Wal-Mart cutting Generice Drug prices to the Bone

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: rchiu
I know Walgreens is doing well, I happen to work at Walgreens and jumped on the employee stock purchase plan when the stock was down after the news.

The only thing I want to get people to think about is if absolute cheaper price is the way to go for a healthcare system. I want to point out how Walmart arrived at those low prices, how they cut corners and how they focus on older and popular generic drugs to reduce their inventory and logistic costs.

Remember, pharmacy business is nothing to Walmart, they can afford to cut corners and cut price in the drug business to bring customer in for their other retail business. But if the average consumer don't see through what they are doing, and bite into their media hype on how they cut drug price to benefit the consumers, consumer will end up having a low grade mass retail store focusing only on price and cutting cost instead of their well-being as their major wellness solution provider.

That sounds a lot like a corporate response line, did you read that off some e-mail?

I worked at an inner city Walgreens, sucks to have to go out and check on your car during lunch hour to make sure it and its radio are still there.

BTW: I worked at Target as well and there pharmacists are just as concerned about the well being of its patients as Walgreens, CVS or any other drug store. It is not the people at the user level making decisions that affect the quality of health care, it is the people sitting in a fancy office counting beans that make those decisions.

The email that Corporate HQ sent out did not have that line, however, many pharmacists who are passionate about their jobs feel that way.

 

[rchiu]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: rchiu
I know Walgreens is doing well, I happen to work at Walgreens and jumped on the employee stock purchase plan when the stock was down after the news.

The only thing I want to get people to think about is if absolute cheaper price is the way to go for a healthcare system. I want to point out how Walmart arrived at those low prices, how they cut corners and how they focus on older and popular generic drugs to reduce their inventory and logistic costs.

Remember, pharmacy business is nothing to Walmart, they can afford to cut corners and cut price in the drug business to bring customer in for their other retail business. But if the average consumer don't see through what they are doing, and bite into their media hype on how they cut drug price to benefit the consumers, consumer will end up having a low grade mass retail store focusing only on price and cutting cost instead of their well-being as their major wellness solution provider.

That sounds a lot like a corporate response line, did you read that off some e-mail?

I worked at an inner city Walgreens, sucks to have to go out and check on your car during lunch hour to make sure it and its radio are still there.

BTW: I worked at Target as well and there pharmacists are just as concerned about the well being of its patients as Walgreens, CVS or any other drug store. It is not the people at the user level making decisions that affect the quality of health care, it is the people sitting in a fancy office counting beans that make those decisions.

The email that Corporate HQ sent out did not have that line, however, many pharmacists who are passionate about their jobs feel that way.

Ha, I am just another IT guy at the HQ so everything I said come from myself not the PR department. But if you work at Walgreens (maybe other real pharmacy as well), you'll see that from CEO to store clerk have this genuine passion for the wellness/heath of their customer. And the corporate goal of Walgreens is to be the total healthcare solution provider to their customers, not just selling drug and be done with it. Like ProfJohn said, I am sure pharmacists at Walmart and Target are also passionate about their customers, but if their corporate HQ is concentrating on other business and try to drive the cost down in their area, there is nothing they can do about it.

I know price is important in everyone's buying decision, especially for those those people who don't have prescription drug coverage. But is cheap price on some of the generic drugs out there the solution to the healthcare system in the US? I don't think so, you just cannot rely on Walmart, whose primary business it in mass retail and is best at buying cheap stuff from China to be there for you when you really need health related solution.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: rchiu
I know Walgreens is doing well, I happen to work at Walgreens and jumped on the employee stock purchase plan when the stock was down after the news.

The only thing I want to get people to think about is if absolute cheaper price is the way to go for a healthcare system. I want to point out how Walmart arrived at those low prices, how they cut corners and how they focus on older and popular generic drugs to reduce their inventory and logistic costs.

Remember, pharmacy business is nothing to Walmart, they can afford to cut corners and cut price in the drug business to bring customer in for their other retail business. But if the average consumer don't see through what they are doing, and bite into their media hype on how they cut drug price to benefit the consumers, consumer will end up having a low grade mass retail store focusing only on price and cutting cost instead of their well-being as their major wellness solution provider.

That sounds a lot like a corporate response line, did you read that off some e-mail?

I worked at an inner city Walgreens, sucks to have to go out and check on your car during lunch hour to make sure it and its radio are still there.

BTW: I worked at Target as well and there pharmacists are just as concerned about the well being of its patients as Walgreens, CVS or any other drug store. It is not the people at the user level making decisions that affect the quality of health care, it is the people sitting in a fancy office counting beans that make those decisions.

The email that Corporate HQ sent out did not have that line, however, many pharmacists who are passionate about their jobs feel that way.

Ha, I am just another IT guy at the HQ so everything I said come from myself not the PR department. But if you work at Walgreens (maybe other real pharmacy as well), you'll see that from CEO to store clerk have this genuine passion for the wellness/heath of their customer. And the corporate goal of Walgreens is to be the total healthcare solution provider to their customers, not just selling drug and be done with it. Like ProfJohn said, I am sure pharmacists at Walmart and Target are also passionate about their customers, but if their corporate HQ is concentrating on other business and try to drive the cost down in their area, there is nothing they can do about it.

I know price is important in everyone's buying decision, especially for those those people who don't have prescription drug coverage. But is cheap price on some of the generic drugs out there the solution to the healthcare system in the US? I don't think so, you just cannot rely on Walmart, whose primary business it in mass retail and is best at buying cheap stuff from China to be there for you when you really need health related solution.

Of course it isn't a solution for all problems. But in some cases, I think it will help some people.