To think Boots are taking the p***

[allstarsprincess]

I just went into my local boots to get some Saline nasal drops for my DS. I asked at the counter and was directed to some Calpol branded drops on the shelf. They are priced £4.19 not bothered about brand so asked if they have generic. They do and are priced at £2.49.

I am getting to the point....

Last month I also bought generic drops and they were 29p. When querying the price increase I was told "We have seen we can charge more for them, so we have."

I left and went to different chemists.

OMG business in wanting to make money shock.

Nothing is sold at cost. This should not surprise you. I am just surprised they were so cheap to begin with.

are you seriouslyn telling me they were followin market trends in an attempt to maximise profit? SERIOUSLY?

YABU - Its wot they do do make money ergo generate employment!

How much did you pay at the other chemist?

According to the girl behind the counter. The drops used to be on the shelf where the new branded drops are. I mentioned the old ones as I do not need the branded ones. She got them from behind the counter and scanned them.

On seeing the price I put my 50p away and asked why the change. That was the answer I was given!

49p at other chemist.

Excuse my brevity of answers, I am MNetting with poorly infant on lap from IPhone.

and the answer you were given makes sense. no problem with you going somewhere else but they're hardly taking the piss to charge what the think they can get.

well hang on, I think OP is entitle d to shop around.

WHy buy Nurofen for £££ when you can get generic ibuprofen for 16p?

Why buy Clarityn @ £3.50 for 7 when you can get 14 or more loratidine for 99p @ Wilko.

Well yes catinthehat2, of course she is entitled to shop around, I don't think Boots are taking the piss though.

Mayorquimby - I have no problem with a price increase as they can see they can charge more (I think the increase is a ridiculous amount), but I have a problem with the fact that the cheaper ones were behind the counter instead of giving consumer choice.

Mrsmoosicle - Are they really generating employment? Or is this money just going to end up as a company dividend? Let's assume they are trying to make money, why then are their version of the drops behind the counter? They are not likely to make much money if most consumers don't know where they are.

they are seriously taking the piss, you know you can make your own saline drops?

Yes. DS had septicaemia and was in hospital for the first week following his birth and I am paranoid about making up the right concentration and the sterility of my version. For older DD this is what we do.

I am just going to start using breastmilk when out and about (for the nose.) I wanted the drops for ease but I will forego my embarrassment and use that when in public.

allstarprincess - in Scotland you can get saline drops through the minor ailments scheme so you would not have to pay for them at all. Not sure if this applies outside of Scotland though?

TBH, i think it's Calpol who are taking the piss if theirs are over £4.

It's a bit galling that they hide the generic ones behind the counter. If a mother has saline nasal drops recommended to her by a friend/gp/online parenting forum, doesn't know anything about it, just goes into Boots as it's local and she has a poorly child and she just wants to get in and out asap, then she's going to be several pounds worse off as she leaves.

It's not shocking, it's sadly very unsurprising. But all of our local pharmacies have them for 49p too. Calpol are greedy fecks.

Make your own.

9 grams of sodium chloride (ie salt) in a litre of water. If it's going up a nose it doesn't need to be sterile.

Virtually free!

I think Boots are taking the piss.

Went in there the other day for a digital themometer. Boots were charging £10 approx, the chemist in the same street charged £3. Big difference,

Yes, Boots can charge what they like, but in these economic times, they ought to careful that they don't price themselves out of the market!

When you think about it, Boots don't sell anything that you can't get elsewhere.

I always but generic. Never get Calpol always infant paracetamol.

I work for Prescription Pricing Authority and always check the generic first, never used to realise the vast difference in price for what is essentially the same product.

We buy infant generic paracetamol. Cheap as chips and actually more palatable. SIL visited recently with dn who had a rotten cold. She wouldn't use it and went out for Calpol as you 'know you can trust it'.

WTF are nasal saline drops? , have my children been missing out all these years?

I'm with you BeGone, really can't see why people would buy Calpol.

switchtvoff, we used them once. They're for clearing a very, very blocked nose in a baby. When dd had her first cold, she couldn't bfeed because she couldn't breathe. The saline drops cleared her nose long enough to allow her to feed.

My MIL buys Nurofen. It's extortionate. She will not buy generic ibuprofen as it's not as good apparently.

It's amazing how well the marketing works!

pff YANBU! Boots is very pricey for that sort of thing. You were smart to shop around.

I am not disagreeing with those saying market forces etc- I chugged my way through enough Economics courses to understand the whys and hows of the price increase. The OP taking her business elsewhere is also part of the equation. If enough people do that, Boots will lower the price to be more competitive. etc, etc. They're just taking the gamble that most people who've made the trip to Boots with/for a poorly infant will just go ahead and purchase what's in front of them, and they're probably right.

We try to keep a stock of these sort of things (generic Calpol etc) so we aren't caught out paying twice the price for it when we need it.