Thursday, September 21, 2006
Damned, Evil Wal-Mart
Can you believe the nerve of Wal-Mart? Trying to go and do something good for people who need low cost generic prescriptions--even for people without drug coverage.
Wal-Mart announced today that it will start a test program in Florida, where it will sell generic prescription drugs for $4 for a 30-day supply. The test will start tomorrow in 65 Tampa Bay-area stores and is to expand to the whole state by January.
In a statement, CEO Lee Scott says the world’s largest retailer intends to “take the program to as many states as possible next year.”
On average, generic drugs tend to cost between $10 and $30 for a month-long supply.
The world’s biggest retailer said that it will test the program in Florida that will make 291 generic drugs available, which are used to treat a variety of condition from allergies to high-blood pressure. It will also be available to the uninsured.
Bastards.
The article does go on to criticize Wal-Mart’s employee health insurance plan (rightly or wrongly, I don’t feel well-equipped to judge), so obviously, there’s still a lot of room for continued left wing hatred of the big box chain of small-town-business-murdering stores. From where I sit, though, $4 generic drugs sound like a heck of a good deal. I have drug benefits, but when I recently hosted the Rock(s) of Gibraltar in delicate parts of my anatomy, the nearest drug store that could service my prescription didn’t take my insurance. I opted for generic versions of the prescriptions and ended up paying only $30 for the two bottles of narcotics and pain killers (praise the Lord) which seemed like a pretty good deal to me. If it had dropped to $8 for the bottles, I would have been ecstatic. And I would have asked for some extras…
If this works out it will be because Wal-Mart buys and sells in such immense quantities that both they and the manufacturers will still be making money off of the deal. Which is another way of saying that, at least in this instance, a free market solution is helping to solve a problem so that the government won’t have to.
But don’t you worry, Uncle Sugar has ways of showing up where he isn’t needed. While a company like Wal-Mart can explore ways to help people afford their prescriptions, the government will find a way to make sure that we all pay too much for a system that is far less efficient and far more expensive. Uncle Sugar has serious talents in that arena. Gotta get me that ol’ time wealth redistribution…
Comments & Trackbacks
"The article does go on to criticize Wal-Mart’s employee health insurance plan....”
I’m sure they didn’t bother to do a statistical comparison between the salaries and benefits offered by the Walton family and those offered by “Mom & Pop’s” family. If you’ve ever worked for either Mom or Pop, you know that they’re, well, cheap.
It’s good to know that even though you make less money, have less paid vacation time, have worse retirement benefits, have less control over hours worked, and have worse medical coverage, you’re better off working for Mom & Pop. I guess they give off virtuous rays, or something.
It is the clout of Wal Mart. Wal mart probably buys the OTC drugs these companies make too. Other chains may have just as much prescription volume.
It’s true: the bargaining position that Wal-Mart brings to the table is incredibly strong. Frankly, I’m pretty sure they bully suppliers for all they’re worth.
And, Doug, I’ve been thinking that I need to bask in some virtuous rays. Know any good mom & pop shops where I can get a nice, healthy glow?
"Know any good mom & pop shops where I can get a nice, healthy glow?”
You know, I think the virtue-ray density must be variable. I never noticed any when I was actually working in those places. I suspect that the density must be higher in stores near those wonderful “family farms” that we hear so much about—and I’ve never seen that sort of family farm either.
Perhaps it’s just that my experience is more limited than that of a 28-year-old pundit with a PhD in Sociology who grew up in NYC.
(A hint for readers of news stories: If a story implies that any business with fewer than 100 employees is a “small business”, the writer has never worked in a small business. The differences between 5 employee businesses and 50 employee businesses are qualitative, not just quantitative.)
Lowes and Home Depot has replaced the small hardware store that wasn’t a franchise. It was nice to able to go into the hardware store and they would carry the fixtures for the age of your home, and being able to ask the clerk about a certain size of screw and getting it. Like a #12 x 1/2 pan head philips sheet metal screw. Knowledge has disappeared with mega store replacements.
How are those mom-and-pop stores possibly going to compete for that generic-drug dollar now that Wal-Mart is eeeeeeeeevilly lowballing the market!?
</moonbat>
VRB, in my town there’s a hardware store just like what you remember—though it does bear the “Ace” chain name. I gather it was a mom-and-pop before they signed up with Ace, and the chain has wisely let them run their store as they see fit.
Another, newer Ace store across town is much more like what you expect of an Ace store. I wonder what their respective sales figures look like.
VRB the old timers that staff the hardware aisles at my local Home Depot are very helpful ... they know where everything is, or if they have a given item at all.
David J ..."but when I recently hosted the Rock(s) of Gibraltar in delicate parts of my anatomy,”
Heh ... I work there. You know, the company? ... The one that uses that as its symbol?