Update:  In the interests of pseudo-science, I ran the Wags brand Sleep Pants to see if you could use the $2 Wags coupon.  NO. Since they are $5.99, the only discount you’ll get will be the $10 MIR, since five packs brings you over the $25 threshold.  On the positive side, though, the Goodnites brand pants are $11.99 a pack.

For those of you who missed the last BOGO deal on the Wags jumbo packs of Premium diapers, there’s apparently an unadvertised rebate when you purchase five.  It goes like this:  buy 5 packs at $5.99 each, use the $2 Wags coupon from Infant Care booklet (or have them punch in code 2844 if you can’t find the book) and you’re down to $19.95.  When you pay, a $10 MIR prints out, which brings your total cost per pack down to only $1.99!!!  I don’t know if this is a “one per househould” rebate, but since we all have lots and lots of “family and friends,” that should never pose a problem.

All the reviews I’ve read about the Wags Premium diapers have been extremely favorable, so if you need these or know anyone who needs/will need these, this is an incredible stock-up price, especially since we can pay using all our RRs (since we’re not using any other mfr coupons).  See?  Great deals always turn up!

many, many thanks to MUM

Wanted to make sure this all worked well, so only ran six transactions; I’ll pick up more at the end of the week, to roll more of the Almay RRs.  My total OOP was $7.34, for which I got 12 Colgate Total, 2 Gain and 10 Nips (this is for my Mom, so hang the expense).  I spent $34 in RRs and got back $24.  Everything was high tax. Obviously, were I doing this to reduce my OOP, I would be taking something like the .15 Easter pencils as a filler, but my Mom likes Nips and we don’t need pencils.  That said, that scenario would be more like:  $6 Colgate + .60 (4 pencils or other item food? for .50) less $1.50/1 coupon and $5 Almay = .1 plus high tax.

Check your local Walgreens for clearance items. There was a selection of 2.24 hair color and also this “clearance-priced” dried fruit; 2/$3 or 2/$2.98.

Note: The 3/27 S has a $1.50/1 on the Colgate Total Advance, so I’d suggest using that coupon and the $5 Reach one.  This gives you .50 overage, so grab a low-tax filler (something food maybe?).   I mean, it’s not like we don’t have a ton of $5 RRs, right?

Only thing that appeals to me so far for next week is using the $5 RRs with the $1/1 from 3/06s (expires 3/26, sorry), or 2/27 S (spanish inserts – Hoy?) or the Spring D&Y on the 2/$6 get $4 RR Colgate Total deal.  MUM reports that the 3/27 You won’t need a filler, you didn’t really pay for the RRs, so why not stock up?  My stockpile test:  It won’t go bad; you will always need it; there will not be a design change.  PASS! Use this week to pick up those D&Y mags whenever you hit a Wags or two or three…  There’s nowhere near as many coupons as prior issues, but at least the expiration dates are end of May and June.  The Gain dish soap will be .89 with in-ad coupon; the P&G coupon books each contain 2 $1/1 coupons and most of you have multiple books.  ‘nuf said

The week of 4/03 is also looking cruddy right now.  Another Colgate deal on the 6 oz size of the Max- line; buy 1 for $2.99 get $3RR.  So if you wanted to wait that extra week to roll the RRs, you could use the $2 Plackers and $1 Osteo because right now there aren’t any mfr coupons.  In the above case, stick in a .29 Easter candy for filler.

Week of 4/10 has a MM on Luster White toothpaste:  $4.99 with a $4 RR and this $1.50 coupon.  While I can’t say it’s unlimited print – I’m running out of paper here! HURRY before they either fix this glitch or hit the print limit.  I’ve told Steve to order lots, but if you are interested in special orders, please call as soon as possible.  Steve will be on vacation next week, but Richard will take the info.  Steve has asked that we limit our specials to 20 each since his payroll almost doubled (and he’s getting shit from his DM – or would that be BM).  But then we all have DH, DS, DD, MIL, BIL, right (x20).  This is one reason why I am trying so desperately to bring in the Lisle Wags so we can handle our orders.  By the way, I do believe that the Lisle Wags situation will be straightened out very, very soon.  So at least that’s good news there.  And there are preliminary talks with another Wags in close proximity to our current ones.

If you guys see anything now, comment so we can all share.  Don’t forget that just because we don’t see anything, does not mean nothing will turn up – the Osteo deal is very sweet and only showed up a couple of days ago!

Reach update:  I just read on CW that the Northlake Wags has literally hundreds (OP estimates 500 or more) of the Reach toothbrushes in stock on displays and end caps.  They have them marked at 2/$2, so no need to worry about the .04 overage even!  Unfortunately, I’m down to my last couple of coupons and even I’m not nuts enough to drive for a RR.  If you’re near Northlake, or have a shitload of coupon, hit ’em hard and heavy.

