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.
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.
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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They never sold the product. This is Reuters being slimy. The headline and article have been corrected:
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.
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.
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’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.
https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/796/~/do-i-need-a-membership-to-purchase-prescription-drugs%3F
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.
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.