CVS was one of the very first things I learned when I started couponing 3+ years ago. It is a little bit different, but in the end it’s simple. Once you know how to handle it, you will see; you can save a lot of money 
CVS has what they call “Extra Care Program”. This is similar to the Walgreens RR ( Register rewards) program, but you do need to sign up and get a card. You can have one card per member of your family; so in my case we could have 5 cards if we wanted to. To be honest 2 cards is plenty for us 
Extra Care Program: Basic Information
If you don’t have a EC card yet, you can grab one HERE; they also have a big Q&A section on their website.
Extra Care Bucks, just like the Walgreens Register Rewards, print at the end of your transaction; you then can use them immediately on the next transaction on anything in the store.
Unlike Walgreens Register rewards, you can use the Extra Bucks on the same transaction and get your ECB at the end of the transaction, if your deal has a limit of more then 1; if the deal is limit 1 you can only make this deal once per card.
Also, each ECB are connected to each card of your household, they can not be used i.e your ECB on your husbands card. They can only used with each card that they are assigned to. You can see the number on the bottom of your ECB printout.
The bottom of your receipt will also state the deal you just did and how many more deals you can do for the limit, like 2 or 3; if you can not repeat a deal it will state “LIMIT REACHED”.
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Basic info about the ECB.
What are ECBs good for, anyway?
You can use them on just about anything in the store, not just CVS brand products.
Exclusions: prescriptions, alcohol, tobacco, lottery, stamps, gift cards, money orders and pre-paid debit cards (this includes prepaid phone cards).
My receipt says I have $3 in ECB. Why didn’t my order reflect a $3 discount?
ECB are coupons that you earn. They print at the bottom of your receipt for various promotions.
You NEED TO MAKE SURE that you cut them off the receipt and save them before you throw out the receipt or mail it off for a rebate
Can I buy something for $3 and use a $5 ECB?
You could, but you would lose money. You must use the full amount of the ECB, because it will not carry over or give you money back.
Will you still get the Extra Care Bucks if you forget your CVS card?
Give the cashier your phone number, and it will credit your Extra Care account with your purchases.
How can I see what ECBs I have earned?
Look at the bottom of your receipt. Each week, there will be a list of the purchases that you have made toward the various promotions, and whether or not the limits have been reached.
How do I read the Extra Care page?
Under Current Extra Care balances, pay attention to the headings.
Description–Point Balance– End Date– Promotion Details
2ND QTR 2007 SPENDING—47.46– 6/16/2007– EARN 2% BACK ON ALMOST ALL NON-PRESCRIPTION PURCHASES EVERYDAY.
HERSHEY CANDY BARS – 3 – 1/1/2008 — BUY 10 HERSHEY OR REESE SINGLE BARS, EARN 1 FREE (RETAIL VALUE $.65
The points are the dollars spent toward the quarterly ECB bonus. In this case, I have spent 47.46 toward the 2% for the 4th quarter. I also have 3 candy bars toward the B10G1 Free 2007 Extra Promo.
I bought some things for this week’s ECB promotion, and my ECB didn’t print on my receipt. What gives?
This generally means that you purchased the wrong item toward the promotion. On rare occasions, they don’t have the item listed correctly in the system. Make absolutely sure that you have purchased the correct size item to get the ECBs.
EX: If a Colgate promo says (in the very fine print at the bottom) 4.3 oz size, you will NOT get credit for the promo if you buy the 6.4 oz toothpaste.
If I accidentally let things expire, can I get them back, or am I out of luck?
If you accidentally let the ECB expire, you are out of luck. Since the advent of the instant printing ECBs, you can NOT call and have your ECBs reset.
Customer service has, on a very few occasions, created a NEW ECB to replace the expired or lost ones, but I would not count on this lasting for long. Once people are accustomed to the new instant printing system, any concessions will undoubtedly disappear.
The weekly CRT coupons are a promotional bonus and CANNOT be reset.
I lost my ECBs. Can I call customer service and have them reprinted?
No. They will not reissue ECBs that have been lost. This is why we emphasize that you must be extremely careful with them. Treat your ECBs the same way you treat your cash!
Regarding expirations on the ECB and coupons:
The CVS expiration is not only tied to the date, but the TIME they printed out (either online or at the store). This explains why the coupons sometimes beep, even though you are using them on the day they expire.
EX: You get a $4/20 coupon that printed at the register on xx/xx/2005 at 11am, and you scamper off to use it on the last day that the coupon is valid. You do this at 4pm. The coupon will beep, because according to their register’s “logic”, it is already expired.
It’s not a huge issue, since they can do their magic and put it through, but is something to be aware of!
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How do I earn Extra Care Bucks
If an ECB offer says “Limit 1 Offer”, does that mean one a day?
No. It means limit one offer per card for the entire promotional period. So if it’s a weekly deal, the limit is one per card per week. If it’s a monthly deal, the limit is one per card per month.
My CVS starts their sales on Saturday before the new ad comes out. Will I get the ECB for the next week’s promos?
No. You need to shop on the days that the sale ad states the promo is valid. For example, if there is a “$10 in ECB WYB $20 of P&G products”, you might get the sale prices on the items on Saturday, but you will not get the ECB, since the promo runs Sunday-Saturday.
When CVS has their “Buy $xxx worth of _____, get $xxx ECB” promotions, is the amount required to qualify before or after coupons?
The qualifying amount is BEFORE coupons! You can use CVS coupons, MFR coupons, and other ECB to get the total down!
