myWalgreens Membership: Is It Good?

If you’re familiar with large drug stores, you’ll know you can get anything you may need there. Stores like Walgreens carry everything from health care products, medicines, lifestyle items, and household essentials, to electronics, office equipment, and even pet supplies. And, with the myWalgreens program, you could benefit from a myriad of rewards just for shopping there.

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The myWalgreens program gives you 1% cash back for every dollar spent on non-Walgreens branded products and 5% back on branded items. Signing up is free, and it gives you access to online ordering, exclusive discounts, and health challenges. You can redeem your rewards at the register or online.

Choosing to sign up for the myWalgreens program won’t cost you anything. Since you don’t need to sign any contracts, carry any cards, or renew a membership, you’ll never need to worry about cancellation policies. You only need to keep your account active to start earning rewards.

Table of Contents

• What Is A myWalgreens Membership, And Is It A Good Idea?
• Cost Of myWalgreens Membership, And How To Sign Up
• Eligibility To Sign Up For myWalgreens
• Benefits Of myWalgreens Membership
  • Cash Back Rewards With myWalgreens
  • Member-Only Perks Of myWalgreens Membership
  • Health And Lifestyle Perks Of myWalgreens Membership
  • Convenience Benefits Of myWalgreens Program
  • Other Benefits Of myWalgreens Membership
• Do myWalgreens Rewards Expire?
• What About Balance Rewards Points From The Old Program?
• Cancellation Policy for myWalgreens Membership
• Pros and Cons Of myWalgreens Membership
  • Pros
  • Cons
• Is It A Good Idea To Sign Up For myWalgreens?

What Is A myWalgreens Membership, And Is It A Good Idea?

The myWalgreens program is the replacement program for the Walgreens Balance Rewards system that was discontinued in early 2021. The new myWalgreens program is a simplified and user-friendly system that rewards you for shopping at Walgreens by giving you cash back when you spend.

This program doesn’t require you to track any points or clip any coupons, and your rewards are calculated when you check out and pay for your purchases. Signing up for this program also gives you access to member-only sales and discounts and opens up participation in weekly health and lifestyle challenges that are rewarded on completion.

Designed to help you accumulate cash back, the system promotes healthy living by giving you rewards for reaching specific health goals, purchasing health-related products, and spending wisely on certain brands. You can earn as much as $5 back per 100 dollars spent on certain products.

Let’s look at exactly how myWalgreens membership works and what rewards you can expect.

Cost Of myWalgreens Membership, And How To Sign Up

Unlike other rewards cards or discount-based systems, the myWalgreens system doesn’t require any membership payment. You sign up in-store, online, or via the Walgreens app. It’s a user-friendly process that only requires you to give basic information, including your full name, phone number, and zip code.

An email address is optional, although this is the quickest way to get your rewards balances and available sales items, so it’s highly recommended to provide one. If you don’t have an email address, there is a new option to provide a residential address where you can receive notices via post.

Once you’ve completed the signup process, you should be able to start earning your rewards at your local Walgreens almost immediately. The fine print says it could take a couple of days to activate, but most consumers report being able to earn cash back instantly. You can even sign up in-store and start shopping immediately.

Eligibility To Sign Up For myWalgreens

Since this is more a program than a traditional ‘club-type’ membership that requires paying to be part of it, the minimum requirement to sign up is that you must be at least 16 years old. In the United States, those aged between 16 and 18 must have parental consent or the consent of a guardian, while those in Puerto Rico require permission if they’re under the age of 21.

As of 16 years old, if you shop at Walgreens, you can earn some cash back if you’ve signed up. The only other requirement is that the program is for individuals. If they want to sign up, businesses, corporations, or groups need to follow a specific application process, with Walgreens reserving the right to turn down the application.

Lastly, your Walgreens account must remain active to maintain your eligibility, which means it must be used at least once every six months. If it becomes inactive, you will forfeit your rewards earned, and the account becomes dormant.

Benefits Of myWalgreens Membership

Now that we’ve unpacked what is required to sign up and how to keep your rewards system active, we can look at the various benefits available. These benefits of having signed up include the following:

Cash Back Rewards With myWalgreens

The most obvious benefits include cash back on money spent. The system works as follows:

• 1% cash back on every dollar you spend: This translates to $1 given back to you on every $100 spent on non-Walgreens branded products.
• 5% cash back on every dollar spent on Walgreens-branded items: The big bonus is switching out things for Walgreens-branded products, as you earn as much as $5 per $100.
• Completion of health and lifestyle challenges: myWalgreens updates the app and website with weekly challenges that run in a four-week cycle. For every challenge completed, you earn cash back – and even more so when you complete all four. You can earn as much as $2 per month if you meet all the challenges.

These cashback rewards are then calculated and built up as you spend. You can then choose to redeem these in various increments when you need to or as you see fit.

Member-Only Perks Of myWalgreens Membership

Signing up for myWalgreens perks also gives you access to the following benefits:

• Order essentials online: With the app or website, you will be able to shop and order your products quickly, inclusive of discounts and rewards, and can select delivery within the hour or collection in as little as half an hour. The process is simple, and you can choose the store closest to you.

Selecting from the drive-thru, curbside, or checkout collection in-store means you can have your shopping in your hands within 30 minutes. Ordering this way, arriving, and then selecting ‘I’m Here’ on the app when you arrive will have a staff member bring your order out to your car. This is especially useful when you’re sick and proved excellent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Exclusive sales and discounts: For those who have signed up, you will have access to weekly specials that either give you specific rewards or cost less. For example, certain vitamins may be 50% off for members, whereas those who don’t have the myWalgreens program will pay full price.

