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Retailers, consumers and prices

October 26th, 2006

Want fries with that $4 cholesterol-lowering drug?

Posted by: Emily Kaiser
Tags: Uncategorized

Ever wonder how Wal-Mart shoppers are spending the money they save with cut-price $4 generic prescriptions? Apparently, some of thedrugs.jpgm are eating fast food.

When Wal-Mart announced that it was expanding its $4 drug program to an additional 12 states on Thursday, it shared this heart-warming anecdote:

“In Texas, when a woman was told that the prescriptions were $4 apiece, she became fearful that one of our associates was trying to be overly kind and help her pay for them. So she said that she could not accept the prescriptions because she did not want the cashier to be fired. When the pharmacist convinced her otherwise, she exclaimed — with tears in her eyes — that she was going out to celebrate by having a Whataburger(R) for supper,” said Bill Simon, executive vice president of Wal-Mart’s Professional Services Division. ”You see, she hadn’t been able to treat herself to this indulgence for nearly a year because she was on such a tight budget. We take great pride in knowing that this program is making a real difference in our customers’ lives.”

One comment so far

It’s a terrible tragedy that more people on fixed incomes can’t afford cheeseburgers. There should be a Congressional investigation immediately.

- Posted by Brian Dear

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