Aug 14 (Reuters) - Costco Wholesale (COST.O) , said on Thursday it will stop selling abortion pill mifepristone across all its U.S. pharmacy stores, citing low demand.
“Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said, adding that it will stop the sale at its more than 500 pharmacies.
The decision comes amid campaigns against the pill by religious activist groups, including Inspire Investing and Alliance Defending Freedom.
“Many retailers have become more cautious about taking overt political or social stances after recent controversies triggered boycotts, negative media coverage, and polarized consumer reactions,” said Arun Sundaram, senior analyst at CFRA.
This post was reported as “misinformation”. The article has since been updated with the following:
(This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)
Because of this, I’m leaving it up, as the poster and the article didn’t intend to mislead, and the article has since been corrected.
Clickbait bullshit.
I read elsewhere that they never sold it. I read the article but it seems to contradict itself. It says Costco “stopped selling” it, but it also quotes Costco as saying “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” (emphasis mine).
So either Reuters is wrong when it says they stopped selling, or Costco is lying when it says it’s position never changed
The headline and article have been corrected:
Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)
The way I read it, if Costco isn’t lying then Reuters is lying.
“Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said, adding that it will stop the sale at its more than 500 pharmacies.
Reuters reported that Costco explicit said they’d stop selling the drug, but apparently chose not to include that part of the quote for some reason.
Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)
Apparently it was Reuters that was lying.
They might have been lying but they still were able to whip up controversy by it. Genius!
It’s not lying if you believe it, and then issue a correction when you realize you were wrong.
It’s incredibly irresponsible (possibly libelous) for a journalist to claim someone said something without proof. So even if it wasn’t a literal lie, it wasn’t far off.
Et tu, Costco?
“Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said.
Don’t let the media manipulate you. Costco did not “stop” selling the drug. A WP article makes it clearer that they have never sold the drug.
For more than a year, Costco deliberated over whether to become certified to dispense mifepristone, the drug used first in the typical two-step regimen for a medication abortion.
They debated getting certified to sell it and decided not to because most people get the drug directly from their provider, rather than from a pharmacy. The media is spamming this decision not to start selling it as a conservative win when it’s really nothing of the sort.
Edit: The Reuters article linked by OP was just corrected.
Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)
They also updated the headline.
There are no good companies, only varying levels of evil. Welcome to capitalism.
Would love to do the right thing, but…
slaps the spreadsheet that shows company profits
Shareholders come first.
If only that were the actual reason…
Low demand?? Birth control is in low demand??? I’m surprised that Costco doesn’t sell a smaller spoon to make this horseshit a little more palatable.
Nothing sells capitalism as inherently fascist faster than every corporation racing to obey the regime in advance.
They never sold the product. This is Reuters being slimy. The headline and article have been corrected:
Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)
This is like being angry at a gas station for never selling prescription lenses because they happen to have sunglasses on a rack in the front. Like, yes people buy reading glasses, and the gas station sells other kinds of glasses. But people tend to go to CVS to buy them so the gas station doesn’t want to carry them and, most importantly, never has in the entire history of their company.
“Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” Costco said.
The article clarifies that the demand is low because people tend not to get the drug from pharmacies, they generally get the drug directly from their provider.
Earlier this year Costco was in the news effectively telling the Cheeto Nazi administration to get fucked and they reinforced their standing behind their DEI policies.
That’s just one example. I don’t think they are the capitalist enemy you should focus on. I’m inclined to believe them on this one.
I’m generally pretty skeptical but this is plausible. The statement mentions that people often get it directly from their medical provider. If you need to see a doctor to get it and the doctor can just give it to you why would you go to the pharmacy instead?
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Mifepristone is an abortion drug. It’s use for birth control is off label.
Its probably a demographic mismatch: how many people with a costco card are under 30 years old?
Worth noting that you don’t need a Costco card to use their pharmacy. Just tell the front door badge-checker that you’re there for the pharmacy, and they’ll wave you through.
That used to be true but now they scan the Costco card at the pharmacy. Used to be that you could go to the food court as well without a card but they stop that too.
Nope, they’ll ask if you have a membership card, but it’s not a requirement.
They scan your card to potentially give you a discount in the same way stuff like GoodRx does, but membership isn’t a requirement. At one point there were even a few meds that were cheaper with the Costco discount than with my insurance.
They’ll ask if you have a card, but don’t require it. It’s against the law for them to restrict pharmacy purchases in the US. If you were denied service it was probably someone new who didn’t know the rules. Ask for a manager next time.
i’ve had one my entire adult life. the gas paid for the membership alone. worked as a courier from 18-21
They could be right in this case honestly, because there is probably a minuscule fraction of the preppers, large families, and pre-planners that shop at Costco that wouldn’t just use some other type of birth control.
Post-conception birth control in general I cannot see being someone’s primary method.
It still sucks, but I buy this much more than I buy that Colbert was cancelled for purely financial reasons.
Wtf!? It and misoprostol are also a part of a medicine regime to prevent bleeding stomach ulcers for sufferers of several autoimmune diseases.
“Fuck your stupid bleeding stomach!”
