Strategy no. 1: Ask the cashier, nicely
In 2016, CVS finally gave its 70 million ExtraCare members the option to go paperless. To do so, customers would have to pull out their rewards card at checkout and give a valid email address to the cashier. From there, customers would receive all coupons in their inbox, resulting in shorter receipts at the register. Members could use the coupons or ExtraBucks by sending them to their cards via a button in the message, pulling them up on a smart device, or less intuitively, printing them at home or at kiosks in the store. Now, there are obvious benefits to having an ExtraCare membership, but saving trees or time is not one of them. Unless, of course, you find a way to ditch those unnecessarily long receipts. This opt-out method still exists, but the rise in self-checkout counters has made it less accessible these days. That said, if you find yourself at a CVS with a few minutes to spare, go ahead and ask the cashier to make the switch to digital receipts and coupons. It’ll save you from procrastinating and stashing more junk in your drawers.
Strategy no. 2: Download the CVS app
Like with most streamlined solutions these days, this one involves a smartphone. After you’ve downloaded the CVS app (free for both Android and iOS), sync it to your ExtraCare membership by choosing Link to card. You can either add a photo of your card, type in the 13-digit rewards number, or look up the account with your name, phone number, email address, and zip code. The other plus side of the app is that you can easily look at all the available deals and ExtraBucks before you go shopping. Simply select Deals and Rewards on the home screen and tap Send to card for all the savings you want. They will automatically be applied to your purchase.
What to do with your old CVS receipts
As always, Redditors have found ingenious ways to repurpose their coupons as wrapping paper, for example. Otherwise, you can always plan ahead for next year’s Halloween costume.
