Yep, it happens to me too. Going to the store and leaving empty handed. On my list this week was: Ziploc bags, Hormel Chili and Dove APDO, but what I got was: Rain Checks.
While the sight of empty shelves used to make my heart sink, after a while you get used to it, especially if you live and shop in an area with a lot of couponers. I consider this part of the ‘game’ of couponing (keep reading- you’ll see why).
So with new rain checks in hand, I decided to peruse the store to see if any items I had prior rain checks for were in stock. And guess what! Not only did I get some of the items I had been seeking, but a few of the deals were actually BETTER than if I had scored these deals when they were current. Check it out!
Rain check from 1/23- 1/29/11:
Old deal:
GE Extra Soft White Light Bulbs 4pk $1.99
$1.99 +up
Final: FREE after +up
New deal: Still FREE with my rain check!
Rain check from 1/30-2/5/11:
Old deal:
Stayfree Pads B1G1
B1G1 Stayfree Products 1/9/2011 SS (up to $6)
Final: 2 for FREE
New deal: This week Stayfree B1G1 ½ off, $2 +up wyb 2, used my rain check to get 2 for FREE, AND received the $2 +up making this a $2 MM!
Rain check from 1/9-1/15/11:
Old deal:
Motrin PM $3
$2 +up
$1/1 Motrin IB or PM 1/9/2011 SS
Final: FREE
New Deal: this week Motrin $3 +up wyb $5 (regular price for 20ct $5.99), used my Rain check to get FREE Motrin AND received (2) $3 +ups making this a $6 MM!
So… as you can see, just because you missed it once doesn’t mean you have to miss out! FabfruGALs ALWAYS ask for a rain check! And please remember to play nice = no hoarding!
We recently received an email from our FAB reader Sarah H (Thanks Sarah!) whose local store (Meridian #5412) is wishing to keep up with the deals but is struggling to do so. She suggested, (and I love it) that if your Rite Aid is one that only receives freight every other week and you would like to see that increase take a moment to contact Rite Aid customer service and tell them you love your store and you want MORE!! Perhaps if they receive enough requests from customers as well as their employees they will stock more or more often!
Happy Shopping!
This may be a silly question but when your get the rain check and the deal they dont have the stock for includes an UP reward do they honor the UP reward to? or are you getting the rain check just for the sale price in hopes that you will find a deal at a later date that will include an UP reward to.
Thanks
Not silly at all. When they write the rain check they will include the discount of the +up reward, so when you redeem it the price will reflect that reward. For example: on the Motrin above which was sale price of $3 with a $2 +up, the raincheck was written for Motrin at the price of $1. Make sense?
That’s interesting because in the past when I’ve asked about this they told me that they could do a rain check but they can’t manually give the UP rewards so I wouldn’t get it. I’ve kind of stopped shopping at Rite Aid for various issues that I’ve had there with this being one of them. BTW this was a manager that told me that.
Unfortunately that manager was uninformed. If this happens again call 1800RITEAID while you are still in the store- they will help you and perhaps educate the employees at that store as well.
Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong, but I am pretty sure Wags won’t do that with RRs. We don’t have a Rite Aid here (Idaho Falls), and there is usually no point to getting a raincheck at Wags so far as I can tell. I’ve come to the point where I’ve nearly stopped couponing because it’s just not worth it. If something is on a really great deal, you can bet the shelves are emptied on the one day a week I can get into town. Fred Meyer usually refuses to give me a rain check, and you usually can’t get rain checks for the price after catalina at Albertson’s or wherever, so that usually does not help.
With wags, this is true. I think the reason is that it is slightly different than Rite Aid. Rite Aid actually pays the cost of the UP rewards themselves. But with wags, it is a catalina, not walgreens that pays for the register rewards. So, they cannot be held accountable for rewards that an outside company would have paid you. You can however, usually get a rain check reflecting an in-ad coupon from their flyer. YMMV but I have pretty good luck on this. Of course, the best deals involve the RR so it kinda blows. lol
Also, what do you do for those “unadvertised” Up rewards? I wanted to take advantage of the Lays Stax, Peanut butter, etc. the other week, but since the only Up reward in the ad said “5 UP when you spend 15″ (I think?), I couldn’t get a rain check for the unadvertised food Up Reward which would have made the Lays Stax free and peanut butter a good deal. Any hints?
The unadvertised ones are hard because the employees cannot write a rain check reflecting something that is not in the ad.
On these particular deals though, this February food/snacks +up should be printing untill 2/26/11 so there is still time for you to get these great deals!
