@3katz4me, I have the same problem with Amz re: the correct address because I order a lot of things for my mother in another state. Several times I’ve forgotten to change the address so now I try to be extra careful about checking the delivery address before hitting the purchase button.

I’ve never used their pharmacy, but I might try it for my one medication that I prefer to refill every 90 days just so I don’t have to go to the pharmacy once a month. Right now, I use Good RX to pay for it instead of insurance because insurance will only approve a 30-day-at-a-time refill…so inefficient.

My insurance never gave me A'zon as a choice for pharmacies, or else I might have used them. I use CVS instead and find them quite annoying, and I dislike having to pick up my prescriptions but refuse to pay extra for delivery.

I use A for non-prescription drugs and supplements, as they are always cheaper than CVS.

I used to use Express Scripts for free delivery of my prescriptions, and I also allowed them to do automatic refills, although I stopped that once I started spending half my time in Cathedral City.

One thing I dislike about CVS is that when I get a new prescription, they always put it on automatic refill, and so I have to go to their website and remove it - every time! I've told them repeated that I never want automatic refills, but I still have to remove those. I would change pharmacies if I had other options.

I have a relatively inexpensive BCBS Medicare Part D plan and I had to switch from CVS to W'greens when I changed plans this year. Didn't even think about A'zon mail order until a snowbird friend mentioned that's what she uses. So I checked into it and lo and behold - it was another available option with my plan. So far I like it much better than W'greens or CVS. I get the impression it might be pretty inexpensive for generics even if you don't use insurance.

I would not order any thing that important from A. I once received a tampered with bottle of hair conditioner.

eld - I would never sign up to have any prescription meds sent to me regardless of the pharmacy. We live remotely and have rural delivery to a mailbox at the end of a long driveway. Although our mail service is once again fairly reliable it's not as fast as it used to be. And during the dark days of the pandemic and the former guy's appointment of an incompetent Postmaster General who still holds the job, I'm not going to rely on the USPS for my medcations.

Well I can understand your feelings about it. Unfortunately my biggest problem was with an in-person prescription when W incorrectly refilled at double the prescribed dose. Considering it was blood pressure medication it could have been very dangerous if I'd had a sudden drop in BP. Fortunately I discovered it before I ran out of the correct dose. I'm willing to give A a try after that experience particularly since I've never had any problems with A. I am a little careful about which A sellers I buy from so maybe that helps.

3 Katz, mistakes can happen. If you are sure you will get the seller you prefer, then give it a try.

Seagrass, our USPS carrier is horrible. Not only does she get mail mixed up, but she decides if she will do a vacation stop!

I even talked to our head Post Master. He just said that he was sorry. They obviously can't fire her.

Before her, we had two really good carriers.

I can use my Part D plan with Amazon pharmacy, but the cash price is actually lower on some meds!

“. If you are sure you will get the seller you prefer, then give it a try.”

I’m pretty sure the Amazon Pharmacy works like other mail order pharmacies. You don’t choose a ’seller’. Your doc sends the script to Az, its filled by AZ pharmacists and delivered.

All our scripts are mail order (not AZ), we have never had a problem. When we knew we would be at our cabin, we advised them and the delivery change was smooth.

I only have one prescript and it is an antihistamine in nasal spray form. (I have a mold allergy.) I prefer to get it every 30 days and not to mail order. I use Walgreens near us and have had no problems. I like having a pharmacist in case of questions, etc. If a drugstore had made a mistake with such a serious type drug, I would probably be leery of using them also. Scary 3katz!

I never took advantage of mail order pharmacy in the past because it seemed like a bit of a PITA for little savings. However A’zon made it so easy like most everything else they do. When you order they give you a price with or without insurance and you can pick the best one. It appears they use the same US drug wholesalers as everyone else so not like the rest of A’zon where you have all kinds of weird brands from who knows where.

I mistakenly thought there was one big W’greens database from which you could seamlessly fill a prescription at any W store in the country. That was not the case for me.

So far A seems easy enough as long as I can manage to pick the right shipping address.

