Save at the Drugstore
Posted by Gail | Filed under Smart Shopper
Every time I step into a drugstore I wonder at the range of products now being sold where once-upon-a-time you used to buy Band-Aids and aspirin. Sometimes when I’m standing in front of the shelf looking at 1001 iterations of ibuprofen I’m so confused I don’t know where to even start doing my comparison.
If more choice made us happy, we’d all be blissful with the multitude of options we have. But more choice seems to leave me confused and dissatisfied. And I’m not alone.
In economic terms it’s called “opportunity cost” and it refers to what you may miss out on when you make one choice over another. In it’s strictest terms, opportunity cost applies only to the next best choice. But in our multiple-choice reality, each option available comes with it’s own unique features, which could make it the best option depending on the criteria we’re using to rank those options. We end up feeling a sense of loss not only about the second choice we didn’t take, but all the choices we could have chosen that we took a pass on. The greater the number of options we have, the higher our opportunity cost.
Overcoming the paralysis that often comes with too much choice means knowing what you actually want… not going browsing. And the way to make that concrete is to shop with a list.
If price is a big concern and you want to save as much money as you can while you’re shopping, ask for a generic version of whatever you’re buying. You’ll always pay more for the brand name (except, perhaps, OTC drugs that are on sale). And compare prices since the cost to fill a script can vary from one store to another.
Don’t limit yourself to a traditional drug store if you can buy what you need at a big-box store. Dispensing fees may be lower and buying in bulk can save you a lot of money.
Take advantage of your age. If the drugstore offers a discount because of your age (I refuse to use the word “senior”), shop on the days when you can reap the biggest benefits.
Choose store brands over name brands to save a whack of cash. The drugstore isn’t in the business of manufacturing product, so the product with the store name is made by one of the guys charging more for much the same name-brand product.
Don’t forget about signing up for a loyalty card. My AirMiles can be translated into a drugstore shopping card (though the redemption process is a little like having a tooth drilled). Many of my drugstore shopping trips are considerable cheaper than they would have been without my points card.
October 16, 2012 at 5:57 am
I always buy generic pills, it’s the way to go! Most of the time they have the EXACT same ingredients…I don’t care about a fancy label:)
October 16, 2012 at 6:31 am
I’m a loyalty shopper to a Canadian drug store, a lot of it being because a very good friend is a pharmacist there and I like to support him when I can. I refuse to shop at certain big box stores simply because I detest the way they treat their employees. Yes, they can all go and get a PhD and make a million or start a business, but someone has to work there, and I believe they should be treated fairly. That said, I still look for the store brand, compare labels and maximize my bonus points on things I need. Always looking out for a way to save!
October 16, 2012 at 7:25 am
Watch for marketing ploys too! The druggist told me Advil muscle pain is the same (exactly) as Advil, which is the se as the generic! Also a friend was looking at some cold medicine and the “sinus” version was the same but pricier than the regular cold meds.
October 16, 2012 at 7:47 am
Groceries are quite often loss leaders as well, this weekend I got frozen fish, frozen fruit and yogurt at Shoppers for far less than it was this week at the grocery stores I can reach on foot.
I love the Shoppers bonus points as well. I have done most of my Christmas shopping for the last couple of years using the points. I don’t see my nieces and nephews until after Christmas so I check out the toys, collectible ornaments and candy for 50% off, match that with the redemption of points and I have saved a lot.
October 16, 2012 at 8:22 am
I find I can save money at SDM by browsing the aisles for sale items. Anything on my list on sale goes in my cart, and I get the rest at the big box store. Milk is always cheaper there, and I can often get toilet paper, kleenex, paper towel, laundry detergent, bread and snack items like cookies for my girls’ lunches for less. I also have a points card, and redeem for money off!
October 16, 2012 at 8:36 am
Many years ago I challenged one of my philosophy professors (now regularly published and well known in Canadian literary circles) that all this shopping was not more choice and more freedom. I still believe it represents one choice only, to spend or not to spend. Most of the rest of it is personal taste.
