I don’t think local drug stores can afford to be cheaper than a big corporate chain. But the pricing isn’t the point, it’s fostering competition against corporate monopolies.
Remember that the single purpose of corporations is to make more and more money. By their mandate to their shareholders, all measure of humanity is pushed into the background in favour of growth. The ultimate goal in that pursuit is monopoly: Being the sole supplier for their customers would allow them to dictate sales prices while being the biggest or even sole customer for their suppliers would give them leverage to shift prices in their favour. Their capital backing allows them to cushion out fluctuations in revenue and take losses, so they can afford to underprice and drive out competition, then crank up the enshittification to extort more money from their customers.
A (comparatively smaller) local store has less leverage to enshittify and exploit. Investing in their higher prices is an investment against that enshittification.
Please use local drug stores. The chain stores are absolutely ripping you the fuck off.
To be fair, if you’re buying drugs in the US, you’re probably getting ripped off by default
Not if you buy them from me. High quality, low prices!
Do you deliver, or should I just meet you out behind the club next to the green trash bin like usual?
It’s so hard to find a local one close by
(me wishing CVS/Rite aid/Walgreens didn’t destroy all the mom and pop drug stores)
Are they?
I think using goodrx.com has given me the best results to save money on drugs.
Local drug stores should totally be displaying “we’re cheaper than CVS!” if they want people to show up.
That is, if they’re actually cheaper…
I don’t think local drug stores can afford to be cheaper than a big corporate chain. But the pricing isn’t the point, it’s fostering competition against corporate monopolies.
Remember that the single purpose of corporations is to make more and more money. By their mandate to their shareholders, all measure of humanity is pushed into the background in favour of growth. The ultimate goal in that pursuit is monopoly: Being the sole supplier for their customers would allow them to dictate sales prices while being the biggest or even sole customer for their suppliers would give them leverage to shift prices in their favour. Their capital backing allows them to cushion out fluctuations in revenue and take losses, so they can afford to underprice and drive out competition, then crank up the enshittification to extort more money from their customers.
A (comparatively smaller) local store has less leverage to enshittify and exploit. Investing in their higher prices is an investment against that enshittification.
I used to use a chain one and then I switched to a local one and I pay half as much as I used to.