Get 3% cash back when you use your Apple Card at Walgreens

AppleInsider

Starting on September 13, Walgreens customers will get 3% back in Daily Cash when they use their Apple Card with Apple Pay on eligible purchases.

Apple Card users can now get 3 percent Daily Cash at Walgreens when buying certain products, including prescription medication. The promotion will begin on Friday, September 13 according to the Walgreens' press release.

"We know our customers love Apple Pay and they're looking for convenient ways to shop and pay for their purchases at Walgreens. We're pleased to offer a higher level of Daily Cash on Apple Card for even better value on daily essentials, medicines and prescriptions," said Joe Hartsig, chief merchandising officer, Walgreens.

Customers will need to use their Apple Card with Apple Pay in order to receive the benefit. If they use their physical card, they'll only get the standard 1 percent cash back.

As part of the promotion, Walgreens will expand the number of stores carrying Apple Accessories 2,600 stores. Shoppers will be able to purchase Lightning Cables, EarPods, and iPhone cases.

Most Apple Pay purchases made with the Apple Card only net 2 percent cash back. The Walgreens promotion also hints that future promotions with other companies will likely be forthcoming.

ihatescreennames

Nice! I hope it’s well promoted in their stores, too. This is the kind of thing that will help to drive awareness of Apple Pay and hopefully further adoption. 

lkrupp

Walgreens is one of the few retailers that actually “gets” ApplePay. Their rewards card can be placed in your iOS Wallet app. When tap your iPhone or Watch the terminal processes it quickly without asking for a PIN, signature, or phone number. Easy.

right_said_fred

lkrupp said:

Walgreens is one of the few retailers that actually “gets” ApplePay. Their rewards card can be placed in your iOS Wallet app. When tap your iPhone or Watch the terminal processes it quickly without asking for a PIN, signature, or phone number. Easy.

Yes this. Wish the other retailers could use Walgreens method and copy.

wood1208

It would be nice if other retailers offer Apple card/Apple Pay with 3% cash back. If not 3% than 2% on all purchases and 3% on one select category of your choice from a list like Bank of America Card does. Than, I would discard all cards and just keep Apple Card.

I use Citi double cash 2% on all purchases and Bank of America card for 3% on select category.

Appleish

Goodbye CVS and your tree-killing receipts.

mike1

This will be the first of many promos retailers begin to offer.

GeorgeBMac

Appleish said:

Goodbye CVS and your tree-killing receipts.

ApplePay does not do away with paper receipts.   No connection.  You can refuse to take it if you want though.   For myself, I use it to enter into Quicken later on so I can track my finances, verify charges, and reconcile accounts quickly and easily at the end of the month.   Just as I avoid shopping at places that don't provide ApplePay, I avoid those who avoid giving paper receipts.

GeorgeBMac

Walgreens was one of the first to jump on board with ApplePay and it contrasted sharply with CVS an others who refused to accept it.

For me, aside from the security and efficiency of ApplePay, it demonstrated that Walgreens, like Apple, had their focus on the customer.    It made me a dedicated Walgreens customer and, today, I have to grit my teeth to walk in to a CVS even though they finally capitulated and started to accept ApplePay.

So, one cares about its customers, the other doesn't.   It makes my choice easy.

eightzero

Feature request: maybe Apple can integrate who is offering what bonus into the app. 

lkrupp

Off topic but Kohl's is the only retailer I know of that supports the Wallet app. My Kohl’s card is in my iOS wallet. 

Notsofast

GeorgeBMac said:

Appleish said:

Goodbye CVS and your tree-killing receipts.

ApplePay does not do away with paper receipts.   No connection.  You can refuse to take it if you want though.   For myself, I use it to enter into Quicken later on so I can track my finances, verify charges, and reconcile accounts quickly and easily at the end of the month.   Just as I avoid shopping at places that don't provide ApplePay, I avoid those who avoid giving paper receipts.

Why do you need paper receipts to do any of that?  

GeorgeBMac

Notsofast said:

GeorgeBMac said:

Appleish said:

Goodbye CVS and your tree-killing receipts.

