Tara asked me in this post about the Breeze2 Monitor deals. You might wonder why someone without Diabetes would hoard coupons for a glucose meter and how you can turn these in to moneymakers….
Making it a Moneymaker
The way to turn these in to a moneymaker is to hold on to them until CVS is giving out ECBs for them. The last time they did this was about a month ago. They put the monitor on sale for $14.99 and gave you $10 ECBs with the purchase.
You then give them one of the $30 coupons (which actually say “up to $30″ – they will be adjusted down to $14.99). You pay nothing and then get your ECBs which are then good on anything in the store.
About the Rebate
Almost every monitor has a rebate on it to make it free. Monitors don’t contain any test strips, so they figure that if you get the monitor for free then they can make tons of money off of you on the test strips.
Tara said that some other “frugal sites” had people saying that you could use the coupon to get the monitor for free and then send in the rebate to get another $30 back from the manufacturer.
Those people are wrong. It will not work.
Because you have to send in your recipt with the rebate, they can clearly see the price you were charged as well as your coupon. If you have used a coupon to pay nothing OOP, they WILL send you a rejection letter for the rebate (I know – I’ve got 2 of them)
The only exception is if the monitor isn’t on sale or you actually paid money for it. In the case of the deal last month, if someone paid $14.99 for it and didn’t have a coupon, they could have sent in the rebate form and received their $14.99 back. It still would have been a moneymaker with the $10 ECBs….but they just would have had to wait for their rebate.
The Bottom Line:
you can only turn these coupons in to moneymakers when you can tie it in with a store rewards program that DOESN’T show up on your receipt as you having paid nothing. If your receipt says that you got it for free, they aren’t going to give you another $30 rebate and you WILL get a rejection letter. The people processing the rebates know to look for the coupons. They’re on to us!
