Wal-Mart Says its $4 Generics are “True Health Care Reform”

This is another round in the battle to protect local merchants that first took place 20 years ago when Walmart stomped on hardware and houseware stores.

Most chain pharmacies don’t make any profit on the prescription drug department, since many purchases are already done through insurance plans with strict copay rules. That’s why the big chains like CVS have moved into more general merchandise like cosmetics and even food.

Someone may balk at paying $25 for their drug copay and then pay the same at the perfume counter for colored water with some scent added.

If local drug stores think they need to depend upon prescription drugs sales to stay in business they have already lost the battle.

Walmart’s drug plan may not be all it’s claimed, but local merchants can’t expect special treatment just to protect their businesses. Walmart has decided that they will accept a tiny profit on the generic drugs because they will make up for it with other purchases while people are visiting the store.

It’s not the drug prices that the pharmacists should be talking about, but the fact that Walmart is a local monopoly and can afford to subsidize one department while it drives competition out of the region. This is what happens when anti-trust laws are gutted.

You pretty much said it all, robertdfeinman. I would like to pick up on this…

...they will make up for it with other purchases...

Hopefully, as the economy worsens, “other purchases” will dwindle as well. Comparison shopping, coupled with a renewed sense of value, could leave Wal-Mart with nothing but “a tiny profit”. (Although, 3.6% may not be tiny, but it’s puny.)

What’s good for Wal-Mart is BAD for America!

I really dont understand what you are talking, is selling cheap a problem ? and what abt sayin ‘ I dont shop at walmart, I have a life ?’ does that mean we dont have a life…

and why only wal-mart isn’t CVS doing all its imports from china, or for that matter any giant retailer gets them from China

Walmart claims they make a profit on the generic drug sales, but it all depends on how they allocate costs.

For example if the buy the drug for $3 and sell it for $4 they can claim they are making a profit, but what happens to the salary of the pharmacist? What happens to the portion of the store overhead that should be allocated to this department - heat, light, security, etc? They can cover all these costs from the non-generic sales where the markup is higher and pretend to be more competitive than they really are with local merchants.

When this type of cost shifting is done by foreign firms selling in the US it is called “dumping” and is illegal. We don’t have laws about domestic predatory pricing anymore.

what you seem to forget robert is that the walmart pharmacy is a department with more than just pills behind a counter, it also carries all health and beauty related sales under it, so unless people stop washing their hair, buyin ace wraps, nedding vicks, buying tylenol, then the pharmacys making money, the salary of the pharmacist and associates related would come from the large stock of H&B;*as well as* the sale of prescription pills.

talking out of your ass again feinmann like usual.wm didnt stomp on anyone buddy.these arrogant other comapnies you favor are too dam lazy and reluctant to lower their asinine prices.funny walmart gets blamed for these places going under when these other places not wm decides what prices they charge.get your head out of your ass feinmann because you are too stupid and dumb to realize the real truth.if these other companies would lower their prices it would be to their benefit.and quit blaming wm for all their problems.

funny target has the same 4 dollar prescriptions wm has and we dont hear the same level of bitching from mr feinmann on target his favorite store selling the same 4 dollar prescriptions.

Matt:
If you would stop sputtering and learn to read you might have noticed that it was Arkansas politicians who were complaining about Walmart’s generic drug prices having a negative effect on local pharmacies, not me. This being Arkansas their criticism of Walmart is what made the story newsworthy.

You might have also noticed that I said that what Walmart was doing was just fine in that they were offering generics at a lower price than the local stores.

What isn’t fine is using your monopoly power to cross subsidize some parts of your business so that you can force other stores out. That’s what Walmart did with the hardware and houseware stores and this has been amply documented, in several movies and books.

I really don’t know what your problem is, but you really need to seek psychiatric help. Such irrational rage isn’t healthy and can’t be pleasant for those around you. You have invested too much of your own mental state in a corporation which doesn’t even know or care that you exist.

Think what you could be doing with your life if you put all that energy to something worthwhile instead.

I read about a pharmacist around the time Wal-Mart began advertising their four dollar prescriptions. Wal-Mart was advertising that about 200 to 300 prescriptions would come in at their four dollar price. Well--this pharmicist wrote and said that wasn’t true. He said it was more like 30 prescriptions as many pills were only derivatives of others. In other words there were many forms of penacillin, etc. So while it looked like there were at least 200 prescriptions coming in at that price--in reality there was only about 30.
Knowing what I do about Wal-Mart--do I believe what I was reading by this pharmicist? Yes.
Wal-Mart is making it look like you’re getting a bargain, but in reality you are not. And do you really think they would take a loss in their pharmacy department? I don’t think so, unless THEY ALONE STOOD TO BENEFIT.

