Playing the Pharmacy Coupon Game

I just came back from the grocery store with a trunk full of groceries--valued at about $100. And I paid NOTHING FOR THEM!!!! In fact, the store basically paid me to shop there.

How? By utilizing the "Free Gift Card with New or Transferred Prescription Purchase" coupons that are out there. Obviously, this only helps if you actually HAVE prescriptions to fill or refill, but if you do, plan ahead and save!

Before you fill a prescription, check to see if you have already filed away any pharmacy coupons. If not, do a Google search for "printable pharmacy coupons" and see what comes up. If there are any valid coupons out there, chances are someone has posted it. If you find one, save it to your computer (right click, "save as") so it will be easier to locate next time. Note the expiration dates.

Other sources of pharmacy coupons are The Entertainment Book, coupons printed at the bottom of your drugstore receipt, coupons printed out separately from your receipt, and occasionally coupons in the Sunday ad insert of Target or your local grocery store.

I find that if I haven't been to CVS in awhile, when I make even a small purchase there, there is a coupon at the bottom for a $25 gift card with a new/transferred prescription. Also, I transferred a prescription that had been at Walgreens, and a month or so later I got a coupon for a $25 gift card with a transferred prescription in the mail from Walgreens stating they missed my business and were hoping this would bring me back. These are just my own experiences--you may have similar offers or not depending on your location, timing, and circumstance. A few times each year there don't seem to be ANY coupons available anywhere, and other times I have a stockpile of coupons to choose from.

Call your local grocery stores with pharmacies and inquire if they will match competitor pharmacy coupons. Most will, as long as the coupon is for another local pharmacy (for example, the grocery store pharmacies near me will accept competitor coupons from Walgreens, CVS, and Target, but not from Rite-Aid since there is not one within 50 miles). I like to redeem the coupons at a grocery store rather than a drugstore because we ALWAYS need milk, eggs, snacks, etc... and I can splurge a little on meat or not-on-sale produce.

Plan your shopping trip as usual, matching coupons with the sale ads (click here to read the coupon tutorial if you are new to coupons). Drop off your prescription(s), then do your shopping. Pick up your prescription BEFORE you check out with your groceries, and present your pharmacy coupons before you pay for your prescriptions. You can then use the free gift card to pay for some or all of your groceries.

Here is how it worked for me today: I dropped off 2 prescriptions at Giant Eagle, one costing $40 (ouch!) and the other a more manageable $4 for a total of $44. I presented 2 coupons to the pharmacy cashier--one from Kmart for a $50 gift card and another from Walgreens for a $25 gift card. I paid the $44 for the prescriptions, and they handed me Giant Eagle gift cards totalling $75. I went to the checkout with my groceries and was told the total was $98. After I handed the cashier my stack of coupons, the total dropped to $68. I used my recently acquired gift cards to pay, and came home with 8 bags of groceries and $7 still left on my Gift Card.

This provides an easy way to do a simple act of charity, as well. Since you have to get your prescriptions anyways, why not use the gift cards to buy some food for the local pantry, or send some treats to the troops overseas, or buy some flowers for the local nursing home residents, or even give the actual gift cards to a local needy family?

Good luck! I hope you get some great deals!