Health And Lifestyle Perks Of myWalgreens Membership

To promote healthy living, the myWalgreens membership also provides members with access to certain perks, which include the following:

• Members can earn points for reaching health goals, which run as weekly challenges, and by completing these, healthy living is promoted. Both lifestyle and health challenges are offered, and members can do both simultaneously to maximize rewards.
• Members have access to environmental and health forecasts on the app and website.
• Members get additional rewards for reporting, maintaining, and following up on health-related issues like exercise, blood pressure, sugar/glucose levels, sleeping patterns, and healthy eating. The closer you monitor your health, the greater the reward is to you.

Convenience Benefits Of myWalgreens Program

Once you’ve signed up for the program, there are a few other advantages that make your shopping experience even more convenient. These can be summarized as follows:

• Access to digital receipts and contactless checkout.
• Access to even more rewards at checkout, exclusive to members.
• Customized deals for myWalgreens members only, advertised in-store or online to show you the savings you are eligible for.
• Easy ordering online or via the app, with delivery and collection options within an hour.

Other Benefits Of myWalgreens Membership

In addition to all these benefits, myWalgreens also allows you to donate your rewards for a good cause. If you choose not to spend your rewards yourself, you can also donate them to various designated charities.

Do myWalgreens Rewards Expire?

Those who have signed up will have 12 months from the date of the rewards being issued to make use of them, so there’s no rush before these expire, and you can take your time to build up your rewards to a nice limit before having to cash in on them.

What About Balance Rewards Points From The Old Program?

If you were signed up to the Balance Rewards program, which Walgreens has since made defunct, you would have been given a chance to sign up for the myWalgreens program in time to transfer your points over to a new account. The last date for this would have been in April of 2021, so, unfortunately, your points fall away if you didn’t manage to sign up before then.

Cancellation Policy for myWalgreens Membership

Since it’s less a membership and more a rewards program, cancellation is rarely needed. Most people would only want to cancel something if it costs them money that they feel was unnecessarily spent, and with myWalgreens, you don’t pay for anything. You’re not required to re-apply for membership after a specific period.

The program does automatically stop calculating rewards if you don’t use it for six months, so if you really want to opt-out of the myWalgreens program, for whatever reason, you simply need to let your account remain inactive for six months.

However, Walgreens can terminate your account should they feel there is a reason to do so, including fraudulent accounts or misuse of their program.

Pros and Cons Of myWalgreens Membership

Now that we’ve discussed the myWalgreens program in detail, you may wonder whether it’s worth getting a myWalgreens membership. Let’s break it down with a summary of the pros and cons of signing up:

Pros

• Using the app is easy and user-friendly and gives access to the latest offers and specials exclusive to members.
• Health challenges are available and give you rewards when completed while also promoting a healthy lifestyle.
• Keeping track of important health issues such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels, cholesterol, and more implies you are more keenly aware of health issues before they become serious.
• You can stack your rewards and Walgreens coupons and coupons from specific brands.
• It’s free to sign up and is quick and easy to do; it’s free to use, and you don’t need to reapply or renew any membership every year.
• There is no membership card needed to earn, and rewards are automatically calculated for you – you simply need your phone number or barcode from the app to redeem rewards.
• Signing up contributes to going green because of digital receipts and less of a paper trail. Communication via the app and email means you are leaving less carbon footprint.
• Members also earn rewards on prescriptions, as long as you copay, so those with chronic prescriptions can get maximum rewards.
• Checking your rewards balance is accessible on the app or online.
• Register Rewards are still available and can also be used in conjunction with myWalgreens rewards.
• If you’re a regular Walgreens customer and shop cleverly, you can cash in on up to $50 per transaction and $100 per day if you’ve built up your rewards over time. Walgreens offers such a variety of products that it is easy to benefit from shopping there if you plan ahead.

Cons

• Buying Walgreens-branded items to get the most out of the rewards can be frustrating if you are loyal to a particular brand.
• The widespread Beauty Enthusiast benefits from the previous program fall away.
• You don’t get any rewards when buying gift cards.
• Some items don’t collect rewards. These include alcohol, tobacco, contact lenses, phone/prepaid cards, money orders/transfers, transport passes, and lottery tickets. If you buy these items regularly, you won’t benefit from purchasing them.
• Not all states give rewards on pharmacy items and prescriptions, so you’ll need to check what your local Walgreens offers.
• If you’re not a regular Walgreens customer, it can take a long time to build up enough rewards to make cashing them in worthwhile.
• You can only redeem cash back in increments of $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $20, or $50. You are limited to a maximum of $50 reward cashed in per transaction and $100 per day.

Is It A Good Idea To Sign Up For myWalgreens?

Often it is more effort than it’s worth to become a member of a rewards program, and for many, the cost of signing up is rarely worth it against the minimal rewards that result from it. But because Walgreens offers a wide variety of products and services, and since signing up is free, it’s easy to do most of your monthly grocery shopping there and reap the rewards.

The benefits of signing up for the myWalgreens program are not limited to cashback rewards. With access to member-only discounts and sales, health-promoting challenges, and easy-to-use in-app services like ordering for collection or delivery within 30 minutes or an hour, there is almost no drawback big enough to dissuade you from joining the program.