-Costco apparently
They never sold it. Why are you jumping on the hate bandwagon instead of reading the summary?
I guess because of the wildly misleading title?
They said they didn’t sell enough of it**
No, they said they never sold it at all.
Mifepristone has no role in the treatment or prevention of ulcers, only misoprostol is used in that fashion.
Idk why someone down voted you, it seems you’re right. But Mifepristone is also used to treat Cushing’s disease
they will go after methotrexate soon enough which also used as abortificient.
Cowards.
They never sold the product. This is Reuters being slimy. The headline and article have been corrected:
Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)
What would the motivation be?
To generate clicks. Outrageous headlines drive engagement back to their site. What percentage of us clicked through and ended up reading something else.
Otherwise Reuters is owned by the Thompson family via Woodbridge investment company. Woodbridge or the thompsons could be buying, selling, shorting shares of Costco or a competitor and are nudging the trading algorithms.
They never sold it.
Do companies have an obligation to start selling a product to avoid being called cowards?
That’s a fucked up headline then.
Yes, and we live in a world with fucked up headlines, so people should get used to reading more before being a sucker for obvious right-wing propaganda.
And liars. Blaming their customer base instead of admitting their fear of Trump is horseshit.
Turns out the headline is bullshit and they never sold it to begin with.
It’s probably not even sales.
It’s an off-patent, mass-produced medicine (read: cheap) with multiple uses, not just abortions.
There are a bunch of medicines that are both patented (i.e. expensive) and with way lower demand. In other words: less profitable.
So my reading of this: low demand is an outright lie. They’re not carrying on the off-chance the fact they carry it becomes a burden.
There are a bunch of medicines that are both patented (i.e. expensive) and with way lower demand. In other words: less profitable.
And what makes you think Costco carries them?
There are a bunch of medicines that Costco has never carried, not just mifepristone.
First of all: Am European. Neber stepped foot in the US, nor do I plan anytime soon given the current situation.
Second: With a name like “Costco Pharmacy” or “Target Pharmacy”, I can only compare it to the stores here at home.
And here, pharmacies are usually seperate establishments. Some superstores, however, do have a pharmacy inside.
And it really is a pharmacy that just so happens to be inside of a store. It isn’t like your run of the mill isle. It has its pharmacists - it can’t dispense perscription-only medicine without them.
And since they pay healthcare professionals to essentially cosplay as store clerks, they have to pay them well. So the biggest cost is most likely the personnel.
Also, like any regular pharmacy they do carry any “regular” medicine. The uber-regular stuff like paracetamol and aspirin you’d find on regular shelves. Regular stuff requiring a consult is availiable OTC and prescription only drugs are availiable with a prescription.
And pharmacies, including in-store ones do carry everything reasonably possible. The rest is availiable upon request - they’ll order it for you if you ask.
So not carrying a specific cheap and reasonably popular drug is a tell, and asking a clerk with a valid prescription would also probably yield a “we don’t do that here” about ordering some to fill the prescription.
At least that’s how it’s done in Europe. And at Target from what I’ve heard. So then why would Costco be any different?
OK, if you haven’t been to an American pharmacy then I will inform you that they don’t carry everything one might reasonably need.
To take another example, a few years I went to Costco for the nasal spray flu vaccine that my kid prefers. They didn’t have it and couldn’t order it. And no, this wasn’t due to some weird objection to vaccines. They had plenty of flu vaccine available, but only the kind administered with needles. Nor were they somehow unfamiliar with this version, because they did offer it in previous years.
It was also not offered by other big box pharmacies like Target or Walgreen’s. So to get the nasal spray flu vaccine, my kid would have to go to the pediatrician.
They certainly carry plenty of cheap multi-use drugs like aspirin, but I’d expect the sales volume to be a lot higher. I wonder how many infrequently used cheap prescription drugs they carry. Yeah it’s unfortunate if they’re reacting to political pressure. They do still carry birth control I’m sure.
From what I read elsewhere, they got Plan B. If Mileprostone is an abortion drug, that is a lot less useful than Plan B for casual use. Abortions are the kind of thing that are best monitored by doctors, what with the physical and emotional trauma that comes with it.
All of Costco’s new customers this past year suddenly regretting their choices. Fuck you Costco.
They never sold the product.
Why are you being so harsh to a company whose stance hasn’t changed?
Is it because you’re a right-wing troll trying to sow division among the left, or are you just really, really bad at reading?
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Why are there so many people here who appear to be incapable of reading?
Costco never sold the product.
Do you understand? It’s a misleading headline.
Well that’s bad news
Bad news that they never sold it and haven’t changed their stance?
Whelp, I was literally about to sign up to become a costco member, but fuck that
They never sold the product. This is Reuters being slimy. The headline and article have been corrected:
Aug 14 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 14 story has been corrected to say that Costco will ‘not sell’ mifepristone instead of ‘stop selling’ the pill in paragraph 1 and removes reference to ‘stopping sale’ in paragraph 2)
This is like being angry at a gas station for never selling prescription lenses because they happen to have sunglasses on a rack in the front
Title is misleading. They never sold it.
