Dumb

I was looking at the mail yesterday and saw the latest issue of the AARP magazine so I read it, not expecting much from it. It does have some articles of interest now and then but usually it's pretty light reading. Anyway, I spotted a small article about generic drug prices and after reading it I was shocked…okay, not shocked, but I was irritated to learn that there was such a wide disparity in generic drug prices. Since I haven't had to use drugs or pay for drugs until recently, I was not very smart when it came to shopping for them; after all, didn't they all cost the same, no matter where you shopped? Yes, I was that ignorant. So, this morning I decided to look up some more information on generic prices. I found this on the Consumer Reports website…

"Costco stores nationwide were generally the least expensive, with a median price less than half that of the two closest competitors, Wal-Mart and Target. And Costco pharmacy customers don't have to pay Costco's $50 annual membership fee."

I found all of this very interesting, especially the part where non-union Wal*Mart has prices that are double those from all-union Costco. I suppose my interest was sharpened because of the recent attempt by the local Wal*Mart to expand and the supporters of that expansion were bashing the local Costco. And of course I'm interested in any union versus non-union subject. All that aside…I was also disappointed to read in the AARP article that Walgreens was the highest priced in a sampling of pharmacies. Even higher than CVS. That's of interest to us because in our very small town we have a CVS store that we can't stand to shop in and a brand new Walgreens store, so new it isn't even open yet. And we were eagerly awaiting its opening so that we could escape the CVS store when we were shopping locally. Yes, there is a Costco store around but it's 25 miles away and you plan those kinds of trips.

Sigh. It's never easy is it?

Link to Consumer Reports (Shocking!)