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by treis 1586 days ago
The amazing thing is that he's telling everyone exactly what he's doing. He wants to extract 15% as a middleman in an industry that transacts 100+ billion a year. All for running a simple website and taking on a tiny bit of transaction risk. And people think it's a charity instead of business worth billions.
1 comments
toomuchtodo 1586 days ago
In America, it is a charity effectively to provide what is essentially a public service by “only” taking a 15% cut on generics when other manufacturers are selling at magnitudes higher costs.

It’s Costco for generic meds. No one calls Costco a charity, but their employees and customers love them for being fair and their business is held up as an example of how to create value from customer loyalty. And they still generate value for their shareholders.

If you have insurance, this is likely not for you. If you are uninsured, this could be huge for you. Perspective is important.

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treis 1586 days ago
(1) His prices aren't really any better than retail pharmacy with GoodRx. The generics for little money is well covered.

(2) Costco actually does shit. They build buildings, hire pharmacists, buy inventory in bulk, and sell it to you in the store. Cuban has a website that takes 3 months to build and a little bit of transaction risk.

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ipaddr 1586 days ago
Do you want to pay the membership fee and a premium so they can build buildings, employ pharmacists to buy/finance/store/manage a large inventory or do you want to skip that and get the meds sent to you?
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briHass 1586 days ago
In fairness, I believe Costco (and Sams Club) allow you to use the pharmacy without having a membership. Unfortunately for me, no Costcos are close enough to make that worthwhile.
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treis 1586 days ago
The point is not what Costco does. Its that they do anything at all. Cuban's company provides almost nothing of value.
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BurningFrog 1586 days ago
Costco already is Costco for generic meds!

What I've heard (not researched) is that they typically have the lowest drug prices.

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toomuchtodo 1586 days ago
They are cheaper than Costco on several drugs based on a comparison performed within the last 20 days.
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