Apparently it is going to be a doozie of a year for hayfever sufferers and as usual Boots the chemist is cashing in. If you have a Wilkinson’s store in your town then I urge you to look in there for their hayfever tablets. My friends have already heard this one last year, but I think it bears repeating especially since Wilko’s has had the good sense to bring out a 14 tablet pack this year.
The simple message is this – the tablets on sale in Wilko for £1 appear to me to be identical in every way to the tablets on sale at Boots for £2.99 apart from the packaging.
Oh, and of course the number of tablets in the pack. So at Wilko’s it costs you about 7p a tablet, in Boots about 42p – a 600% mark-up.
Last year I felt so incensed by this piss-take of a mark-up I left an empty Wilko box on the display at Boots. I happen to know someone reasonably high up in Boots and when I pointed this out they argued that Boots provides medical advice at their Pharmacy – something you don’t get at Wilkinsons. Personally I thought that argument was a little weak. There only seem to be a limited amount of ‘over the counter’ options available to hayfever sufferers – eye drops, nasal sprays and tablets; and the tablets are generally of two types drowsy and non-drowsy depending on the ingredients. I think most people are savvy enough to figure out what solution best meets their requirements without having to pay a premium for the end product and advice they don’t need.
couchmagpie 