Not spending on stuff could be the cue to other choices like spending quality time with friends and family or learning or reading. We could all benifit by not defining our lives on what we do withnthe dollar.
October 16, 2012 at 8:58 am
I find most drug store stuff is cheaper at Wal-Mart, and prescriptions are cheapest at Costco (I’ve heard a rumour that you don’t have to be a member to use the pharmacy… haven’t tested that theory since we have a membership for DH”s business.) That said, I agree with Aimee-if it’s on sale at SDM, I buy it there, and then go next door to the grocery store for the rest of what I need. I often find lots of grocery/household items cheaper at SDM. However, there are lot more temptations there now, like books, electronics, cards, etc., so if you go in for the loss leaders, you have to keep tunnel vision to avoid getting tempted!
October 16, 2012 at 9:10 am
Costco is by far the cheapest place to get prescriptions filled. Not only is their dispensing fee less but the cost of the prescription is less as well. Before we would pay $100 to get my husbands inhaller. At Costco it was $89. It’s also true that you don’t have to be a member to get prescriptions filled – at least that was the case a few back. I’ve since gotten a membership so it became a moot point.
October 16, 2012 at 9:13 am
I’m finding lately that all the generic or store brands are creeping up in price in all categories. If a store brand is only 10-20 cents cheaper, I always “splurge” and go with the brand names.
October 16, 2012 at 9:14 am
@ JAH – I don’t quite get your posting, Gail is talking about buying prescriptions, not dvd’s. Kinda gotta spend on that, or you run the risk of not spending anything on anything. Ever.
As for the posting, I find the drug store the one place I’m on equal footing with manufacturers. Simply by looking at the ingredients list, I can see if the brand name and the store brand contain the same stuff. And since I don’t buy drugs on taste (I just assume they’re all awful tasting) I don’t care about the other stuff. But when you go to buy a pair of jeans, how do you know if the levi’s are made of better quality material or better stitched than the non-levis? Impossible to the untrained eye.
October 16, 2012 at 9:17 am
psychsarah, you’re right–you don’t need a Costco membership to get your prescriptions filled there. Just tell the person at the door who checks for your membership card that you’re going to the pharmacy & they’ll let you in (and you pay by cash or debit at the pharmacy–they don’t take credit cards). I’m a member there, but my daughter isn’t and that’s what she does.
I treat drug stores the same as grocery stores when I’m getting my shopping list ready every week. With my SDM offering groceries now, I often stop in there for some food item (as someone else said, their milk is always cheaper and they often have good sales that I combine with coupons). You need to know your prices (but that’s true for all shopping). Costco’s best for some things, SDM for some, my local 3 discount-type grocery stores for others. I seldom hit more than 2 places when I shop (and try to hit just one) and I price match when I can, too. If you don’t have time for all of that, figure out which grocery store has the lowest regular prices for items you buy and which drug store for those items and just shop there. If you have a bit more time, look at the flyers of those stores to buy things you need on sale (stocking up for when they aren’t on sale if you’ll run out before the next sale). You don’t have to be a super-shopper to cut your grocery and drug store bill. But if you do spend time on it, it’s amazing how much you can save (and I don’t mean the kind of saving you get buying too many shoes on sale!).
October 16, 2012 at 9:20 am
I always get weirded out by loyalty cards because I dont like the idea of a company tracking every item I purchase. But now that I work near a Shoppers Drug Mart I tend to shop there more so I guess I should cave and get one
October 16, 2012 at 9:21 am
I’m lucky in that I work downtown where I have access to the two big name drugstores. Every Monday I do a walk through both to see what’s on sale and to check prices (and you do need to know your prices – I’ve often seen items “on sale” at one store that are actually higher priced than the regular cost at their competitor).
When it’s a good price I stock up. I only have a small apt. but still I’ve been able to store enough shampoo, soap, deodorant, all that sort of thing to last me until next April and I’ve never paid full price. Buying in bulk not only saves me money but time as I’m not always running out. And yes, I collect loyalty points as well – usually I let them build up for a year and then use them in January/February when money is a bit tight after the holidays.
