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You can now redeem your Citi ThankYou® Points in-store for Walgreens purchases. You do not need to enroll to do so, and there's no activation required for this feature. However, the value is not the best, and you have much better options to use your Citi ThankYou Points.
Redeeming Citi ThankYou Points at Walgreens Overview
Redeeming your points is straightforward, and there is no need to register or enroll. All you need to do is shop as you normally would at Walgreens for items valued at $10.01 or more. At checkout, you'll have the option to redeem 1,250 points for $10 off your bill.
How it works
- At checkout, use your eligible Citi card to initiate payment.
- If eligible, you may be prompted to redeem 1,250 Citi ThankYou Points for $10 off your bill.
- Select “yes” to confirm your choice.
- You will receive your receipt with the amount charged to your card and the number of points used.
Related: Do Citi ThankYou Points Expire?
Excluded purchases
You cannot redeem your Citi ThankYou Points for all purchases; some Walgreens purchases are ineligible for redemptions. While the list is extensive, it includes:
- Alcohol
- Tobacco
- Pharmacy products
- Charitable donations
- Lottery tickets
- Contact lenses
- Prescriptions
Return policy
What happens if you need to return items you purchased and paid for with Citi points at Walgreens? Points can't be refunded to your account. In this situation, your refund will come “in the form of a Walgreens stored value card” — store credit, essentially.
Eligible Cards
Holders of the following cards can redeem their Citi ThankYou points at Walgreens:
- Citi Prestige® Card
- Citi Strata Premier℠ Card
- Citi Custom Cash® Card
- Citi Double Cash® Card
- Citi Rewards+® Card
- CitiBusiness ThankYou Card
- AT&T Access Card from Citi
- AT&T Access More Card from Citi
- AT&T Universal Cards
- AT&T Points Plus Card
- Sears co-branded cards
Related: Build a Winning Combo of Citi ThankYou Rewards Cards
Is It Worth Redeeming Citi Points at Walgreens?
In a nutshell, no. Redeeming 1,250 Citi ThankYou points for $10,00 off your Walgreens bill isn't good value. Crunching the numbers, you get a value of 0.8 cents per point – less than one cent per point. Consider that, on average, AwardWallet members have been able to leverage their Citi ThankYou Points for a value of 2.19¢. Getting 0.8¢ per point is 36% of what you can typically get for your points, which is an abysmal return. Would you sell your car for 36% of its market value? No!
Sadly, this is not even the best way to use your points as Walgreens. You can cash out your points as a statement credit at a rate of 1¢ per point. So, to cover your $10 Walgreens expense, you would only need to cash out 1,000 points, which is substantially better than the direct redemption option. That is a 20% better value than you get from redeeming your points directly with Walgreens.
By far, you'll get the best value when utilize Citi ThankYou transfer partners and redeem for premium long-haul flights.
Related: You Can Redeem Citi ThankYou Points at Walmart, But Please Don't
Our Take
While it is interesting that you can now redeem your Citi points directly at Walgreens, it is nothing to write home about. The value is poor, and you have much better uses of your points elsewhere. Ultimately, it is very hard to see when this function will be useful, but it is good to know it exists. It's also worth knowing that authorized users on your card will be able to redeem points with this feature. You might want to tell them about it — and tell them not to.
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