My Wags Shop Today

I like Walgreens, I really do. It’s a decent store with decent employees and decent sales. What I really don’t like is the Register Reward program. I know how to work it, I’ve done it for months, and we have all had the same problems. The poor frustrated employees do not know how it works. And when the CAT system breaks down, everyone is at a loss and it’s that much more frustrating.

Since the RR program came to Walgreens this past spring I have slowed on my shopping there. I only buy the things that my family uses and really don’t buy things there to donate any longer. The previous program (Easy Saver) was very easy and everyone understood it. It was primarily in the shopper’s hands. Sadly, employees do not seem to have much training (up through the managers!) in how the RR program works and what to do when it doesn’t. I am in no way implying that they are less than capable employees, only that they’ve never been trained. And since this is across the board, it’s kind of a bummer for everybody.

My shop today was pretty tedious and I only got through half of it. Thank goodness my kids weren’t with me! The CAT machine stopped working (or something) halfway through my purchases.

Here is the portion that worked:

Transaction #1

1 Gillette Razor
1 Herbal Essences Hairspray
2 Reese’s Cups
1 Clearance Highlighter ($.15 – look for them if you need a fill in!)

I used
2 $.55 Reese’s coupons
1 $4 Gillette coupon
1 $1 Herbal Essences coupon
1 Reese’s in-ad coupon
1 $2.50 RR from previous transaction

Final Price: $5.85
Got $8 RR Back ($6 Gillette, $2 Herbal Essences)
Total Cost: $.35

Transaction #2

1 Dentek Floss Picks
1 Vaseline Renewal
1 Clearance Highlighter

I used
1 $1 Dentek coupon
1 $1.50 Vaseline coupon
1 $6 RR from previous transaction

Final Price: $1.58
My RR didn’t print

The manager came over and refunded the amount of the RR value to me in credit on my gift card. He gave me back $9.91, which is $.92 more than what the RR would have given. He was very nice. So on this transaction I came out ahead $2.33.

He then said that I should go ahead with my next transaction. Luckily for me, another customer was having RR troubles across the store. Both the cashier and the manager were trying to explain to me that the RR weren’t printing because I used so many manufacturer’s coupons. I knew this wasn’t the case and politely explained that the RR printed on my first transaction with no problem and that I had never had the coupons not triggering RR problem before.

The cashier rang up my next transaction and the RR didn’t print. The manager asked her to ring it up with no coupons in order to not-no-subtly prove that it was the coupons that were the problem. They rang things up, I paid, and the RR’s didn’t print. I remained as polite as I could, but I was silently happy to have proven my point. We mutually agreed that I would come back tomorrow. I will probably go to a different one.

Both employees were polite, but I felt bad for them. Walgreens should not let them flail this way. They need to be instructed in how RR’s work. The manager told the cashier to scan the RR I was using during the “no coupons” transaction because it wasn’t a coupon. I spoke up and let him know that it actually was a manufacturer’s coupon. I am glad to have shared the knowledge, but shouldn’t his superiors be the ones teaching this stuff? It would save us all such headaches.