What’s Wrong? It’s a Rip Off, That’s What’s Wrong

Cute packaging and product placement in the check out lane at Duane Reade will get you generic Tylenol for a price equivalent to 25 bucks for 100 tabs*, as opposed to $6 per 100 count in the usual package.
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* Ignore Duane Reade’s unit price sticker up there. The math is wrong, as was pointed out to me by Help’s founder Richard, in the comments section. Unfortunately, the pills are still overpriced as far as I’m concerned.

14 Responses to What’s Wrong? It’s a Rip Off, That’s What’s Wrong

  1. LOL, when I looked at those, I thought, what amusing drink coasters for right after New Year’s Eve. And you know, they would be.

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  6. hi Margaret,

    I am Richard a founder of help.

    I think you have misunderstood how many pills are in a package. It is 16 pills for $3.99. This actually cheaper than the $3.29 for 12 pills in a tylenol vial next to us on shelf.

    As lukas, realizes in his blog post, help is trying to make medicine simple so that people who are not doctors can understand it. There are real problems with consumers not understanding this category especially when it comes to combination products.

    Thanks for noticing us. I am happy to talk about it if you would like.

    Richard.

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    • Richard – I have a question for you with regard to your product. Do you have an email I can contact you at?

      Reply

  7. Richard –

    No misunderstanding. Look at the unit cost there next to the acetominophen – $49.88 for 100 pills. That’s one expensive package of tylenol.

    I get the whole style-packaging thing – Heck, while I was photographing the display, my daughter bought one for her friend as a Christmas present because she thought it was so cute and her friend gets a lot of headaches.

    So your marketing works.

    How about taking the packaging to a normal size bottle and then coming in at a lower price than the 100 count next to you on the shelves? Then I’ll write you a new blog post.

    As for simplifying things, I think there is actually nothing wrong with calling extra strength tylenol “extra strength”. It alerts consumers that they have moved onto a higher dose of a drug that can destroy their liver if they take too much of it.

    In addition, labeling tyenol as “headache” and ibuprofen as “aching body” is a bit of an over-simplification that could confuse consumers even more. (although technically your head is part of your body…) Ibuprofen is actually good for both problems, and may actually be better for some headaches than tylenol. But then you are telling the patient with a headache to buy a drug called “aching body”. Confusion? I think so.

    I do agree, however, about the whole concept of drug packaging and the need to simplify things. For example, I’ve always thought that birth control pills could have little instructions on the package as to what to do for a missed pill, instead of burying that info in a 5 page package insert. How about you and I design the perfect birth control pill pack together? Now that would be fun!

    Thanks for your comments. Have a great day.

    Peggy

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  8. Hi Peggy,

    Thanks for your feedback. We agree the birth control is an area where some more sophisticated design thinking would be welcome.

    Unfortunately Duane Reade have miscalculated the per unit part of the label which is causing the confusion.

    Tylenol convenience size: $3.29 for 12 pills= $0.27 per pill

    Help Remedies convenience size: $3.99 for 16 pills = $0.25 per pill.

    We deliberately don’t do large sizes (e.g. 100 count) as we feel it encourages overuse. This is why in many counties these sizes are not sold to members of the public.

    We are pleased to have these discussions, as we do have very defined views about how medicine should be presented to consumers.

    Richard.

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  10. Came to this site through a link – congrats to Margaret for being completely passive aggressive and rude. You’re making a faulty comparison of the per-pill price of two size products. And instead of apologizing, you’re continuing to blame, but without admitting it.

    At least you put the MD in your comment so everyone would know you’re important.

    Hopefully the people from Help will change their minds and not let you collaborate on anything. Who needs the negativity!

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  11. Kelly –

    Wow. That’s some vitriol you’re spouting there. Not sure how you come to take this so personally, would love to know your interest in the issue…

    At any rate, I think the industry can take a little poking about price. Consumers need to understand that when they buy drugs at the check out, they are paying a premium for location, convenience and sometimes, cute packaging. (That’s exactly what my daughter said when she saw it – “Look how cute!”)

    When you have a headache in the wee hours and the drug store is closed, that premium may be worth paying

    But when just around the aisle there’s a better buy, it makes no sense to pay top dollar for cute packaging. Or for the alternative before Help’s product came out, which was I guess was a little vial of tabs for 2 cents more per pill.

    As to why I did not focus on the older product, it’s because that’s not what caught my eye. Which of course means that the Help folks are onto some very very good marketing. But they already know that…

    Healthcare is unfortunately America’s new marketplace, and the Help folks have come up with a smart new way to market the same old stuff. That’s fine. They can go for it.

    But I don’t think it is rude and passive aggressive to simply point out the economics of purchasing decisions to my readers. Especially when, for many Americans, the cost of medications is eating a larger and larger chunk out of their take home pay.

    I will, however, change the price up in the original post, and do apologize to RIchard for trusting Duane Reade’s math and not doing it myself. Absolutely my fault on that one.

    Peace,

    Peggy

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  12. Hey Peggy,

    I have never actually purchased a Help product yet and have just checked out the Help website and there is some really interesting information on their about their packaging and business that you should look into. It is true you can buy bulk medications for cheaper – but is cheaper always the best way to go?

    Everything we ingest gets scrutinized now. We live in a time of organic milk and cage free eggs and yes these are more expensive but that is only because corporations selling cheaper options have lost sight on whats important – our health – in order to cut corners, lower production costs, and increase their own profits.

    Help is trying to remedy this same ‘cutting corners’ attitude that has overtaken mainstream medications while at the same time remove the vial from where these products you are ingesting come from. Drugs are given artificial colors and over-packaged in attempts to sway you as a consumer into thinking their products are better.

    If Help can make a biodegradable package from paper pulp with natural and un-dyed safe products for a lower cost than the large corporations and still have a ‘cute’ package that makes you want it more than all the corporations’ efforts then I think they have succeeded in making the medication industry a little bit better. Hopefully more companies will follow their lead.

    Reply

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