The problem I run into is by the time the product is there my coupons aren’t current. (Like the stayfree for example). For weeks at a time the shelves are always cleared by other “raincheckers” by the time I can go on Monday morning. Any suggestions?
Some Rite Aids will special order products for customers. Ask your manager if they can do this. If not check with another Rite Aid (if possible) and see if you can find one that does.
Sadly none of my 3 rite aids will do special orders. grrrr And, unfortunately that leads to shelfs cleared. I would love to place special orders so that we wont have to worry about stock on hand. But they don’t want people getting amazing deals and therefore “shoot themselves in the foot” by denying orders.
How many different rainchecks can you ask for during one visit? I have never tried it and was curious because a lot of times many of the items we want are already gone and I have coupons that don’t expire for a while. Thanks
They may limit the number of a certain product you can get a rain check for, but you can rain check as many different products as you like.
I seriously can’t believe I haven’t started this sooner! I just got my first rain check the other day on the $1.99 Excedrin so I’ll see how they handle it with my $2.50 off coupons. If it goes smoothly – I’m going to get rainchecks for EVERYTHING I can !!!
How does that work if your coupons actually make the item free? Will they let you purchase a raincheck item for say $2.00, then let you use a $3.00 off coupon?
Rite Aid coupon policy states that they will not allow a coupon to create an overage, so the cashier may adjust the coupon down making the item free with no overage.
Do you have to do a separate transaction for each item to get the up rewards? I would like to take advantage of the deals at Rite Aid but I don’t understand how it all works.
No you do not have to do seperate transactions. I like to break up my transactions so I can use the +ups from one transaction to pay for the next so I end up with the smallest OOP and the least amount of +ups left in my pocket (they expire!)
Is there some place on this website I can go to read about the UP rewards and how they work so I better understand them? Is it true you are limited to the amount of UP rewards you can get at a time too? Sorry for all the questions.
If there are limits to the +up rewards it will be noted in the ad (I also try to note this in my matchup posts).
Check out http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2010/06/rite-aid-wellness-reward-program.html . Let me know if you have any more questions!
My Rite Aid told me they couldn’t write any rainchecks until after Wednesday since they will get another shipment. That means another drive into town later in the week for me. I think it would be appropriate for them to issue a raincheck if they are out of stock, while the customer is in the store, and not ask the customer to make another separate trip…anyone else hear this one or am I just lucky, lol?
Kari- I fear your store (what store is it? local?) is uninformed… or you are just really lucky
If there is no product in the store you should be issued a rain check.
Next time this happens, call 1800RITEAID while still in the store, they will help you.
Thanks! Great idea!!
I had this exact problem. On 2 separate occasions was told this by Rite Aid. I called customer service and now they have NOOOO trouble giving me rain checks, no matter when the truck is coming, lol
I recently went to Rite Aid and found that they were out of Dove. I asked for a rain check and they gave me the 2/$4 price that was in the ad. I have just realized that I could have gotten it for 2/$2. Since I have the $2/1 coupon would it do me any good to have the rain check be 2/$2. I wouldn’t get the overage anyway. This way I will get it for free. I’m trying to understand Rite aid since mine is always out of what I want and the employees are kind of rude.
Last month, I was at Rite-Aid & asked for a raincheck & was told that they don’t give them. Is this a new policy or was the person just uninformed?
No, just laziness from the clerk &/or manager. I specifically called customer service about this exact problem and they HAVE to give you a rain check. They can limit the amount of the limit given on the rain check (at the manager’s discretion) but must allow you a rain check with a minimum quantity of 1 item. Call customer service. The cashier just doesn’t feel like doing it, sad, it’s what they get paid for!
Uninformed. If they didn’t do rainchecks couponing would be nearly impossible there since they stock so little.
If I were to ask for a rain check on an item that had +up rewards only after you purchased a certain dollar amount, would the rain check factor in the +up reward? For example, the current Orajel/Arm&Hammer deal, buy $10 get $5 +up.
SInce they can’t make the register print the rewards, they write the rain check for the price of the item after the register reward ( in this case, yours would be adjusted so the total would be $5 when you go into purchase the orajel/arm&hammer deal)
If you go back with a rain check, you can’t use an expired coupon that was within the correct date for when the rain check was written… am I correct? Sorry it is a confusing question.
To clear that raincheck question up, Melissa, if you have an expired coupon, +UP or Manufacturer types along with a Raincheck written BEFORE any expiration date, you can get get credit for them ie; Raincheck written for 2 for 3.00 less a coupon (as long as it doesnt create an overage) can be redeemed, the cashier would have to manually input it and in some cases, if they aren’t sure they can call a supervisor/manager.