount. This makes it trickier because if you are presenting your coupons in the typical fashion (coupons then ECBs), you know how many ECBs you need to get a low out of pocket. In this manner, you have to do your math before hand to “beat” the register logic and present enough, but not too many ECBs to make your out of pocket as low as possible.

CVS Weekly Circular can be found on their website:
CVS - Weekly Store Ad Online


******Because of these legal issues and because we want to protect AFC and our members, we have to put an end to the sharing of coupons on AFC through private messaging and email. Effective immediately, all threads that offer to share a coupon via a private message or email will be removed for your protection.******

Thanks for sharing. I am just learning about the Extra Bucks and the experience so far has been great.

Where are the coupon *books* that I see mentioned every now and then??

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation! I'm just starting to work the CVS "thing", so this was a HUGE help!

little side note: I enter my phone number manually and it prints ecb's for me, it may be a YMMV. Thanks for all the great info!!

Typically back in the pharmacy area.. there is a rack of pamphlets... usually health related and some contain coupons...

And these can be used with manuf. coupons, right?

Thanks for the info, I'll have to go look for it.

I wasn't sure if that had changed or not. Looks like it has, so I updated the OP!

mothermayi... some of those books contain manufacturer coupons.. and some contain cvs coupons..... if the coupon is a manufacturer coupon it can not be used with another manufacturer coupon...

Thanks for the details! That really helps!

if my store takes expired cvs Qs up to 30 days will they take my 5/15 that exp. on the 1st?

Where do you go to look at the monthly ECB online? I can only find the weekly ad. Thanks.

If you go to the CVS Forum and scroll in the first section they are listed.
Here is June we have yet to get a peak at July...

CVS June monthly deals

I have a question.....I went to buy some shampoo that was on sale at cvs as a "BOGO" deal. I had a manufacturer's BOGO Q for the exact items that I was buying, also. So, does that mean that with the sale and the Q combined I get both items "free", or do I still have to pay for the first item? The register (today) kept ringing it up to where I paid nothing, but the cvs manager was insisting that it was a mistake, and kept voiding it all out and starting over. I kept trying to tell him that (as was my understanding) the Q's cancel out my having to pay for the first item, and that the register knew that and had it right. He kept insisting I would have to pay for the first item even if I used the Q's with the sale, and kept trying to ring up more than I had to get me to pay for them.

Eventually I just politely asked for my Q's and left. (Which he was upset about because he said he wanted me to buy something, to which I replied "I keep trying to, you won't let me!")

Have any of you encountered this before, and if you have, how do you deal with it and reason/argue with them on it? How do you explain it to them that makes them get it?

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT REPLY!!

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I would have explained to him that when an item is on sale for B1G1 Free and I as the consumer have a coupn for B1G1 Free simply do not pay the price for the first items because the coupon will cancel that out and I'am responsible for the Tax on both items. Yes, I will be paying something but for the product itself since I'm using the coupon. He probably could not see how you would wind up not paying anthing for the actual product itself.

Loreal Vive Buy 1 Get on Free
Your coupon Buy 1 Get Get on Free
Means Free products for you. Sometimes managers and cashiers just get the wording a little confused like how we can.