Walgreens: New Balance Rewards Programs Starts 09/16

In just a few weeks, Walgreens will be rolling out a new rewards program.  This was available in just a few select test markets last year.

It looks like Sept 16th might be the date that this rolls out nationwide.

Here are some of the details we know now:

• “Members receive exclusive savings every week on popular products” – I believe it is safe to assume we will need to have the card in order to take advantage of the sale prices much like RiteAid and CVS
• You’ll get the sale price and earn your points when you present your card , provide your phone number or scan your mobile phone
• You will earn points on specific eligible items in store AND online
• Points will be earned for Walk with Walgreens, immunizations and prescriptions (excludes pharmacy items purchased from AR, NJ or NY pharmacies or transferred to a store in AL, MS or PR)
• AARP members will receive exclusive benefits
• The points will never expire as long as the member remains active by making a purchase at Walgreens at least every six months and redeems their points within three years
• Point totals can be accessed at checkout, online or from a mobile device
• Duane Reade Flexrewards program points will be converted to balance rewards and become available when customers join in the new program

There’s no way of knowing how many points will be attached to a promotion or if it will convert to a savings value we are familiar with until we see the first ad in the next couple weeks.  But here’s how the points to rewards conversion should look:

As you can see, it might be best to store up your points, because your ratio of turning points to dollars gets better the more points you have earned!

Something to note is that the new Balance Rewards system may or may not limit you to the number of items in a certain promotion that you will be able to purchase (like at CVS and RiteAid).  We will have to wait to find out!

So there’s a sneak peak of what we might expect to see in the next couple weeks from Walgreens.  As always it will probably take a little time to get acclimated to the new system, but hopefully we will still be able to find some nice deals at Walgreens!

(Thanks I Heart Wags!)