ApplePay does not do away with paper receipts.   No connection.  You can refuse to take it if you want though.   For myself, I use it to enter into Quicken later on so I can track my finances, verify charges, and reconcile accounts quickly and easily at the end of the month.   Just as I avoid shopping at places that don't provide ApplePay, I avoid those who avoid giving paper receipts.

Why do you need paper receipts to do any of that?  

Mostly to record the expense at a later time.   While I could try to rely on other means, none are as efficient or reliable.  
Plus, after recording the receipt I tuck into an envelope and, anytime I need to retrieve it, it is there.   So if I need a record of the purchase, say for a return, I always have it.  I even hang onto receipts from the Apple Store because they provide details of the purchase such as serial number and such that may be needed somewhere down the road -- say if the phone is lost or stolen and then recovered (Cedar Point's lost & found asks for it on the form).

randominternetperson

GeorgeBMac said:

Appleish said:

Goodbye CVS and your tree-killing receipts.

ApplePay does not do away with paper receipts.   No connection.  You can refuse to take it if you want though.   For myself, I use it to enter into Quicken later on so I can track my finances, verify charges, and reconcile accounts quickly and easily at the end of the month.   Just as I avoid shopping at places that don't provide ApplePay, I avoid those who avoid giving paper receipts.

I hypothesize that you don't shop at CVS (which does accept Apple Pay now).  If you use their rewards program (which you need to do to get most of their sale prices) you will get a "receipt" that is literally 3-feet long (or more).  They insist on printing a dozen coupons as part of the receipt.  It's absurd.

m2

I like these new partnerships and am looking forward to more and more merchants jumping on board. With this Walgreens partnership, aren't we essentially getting an extra 1% now since they were already accepting Apple Pay payments? Prior to this announcement, if I had used my Apple Card with Apple Pay at Walgreens I should have received 2% on the purchase, correct?

GeorgeBMac

randominternetperson said:

GeorgeBMac said:

Appleish said:

Goodbye CVS and your tree-killing receipts.

ApplePay does not do away with paper receipts.   No connection.  You can refuse to take it if you want though.   For myself, I use it to enter into Quicken later on so I can track my finances, verify charges, and reconcile accounts quickly and easily at the end of the month.   Just as I avoid shopping at places that don't provide ApplePay, I avoid those who avoid giving paper receipts.

I hypothesize that you don't shop at CVS (which does accept Apple Pay now).  If you use their rewards program (which you need to do to get most of their sale prices) you will get a "receipt" that is literally 3-feet long (or more).  They insist on printing a dozen coupons as part of the receipt.  It's absurd.

I agree.  That IS ridiculous.  I not only avoid those places that don't take Apple Pay but also those who use ridiculous marketing schemes such as points as well as loading me up with extraneous paper meant to get me back into their store again -- mostly to buy junk I don't want or need.   If I'm feeling contentious, I'll stand at the register while I separate the coupons from the receipt, keep the receipt and hand the rest back to the cashier -- who always looks totally confused - like:  "What the hell do you expect me to do with this junk?"

macgui

wood1208 said:

It would be nice if other retailers offer Apple card/Apple Pay with 3% cash back. 

It would be nice if all retailers gave us 10% back but that's not how life works. There will probably be more retailers getting on board that same train, but I don't see a huge incentive.

GeorgeBMac said:

Notsofast said:

GeorgeBMac said:
ApplePay does not do away with paper receipts.   No connection.  You can refuse to take it if you want though.   For myself, I use it to enter into Quicken later on so I can track my finances, verify charges, and reconcile accounts quickly and easily at the end of the month.   Just as I avoid shopping at places that don't provide ApplePay, I avoid those who avoid giving paper receipts.

Why do you need paper receipts to do any of that?  

Mostly to record the expense at a later time.   While I could try to rely on other means, none are as efficient or reliable.  

I don't use Quicken, etc., but the Apple Card app does given a dollar amount of monies spent as well as merchant and date, and some additional information. For me, that would be more efficient than trying to read a pocketful of paper receipts, some of which might not be very legible to start with. Not saying that's what you should do.

randominternetperson said:
I hypothesize that you don't shop at CVS (which does accept Apple Pay now).  If you use their rewards program (which you need to do to get most of their sale prices) you will get a "receipt" that is literally 3-feet long (or more).  They insist on printing a dozen coupons as part of the receipt.  It's absurd.

