Attention Walgreens Shoppers! Beginning September 2012, there will no longer be Register Rewards at Walgreens. Instead, they will be rolling out a new “Balance Rewards Program.” Here’s a sneak peek at the NEW Balance Rewards program. This is not final, so we will learn more as Walgreens makes more information available.
What is Balance Rewards?
Balance Rewards is a comprehensive loyalty program that offers easy enrollment, instant points, and endless rewards, as well as ways to get, stay, and live well at Walgreens.
As part of the nation’s largest drugstore chain, Balance Rewards has the potential to reach more consumers than any other existing consumer loyalty program in the country. There are more than 7,900 Walgreens drugstores across the country, serving nearly 6 million customers daily.
A few items to note:
- Sign up online starting 9/2 or in-store starting 9/16.
- Members receive exclusive savings every week on popular products.
- Redeem points in-store or online immediately, or save them.
- Bonus Points expire after 36 months from date of earning or after 6 months of no activity.
- You must be a Balance Rewards member to get the sale price.
- You will be able to manage your account with the Walgreens mobile app or on-line.
- You can also earn points for making healthy choices such as participating in the Walk With Walgreens program, or purchasing prescriptions (in select states).
You cannot redeem your points and earn them on the same product. For example, if you have 5,000 points you wish to redeem to save $5, and you purchase 3 items which each will reward you with 500 points, you can use the 5,000 but will not earn an additional 1,500 at the same time. There are also restrictions as to what you can redeem your points towards.
Also, the value you earn will be reduced by the coupon used. So whatever your potential point value would have been will be reduced to the after coupon value.
To help you out, Walgreens has released a Balance Rewards Hotline: 855-225-9225
- Press 1 for program description.
- Press 2 for account status.
- Press 3 to add a transaction to your account.
- Press 4 to speak to representative.
- Press 9 for the main menu.
Thanks to My Savings for the details.
What do you think? Are you happy to see a new program? Let me know your thoughts!
No – I don’t like giving up my register rewards!!! Why do we have to complicate EVERYTHING so much!! The rewards were simple, easy to use and saved me money!! I spend a lot of money with Walgreens including all my prescriptions!!! I am unhappy!!!
I agreed with Phyllis, this store will be very limited to me along with Rite Aid! CVS will be back on the top of my list and almost exclusively with these changes that both stores are doing which is not helping people like us who depend on these savings!!!!
TERRIBLE PROGRAM — Complicated – Will not shop anymore — CVS has a great , easy system . They are almost always LOWER on their prices to start with. They e-mail % off deals all the time and you can send them straight to your cvs card – no coupons to print, carry , etc. I can’t believe that Walgreens ceo’s don’t compare the sunday ads and see that CVS is lower on so many same items – and THEN THEY TAKE AWAY REGISTER REWARDS
I agree with the others. I already prefer CVS over Walgreens, but I will go to Walgreens for a good deal. Now I think I will probably just stop shopping at Walgreens.
Not liking this at all!!!! CVS from now on!
I don’t like it. It’s obvious they are doing this because of the increase in people who actually found how to make the Register Reward system work in their favor. With the new system, they’ve eliminated “flipping” the rewards to get more RR, and lengthens the time it takes to accumulate points when someone uses a coupon. I shop both Walgreens and CVS, with Walgreens being my preferred choice, but CVS just got bumped up to the top!
There is only Walgreens in my area so I am stuck. Afraid that I am going to be losing out now that I have finally gotten to where I am saving money and stocking up. Good thing I have a pretty decent backup stash right now.
I definitely don’t like this program. I am unlikely to shop at Walgreens much after this program starts, as the vast majority of my purchases included a Register Rewards deal. I will certainly give it a try and watch the blogs to see what the savings will amount to. However, given how many free items were possible with the Register Rewards program, I imagine it was costing Walgreens too much. It’s not like we haven’t seen coupon policies change due to increased “couponing.” (Meijer, Target). Walgreens has to do what they have to do for their business. But, I have to do what I have to do to maximize my family grocery savings. We will see.
Not happy here. I go to Walgreens EVERY week! A manager told me last year they were considering a new system because people abuse the system by going daily to get free items with RR. My thought was just to mimic the CVS system so folks can’t do that. Unfortunately it’s the few abusers that ruin things for all of us. Sounds too complicated for me to mess with.
Walgreens is messing with my system. I LOVE this store but between the Walgreens coupons, manufacturer coupons and Register Rewards, it’s hard for the extreme discounter to keep up. Adding another Customer Loyalty Program is to confusing. Is that the point?
http://www.sippycupcocktails.com/2012/09/i-brought-down-empire-with_23.html
Jamie