Where do we even begin in explaining the benefits of shopping online for medicine, and why it’s so much cheaper than traditional methods? Do we talk about the sudden leap in adoption of e-commerce, telecommuting and socializing online versus traditional in-person approaches? Probably, because the recent pandemic, which is hopefully finally starting to give way to something of a normal, brave New World, has been directly responsible for a very rapid and mass adoption of the Internet as a forum for legitimate daily life.
The popularity of things like eBay, Amazon and social media misled us all into thinking that the adoption had been well underway on a mass scale beforehand, but those were really just pioneers in commonality and ubiquity. Necessity has forced us to adopt things on a much more visceral, commonplace level, giving way to new industries for delivery and distribution of even very perishable goods like fast food, and yes, medications. When you take a medication for your long-term health needs, it is important that you are able to get it delivered quickly and easily. With the help of medicines delivery online, you can buy your drugs without having to leave your home or even your bed. Buying medications this way, however, comes with a long list of rules and regulations.
The online approach is also very beneficial, because when you visit the website, you aren’t incurring any overhead by way of a physical place with insurance, climate control, associates and various code compliances which actual storefronts must contend. This absence of brick-and-mortar overhead allows various online distribution platforms to save you quite a bit of money. There may be shipping fees, in cases like fast food, there may be minimum purchases, but ultimately, various customer retention and acquisition tactics like discounts, waived fees and loyalty programs more than make up for it.
But, when shopping for medicine, when you visit the website and find out that it is a Canadian pharmacy, you may be further shocked by the remarkably low prices how is it that you can save so much by shopping across the northern border? Is rather simple, actually. Canada’s health system is very different from ours, with the cost of medication is being offset by taxes rather than immediate purchase prices. The myth is that socialized healthcare meets free healthcare, but it doesn’t really work that way. However, as an American shopping online, when you visit the website, especially a Canadian website, those discounts are very real, those lower shelf prices are true.
Of course, there are still expenses that you have to deal with. Customs fees, shipping fees and import taxes are real, though a lot of these online-only pharmacy concepts will often eat these costs as a loyalty reward, or as an initial customer discount. If you know what to ask for, you can get more discounts with every attempt.
As long as you have the prescription paperwork, and as long as the medication you need is FDA-approved for use in the United States, there is literally nothing stopping you from shopping online and saving upwards of 60% on some medications. That’s right, even controlled substances such as schedule one narcotics, if you have the prescription for them, can be purchased for a remarkably lower price by going online and purchasing them from a Canadian pharmacy.