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Originally Posted by Paradise Lost
Half the things said here have no actual bearing on the drug selling itself.
I for one see this as a decent thing. Although, it's kind of two edged. First, you can have prescription and OTC name-brand drugs starting to be sold for less, or a sudden loss of some name-brand drugs from the market. Research money doesn't appear, and while it's obvious some drugs are way too damn expensive, you have to pay all the people for at or for the pharmaceutical companies something, plus, I'm sure the things that go into the pill aren't cheap either. And as most of you probably already know, the people who 'work for' Wal-Mart, hardly have this kind of luxury - unless of course these generic drugs are still being produced inside the US, I'd almost assume they have to be.
And on a side note, I know the actual Mom & Pop restaurant I work for would, on occasion, make Wal-Mart look good in dealing with employees (they're not bad people, they just employ terrible practices.) Wal-Mart's hardly the only company that's skirted or completely broke the law when it's come to labour laws. This still doesn't have any bearing on whether or not the drug program they're introducing is a bad thing or not.
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On the surface, who could argue with cheaper prescription drugs, particularly as someone noted above, it is probably a loss leader for Wal-Mart.
If you look deeper, I would suggest their business practices do have a bearing on their ability to be so "generous".
There have been numerous studies that a Wal-Mart will have a negative impact on retail wages in a community...from small, non-union Mom & Pops to larger grocery and other local retail stores, where union workers,who earn far more than their counterparts in Wal-Mart, are forced to settle for wage and/or benefit cuts to help keep their employer competitive.
So the net result? Cheaper drugs for some in the community vs. more people in the same community seeing their standard of living reduced.
As The Jazz said, it is a dilemma.
When Wal-Mart comes into a community at the prevailing wage rate, rather than driving wages and benefits down, in part through illegal anti-union practices and other illegal employment practices too numerous to mention, I will applaud their efforts. Until then, I am not that impressed.