October 16, 2012 at 9:48 am
Geoff,
The posting did begin by implying we are confronted by more choices than we need or can use.
You’re right, the decision about medicine is a serious one, and can’t be neglected.
Our modern drugstores are filled with lots other stuff as other posters have pointed out, tempting us to spend. I was pointing out that by sticking to the most important choices in life we aren’t defined by our spending and may be better off for it.
My apologies if you didn’t enjoy my contribution to the discussion.
October 16, 2012 at 10:04 am
@ Casey I’m not sure why you’re concerned about stores tracking your purchases, I know several people have that concern, but I trully don’t know why. I don’t see where the potential for harm is, aside from them “knowing”.
In the scheme of things, having a loyalty card that gives you discounts is a good thing… and if you use a credit card, there’s already a company gathering information on what you purchase anyways….
;-D
October 16, 2012 at 11:23 am
@ J A H Thanks for your post. It really resonated with me. I have printed it out and will keep it in my wallet to read as needed.
A
October 16, 2012 at 11:53 am
I always look at the active ingredients/dose in a drug and if they’re the same, buy the cheaper version.
Although I generally like choice (in life) it’s getting to be too much in some of the stores. Out of the dozens of bottles, I can’t even figure out which one is the regular scent Febreeze anymore. …And what the heck gum flavour is “5 Cobalt”? Can’t they even tell us what it is anymore?
October 16, 2012 at 1:23 pm
WHY are there so many kinds of toothpaste?
I dread running out because I will be confronted with the wall of choices. All I want is a white paste with fluoride…. but NOOOO there has to be a hundred fancy words, shiny boxes and weird flavours, and no plain, cheap pastes to buy. I generally end up going with the simplest sounding one that’s on sale. If nothing is on sale, it is truly a paralyzing experience for me trying to choose. Ditto for toothbrushes. I want a stick with bristles. Something that fits comfortably in my mouth, won’t make my gums recede, and not imported from overseas. Not an easy thing to get.
Choice overload is physically painful for me.
If I can’t find what’s on my list in the clearance bin (shampoo shavingcream soap, etc) I get really low in front of “the wall” of ludicrous choices for the simplest things.
October 16, 2012 at 1:30 pm
As someone with a plethora of allergies to medications (including ASA – the main ingredient in Aspirin – being one of them). I very rarely switch to non-name brands because sometimes the ingredient to “cut” the drug is one I’m allergic to. (Many generic versions of antibiotics are cut with Sulpha). So if your family member is drug-sensitive, I recommend sticking with what works.
Aside from that, if I didn’t have that problem I’d be buying the no name stuff. I find many things go on sale at Pharmacies for other things. If my grocery store doesn’t have a sale on my favorite pop, chances are the pharmacy does. Also, I tend to use my points on small xmas and halloween purchases. It saves me money in the end for things I wouldn’t normally buy.
October 16, 2012 at 2:34 pm
When the closest Shoppers Drug Mart was renovated I was surprised to see so much space taken up with grocery items. I have no intention of shopping for food at the local drug store. I checked prices just to compare with my usual grocery store and the regular prices were much higher on some things at SDM. Then they’d have a sale price which was close to the grocery store price. I will continue to buy drug store items at SDM and groceries at the grocery store.
October 16, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I’m kind of surprised that so many of you shop at SDM. I’ve always found their prices to be much higher than Walmart or Superstore…sometimes 2x as much, and maybe the same price if it’s on sale, so I don’t even bother looking anymore. Maybe I should take another look.
October 16, 2012 at 3:48 pm
I know SDM milk and eggs are cheaper than my regular grocery store, but I have to decide if it’s worth $2 in savings to go to a separate store for just those two items. Usually it’s not, but if I actually have to pick up a prescription that week, I will plan to get them there. You could spend a lot of time and gas running to multiple stores every week for sales, but with gas the price it is, not to mention the value of your own time, you have to do what is sensible.
