September 10, 2009 
Given that people are leaving mail order pharmacy to go to places like Wal-Mart for $4 generics (which only applies to 300 of 10,000 drugs), I would think that mail pharmacy would employ a consumer pricing tactic like price matching. Of course this is really hard due to plan designs and runs counter to everything the industry has done before, but it is a simple message.
Why is Wal-Mart (and others) getting people to leave their pharmacies (retail and mail)? KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) They have an easy message “Get a 30-day supply for $4 or a 90-day supply for $10”. It’s not this complicated message about formulary, copay, deductibles, percentage of costs, etc.
So, why not respond in kind with a simple message like “We’ll meet any price you find at any other pharmacy for a similar quantity of drugs”. Just a thought.
Enabling Healthy Decisions 
There are some pharmacy chains which will price match. However, I agree, there are far fewer than there should be. While I was searching the for places to purchase prescription drugs, I came across http://www.lowestmed.com. They list the prices of the most common drugs and compare them with other pharmacies in your are. Hopefully such a service can drive pharmacies to be more competitive in the future.
Really like your blog, would you be interested sharing your knowledge and experiences on telehealth at http://www.boost.me? a free community for telehealth professionals and we can do a link exchange as well.
Thanks
Laura
Hi George,
This is a great question. The definition of mail-order pharmacy has always been spoken in the context of large PBMs like Medco or Express Scripts. There is no legal retail version of a mail-order pharmacy today in United States.
For full disclosure, I work for HealthWarehouse.com. We are the first “retail” mail-order pharmacy selling directly to consumers in 39 states via the Internet and I believe the answer to the question above.
We not only match the price for Walmart and others, but beat them on 300 medications charging $3.50 with free shipping to the customers door.
There are many inherent advantages to “retail” mail-order:
1. Low Prices – We have no costly real-estate for brick-and-mortar locations and ship everything from one centralized licensed warehouse in Cincinnati, Ohio. This leads to lower prices to the consumer.
2. Convenience – Consumers no longer need to drive to the pharmacy and wait in long lines to get their medications. This is especially frustrating when taking maintenance drugs every month.
3. Service – We offer great customer. If you do a quick search on Twitter on a retail pharmacy name, you will get a picture of the dissatisfaction consumers have.
Walmart has done a great job bringing transparency to drug prices. We offer that same transparency, but with the convenience of mail order.
In addition, we are taking it a step further by innovating on refills. While most pharmacies offer 90 day supply of medications, we offer 180 day and 360 day supplies. Retailers offer 90 day supplies so they can get you back into the store to purchase other items.
Being a 100% mail order operation, we don’t have that motive. Our goal is to provide the best solution to the consumer.This eliminates the need for refills, saves time, money and again makes it more convenient for the consumer.
Sorry for the long post and I enjoy reading your blog very much.
Keep up the good work!