Since I’ve basically wiped out Osteo from about ten Wags, I’m forced to hunt further afield.  Found about 20 in Glen Ellyn at the 24 hr Wags on Roosevelt and Lambert; nice staff, left a few on the shelf.  Steve checked the database and found the largest number (almost 30) were at the Wags in Oswego.  If you’re anywhere near this location, pick them up; it’s a sweet deal.

Steve also picked up some Tena from another store – I left about 20…don’t whine, it’s what i do… If you can find these at other locations, I’d say do the Almay swap for more “stuff” and to extend the expiration date.

A breaking Trib story details the planned purchase of drugstore.com for $400 million.  Wags just dumped their pharmacy benefit management business for more than $500 million to “help it better focus on its primary business of serving customers’ daily health and living needs.”  ah, right.  so what’s different except they’re ahead a hundred million.  Suddenly all my Almay RRs seem like chump change..to read the complete story, click here.

Picked up about 54 or so Almay, a few toothbrushes (yes, I cleared the shelf), some Tena pads…this is exhausting work!  Here’s how I converted some Almay RRs into Tena ones (silly to have a wad so thick you can’t close your wallet).   Take one Tena, one Plackers and two of the pocket tissues (or other filler totalling .51).  Pay with the $2.50 Tena coupon and 2 $5 RRs from Almay.  Have the cashier manually enter one tissue as .26 (not .25).  Your total comes to around a buck (depending on the tax) and you get back $10 Tena and $2 Placker.  Pretty sweet, huh?

I hit a few Wags today in my search for MM deals.  At each I was buying 2 Osteo Bi-Flex 30 caplet size on sale for $9.99 with a $1 RR.  There was an unadvertised BOGO on it so I used 2 $6/1 coupons from 3/6r ($5/1 in 2/13s gets it free).  Added an Almay remover and a Plackers to use up the overage.  I found four toothbrushes at one Wags, about 18 of the Snickers Easter eggs ($1/2 3/20r) for free and I was able to score a few more of the Beauty Books.  Total OOP was about $8 (I seem to have lost some receipts) and I earned $52 in RRs (30 from Almay; 6 from Osteo Bi-Flex; 12 from Plackers and 4 from Reach).

I think this is a sweet deal to run with any combination of products; you can always use the overage on Plackers, since you get the $2 back anyway.  Toothbrushes have turned into the dodos of the deal-world – ain’t gonna find any.

I’m posting this immediately due to a disturbing email, recounting a reader’s trip to the Lisle store:

After seeing your post on Lisle Wags, I decided to go there and give them a try. It didn’t turn out so well. I do want to say the assistant manager (Jennifer) was very nice and she didn’t have any problems with me doing 20 transactions. I originally wanted to buy 2 Almay towelettes in 2 separate transactions. The cashier didn’t approve me using both IVC and MQ on the Almay. He told me the IVC is MQ so I can’t use it so I politely asked him to page the manager and double check. The AM came over and scanned the MQ first and then the IVC. Guess what! It went through. He was so upset that he slammed the cash register and the coins fell out. He also refused to do my second transaction. I ignored him. So, I went to talk to the AM about getting 20 of the Almay products and she approved it (No limit). She is also okay with me using both the IVC and MQ. So off I go to the beauty counter but the beauty advisor wasn’t very happy. She said I can’t buy that many. There is a limit. So, I told her that I have already talked to the manager and she can check with her. She did call the AM and the beauty advisor was very upset when the AM told her the same thing. She also didn’t approve me using both the IVC and MQ but she unwillingly pushed it through. She rang up 2 separate transactions for me and asked a different cashier to ring up the rest. She flat out told the other cashier she didn’t want to do 20 separate transactions and the other cashier wasn’t willing to do it either. I was standing there for a minute and watched those two negotiating. It is ridiculous. Isn’t it their job? Finally, the non beauty advisor unwillingly took the job.

The AM was great but the employees there are not so friendly. If that store really wants to learn from Steve, I think they need to train their employees better first. Sorry
for the long story.

Ok, so where do we stand on this? I spoke this morning with Steve who was, frankly, appalled that employees would behave like this in front of customers, especially arguing over who would not assist her!  He will speak with the store manager about retraining her staff.  My take?  There are two wonderful BAs at this location (and one who sucks donkey balls) and I would hate like hell to have them lose commissions, but my readers can’t shop based on Kafka-esque scenarios (lunar phase/day of the week/color of your underwear).  So unless and until this is straightened out 100%, stick with Wheaton or caveat emptor.