WARNING - Scam in your local pharmacy

shaun_from_Africa

A pharmacy, is a specialist store, which can prescribe drugs for specific ailments,

A pharmacy is a store that supplies certain drugs. The only people who can prescribe them are doctors.
The large majority of staff who work behind the counter in pharmacies have no medical training whatsoever, and there should be a registered pharmacist on hand to approve the sale of certain drugs.

I've recently returned from a trip to the USA where I was asked to buy a couple of bottles of acetaminophen (the name given to paracetamol in the US).
Two, 500 count bottles of 500mg tablets were $8.99 from Costco.
This works out at about £6 per pack or 0.6p per tablet (or less than 11p for 18 tablets, or to put it another way, less than half of what supermarkets are charging in the UK)

How can they do it so cheaply?
Economies of scale. They buy in bulk so get it at an extremely low price.
Asda/Tesco/Sainsbury don't buy so many so pay slightly more.
Your local cornershop or pharmacy buys even less so are charged more, which is why they charge more for selling them.

DCFC79

Jonarr wrote: »

This is something I think is widespread over the country and is definitely all over in my area.

I noticed my local pharmacy sells paracetamol, a cheap brand, for 89p. The same cheap brand of paracetamol is sold in Asda for 21p. When I qiuizzed the pharacist over why his paracetamol was 4x the price he told me it was fairly priced. So clearly he knows he is ripping people off as it is the same as in Asda!

I have been in several other pharmacies here and elsehwere and seen the same thing. Paracetamol that is designed to be sold cheaply being sold at an inflated price to unsuspecting consumers, including the elderly. There's something really quite wrong with ripping people off when they're vulnerable and ill, and it seems ot be happening everywhere.

So just a warning to everyone!

Lol the new form of "scam"

Its not a scam at all, other items are the same eg in a local corner shop sell 1 can of Heinz Baked Beans for 90p but tesco down the road sell same can for 50p but its not a scam as the corner shop decide to sell it for more. People have a choice of where to buy from so no 1 is forced to buy form the pharmacy, maybe people see the pharmacy as more convenient so buy form there.

Its what happens in business.

corbyboy

It's hardly a scam. The retailer sets the price and the customer decides whether to buy or not.

Personally I never understand why people buy branded pain killers. Asda brand paracetamol is 15p for 16 capsules. Panadol is £1.50 for 16 capsules. Who buys this?

katejo

corbyboy wrote: »

It's hardly a scam. The retailer sets the price and the customer decides whether to buy or not.

Personally I never understand why people buy branded pain killers. Asda brand paracetamol is 15p for 16 capsules. Panadol is £1.50 for 16 capsules. Who buys this?

I still buy Nurofen (ibuprofen) because I find the supermarket/Boots own brand ones far less effective.

Dave_C_2

The local pharmacy is probably part of a large chain so the bulk buying discounts will also apply and so they are are making a large profit on your paracetamol.

It doesn't help having the utterly stupid and pointless law limiting paracetamol to 32 tablets per purchase to stop paracetamol overdose. In adjacent stores I can buy paracetamol in Wilkos, Boots, Manor Pharmacy and a Newsagents.

Dave

vikingaero

katejo wrote: »

I still buy Nurofen (ibuprofen) because I find the supermarket/Boots own brand ones far less effective.

Could that be the placebo effect of the brand name? If the both products say that the ingredient is ibruprofen xxx mg then there may be little difference other than a sugar coating.

vikingaero

What's worse than a shop charging more than another shop? People who misuse the word "Scam". Scamming is a devious method of getting something from someone. What is so devious about a shop displaying a price for a product? Does someone point a loaded gun and force you to buy. We've all done it; bought something and found it cheaper elsewhere. That's not being scammed, that's our own laziness, intransigence or stupidity.

corbyboy

katejo wrote: »

I still buy Nurofen (ibuprofen) because I find the supermarket/Boots own brand ones far less effective.

I doubt it. 500mg of paracetamol is 500mg of paracetamol. Writing "Panadol" on the box doesn't make it "more effective."

mttylad

Try looking at the packets of similar tablets in the supermarket, they have the same codes because they are the same thing.

I looked at the cold & flu tablets, compared the expensive brand name and Asda's cheapest and the contents were the same and the code the same.

williham

corbyboy wrote: »

I doubt it. 500mg of paracetamol is 500mg of paracetamol. Writing "Panadol" on the box doesn't make it "more effective."

Actually it's proven that brand names are more effective.. If the person taking it believes it to be more effective.. Placebo effect.