3katz, your impression that WAG has one database IIRC is accurate. I wonder if there were some issue because of differences in state laws between MN and FL.

For example, I had my ENT in my home state call in a script for me in a state where I was working. It was for cough syrup. The CVS where he called it in kept telling me they were out. I asked them to check other CVSs in the area to see if they had it in stock. The first store transferred the Rx to another store across town. When I called that store to see if it were ready for pickup, they told me that it could not be filled in their state because the doc was in another state. If the first store had told me that, I could have saved a lot of time and aggravation.

Different states schedule certain drugs differently which affects how and if they can be filled.

@bbstx - yeah, it's all in there - I even transferred my prescriptions to the new store through the app. However they weren't filled without my intervention. It said to call, which I did, but they never answered the phone in the pharmacy. So I had to go there in person, wait in line, then go back and wait in line again after they filled the script. I might have continued to go through that process twice a year but for the error. A seamless transfer would not result in an incorrect change of dosage. I know pharmacies are terribly understaffed these days and that may have had something to do with the situation. In any case lesson learned - look at the label and make sure it's right. The pill itself was slightly different but I've had that happen before when I changed pharmacies and the dose was the same.

What a total PITA. Yes, pharmacies are understaffed and pharmacists are overworked. Nevertheless, that does not excuse an error of that sort!

Oh, how I wish you had not posted this. I went to AMZ to look at a rather expensive medicine I take for acid reflux. My share of the generic is $150/month. At AMZ, it is $10. I am struggling. Right now I do business with a pharmacist whose daddy my daddy did business with. She is a friend of my sister. When DH was alive, he needed and we got some very personalized service. On the horns of a dilemma! Loyalty vs $$$. 😣

Oh if I were you 3katz, I would certainly try it! I don't want to do 90 day with a nasal spray. I'd rather get the 30 day supply and it be "fresh" if that makes sense. With walgreens, I have refilled a prescript in another state - in person - with no problems at all. And yes, you are right, 90 day for me would be a PITA as I pay less than $10 for the spray now. So of course there wouldn't be a big savings since it's so inexpensive to start with.

BB, that is awful - the price difference.

bbstx - would a compromise help? Could you alternate pharmacies?

m_c, alternating would be such a pain for everyone involved that it would not be worth it. There would have to be a transfer of the script each time I went to the different pharmacy.

I value their friendship and their many kindnesses to my family for 3 generations now (my grandparents were also patients of the father). They vigorously support our community and our free health clinic. I have the cell phone numbers of the owners and can call them anytime. I seriously doubt Jeff Bezos is going to give me his cell number or donate his time or money to our clinic for the underserved.

bstx - you are right. I'd stay with your local pharmacy then. I know how valuable a caring pharmacist is. DS has been on ADHD meds for over 10 years and he jumps through hoops to get it refilled. He has to call his internist every month, have them send a script to his pharmacy, he can only get a 30 day supply, and half the time they don't have it in stock due to the nationwide shortage. CVS won't call another CVS to see if they have it so he calls around and then spends hours tracking it down. For years he used an independent pharmacist who would call around for him but they sold out to Walgreens. It's a real hassle.

@bbstx - I completely understand your desire to stay with your local pharmacy when you have such a longstanding personal relationship with the family who owns it. I'm sure I would do the same if I were in your shoes. Some things are priceless and worth much more than $140 a month especially if the situation does not create a financial hardship.

Thanks, 3katz. If we don’t support our local, independent businesses (says the woman who is addicted to AMZ and its buddy, Z@ppos), we are soon not going to have any. I’m sure Marie_Cate’s independent pharmacist sold out because he could not compete with the big boys. The chain pharmacies provide a good service to the community. They provide jobs and pay taxes, but most of the local people are not empowered by corporate to provide the same level of service. For example, DH needed to get the Shingrix shot. Our independent pharmacist came out to the parking lot to give it to him so he would not be potentially exposed to COVID (2021). They offered to come to the house, but I thought that was unnecessary.