If you were thinking about opening a business, and were thinking about using the anti Wal-Mart mindset, this is what you would do:

1.) Make sure your business doesn’t take any customers from your competition or adversly affect them.  Attract only shoppers who don’t shop somewhere else, in other words, only ‘new’ people to the community.

2.) Make sure your prices are the same or higher than your competitors, so they can stay in business.  Remember, customers ‘like’ paying more, because they believe that makes the product ‘better’.

3.) Make sure you pay your employees much more than your competitors and give them better benefits.

4.) Make sure you hire more employees than you need, to cover people who may not show up on any given day.  This also helps the community’s unemployment picture.

5.) Don’t ask for or take any incentives offered by the community.

6.) Try NOT to make a big profit, so you don’t look ‘greedy’.

7.) Encourage your employees to join a union, so they can keep hitting you up for higher wages and benefits.

8.) Don’t shop for lower priced vendors, pay whatever a vendor may ask, even though another vendor may give you a better deal.

9.) Make sure you make your store look upscale, so you attract the ‘big spenders’, don’t waste your time on the ‘average’ shopper.

10.) DON’T GROW YOUR BUSINESS, stay small, so that you don’t interfer with other businesses.  Remember, customers like going from store to store to store to get what they need.

11.) And, lastly, never sell anything that wasn’t “Made in the U.S.A.” (or Canada).

If you follow the above business model, what do you think your results will be?

I am a pharmacist.  I can tell you unequivocally that WalMart does not make money on a $4 prescription, even if the cost of the drug ingredient is $0.  This is predatory pricing and it is in fact changing the face of pharmacy.  It is destroying the vestiges of the independent pharmacy that is often the lifeblood of a small community.  They provide services that WM does not, but that is not the point.  They cannot compete with this predatory pricing. 

At some point, this will be challenged in court and the plaintiffs will prevail. 

But mark my word.  In the long run, nothing good will come of a giant like WM selling below cost.  This is a contrived effort to do away with competition and we all know where that will take us.

For those of you utilizing the $4 generic program, enjoy it while it lasts and be careful what you wish for.

I am a pharmacist.

Big-box, grocery/drug chain, or independent?

It is destroying the vestiges of the independent pharmacy that is often the lifeblood of a small community.

Meanwhile, I guess CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Kroger are all exempt?  In fact, didn’t Kroger just recently expand their discounted generics program?

Seriously, I thought having the uber-convenient drug chain on every corner did-in those independents, years ago.

Besides,

“True Health care reform”

Maybe thats where Hillary got her health care reform ideas-Wonder what her relationship is with “Lee” behind closed doors? Did she ever go to lunch with him at Hooters?

Of course those $4 generic prescriptions sure take the heat off WalMart for being the number one abuser in 23 states for dumping their employees (associates) onto the public suckers for taxpayer subsidized health care.

WalMart- The Walton multi billionaires want to thank all the taxpayer suckers for the billions in various subsidies you gave them. Now they demand billions more in estate tax breaks for all that money they extorted from taxpayers and labor.

get yourself help feinmann because you are too stupid and dumb to realize all the ufcw union bs fed to you on here is not true.let me ask you a question have you ever worked for k-mart and a ufcw union grocery store like i have?didnt think so .so dont tell me i need help because unlike you i have retail and ufcw union grocery exp and know what the hell i am talking about on here unlike you.

oh sdv there are more folks in san diego in ufcw union local 135 dumped on food stamps,state welfare doles.govt asistance programs because the grocers and unions are too cheap and lazy to give everyone full time work and enough hrs to qualify for decent benefits and make a decent living.got anything to say on that one pal?i am an ex ufcw union local 135 member and know what the hell im talking about.stop spouting you same old tired unproven bs sdv and go get a life and a job.funny sdv you have no problem with kroger walgreens,rite aid ,target and etc selling the same cheap prescriptions?why are you so silent on them doing it?

ufcw never knew me as a member and the reason for my lying is that i have nothing significant to say about all the good that the union does for people.i have never proved any of the bullshit i ever posted here.you see how easy it is to lie and think people believe what ever i post.am i a dumb shit or what?

WHY DOES THE MEDIA TEAM ALLOW MATT’S “SPAMMING”?

WHY DOES THE MEDIA TEAM ALLOW MATT’S “SPAMMING”?

The same reason they allow your “informative posts”, perhaps?

Or,” taunts from haunts”,bat boy?

