Starting this Sunday, Sept. 16, Walgreens is launching a customer loyalty card program called Balance Rewards.

Points will be rewarded for purchases made in store or online and customers will be able to redeem those points like cash on future purchases.

Point values will be assigned to grocery and drugstore items in the weekly Walgreens circular. 

Customers will also earn points for prescriptions, immunizations and enrollment in the "Walk with Walgreens" program that encourages fitness. AARP members are eligible for additional points.

Will the new program be a good thing for couponers?

Starting Sunday, you'll have to change the way you play the drugstore game to get all your freebies and super cheap deals at Rite Aid.

After a seven-month pilot program in four cities, the drugstore chain is rolling out a paperless rewards program for all of its 4,700 stores nationwide.

What does that mean for the rank-and-file couponer?

There are two basic changes you'll encounter when earning and redeeming +UP Rewards:

If you have a smartphone, be sure to read my story on FREEquents, a new app that rewards you for your loyalty to local businesses.

In essence, FREEquents is a punch card gone mobile, meaning you will no longer have to worry about keeping track off all those half-punched cards floating around the bottom of your purse or desk drawer.

FREEquents, developed by a Holly Springs man, hopes to expand nationwide.

Head over HERE to read the full story, which appeared in the Connect section of today's print edition of The N&O.

Kroger's website has launched an online game promotion that gives you the chance to win free grocery products.

Click here to register or sign in to "race" in the Daytona 500. If your car wins, you get one of more than 80,000 prizes, which include bottles of Gatorade, jars of Ragu and tubs of Country Crock margarine.

You can instantly load the prize onto your Kroger loyalty card so it will be free the next time you shop.

Play once a day over the next two weeks. You're eligible to win up to two prizes.

I would say your odds of winning are pretty high. I won a bag of Cracker Jack the very first time I tried.