How does Rite Aid Work?

Shopping at Rite Aid really is not very hard or as complicated as most places, they just are limited on what they carry in their stores. Rite Aid has three different ways of saving you money each week. They have the weekly ad that comes out every week (obviously), then they have a monthly rebate program and then they will have Rite Aid store coupons as well that can be found in the weekly ads, or other places throughout the stores periodically, usually by the beauty section of the store.

One REALLY nice thing about Rite Aid is that their weekly ads will pretty much find a lot of the deals for you each week. For instance, in this weeks ad (sept 1, 2008 ad) on the very front cover they have a variety of Crest Toothpaste on sale for $2.49. Right under the picture of the product they have a little box that says:

$2.49
-1.74 Less single check Rebate (SCR)
-.75 Less Man. Coupon in most Sunday papers
FREE Your final price after man. coupon and rebate

This all means that the items price is $2.49, then there is a Rite Aid "Single Check Rebate" for $1.74, then you can use a $.75 off coupon from a recent Sunday paper and after you receive your rebate and use your coupon your final price would be FREE. You would actually pay $1.74 out of Pocket (OOP) and then get a rebate for $1.74. Make Sense?

When I first got started with coupons it took me forever to figure out what a "single check rebate" was, so I'll save you the trouble. The Single Check Rebate program is Rite Aids form of Rebates. Instead of them sending you 10 little checks at different times throughout the month (which would be very annoying for you and them) they combine all 10 checks into one BIG check once a month. This makes less work for them because they don't have to send out tiny checks everyday and it helps you out to not have annoying checks for $1.74 or some small amount to take to the bank.

So how do you go about claiming your Single Check Rebate? There are two ways you can do this. First you can claim your rebate online at www.riteaid.com. When you get to the main page click on "Single check rebates", this is near the bottom of the page on the left hand side. Click on "Sign up for SCR." Enter in your information and click on "submit my request." The next thing you will do is enter in your informations from your receipt. They show you exactly where to look for each piece of information they need off of the receipt so it is very easy. After all of your information is complete in a few days they will send you an email letting you know which rebates you have qualified for. Remember, DO NOT request your check until the end of the rebate period. You CANNOT request more than one rebate for the rebate period so just enter in your receipts as you get them and then wait until the end of the month to fully submit the rebate. If you request your rebate online it should arrive within about 2-3 weeks.

The second way to claim your SCR is to pick up a Rebate Directory from the store. These can be found at the front of the store as well as by asking your cashier when they are ringing up your items. There is a form on the back of the directory for the rebate. Fill in all of the necessary information, make a copy of the completed form and keep the original one and then mail it in and you should receive your money in 4-6 weeks.

One thing to notice when you get your rebate is that it will say something like "use your check toward any purchase at Rite Aid." This DOES NOT mean that you have to spend your check at Rite Aid, they just want you to use it there again for your business. But.. it is a check, so you can deposit it at your bank like any other check and use it for whatever you want.

Most Rite Aids allow you to use a store coupon as well as a manufacturer's coupon on the same item, this is called "stacking coupons." Sometimes it is hard to tell if a coupon is a Rite Aid coupon or not but an easy way to tell is to look at the barcode on the coupon. If it has the letters RC and then some numbers under the barcode or if the coupon has a small Rite Aid logo on the coupon it is a Rite Aid coupon so it can be stacked with a manufacturer coupon. This goes for other stores coupons as well. They usually will all have their stores logo somewhere on the coupon.

One thing to remember about Rite Aid is that for the most part, almost all Rite Aid's DO NOT accept printable coupons from the internet. You might be lucky and your Rite Aid will allow them but for the most part they do not. They do however provide you with printable coupons from Rite Aid if you sign up at their website. You can go HERE to sign up for those. Since those coupons are coming straight from the Rite Aid website they will allow them.

Another thing to remember when going to Rite Aid, as well as other stores is that not all Rite Aids will allow you to use a B1G1 coupon with a B1G1 sale in the store. Sometime I go to Rite Aid to use a B1G1 coupon with a B1G1 sale and I have no problem at all. I end up getting two products for free plus a little bit of tax. Other times I have gone to the same Rite Aid or different Rite Aid and had a different cashier and they will not allow me to get 2 items for free. This is very frustrating at any store but it is just something to mention about Rite Aid if you are wanting to combine the coupon with the sale. It just depends on the cashier that you get. From my experience I try to go to the younger people working there not the older people. For some reason I think the older people think you are trying to steal money from the store when using the B1G1 coupon with the B1G1 sale but you are not. I promise! You should be allowed to get one free product from the store and one free product from the manufacturer. The Man. coupon should be your form of paying for the item that you would be buying when doing the B1G1 deal.

I hope this helps and makes sense to everyone! If you have any questions on how Rite Aid works or on any store please leave me a comment and I will try my hardest to answer your questions!

Happy Shopping!