Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Likely your DVM ain't gettin' rich off the Marquis. The pricing differs 
depending on how much one orders; certainly Smartpak is dealing more of the 
stuff than your average equine practitioner. So they both  get it cheaper 
and make their profits on selling it in volume.
It would be foolish to expect to buy things at cost--no  other business can 
do that and be solvent. (We'll leave out the concept of the "loss leader" 
that merchants use to entice customers into the store. Although a local 
tack shop owner told me of having words with a customer who was indignant 
that he wouldn't give her a quantity discount on ivermectin paste that he 
had on sale for twenty five cents more than he paid for it wholesale.)
 Certainly a pharmacy doesn't sell medications at cost. My book keeper has 
been slapping me around lately at my haphazard inventory/pricing habits. 
She has made it far too clear that it costs me $$ to have stuff on the 
shelf, and that it is not immoral to expect to  do more than break even on 
my expenses in purchasing it.

However, in the case of drugs which are incredibly expensive to purchase in 
the first place, I would rather point my client towards a less expensive 
option than bother ordering the stuff,  and maybe getting stuck with it and 
having it expire on the shelf,  or having the client decide not to treat 
based on cost.
(And then there was  the  eye medication that I scripted out for another 
client--boy was I glad that she  had the pharmacy to gripe at about the 
price and not me!)
              --CMNewell, DVM