Normally I just do my main grocery shopping at No Frills on Saturday and plan a mid week stop at another store to get a little more fresh fruit. I keep ~$20 of my weekly grocery budget for the midweek fruit restocking, and now I just plan to do it a which ever store has some sale items I want. This way I get to No Frills plus one other everyweek. I kind of like having the grocery options at the drugstore. At first it was a little weird, but if you are up on your prices, you can sometimes pick up a good deal while on your way to the pharmacy in the back.
October 16, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Eunice, Im not sure it is cheaper then in box stores (although milk was $4.49 for 4l last week) but I know for me the hassle and expense of driving to the big box store(45 min drive) is not worth the savings I would get there. Plus, all things being even I would rather support a local store.
October 16, 2012 at 6:29 pm
@ Eunice – I agree with Christa C and some of the others here about Shoppers! You can get some good deals and I too like supporting local businesses.
Milk is usually cheaper – juice boxes – no! I also save my points and use them to make purchases at Christmas. Plus Shoppers always has great deals where you can double points, earn gift cards, etc.
That said – we don’t set foot in Walmart. It’s a personal choice but we do not support their business ethics. I can’t remember the name of it but there’s a good documentary out about it. Plus, they sweep in to communities and destroy smaller local businesses.
Oh and @BB – well said! I’m with you – I don’t think you end up saving a lot of money if you are running all over the place using gas and wear and tear on the car.
October 16, 2012 at 7:51 pm
How about repatriating all our shopping back to Canadian businesses/manufacturing where they employ people at a living wage and stop shopping at big box stores where they supply crap made in other countries?
October 16, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Last Christmas I went to Shoppers Drug mart to use up points and gain more points while I bought Christmas gifts using manufactureres coupons. I bought personal items( stocking stiffers) I had coupons for such things as Shampoos,razors, shaving cream, soaps deordorants body wash and after wards i went to Metro and found all the same things Cheaper by .80 to a few dollars for the exact same thing some sizes were larger. I havent bought much at Shoppers since
They are really expensive
October 16, 2012 at 8:37 pm
I personally find Shoppers Drug Mart to be the best drug store for saving money. Their Optimum Rewards program is the best program in Canada (I love it so much, I even wrote an eBook about it: http://www.mrsjanuary.com/shoppers-optimum-guide/).
Also, always check for clearance racks at Shoppers. They have some of the best clearance deals around.
October 16, 2012 at 8:39 pm
i remeber when i moved to bc and filled my birthcontrol, they were charging me 12 to fill plus the RX. so i ordered as many as i could at the same time (i think it was 6mos) and that gave me the time to look around for a cheaper option.
October 16, 2012 at 10:21 pm
I very rarely shop at drug stores as I always find them too expensive. Even for prescriptions, it’s more. With no drug benefits, I changed to WalMart pharmacy several years back. Right off the top, my monthly prescriptions (4 medications) dropped by $44. They also worked with me on filling my prescriptions at 3 month rotation (something Shoppers wouldn’t do), saving me money on the dispensing fees. The change saved me $700/year.
Whether it be OTC medications, health and beauty, personal hygiene products, WalMart is the better buy. (Although many products are starting to be available at Dollarama etc). I also find that it’s easier to price match anything that’s in a drug store flyer at WalMart, as they usually have the product on shelf when the drug store doesn’t.
October 17, 2012 at 9:17 am
My husband has to take low dose aspirin every day and it can be quite pricey. At Costco a few years ago I noticed the Kirland brand of aspirin. Kirkland was $4.99 and Bayer Aspirin was $22.99 for the exact same dosage and # of pills – I even confirmed with their pharmacist as I figured something had to be wrong for such a price difference. Needless to say I have been buying the Kirland brand ever since and it is still $4.99 – as of 2 weeks ago anyway.
I too find SDM a bit pricey but it is the cheapest place for milk for us. I also watch their flyers and pick up deals with coupons and use my Optimum card. I usually rack up $85 in points a year and cash them in for Christmas gifts when the double your points redemption is on so I get $170 in free merchandise – this is usually around the first of December.