I do shop at CVS, before they stopped taking Apple Pay and again when they started taking it. I do have their rewards card and can't ever remember getting a really long receipt. Once in awhile there is something on there that I'll use a coupon for, so for me, it's not so absurd. But I'd get that receipt regardless of how I payed, as long as I use a rewards card. Walgreen's is a little farther away and in most cases won't be worth the extra 1% in gas or even shoe leather, but I'm glad they're offering it.

And I've no inclination to harass the retail staff who are only doing their job. I'm not that small minded.

gatorguy

lkrupp said:

Walgreens is one of the few retailers that actually “gets” ApplePay. Their rewards card can be placed in your iOS Wallet app. When tap your iPhone or Watch the terminal processes it quickly without asking for a PIN, signature, or phone number. Easy.

Do understand that Walgreens' is getting a little sump'm sump'n in return (customer data) for giving you that extra 1% on your purchases there which isn't necessarily a big deal. Apple Pay transactions are only anonymous when the retailer doesn't already count you as a rewards member. Just be aware of it.

At one time Walgreens was selling their customers' prescription data, but AFAIK they've stopped doing so. 

StrangeDays

gatorguy said:

lkrupp said:

Walgreens is one of the few retailers that actually “gets” ApplePay. Their rewards card can be placed in your iOS Wallet app. When tap your iPhone or Watch the terminal processes it quickly without asking for a PIN, signature, or phone number. Easy.

Do understand that Walgreens' is getting a little sump'm sump'n in return (customer data) for giving you that extra 1% on your purchases there which isn't necessarily a big deal. Apple Pay transactions are only anonymous when the retailer doesn't already count you as a rewards member. Just be aware of it.

At one time Walgreens was selling their customers' prescription data, but AFAIK they've stopped doing so. 

What are you talking about? You don’t have to have or use the Walgreens reward program in order to use tap to pay at the POST. The reward card is a separate card in your Wallet app (oh forgot, you don’t have a Wallet app, or an iPhone for that matter...)

ihatescreennames

gatorguy said:

lkrupp said:

Walgreens is one of the few retailers that actually “gets” ApplePay. Their rewards card can be placed in your iOS Wallet app. When tap your iPhone or Watch the terminal processes it quickly without asking for a PIN, signature, or phone number. Easy.

Do understand that Walgreens' is getting a little sump'm sump'n in return (customer data) for giving you that extra 1% on your purchases there which isn't necessarily a big deal. Apple Pay transactions are only anonymous when the retailer doesn't already count you as a rewards member. Just be aware of it.

At one time Walgreens was selling their customers' prescription data, but AFAIK they've stopped doing so. 

Do you have to be a rewards member to get 3% back on the specific products using Apple Card and Apple Pay? This article doesn't make it appear that way but it could be the case.

Side note: I shop at the grocery store about a mile from my house. I have never gotten a rewards card from them. At checkout I can enter a phone number to look up the card and I always use my in-laws number. Then I pay with Apple Pay. I always wonder how that works out because my in-laws have refused to shop at that store for at least 10 years. The store is getting data from my purchases but tying it to my in-laws account and I'm using Apple Pay so they also aren't connecting it to me. How useful is that for them?

gatorguy

StrangeDays said:

gatorguy said:

lkrupp said:

Walgreens is one of the few retailers that actually “gets” ApplePay. Their rewards card can be placed in your iOS Wallet app. When tap your iPhone or Watch the terminal processes it quickly without asking for a PIN, signature, or phone number. Easy.

Do understand that Walgreens' is getting a little sump'm sump'n in return (customer data) for giving you that extra 1% on your purchases there which isn't necessarily a big deal. Apple Pay transactions are only anonymous when the retailer doesn't already count you as a rewards member. Just be aware of it.

At one time Walgreens was selling their customers' prescription data, but AFAIK they've stopped doing so. 

What are you talking about? You don’t have to have or use the Walgreens reward program in order to use tap to pay at the POST. The reward card is a separate card in your Wallet app (oh forgot, you don’t have a Wallet app, or an iPhone for that matter...)

I was responding to lkrupp who said he uses his rewards card.