Single Check Rebates
Rite Aid was the first store where I learned to save money. Rite Aid has a very easy to use program called Single Check Rebates. The first week that I went to Rite Aid they had $144 of free products on sale. While I have not seen that many free items duplicated, they still often have at least 1-2 free items a week. With this program you do pay cash up front and you are refunded your money later. This is how their program works:

Look at the ads, or on my blog, at the free or almost free items Rite Aid is offering. For instance, they may have a sale where a razor is $5 and the store may be offering a single check rebate for that item for $5. In this case, you would buy the razor for $5, pay the $5 and save the receipt. When you get home, go to riteaid.com, go to the bottom of the screen for single check rebates, sign up for their program and enter your receipt. Make sure that you pay attention to what you are buying, how many ounces etc so that you purchase the correct item for the rebate. At the end of the month, submit for payment and wait for your check.

Submit Your Receipts Once a Month
You can only submit your receipts once each month. Make sure that you are finished shopping at Rite Aid for the month so that you can get all of your single check rebates back. A wonderful thing about Rite Aid is that you have time at Rite Aid to submit your receipts. April savings run from March 27, 2009 to April 23, 2009, but you have until May 25, 2009 to enter all of your receipts. Just make sure that you keep up with your receipts so you don’t end up paying for something and not getting your money back.

Real Life Example of Saving Money
This really does work. The first time that I bought the $144 of free items, my husband was convinced that it was too good to be true. I promised him I would not open any of the items and kept them in the bag with my receipt, so that I could return them if I did not get my check, but sure enough we got the check for the correct amount. Also, many of these items we did not technically need at the time since some of them were cold medicines. However, it was wonderful when cold season rolled around and we did not have to go to the store to purchase medicine, because we already had it for free.

How to save even more money on your budget with this program
Say you have a coupon for $3 off of that same razor that was $5. Use the coupon when you check out, pay $2 plus tax. When you input your receipt, you can request your check for $5 even though you only paid $2 out of pocket. This means that you got a free razor + $3 back. You just got paid to shop. I love deals like this, talk about saving money.

Wellness + Program

Rite Aid is starting a NEW program called the Wellness + Program. Currently, December 2009, there are only 4 areas (Buffalo, NY; Greensboro, NC; Harrisburg, PA; and San Diego, CA) that are participating, but according to my local store manager, this program will be nationwide sometime next year. (My manager said he thinks it will be around January 1st.)

I am fortunate enough to be in a test area, and I am really excited about this new program!! It is a store card that you will scan each time that you go to the store. When using the card, there will be sales tied to your card that you are eligible for. Also, you get 10% off Rite Aid brand purchases everyday. BUT this is my favorite part ******You can get up to 20% off your non-prescription purchases.

Here is how the percentage off program works:

This is based on the dollar amount that you spend in the store.  It is based on a point system. You get 1 point for each dollar paid on front end merchandise. Also, you earn 25 points for each prescription filled. Once you reach 125 points, you get a 10% off shopping pass to use in the store on front end purchases. You will continue to get 10% shopping pass for each 125 points until you get to 500 points. At 500 points you will get 15% your purchases. Lastly, when you get to 1000 points, you will be able to get 20% off all of your front end purchases. These points last for the year, so as you accumulate them through the year, you will be saving more and more.

Now I know that $1000 seems like a lot of money, BUT, think about all of the deals that they have each week for freebies after single check rebates. There are some weeks where we have been able to get over $100 in free items that would still contribute towards  those points that we need to get to 1000 points. I know that I have already spent $1000 at Rite Aid this year (granted it is the end of the year), but still, even if we are only getting 10-15% off, that is still an awesome deal.

Each year we do have to start over accumulating points, except this next year for those of us in the test sites listed above, we will have a grace period where our points will continue to accumulate.

Also, don’t forget that at Rite Aid, you can transfer up to 2 prescription and get two $25 gift cards!

When you sign up for this program, you get $5 off a $25 purchase when you activate your online account. If you live in Buffalo, NY; Greensboro, NC; Harrisburg, PA; and San Diego, CA, you can sign up here now. By the way, if you live around Greensboro, (for instance Winston-Salem), they already are participating as well. If you live elsewhere in the country, it says that you will be able to sign up soon, & you can read more about the program here, you just can’t sign up quite yet.