Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Why we stopped using our local Rite Aid.... nose rubbed in it.

Herself hit the doc's today, and came home needing some necessary ingredients. One was a prescription thing, and since she needs it NOW NOW RIGHT NOW, the script was sent to our local Rite Aid instead of our usual Amazon pharmacy.

Hitting doctor interwebs, I found two other OTC meds she should have, and she agreed, as long as she got them NOW NOW RIGHT NOW.  On my bicycle and off I go!

Walking into Rite Aid, I was immediately shocked at the state of the OTC med shelves.  Roughly, all of them were 80% empty.  Half the whole large store.


The two OTC meds I wanted were not in attendance.  What WAS on the shelf was the one med the wife had a script for.  Huh.  I looked it over but went to the pharmacy counter for the prescription version.  Had to be better, right?

The clerk laid down a couple meds I had forgotten about some time back, and a bottle of the magic juice Herself needed.  While this was all rung up, I examined the bottle. By the time the clerk was announcing how much money she would be pleased to accept, I was peeling the pharmacy label off the bottle, only to reveal it was the OTC version.

I pointed that out, and she said "Oh yes, we just took it off the shelf".
Yeah, took it off the shelf and JACKED UP THE PRICE till my co-pay was higher than the shelf price!  Unbelievable.

I told her to put it back on the shelf herself and grabbed three bottles from OTC to go.

Oh, and also this:  The Rite Aid said our FSA card (dated 2027 and newly loaded for the year) was expired.  We had just used it, and knew that to be bushwa.  I paid cash.

Before someone suggests they just had a hard time getting OTC meds, let me explain that I walked into the grocery store next door and found this:


One half the grocery store OTC aisle had more stock than the entire large Rite Aid store altogether. 

The grocery not only had what I wanted, they had NINE versions of it so I could get Herself a full selection for the NOW NOW RIGHT NOW problem.



UPDATE:  Numerous friends have advised, Rite Aid declared bankruptcy.  Wholesalers won't give them credit and no point stocking stores that will sell at pennies on the dollar.

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