The CVS Pharmacy store in the North End Shopping Center on North Charlotte Street.

POTTSTOWN PA – If searching for buried treasure sounds appealing, Pennsylvania’s newest governor and former chief prosecutor has given you a different place to look – on the shelves of your local CVS Pharmacy – and the chance to earn a little something for the effort.

Former state Attorney General Tom Corbett took the oath of office Tuesday (Jan. 18, 2011) as the Commonwealth’s 46th governor, and the first Republican to hold that office in eight years, during an outdoor ceremony at the state capitol in Harrisburg. Only 12 days earlier, however, then AG Corbett announced a settlement that makes the drug store chain, with two locations in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township and elsewhere, a potential treasure hunter’s paradise.

In a Jan. 6 statement, Corbett said his attorney general‘s Health Care Division had reached a settlement with CVS over complaints that it earlier sold expired over-the-counter drugs, infant formula, baby food, dairy products and other food items at unspecified stores. Part of the deal requires CVS to provide coupons for $2 off “any future purchase to any consumers who find expired products offered for sale at a CVS store in Pennsylvania.”

So if you’re shopping at CVS and you find a product being sold beyond its printed expiration date, the AG’s office said, go stake your claim at the cash register.

In addition to its stores at 1833 E. High St. and 1300 N. Charlotte St., both in Lower Pottsgrove, CVS also operates in Limerick, Royersford, Gilbertsville, Boyertown, Douglassville and North Coventry PA.

The coupons are only a small part of the consumer protection settlement, which also required CVS to:

• Donate a total of $150,000 to five food banks in Philadelphia, Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Erie;
• Pay the AG’s office another $100,000 to be used for future consumer protection and education activities;
• Inspect all dairy products daily at all Pennsylvania CVS stores;
• Regularly inspect other products and remove items that are within 60 days of their expiration dates, including all items related to allergy treatment, baby feeding, children’s remedies, cold remedies, oral hygiene products, pain relievers, stomach remedies and all other over-the-counter drugs that bear expiration dates;
• Prominently remind customers to check “sell by” and “expiration” dates, and to notify CVS employees immediately if they find expired products;
• Create automatic prompts at store cash registers that require cashiers to verify expiration dates;
• Train and certify all store managers and employees involved in stocking baby food, infant formula, dairy products and over-the-counter drugs; and
• Regularly audit CVS stores to verify compliance with the settlement.