What are cvs bonus bucks?

[eliza61]

Hi gang,
I never paid attention to the cvs threads because I never lived by one but tomorrow our very first cvs will open in my neighborhood.
I got a sales circular and was wondering how the bonus bucks program works? Are they points you accrue then get a check for?

TIA

 

[vicki_c]

They are vouchers (for lack of a better word) that spit out of the register if you purchase the eligible items. You can use them like cash at the register on your next shopping trip. They expire in a relatively short period of time - a few weeks I think.

Walgreens has the same thing but theirs are called Register Rewards.

 

[erin327]

I just decided to start shopping cvs after seeing all the helpful emails on here about the deals and the ECBs. I have gone in a few times and purchased the items listed as earning ECB. I have not gotten any ECB yet. I asked at the register and the lady told me that they print them every 3 months. The next time is April 1st. At that time she said I will get all of the ECBs that I have earned. She said they will all be on one receipt and I can use them anytime after that, but will have to use them all at once. Does this sound right? Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[vicki_c]

Oddly enough, my husband was shopping at CVS last weekend and didn't get the ECBs on the receipt like normal. He didn't ask about though and just mentioned it when he got home.

Prior to this, the ECBs have always printed on the receipt every time - in fact, sometimes you would get multiple ECBs on the same printed receipt on the same trip.

So I would have said something was wrong with what you posted -- but now I'm wondering if they have changed their policy. I'm interested to know what others know about it.

And using them all at once - if that's true, that's ridiculous and I won't be shopping at CVS anymore. Sometimes we get $10 a shopping trip in ECBs - we could have more than $100 in ECBs after 3 months and we probably would never spend that on one trip.

 

[erin327]

And using them all at once - if that's true, that's ridiculous and I won't be shopping at CVS anymore. Sometimes we get $10 a shopping trip in ECBs - we could have more than $100 in ECBs after 3 months and we probably would never spend that on one trip.

This is exactly why that whole idea seemed so strange to me...

 

[ShiPooOwner]

I just decided to start shopping cvs after seeing all the helpful emails on here about the deals and the ECBs. I have gone in a few times and purchased the items listed as earning ECB. I have not gotten any ECB yet. I asked at the register and the lady told me that they print them every 3 months. The next time is April 1st. At that time she said I will get all of the ECBs that I have earned. She said they will all be on one receipt and I can use them anytime after that, but will have to use them all at once. Does this sound right? Anyone else have a similar experience?

Oddly enough, my husband was shopping at CVS last weekend and didn't get the ECBs on the receipt like normal. He didn't ask about though and just mentioned it when he got home.

Prior to this, the ECBs have always printed on the receipt every time - in fact, sometimes you would get multiple ECBs on the same printed receipt on the same trip.

So I would have said something was wrong with what you posted -- but now I'm wondering if they have changed their policy. I'm interested to know what others know about it.

And using them all at once - if that's true, that's ridiculous and I won't be shopping at CVS anymore. Sometimes we get $10 a shopping trip in ECBs - we could have more than $100 in ECBs after 3 months and we probably would never spend that on one trip.

The cashier is either very confused (maybe she's new and hasn't been trained well?) or she may be referring to the quarterly ECB's that you earn on your spending which come out quarterly. If you bought items in the CVS ad that say something like "Buy $15 worth of L'Oreal make up and earn $5 ECB's" you should have those printed immediately on the bottom of your receipt. If they didn't print, you either didn't buy $15 worth of the product or maybe you bought the wrong brand or something else like that.

I know their policy hasn't changed on issuing ECB's on the specials in the weekly ad because I just returned and earned $10.50 in ECB's which were printed on the bottom of my receipt.

If you want to look at your receipt and tell me what you bought last week that should've received ECB's, I can try to explain what happened.

 

[erin327]

The cashier is either very confused (maybe she's new and hasn't been trained well?) or she may be referring to the quarterly ECB's that you earn on your spending which come out quarterly. If you bought items in the CVS ad that say something like "Buy $15 worth of L'Oreal make up and earn $5 ECB's" you should have those printed immediately on the bottom of your receipt. If they didn't print, you either didn't buy $15 worth of the product or maybe you bought the wrong brand or something else like that.

I know their policy hasn't changed on issuing ECB's on the specials in the weekly ad because I just returned and earned $10.50 in ECB's which were printed on the bottom of my receipt.

If you want to look at your receipt and tell me what you bought last week that should've received ECB's, I can try to explain what happened.

Thank you! Now I feel like such a fool! I believed the lady and haven't been saving my receipts or paying any attention to them! Ugh! Is there any way they can track them and reprint them?

 

[vicki_c]

Thank you ShiPooOwner - glad to hear nothing's changed. Whatever my DH bought he probably did something wrong and missed out on the ECBs - didn't buy enough or didn't buy the right combination of things or something.

So Erin - I go back to my original instinct - nope, something is wrong there!

 

[eliza61]

another question, do you get the points on all merchandise or only on the weekly sales?

 

[vicki_c]

another question, do you get the points on all merchandise or only on the weekly sales?

Only on products designated as earning ECBs. They *should* be marked with tags in the store, but our CVSs are terrible - I have to take the ad with me to actually look at the item in the ad to make sure I'm getting the right things.

 

[ShiPooOwner]

another question, do you get the points on all merchandise or only on the weekly sales?

There really isn't a point system if I'm understanding you correctly.

You will only receive ECB's (Extra Care Bucks) on items that are advertised as producing them on certain products each week and sometimes in their monthly "clip free" coupon book. Be sure to get the weekly circular and look for the red rectangular boxes in the ads. They are the ECB producers.

This is just one example in today's circular. You can earn ECB's if you buy Softsoap or Irish Spring body wash. It will cost you $4.99 in cash but they will print a $4.00 ECB on the bottom of your receipt. If you have a $1 mfg. coupon for the body wash, you are actually getting it free and only paying tax for it. Then you can use the $4 ECB which you will rip off the bottom of your receipt for anything else (there are a few exceptions like Rx's, stamps, tobacco, gift cards....) you want to buy with them.

Many CVSers like to "roll" their ECB's which means you buy something else with that $4 ECB that will produce more ECB's. Or you can save the ECB's because they don't expire for one month from when they are printed.

 

[ShiPooOwner]

Thank you! Now I feel like such a fool! I believed the lady and haven't been saving my receipts or paying any attention to them! Ugh! Is there any way they can track them and reprint them?

I'm not exactly sure but if you have registered your account (your number is on the back of your red CVS card) online with CVS, you might be able to access your ECB usage and/or accumulation. Just go to CVS.com and register your card number and then go to your account and it should explain what you can track if anything. You could also call their toll free number and talk to a CVS customer service rep about what happened. That number is on their website.

 

[deerhart]

You can look at your active ECB's and the expiration dates online.

As for the DH who didn't get the ECB's, did he scan the extracare card? (I know MY dh would forget to do that LOL)

I just got back from my CVS trip, used up my $5 ecb and picked up $6 more, plus $2.00 coupon back to upromise.

 

[vicki_c]

As for the DH who didn't get the ECB's, did he scan the extracare card? (I know MY dh would forget to do that LOL)

I'm sure he did - he's kind of anal about couponing now! But I'm sure it was some thing where he didn't buy enough of something! Just a fluke.