The anatomy of a drugstore deal: make money buying Alka Seltzer

My dear friend Michael is a well-prepared guy.  I mean that in the sense that he is literally prepared to survive the breakdown of society via economic collapse, civil war, and/or zombie apocalypse.  Alien invasion too, but that's not as likely as the other three.  He, his wife, and their friends & family will come through Mad Max just fine because Michael doesn't screw around.  I want to be like Michael when I grow up.

So, when Michael asked me earlier today to give him a heads-up if I find great deals on shelf-stable goods that he could pass on to his apocalypse-avoidant homies, I figured I'd do him and all of you a service by breaking down a good deal on over the counter medication.  Since this is a national sale at a national chain, most anyone will be able to replicate it with a little footwork ahead of time.  Cold & flu season is fast approaching; stock up now while they'll pay you to do it.

Let's begin.

Locate your nearest Rite Aid Pharmacy.  Some time before Sunday, stop in there and sign up for their Wellness+ card.  It's completely free; this is the store loyalty card that gives you discount prices and enables you to earn their +UP store dollars on eligible purchases.  You fill out a short form in the store, they give you a card, and you're on your way.

You will also want to gather your coupons.  First and foremost, determine if the Red Plum sales insert is mailed to you (usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday, arriving with your local grocery sales circular) or if it comes with the Sunday paper.  To find out, go to this Red Plum link, enter your address, and it'll tell you.
If you get this insert in the mail, start asking your neighbors, coworkers, friends and family to save their coupons for you right now.  You'll need six inserts.
If your local newspaper carries Red Plum in their Sunday paper - lucky you!!  Make plans now to purchase six newspapers on Sunday - or ask friends/family/etc if you can have the coupons from their paper.  There are piles of other useful coupons, so if you wind up buying six papers you'll still come out ahead.

However you do it, you want to make sure to have SIX coupons from that circular for $3 off "any Alka-Seltzer Plus Fast Powder Packs product."

Next, you'll want to print out a couple of these $5 off a $25 purchase coupons for Rite Aid.  You'll only need one for this deal, but they come in handy so keep a couple extra on hand.
LATE EDIT: apparently the linked coupon is acting up. If you can't get the PDF to load, please email me and I may be able to help: angrycheapskate (at) gmail (dot) com.

Starting on Sunday, 10/24, this item will be on sale at Rite Aid.

Each box is $5, and as you can see in the ad you can use the $3 coupon to bring the price down to $2.
For each box you purchase, you'll receive back $2 in +UPs.
"It's like paying FREE"

So right now, as it stands, you can get a box for free (after +UPs) with just one coupon, which is great and all....but we can do better.

There's also a promotion next week at Rite Aid giving you a $10 +UP back when you purchase $30 in Bayer items.
Alka-Seltzer is a Bayer brand.

So this is what you wanna do:
Buy SIX boxes of Alka-Seltzer Fast Powder Packs for $30
Use ONE $5 off $25 purchase Rite Aid coupon -$5
Use SIX $3 off coupons -$18
Pay $7 cash plus tax
Receive back: SIX $2 +UPs ($12) from the Alka-Seltzer and a $10 +UP for buying $30 in Bayer products.

You spend $7 in cash, you get back $22 in "store dollars" to either buy more Alka-Seltzer (and get more +UPs back), or to buy other items in the store like toilet paper, shampoo, food, and so on.

How you handle it after this one deal is up to you.  The folks who play the drugstore game use those +UPs to pay for all or part of another item that itself will generate more +UPs.  As long as you plan carefully, this is a self-propagating virus of savings; only spend $2 in +UPs if it earns you $2 or more in +UPs back. Stop in once a week to use your +UPs from last week to earn more on the current week's sales, and wind up paying very little of your own cash.
For a deal like this, I look at the $10 +UP as bonus money.  I'm more likely to use that amount to buy a non +UP item that we really need and that almost never goes for free such as trash bags.  The other $12 I'll use towards generating further +UPs in weeks to come - maybe some toothbrushes will be on sale next week that give back +UPs, so I'll use the $12 to get some toothbrushes and get back $12 or more in new +UPs.

This is an amazing deal to start off with, because for a $7 cost upfront, you wind up with $22 in store credit to buy other stuff along with six boxes of cold & flu medicine.  If you want to try the drugstore game, this is the deal to begin with.

Now, what do you do if you get to Rite Aid and they don't have six boxes of Alka Seltzer?
Get a raincheck!
Make sure you point out that you plan to buy $30 worth, so your raincheck needs to cover both the $2 individual +UPs as well as the $10 Bayer +UP.
Then simply go back later in the week, or the next week, or some time before those coupons expire, and get your stack of loot.  Staple your coupons to the raincheck so you don't lose them.

If you've never dealt with drugstore reward dollars before, this is very important:
DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR RECEIPT!!!!
+UPs, CVS's Extra Care Bucks, and Walgreen's Register Rewards print as little coupons at the bottom of your receipt.  You need to cut them off and you're responsible for keeping track of them.  Get an envelope, put 'em in there, and keep them in your purse, desk drawer, on a bulletin board, or somewhere you won't lose them.  Remember, treat those things like cash because they're as good as cash to the store!