October 25, 2008 
Remember back in the 90s when AT&T, Sprint, and all the other companies kept offering you incentives to move to their service? I had an uncle who just kept moving around and getting $50-$100 checks. I thought he was crazy, but he never had an issue.
Given the economy and the incentives being offered in pharmacy, I wonder why a consumer wouldn’t do the same. I saw a $25 gift card offer at Walgreens yesterday. I know Target has had a $10 gift card offer for a while. Some of the mail pharmacies occassionally offer coupons or copay waivers.
So, if I was a consumer with a maintenance drug that I have used for a while and don’t need consultation on, why wouldn’t I move my prescription every month to a different pharmacy and get these gift cards. I think I would. I don’t know all the terms, but if I had a generic, I might actually make money on my prescription.
I am sure this will be a short-term phenomena.
Enabling Healthy Decisions 
Our local Rite-Aid was offering a $35 store credit if you transfered a script from a competing pharmacy, or if you filled your first fill on a new script there. My wife filled a new script there a few weeks ago, and ended up getting her meds and some other items all on Rite Aid. Not sure of the terms, or if other pharmacies in our area are offering the same, but it was a great incentive that she happened to stumble upon as the Rite Aid is a block from her MD’s office and she did not feel like driving to our regular pharmacy. I read about another pharmacy offering a $10 gas card, but can’t remember which chain was offering that service.
I agree that if a patient were on a generic maintenance and had access to several pharmacies, they could definitely get free meds and some toiletries for a few months with these offers. I wonder how they plan to keep their new customers after the first incentive.