October 17, 2012 at 9:26 am
@ JAH – no offense intended I’m sorry. Thank you for contributing, I was just asking a question.
October 17, 2012 at 1:20 pm
I too find SDM pricey and we only stop in for an item or two when we realize we’ve run out or forgotten something mid-week.
As for medications ever since I was diagnosed with diabetes there are a slew of OTC things that I’m not supposed to take and there is normally something provided by prescription that treats the ailment. Luckily, DH and I are 100% covered for prescriptions so it’s a savings for us.
Otherwise, we get generic brands from CostCo or Superstore.
October 17, 2012 at 4:22 pm
For me the terms “sale” and “full-price” have lost all meaning. I think all the posters above get it. It’s about getting the item you need for the lowest price possible. The flyers for the week just came and I am just about cross-eyed trying to figure out where to go for what again this week!
My own personal opinion is that if you don’t watch it you can pay significantly more than you need to. There’s a reason those extreme couponers are at it 40 hours a week.
I am lucky to live within a 15 minute drive of most large chains plus a few local ones so one trip out and I can hit them all for the loss leaders but it is a challenge when you are up against teams and a team of marketing geniuses at the big chains all trying to get you in their door with the lure of the “88 cent sale” or “Buy One Get One”.
I used to always buy from locally-owned but then I started looking closely and realized I couldn’t keep it up for everything as it added about 30 dollars a week to my overall household grocery bill.
Sigh.
October 17, 2012 at 7:41 pm
As someone who works helping patients cover out of pocket costs on a very expensive prescription medication, I can tell you that Shoppers is by far the most expensive in terms of their mark up on drugs. One of the things I advise my patients before they go on therapy is to call around to the various drug stores in their area and ask for the ingredient cost plus their mark up cost. Then contact your private or public insurance and find out what the maximum cost they will cover (it helps to have the drug identification number) and if there is a generic cut back (meaning the payer will only cover what the generic equivalent would be). It varies by province and what your employer as chosen as their drug package with the insurance company. You will have a better idea of what you have to pay for each presciption.
Costco is the cheapest for most presciption drug and vaccines like Twinrix & Hep A& B shots. Many vaccines tend not be be covered by either private or public payers so you pay the entire cost yourself. You do not have to be a member.
Since some patients are not always close to a Costco, Walmart tends to be the second least expensive for prescription drugs.
Any time you get a prescription from your doctor and you do not have a good plan or have a high copay, mention this and she may be able to give you another kind of medicaiton, or free samples (drug reps often give samples to physicians) or ask the pharmaceutical company for financial assistance for you. The latter generally tends to be for high cost drugs only.
In some cases, you can ask your doctor if you can be included in any studies being done on the drug you have been prescribed. Many pharmaceutical companies provide the drug to the patient free of charge, even after the study ends (if their own insurance will not pay). Your personal information is not provided to the pharmaceutical company, only non-identifiable data. The are not allowed your personal information (name, date of birth, address, etc) by law.
Also, if you are not co-ordinating benefits with your spouse (if applicable), take a look at his or her plan. In some cases having two plans can negate any out of pocket costs. You may have to pay another monthly premium but if both of you and your family are taking a lot of medications, it may be worth the extra $20 bucks off the paycheque.
I have often negotiated mark up fees with pharmacies directly on behalf of my patients because of the difference another pharmacy around the corner may be charging. You would be surprised what a pharmacy will do when you ask if they can give you a better mark up price, lest you take your business elsewhere.
In some provinces you can also have both public and private insurance co-ordination. There tends to be copays and deductibles with many of these however they are generally income based, so if you are a lower income household, your copay will be less. Again, you have to do the math, but if you a lower income household with one or more members on very expensive medications, it is worth it to get the public coverage.
In some cases, very low income earners can qualify for full drug coverage through their public payer. If this applies to you or someone you know, refer them to the Department of Community Services and a case worker will get process started.
It may take some leg work on your part, but you can definitely save money at the drug store. Remember, when you going to a ’boutique’ pharmacy, that is exactly what you are paying for. Their high end beauty bar, gourment deli and other specialty features.