Saving on beer and wine with rebates
The high cost of beer, wine and alcohol can really take a gulp out of your monthly grocery budget. You’re not going to find any alcohol coupons, at least not in Washington, but you can save on these items when you take advantage of rebates.
My husband prefers the “micro-brew” beers and although we buy it rarely and only when it’s on sale, these can be expensive splurges on our grocery bill, so we take advantage of rebates like this Redhook one when we can.
I found this form at the local Albertsons, but I’ve seen it at various other stores as well. It has five options for $5 refunds on beef, chicken, seafood, spices and pasta when you purchase Redhook beer. I think you can do each rebate per household.
Here’s how to make the most out of the rebates like this one:
- For this rebate you’ll need to buy a 12-pack of Redhook beer (or two 6-packs) and at least $5 of the product you want a refund on, i.e. beef, chicken, seafood, etc.
- Wait until the beer is on sale and go with the least expensive option. For example, Redhook is on sale at Safeway this week for only $11.99 for a 12-pack (reg. price $16!), so this is a great price to begin with and a good time to take advantage of the rebate.
- Use coupons, if you have them, for the other product – the beef, chicken, seafood, spices or pasta. Although you have to spend at least $5 on those other items, coupons are a form of payment, so try to get that total as low as possible. If you do get the total under $5 with coupons, I usually try and buy a couple other things in the transaction to keep the final total at about what it would be if I bought the beer at $12 and the $5 for the other products.
- Mail it in as soon as you can! The longer it sits on your counter or desk the more you risk losing a receipt or a UPC.
- Although the forms just came out, they are good for purchases made between January 1, 2010 and September 30, 2010 – so check your old receipts and if you still have the UPCs you might already have the qualifying items to send in the rebate.
- Follow ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS on the rebate form. The redemption center will be looking for any errors to decline your rebate.
- Make a copy of your rebate before you mail it in, just in case. Put it in a folder called “pending rebates” so you have it in case you don’t hear from them within eight weeks or so.
The way I see these types of rebates is, I’m going to be buying the beer anyway, I might as well get $5 worth of FREE food to go with it. Or you can look at it like, I’m already buying $5+ worth of meat, might as well get $5 off my 12-pack of beer. Either way, it’s $5!
Beer rebate offers are usually in the form of tear pads or peelies on the actual products.
Although I can’t remember the last time I’ve stepped foot in an actual liquor store, I know they generally have a wall in the store with rebates and offers for wines and hard alcohols (at least at WA state liquor stores). You can also keep your eyes open for wine “hang tags” or offers/coupons/rebates hanging on the necks of bottled wine at the grocery store.
As a side note – some states don’t require a purchase of beer to redeem a rebate like this. I think Oregon is one of them. I don’t know if that means you can just send in your receipt for $5 on beef and get back $5 or what – but if you live in one of those states that doesn’t require an alcohol purchase, these rebates could be even more something of interest to you! Might be something to look into.
How do you save on these types of purchases? Do you do rebates like this? I’d love to hear your feedback and input.
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