Rite Aid (RA)

Rite Aid has recently added the Wellness program for shoppers. With a Wellness card, which only takes seconds to sign up for at any register, you can receive up rewards when purchasing advertised items.

The reward is printed out on the receipt and can be used for your next purchase. The rewards can be used with a manufacturer's coupon and a RA coupon. This is referred to as 'stacking' coupons. All of the above can be used on one item. It goes something like this:

Purchase an item for 5.00.
Use a 1.00 manufacturer's coupon, 3.00 in Up rewards (from a previous purchase(s), and 1.00 RA coupon. The item is free. If you use this system on an item that also gives Up rewards, the ball keeps rolling on to your next purchase. The RA site has a pdf file that explains the corporate rules. If you have a BOGO (buy one get one free) coupon and RA has a BOGO sale, you can use the coupon and both items will end up being free. However an item appears to be taxed at the original price.

Your first transaction will cost what is advertised, minus any coupons. After that you can use the Up rewards.

You can't do better than that for lowering your budget.

An example of a transaction I did last week is:

I bought 3 Huggies diapers on sale for 8.99. (original 12.49)
I received 3 2.00 Up rewards for future purchases
I used:
11.00 in RA coupons
5.00 in Up rewards
6.00 manufacturer's coupons

I paid 5.00 out of pocket (OOP) and received the 6.00 in rewards. The 5.00 came from rebates I received from the RA rebate program.

Final cost was a money maker of 1.00

I took the 6.00 in rewards and, in 2 transactions, purchased 6 99 cent greeting cards which came with 2 free bags of candy and 2.00 of rewards.

I paid nothing for 3 diapers, six cards, 2 bags of candy. I saved 38.00. Not to mention the sale price was 3.50 less for each pack of diapers. (9.50 total)

You can sign up for the rebate program at the Rite Aid site, www.riteaid.com.