Senator Percy Malone states he’s been involved in pharmacy retailing in Arkansas for forty years. Therefore, he should be familiar with the Conway,Arkansas suit in 1991, where three pharmacists sued WalMart in state court for trying to drive them out of business by selling hundreds of items under cost.At the time ,Arkansas was one of 23 states with anti-chain pricing laws on the books.Earlier,in 1987,a state court in Oklahoma ruled that WalMart had broken that states fair-pricing rules,and forced WalMart to raise its prices. What is not mentioned in the thread story is the number of suits by actual WalMart pharmacists against the company involving wages paid to them. There are many to be Googled. ( The Conway suit and others are delineated more fully in In Sam We Trust by Bob Ortega,pp 266-69.)

stop impostering me i am an ex ufcw union grocery worker and union member and have worked for k-mart.the union dont do any good for folks at the bottom end look at the strike in so cal in 2003 if you dont believe me.

why does wmw always allow ddrb to get on here and spout her ufcw union bs on here on wm and talk out of her rear end like she always does?

The only references to ufcw come from YOU ,spamcicle!

i need you to believe that i was a union member for public propaganda purposes.everyone knows union jobs pay better and have far better benefits.people really wish they had a good paying union job now in this walmart economic dump called america.unions mean better economic health for american workers but i dont give a shit about them and the cult of walmart is better to create a wasteland of the poor.it is high time america realizes they are good little slaves and stop seeking quality lives for themselves.you need a walmart life and should go to church at walmart.

THANK YOU MYRON for stating the FACTS!  I live in a small town in Arkansas, and I am 1 of only 2 independent pharmacies left- thanks to Wal-Mart, Medicare-D, and the Insurance/Drug Companies.  Our once thriving Main Street is literally just blocks of empty businesses- most driven out by Wal-Mart’s unfair predatory practices.

Unless any of you have ever owned a business in a small town before and after Wal-mart comes and destroys your community, then raises their prices when you have NO CHOICE of stores to shop, you have NO IDEA of just how low down and dirty the greedy corporate giant is, and what they are capable of doing, such as buying off politicians, judges, and predatory pricing, just to name a few.

Also, some idiot wondered why Wal-Mart was “being picked on"- because it was the FIRST chain to start this bullshit- AND THE REST WERE JUST DUMB ENOUGH TO FOLLOW.

lxr wm dont destroy anything.how is it possible to destroy anything when wm has no control over what your mom and pop stores charge for things?you guys put yourselves out of business by your arrogant lazy refusal to lower your assinine prices to be competetive.by the way where is the same argument from you on target,costco,ufcw union grocers,grocery outlet and other low cost grocers killing the economy and putting all you mom and pop stores out of busines?because at times these places have similar prices to wm.can you answer that for me honestly without anme calling?

AT LEAST I CAN SPELL.  I am not wasting my time on an obviously total idiot like you.

- because it was the FIRST chain to start this bullshit-

All part of the race to the bottom. Wal-Mart leads! YAY!

“- because it was the FIRST chain to start this bullshit-”

WRONG, K-Mart was importing stuff from Japan, before Wal-Mart was even a chain!!

“our $4 drug program has been the only true healthcare reform in the United States, in that it definitely changed the landscape in terms of health-care delivery...”

Yes, it definitely creates a reform. It kills all the independent pharmacies. Yes, it changes the landscape of health-care delivery because with all small businesses closing down, people can only depend on Walmart for medication delivery.

This is a hard, cold-blooded, long term calculation. Who can outlast Walmart by not making money in the pharmacy? No one! So Walmart would rather not make money in the pharmacy now, so that his competitors suffer and are forced to close down. After that, you will see Walmart raising its drug prices.

Look what happened to Kmart. After Walmart outlasted Kmart with it lowest price, now Walmart turns and heads to another direction. It carries more brand names, raises prices (no longer “lowest” prices, but only “low price everyday"). It wants to improve its image and remodel its stores with refreshing look, so that they can make their next target---"Target" suffers…

It is about monopoly, not healthcare reform…

It is a fact that 4 dollar med is not creating any profit for Walmart. Then, why do they do that? Creating traffic for OTC the store and killing competitors. They love to see other competitors match their price because they know there is no way their competitors can make profit with that price, because they themselves cannot.

How do I know that? My friend in Walmart finance department admitted to me that Walmart is not making any money with its 4 dollar med.

WRONG

Just for fun, RDS, explain to us how KMart importing from Japan has anything to do with Wal-Mart’s $4 drug scam..err..plan?

WRONG, K-Mart was importing stuff from Japan, before Wal-Mart was even a chain!!

A little off-topic, but I think the anti-minions need a little education, nontheless…

1962 was the year that WM, Target, and Kmart all got their start.  Of the “big three”, Kmart got really big, fast (while WM and Target operated in their home state/neighboring states through the first two decades).

The 60’s were also known as the time when “Made in Japan” became a catchphrase and a reality.

Enter the 70’s - the single biggest contributor to the delcline of manufacturing in this country during that time was the Energy Crisis in ‘73.