When the promo is product-specific, like “Kimberly-Clark” or “Pond’s”, there are no problems getting the ECB, even if you actually PAID very little or got them free after coupons.
When the promo is “Buy $xxx worth of ANYTHING IN THE STORE this week, and earn $xxx ECB”, people have had problems with getting their credits to register if they have used a lot of coupons.
When they have a “Buy xxx worth of ________, and earn $xxx ECB” promotions, and the items are on sale B1G1 Free, do both of them count toward the promo?
If the ECB deal is buy a specific amount of MONEY in order to obtain the ECB, then only the one you actually pay for counts. The free one does NOT count.
If the ECB deal is buy a specific number of ITEMS in order to obtain the ECB, then both items will count.
When CVS has their “Buy $xxx worth of _____, get $xxx ECB” promotions, do I have to buy the whole $xxx worth at one time, or can I do more than one transaction?
You can buy the items at different times, or even at different stores. As long as you buy the items during the week of the promo, the totals are cumulative and you will get the ECB award.
Occasionally, they will have a promotion that requires them all to be purchased in one transaction, and it will be stated in the ad.
The total amount that you have purchased toward the promo will be listed at the bottom of your receipt, and it will state whether the limit for that promo has been reached.
If I do several different promos in the same day, how do the ECBs print out? As one big ECB, or separate ones for each promo?
Each promo will print a separate ECB.
If CVS has an ECB deal that is unlimited or has a limit of more than one and I buy them all in the same day, how do the ECBs print out?
All of the ECBs earned on a given day for EACH promo will be combined into one larger ECB.
EX: when they had the “Buy Alka-Seltzer for $3 and get $3 in ECBs”, the deal did not have a limit. If you bought 3 Alka-Seltzer in one day, they were combined into a single $9 ECB. If you only bought one on the following day, that would print as a single $3 ECB.
If there was another promo running at the same time, you earned one combined ECB for the Alka-Seltzer and one combined ECB for whatever else you bought.
My CVS store did not have enough of ECB promotion item in stock to make my purchase reach the amount ($10) required to earn ECB. How do they handle that when I get a raincheck?
Since the advent of the instantly printing ECBs, the stores should write the raincheck for the price of the item AFTER ECBs would have been earned.
EX: If an item was on sale for $6.99 with a $4 ECB, the raincheck should be written for $2.99. If the item was on sale for $3.99 with a $3.99 ECB, the raincheck should be written as FREE AFTER ECBs.
When people are writing about ECB-generating offers that are not listed in my local flyer – will it work for me?
The ECBs have not been working for people who did not have them in their regional ads. So if for example, you buy Kotex and Irish Spring and they are not in your ad, you are taking a risk that you will not get ECBs.
Can I earn the advertised ECBs when I shop online?
No. ECBs are earned for in-store purchases only.
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Redeeming Extra Care Bucks
Can I use my ECBs to buy stamps or gift cards?
Since this goes directly against the CVS corporate policy for ECBs, the answer is no.
The wording from the website is as follows: “Coupon may only be redeemed once. Limit one coupon per customer. Excludes prescriptions, alcohol, tobacco, lottery, stamps, gift cards, money orders and pre-paid debit cards.”
Can I use more than one ECB per transaction?
Yes, as long as you are still within the register counter logic described in the Basic Information section.
What do you mean by “rolling” my ECBs?
This is the term for using ECBs earned on a previous promotion to pay for another promotion that earns ECBs. It minimizes the amount that you have to spend out of pocket for the promotions.
EX:
Buy 1 Alka-Seltzer at $3, get $3 ECB, no limit
Transaction #1: buy 3 A-S, total will be $9.
Use coupons (3 x $1/1 mfr and 1 CVS Alka-Seltzer coupon) to bring total down to $5. Pay.
A $9 ECB will print.
Transaction #2: Go back, buy 3 more A-S and use another $4 of coupons, total is $5. Add some other stuff to bring total to $9.
Pay with your first $9 ECB. Then, another $9 ECB prints.
Rinse and repeat!
All of the purchases of one product in one transaction will be combined into a single ECB. For example, if you buy 10 Alka-Seltzer in the same transaction, each of which will earn $3 ECB, you would get one $30 ECB. People who buy large quantities of a particular deal in a single transaction get larger ECBs.
Regarding validity and the ECB coupons:
Some people have reported that they go to the store and buy the items for one promotion to get their ECBs to print. Then, when they try to use the ECBs on a subsequent transaction, it comes up “Card does not match”, even though they JUST used their card to get it to print!
This occurs when you try to use a coupon that has just become available to print on that day. If you wait another day to use it, this message won’t appear. They can just push it through, so it’s not that big a deal.
Can I use my ECBs to pay when I shop online?
Any ECBs earned in stores cannot be used to check out online. The only ECBs that may be redeemed online are the quarterly ones. And since those are usually only a couple of bucks at the most, it doesn’t even pay for shipping.
Here are a few Websites that list CVS deals on a daily/ weekly basis.
A CVS deal would look like this”:
Nivea for Men facial care Buy 1 get 1 50% off
Deal Scenario:
Buy 2 Nivea For Men Shaving Gels 7oz $3.79 (based on online price)
Minus Buy 1 Get 1 50% off sale = $5.69 for both
Use 2 $2/1 coupons found Shaving Gels coupon found in the 6/5 RP
Final cost only $0.84 each!
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