The 250% Solution

I believe in patronizing local businesses, and we have a top quality, bright, veterinarian.  The Ozdachs pack loves her, and she seems genuinely happy to see the pack.

But, she is aggressive in her pricing.  As in "ouch"!  I can rationalize paying for her excellent personal service, but she charges very high rates for medicine and for routine lab work which don't involve her at all. Since a couple of the Ozdachs have chronic low thyroid and take a pill every day, I went to PetCareRx to shop.  (I am not an affiliate or related to them, btw.)  There I found the same pills at a much lower price.  The only catch:  they require a vet to sign a prescription before shipping.

The company called the vet for an Rx, and the vet called us.  Turns out, she charges a corkage fee for the prescription of $15, but since we found a lower price online, she will match it this time. The Ozdachs are not amused.  The vet's price for 200 pills is $50;  the online store price, including shipping is $19.99.  That's a 250% difference on a pure service-less transaction.  I don't mind a reasonable profit, especially when there's value added.  But, 150% profit without service? Come on, doctor! I don't want to have to price shop every time the dogs need a pill.  Grrrr!

We're playing tug-of-war with the vet over this. But, PetCareRx looks good in general.

Separately, we found a nice source for the pack's current favorite treat, Greenies.  PetVetDirect sells a five pack of 24 petite-size Greenies for $57.25, including shipping.  That's still .48-cents a snack, but it beats the .90-cents we had been paying.