It was also during this time when names like Honda and Toyota were beginning to enter the American psyche.

In the 80’s, it was Taiwan, and Hong Kong (when it was still a British Crown Colony), then, in the 90’s, Mainland China.

bbrd:  but I think the anti-minions need a little education, nontheless…~~~~~~~~~~~As opposed to the Pro-flacks who are in desperate need of intense and immediate suppleMENTAL education.

For the pharmacists who commented above:~~~~,Jessie Scott, an 18-year-old from Draper, Utah has been in a coma since the end of April because of a critical error which occurred at a Walmart pharmacy. His doctor prescribed Jessie 5mg of Oxycodone Hydrochoride in a liquid solution to help him with the severe pain of his strep throat, however, what he received from the pharmacy was a concentrated solution which was supposed to have been diluted before being dispensed to Jessie. Exactly how much medication did Jessie consume?

He consumed 1 teaspoon measured in a medicine cup which in its concentrated state contained 20 times the prescribed dose (100mg) and within hours, his organs began to fail and had to be placed on a ventilator.

The KSLTV article says,

Laurie Scott said, “This shouldn’t have happened. It was needless. It was senseless and it’s changed lives forever, not just Jessie, but there are other people who love him and his future.”

Laurie trusted what she gave her son, what had been filled, was correct.

“I always ask questions. I’ve always medicated him his whole life. I’m the caregiver and it makes it extremely difficult,” she said.

After 16 days in ICU, Jessie moved to intermediate care for another four days, then to HealthSouth for intensive therapy.

Wal-Mart Corporation issued the following statement to KSL News: “This is a very sad situation. Our thoughts are with this young man and his family.”

There was a dramatic turn of events this weekend. For the first time, Jessie spoke, though the words are limited and intermittent. We will continue following his story in the weeks and months to come.

Teen in coma after wrong dose of medication [KSLTV] (Thanks to Seth!)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Consumerist

Nice of you to chime in, bb, but what does any of that have to do with the topic at hand?

What you fail to mention in your abbrevated history lesson is that initially “Made in Japan”, Taiwan, or Hong Kong was synonymous with crap. Hopefully China will learn from these others that the race should be to the top, not the bottom. (You omitted Korea.)

Besides, who wants to be known as Crap Maker for the World?

“My dear academic wanna-be, Germany/South Korea is so yesterday—get over it, already! “

bbrd in
Wednesday, July 16 at 10:21 AM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ken ,WalMart got their heads handed to them in both countries...........explains bb’s defensive attitude and omission of Korea.

Wal-Mart Finally Gets It
Lessons from South Korea & Germany

After exiting South Korea, Wal-Mart is hit in the wallet as the retail giant retreats with a US$1-billion loss from selling its German stores.

Many are surprised that Wal-Mart’s operations have contributed to America’s growing deficit. One has to consider that very few of Wal-Mart’s products are made in the United States. In fact, Wal-Mart imports more foreign-produced goods into America than any other single company. As the U.S. dollar weakens, more money flows out to pay for foreign products thus worsening America’s trade imbalance.

Some 60% of Wal-Mart products are imported from such countries as fast-growing South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The company’s biggest trading partner is China.The rub? Wal-Mart has been launching American-style stores into some foreign markets with incompatible retail traditions and cultures. For example, the company had toiled for 8 years struggling to make its South Korean and German stores compete against strong, established local retailers.

On May 22, 2006, the American retailer withdrew from the South Korean market when it agreed to sell all 16 of its Wal-Mart Korea stores to Shinsegae, South Korea’s top discount chain. The deal was for $882 million. Wal-Mart Korea had lost $10 million on sales of some $800 million in 2005. Wal-Mart’s “warehouse-style” environment proved unfriendly to the needs of Korean shoppers. In particular, housewives were dissatisfied with food and beverage offerings.

In July 2006, Wal-Mart announced its withdrawal of operations from Germany because the firm was losing some $250 million per year on sales of $2.5 billion. Wal-Mart’s 85 big-box stores were sold to German company METRO AG, a much bigger player with 550 stores in Germany. Commentators blamed competitive prices from national discounters as well as German consumer rejection of American-style signature features such as stores outside of town centers, employees required to smile and heartily greet customers, and baggers at checkouts.

The sale of Wal-Mart’s 85 German stores resulted in a $1-billion pretax loss, which caused some short-term pain. But by packing up and leaving an underperforming market, Wal-Mart’s management is showing its shareholders that it has learned that global growth must be profitable.

Key to the Arkansas-based company’s success is everyday low prices. Analysts project that competitive prices can only be achieved in markets where Wal-Mart opens at least 100 profitable stores. Thus Wal-Mart had no business operating 16 stores in South Korea and 85 money-losing stores in Germany.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~