How To Get Started Saving Money at CVS

CVS has a customer loyalty card, called an ExtraCare Card. In order to take advantage of store sales, specials and earn ECB’s, you need to apply for a card FIRST.  You can apply online here and after enrollment, you will be able to print off a sheet that has your new customer ID number.  You can use this sheet to make purchases until you receive your actual card in the mail. 

What are ECBs?

ECBs = Extra Care Bucks

ECB’s are like CVS Cash. They are earned by purchasing certain products during the week or month.  The weekly circulars will list the details of Extra Bucks promotions every week. ECB’s will print at the bottom of your receipt after you have purchased the necessary product(s).

In the Picture Example Below (taken from the weekly circular), this is how it breaks down:

You pay $6/2 Tropicana or Trop50 

If you buy (2), you also get $1 ECB, making it $5/2.

But, how about we make this deal a bit sweeter??

There was a $1/2 coupon in the Red Plum circular on 11/15

After you subtract ECB’s and coupon, you will get (2) Tropicana or Trop50 for $4

So basically, your Out of Pocket (OOP) Expense would be $5 for (2), but you would receive a $1 ECB at the bottom of your receipt that can be spent on something else.

When I do a CVS coupon matchup for the week, I would list this deal as:

Tropicana or Trop50 Orange Juise 59-64 oz $3 Limit 1
$1 ECB wyb (2)
$1/2 RP 11/15
Final: $4/2

Some deals are limited to one per week, while other promotions may state that the shopper can get multiple deals during the promotional period. Each deal will specifically state a limit per household. Store shelf tags will also indicate the promotion period dates for each item.

Don’t Lose Your ECB’s!  If they are lost or destroyed CVS most likely will not give you a copy of them. Its like throwing away cash!

Quarterly ECB’s:

These are earned based on the amount you actually spent at CVS and from prescriptions you’ve had filled. You will get back 2% of what you actually spent and a $1 ECB for every 2 prescriptions you have filled online or in store.

For example, if you spent:
00-24.99 dollars ……………………….. you get $0.00 in ECBs.
25-49.99 dollars ……………………….. you get $0.50 in ECBs.
50-74.99 dollars ……………………….. you get $1.00 in ECBs.
75-99.99 dollars ……………………….. you get $1.50 in ECBs.

The quarters run from January to March, April to June, July to September and October to December.  Your quarterly ECB will print on or after the first day of the month following the end of the quarter.

FAQ’s about CVS and ECB’s:

• ECB’s cannot be used to pay for prescriptions, gift cards, tobacco products, alcohol, stamps, and milk.
• You can use as many ECB’s in one transaction as you like, UNTIL using one would make your total go into the negative. They will not let you have an overage.
• You don’t have to purchase all items in one transaction to qualify for the ECB. For instance, in the above example with the Tropicana, you can buy 1 today and 1 tomorrow to qualify for the ECB.  You won’t get the ECB printed on your receipt until you have qualified for it.  Remember, these deals are usually weekly, so you would need to make sure to purchase the (2) juices within the qualifying period in order to receive your $1 ECB
• You can only use ECB’s along with the ExtraCare card in which you used to purchase the item originally. In other words, you can’t use my ECB’s and I can’t use yours.
• ECB’s cannot be used for purchases online, although you can use Quarterly ECB’s online
• Your household can technically only have ONE ExtraCare Card. I’ve heard of people having more than one, but most couponers consider that dishonest.
• Rolling ECBs means using the ECB’s you have already earned to buy items that will give you more ECBs.  You want to try to spend as many ECB’s as possible, instead of money out of your pocket

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