Veterinary prescription charges

orlao

DaveW007 wrote: »

As a matter of interest the vet also had an order on the desk and Felizamole was an item being ordered at £13.24 per 100!!! My vet is selling the medication at £24.00 which is a profit of around 45%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm assuming that it is the 2.5mg felimazoe for £24/100? If it is I think you might have lost out by paying £11,50 for a script as it's normally £18ish online! Mind you, my old vets used to charge £40+/100 for 5mg felimazole which I get online for £25.....well worth paying a script charge IMHO.

TBH, I dont think your vets prices are unreasonable, don't forget that 15% VAT is payable on meds.

lowis

i think that a 40% mark-up from cost is about standard for retail outlets. when i worked in the furniture industry we sold furniture to stores, and they would add anything up to 60% on from the price we sold to them at (and we had already added on about 40-50% from we had paid for it, so you can imagine just how cheap a £1500 sofa actually costs at the bottom of the supply chain!)

snowman2_2

Markups are a standard part of retail. AFAIK , restaurants multiply the cost of the raw ingredients by between 2 & 5 times to work out the selling cost. This is an interesting article on markups which puts 45% in context. You also have to make an allowance for all the unusual drugs that we stock, some of which will go out of date before getting used. The internet pharmacies will pick mainly the best sellers such as Frontline and Felimazole and not stock the rareities. This adds to a vet's overall costs of running a pharmacy in-house compared to an internet site.
Another comparison is to the supermarkets which sell "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" or BOGOF's, furniture shops half price sale - I don't suppose they are losing money on these deals (maybe the odd loss-leader on bananas but they will be at least selling at cost) so this gives a minimum mark-up of 50%. What markup does everyone think is actually used and what do you think is acceptable?

Soubrette

snowman2 wrote: »

Markups are a standard part of retail. AFAIK , restaurants multiply the cost of the raw ingredients by between 2 & 5 times to work out the selling cost. This is an interesting article on markups which puts 45% in context. You also have to make an allowance for all the unusual drugs that we stock, some of which will go out of date before getting used. The internet pharmacies will pick mainly the best sellers such as Frontline and Felimazole and not stock the rareities. This adds to a vet's overall costs of running a pharmacy in-house compared to an internet site.
Another comparison is to the supermarkets which sell "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" or BOGOF's, furniture shops half price sale - I don't suppose they are losing money on these deals (maybe the odd loss-leader on bananas but they will be at least selling at cost) so this gives a minimum mark-up of 50%. What markup does everyone think is actually used and what do you think is acceptable?

I'm not really interested in what the actual mark up is - my dog (still no diagnosis although he's lost 4 nails now ) may have to go on life long medication and I will investigate the cheapest way of buying this without compromising quality. I suspect that will be a combination of paid for prescriptions and online meds.

It's not about what is acceptable, it's about what the market will bear, supply and demand and all that

Sou

MrsE_2

DaveW007 wrote: »

My vet told me in a letter recently that their prices for the medication is high as they offer a 24 hour service which is taken into account!!

I pointed out that if I require a vet out of hours then I would expect to pay for it and not have it added to the price of medication just bump up their profits.

Unfortunately my vet doesn't like people complaining.

My old vets charged £120 to walk in the door on a midweek evening (don't know what it was for weekends & the middle of the night). So i think they have the out of office hours bit covered:rolleyes:

Must ask what my new vets charge:o

snowman2_2

Soubrette wrote: »

It's not about what is acceptable, it's about what the market will bear, supply and demand and all that

It is about what is acceptable when vets are being accused of being rip-offs. If vets are charging a reasonable mark-up , even if an internet pharmacy is undercutting us, then we can't be accused of ripping off the public. Internet sites undercut TV sellers but people still go to Curry's or Comet. The more the public understands about the business of a veterinary surgery, the better. Still, I can't blame someone for wanting to save money

Soubrette

snowman2 wrote: »

It is about what is acceptable when vets are being accused of being rip-offs. If vets are charging a reasonable mark-up , even if an internet pharmacy is undercutting us, then we can't be accused of ripping off the public. Internet sites undercut TV sellers but people still go to Curry's or Comet. The more the public understands about the business of a veterinary surgery, the better. Still, I can't blame someone for wanting to save money

I never really consider any price a 'rip off' as such and I think that most people would be very surprised if they saw the mark up on any goods from raw materials to table.

Which is the more profitable business - one which shifts a million units at £1.00 with a 5% mark up or one which shifts one unit at £10,000 with a 30% mark up? So it's not really about what mark up is acceptable.

Traders almost always sell at what the market will bear, some people prefer the service offered by the vet and will pay a premium for it (I can't say how nervous I was using internet front line for the first time ) and others have confidence to do it yourself in some instances.

I can see it must be galling to be labelled rip off though. I think it's better if people saw vets as offering a price which you do or do not have to accept. What must be a little bit annoying if people want to register at your vets because the care is top quality but then expect bargain basement prices for medication - it's a pay off and you often get what you pay for in terms of customer service.

Sou

snowman2_2

Soubrette wrote: »

I can see it must be galling to be labelled rip off though. I think it's better if people saw vets as offering a price which you do or do not have to accept. What must be a little bit annoying if people want to register at your vets because the care is top quality but then expect bargain basement prices for medication - it's a pay off and you often get what you pay for in terms of customer service.

Sou

Spot on. You can't have it both ways, people need to decide over cheap and cheerful or top service

simontheiceman

I am firmly of the belief that clients will pay whatever you ask, as long as they feel they are being given "value for money". All this fooling around with prescriptions is because the clients do not believe they are getting value-for-money, whatever they may wish to dress it up as. Give the client the right service and they repay you many times.... many, many times.

MrsE_2

simontheiceman wrote: »

I am firmly of the belief that clients will pay whatever you ask, as long as they feel they are being given "value for money". All this fooling around with prescriptions is because the clients do not believe they are getting value-for-money, whatever they may wish to dress it up as. Give the client the right service and they repay you many times.... many, many times.

Absolutely:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T