2010-02-14 -- 19 Cents

This week, I hadn't really spent any time plotting a CVS shopping trip. I am in Northern CA and this area is rather new for CVS. CVS acquired the Longs Drugstore chain in 2009 and converted them to CVS stores last summer. Strangely, CVS has been marketing their sales quite differently in "Northern CA". This was mostly bad in 2009, as many "deals" were stripped from our region-specific ad as CVS seemed to focus on "lowering prices".

In 2010, things have been decidedly better, as CVS has been aggressively marketing CVS store coupons in Northern CA. For nearly two months, each week has brought a fantastic "$5.00 OFF $20.00 Purchase" CVS store coupon in the Sunday and Wednesday newspapers. Many of these newspapers post their ads online, so you can either print out the store coupon or purchase a newpaper to get the store coupon.

In addition, many of the Northern CA former Longs CVS stores accept expired coupons, as long as they "do not beep" when scanned at the register.

So, each week, I have been dutifully acquiring the beloved $5OFF$20 store coupon and enjoying all the great low prices and ECB offers at CVS.

Many CVS fans rack up tens or dozens of dollars of in-store scrip (ECB), I generally tend to keep each of my cards with $5-15ECB and roll them week after week after week. I mostly buy items that I will use or that are free or money-making which can be donated.

I also strive to have minimal out-of-pocket expenses.

The new ad kicked in on Sunday. I was in the Bay Area for the weekend and popped into an unfamiliar suburban store. I had no real strategy since our unique Northern CA-specific ads cannot really be previewed in any way.

Since I had $22.50ECB and last week's just-barely-expired $5OFF$20 coupon, I figured that I would be able to concoct a decent deal on the fly.

Here are the items purchased:

Regular Prices
1.99 CVS Tissues (200ct)
1.99 CVS Tissues (200ct)
9.49 Gillette Custom-Plus 10-Count Mens Disposable Razors
5.99 Head+Shoulders Shampoo (14.2oz)
3.99 Crest ProHealth with BONUS 3D WhiteStrips
2.99 Chex Mix
2.99 Chex Mix

29.43 TOTAL Regular Non-Sale Price

Sale Prices
0.99 CVS Tissues
0.99 CVS Tissues
6.49 Gillette Custom-Plus 10-Count Mens Disposable Razors
4.99 Head+Shoulders Shampoo (14.2oz)
3.50 Crest ProHealth with BONUS 3D WhiteStrips
2.99 Chex Mix
2.99 Chex Mix

22.94 TOTAL Sales Item Cost

Coupons and Discounts Applied
5.00 Store COUPON $5OFF$20 from SanFranciscoChronicle
2.99 BOGO Chex Mix (Sale Price - BOGO)
0.50 Manufacturer COUPON Chex Mix
0.75 Manufacturer COUPON Any Crest Toothpaste
3.00 Manufacturer COUPON Gillette Custom-Plus Multi-Count
1.00 Store COUPON "Buy Two Boxes CVS Tissues Save $1"
1.50 ExtraBuck
4.00 ExtraBuck
5.00 ExtraBuck

23.74 TOTAL Discounts (Coupons/BOGO/ECB)

22.94 TOTAL Sales Item Cost - 23.74 TOTAL Discounts = - 0.80

Yup, that's right, my total went negative. However, because my non-food items generated 99 cents in tax, my total became $0.19.

In addition, while shopping in this "new-to-me" store, I found a display rack set up with about 25 cardboard inserts from the quarterly CVS magazine "Reinventing Beauty", which you can purchase for $0.99. When I was living in Southern CA, it was commonplace to see a little display set up, promoting the magazine, a few selected items, and a stack of complimentary cardboard inserts. Hardly a soul would ever take any and I could pick up one on nearly every shopping visit.

This insert contains 12 coupons (a mix of store coupons for CVS brand items and some manufacturers coupons that can be used at CVS or elsewhere) -- at least $25 in potential savings, with coupons expiring at the end of March. So I added two inserts to my stack of coupons, leaving plenty for other customers,

Plus, the Gillette disposable razor package included $5 in manufacturers coupons that do not expire until December 2011.

And I earned the following ECB from this transaction:

3.50 Crest
2.00 Head+Shoulders
2.00 Gillette Razors

I now have 19.50 in ECB to spend next time, 3.00 ECB less than when I started.

HOWEVER.

I also located two items in the store which had "expired". In 2009, CVS entered into an agreement with the CA Attorney General to ensure that it would no longer sell items which were beyond the posted expiration date. The settlement states that any customer who finds any item which has "expired" is due a $2.00 "Courtesy Coupon" which does not expire. Ever.

While shopping, I noticed that two bottles of spray-on Coppertone sunscreen had expiration dates of 11-08 (2008!) stamped on the bottom of the bottle. So after completing my transaction, I handed the cashier the two expired bottles. At first, he started to issue a refund (yikes, that would be nearly $20.00). I stopped him and explained that I had not bought them. He was aware of the $2.00 policy, but didn't recall how to process the claim.

By now, the line had grown from non-existent to 6-deep, so I told him to set it aside and move on to the next customer while he waited for assistance. A few moments later, his supervisor appeared. Again, I told her to handle the overflow of customers first, which she quickly did. Less than two minutes later, she quickly keyed in the "Courtesy Coupon" and presented me with two $2.00 coupons. I handed one back to her since it was a single "item" (quantity two), but she insisted that I take both.

So, for this CVS trip, I brought home 10 razors, 2 boxes of tissues, 2 bags of Chex Mix, a bottle of shampoo, a tube of toothpaste, and a single-use sample-size of WhiteStrips for 19 cents. That's nearly $30 in merchandise, more if you add in the non-food item tax, for less than a quarter.

I entered the store with 22.50ECB and departed with 19.50ECB + 2.00CourtesyCoupon + 2.00CourtesyCoupon. That's a net gain of $1.00 in "store credit".

So, CVS paid me 81 cents to shop in their store.