CVS 101: How Extra Care Bucks Work

Many stores have a loyalty rewards program, and CVS's is one of the best as well as one of the easiest to use. Extra Care Bucks (ECB) are a kind of gift certificate that prints out at the bottom of your receipt and can be used as cash on your next visit (or in the same visit if you do separate transactions). Here are some tips and tricks to using this particular form of currency.

The weekly CVS sale flyer will have the price of a particular item, the ECB listed below with the final price at the bottom like a grade school subtraction problem. You pay the top price and when your receipt prints the ECB are at the bottom of the receipt. The next time you shop at CVS, you cut that "coupon" off and present it as you would cash.

EXAMPLE: Blah-Blah Shampoo is $6, with $4 in ECB. You pay $6 and your $4 is printed at the bottom of your receipt. The next day, you return to CVS and purchase a bottle of Yada-Yada Body Wash for $4. You hand the $4 ECB to the cashier and it's paid for (you will still have to pay sales tax of course). If the Body Wash were on sale and generated an ECB for $3, you begin the cyle all over. This is called "rolling."

*ECB are not good on tax. They are also not good on alcohol, tobacco, gift cards, pre-paid cards, money orders, postage stamps, lottery tickets and prescriptions.

*ECB expire four weeks (28 days) after they are printed. Some CVS stores will honor ECB expired up to 30 days, but most will not as corporate has discouraged this.

*There is no limit to the number of ECB you can use in one transaction, nor is there a limit to the number generated. It is possible to have a receipt 10+ feet long with ECB - I've seen it!

*If the limit on an ECB sale is 2+, all ECB for one item will print a single coupon. EXAMPLE: Blah-Blah Shampoo is a limit of 2 and you purchase 2, so the ECB printed will be $8 (or if the limit was 3 and 3 purchased: $12). If the 2 Blah-Blah Shampoos and 1 Yada-Yada were on sale and purchased in the same transaction, one $8 ECB and one $3 ECB would be generated.

*Limits are strict and printed below the item in the sale ad (as well as on the sale tags). If it says limit 3, the max number of ECB that will print is 3.

*ECB can be combined with manufacturer coupons as well as store coupons. ECB are like a gift certificate or gift card and can be used as cash except on prohibited items listed above.

*Additional ECB can be earned with the Seasonal Spending and Beauty Club. Seasonal Spending gives you 2% back of what you spend but is calculated after coupons and ECB, so it is just based on your actual cash or credit spending. You receive this reward 4 times a year. The Beauty Club pays you back with $5 in ECB for every $50 spent on cosmetics, skin care and hair care. This total is taken before coupons and ECB, and there is no limit to the number of $5 rewards you can earn.