Yes, I've mentioned this earlier in the thread. The written prescription fee with my vet is £25, but even that added to the online drugs is still dramatically cheaper than what the vet will charge directly.
Just purchased a repeat of one dog's medication today and what the vet last charged me was £140. Bought online for £23, including express delivery. Even with the prescription charge on top it's still well under half price of what the vet wants to charge. So again, where is that extra money going? Because it simply cannot be on wholesale prices when the consumer can get it direct at such a reduced price, and must be pure profit.
Nothing wrong with profit, of course, but when it comes to the fact pet owners are over a barrel and it forces them to make very hard choices, it leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.
Thought you couldn't be bothered to debate this anymore?
Or is that only when the counter argument is too strong?
There's absolutely no way vets are paying more from wholesalers that the public pay from online sites. That's not how wholesale works in any sector.
While VAT is charged on pet medication, most business get to write off VAT on purchases, and if that's the case for Vets too (I don't know, I'm not an account) then that would make it even cheaper for them as well. If not, it's still an outrageous markup.
So it takes 10 mins to write process a prescription and it's a £25 charge. So £2.50 a minute to click a couple of buttons and hit print/sign/scan/email, right? Especially when it's a repeat prescription where there's absolutely no 'expertise' needed in establishing what drugs/dosage are needed.
10 minutes is exceptionally generous too. I do similar tasks day to day in my job, and there's no way it even takes 10 minutes, 5 on a go slow!
That's an absolutely outrageous charge, and if you didn't work in this sector, I'm pretty sure you'd likely agree too!